A deployment archive is a compressed file that contains the actual entries that are deployed. A deployment archive is created when you export from the source environment. If you export to an existing deployment archive, the contents of the archive are overwritten.
You move the deployment archive from the source environment to the target environment. Then you import from the deployment archive into the target environment.
To move a deployment archive, you need access to the installation directories on the computer where Cognos 8 is installed. This location is set in the configuration tool. The default location is c8_location/deployment. For information about changing the location, see the Cognos 8 Installation and Configuration Guide.