Presentation from ICON UK in London Sept 2015 on approaches to upgrading IBM Connections whether it's a WebSphere iFix, TDI, DB2 or the Connections applications themselves

1. UKLUG 2012 – Cardiff, Wales
Gabriella Davis
The Turtle Partnership
http://turtleblog.info
gabriella@turtlepartnership.com
Planning and Completing
An IBM Connections
Upgrade

2. • Admin
of
all
things
and
especially
quite
complicated
things
where
the
fun
is
• Working
with
security
,
healthchecks,
single
sign
on,
design
and
deployment
of
Domino,
ST,
Connections
and
things
that
they
talk
to
• Stubborn
and
relentless
problem
solver
• Lives
in
London
about
half
of
the
time
Let’s
talk
about
me
for
a
minute

3. Where
to
start?

4. Fixes
CR
Release Upgrade
Goals
Critical Features
Bugs
Plan
Risk Assess
Test
WHY
DELIVERABLES?
WHEN?
?

5. • Register
for
support
updates
so
you
get
notified
of
problems
and
fixes
• If
you
have
a
problem
that
is
resolved
by
a
fix
-­‐
apply
the
fix
• If
you
don't
have
a
problem
you
have
more
time
to
plan
Deciding
When
/
If
To
Upgrade

6. • Register
for
subscriptions
• http://www-­‐01.ibm.com/software/support/einfo.html
• RSS
Feed
for
Connections
notifications
Search
Fix
Central
for
any
updates

7. Subscription
Options
By
Product

8. Backup..
backup..
backup..
beep
beep

9. DB2
CUSTOMISATION
FOLDER
CONNECTIONS
SHARE
WAS
DMGR
Backing Up Connections Means Backing Up
TDI
db2
backup
database
peopledb
to
d:
with
2
buffers
buffer
1024
parallelism
1
compress
without
prompting
profilesdmgrbinbackupConfig.sh/bat
d:
filename.zip
-­‐nostop

10. Working
With
Installation
Manager

11. IM
controls
all
installs
and
updates
to
your
software
Once
you’ve
installed
something
via
IM
you
can’t
delete
IM
without
first
uninstalling
all
software
it
manages
Install
the
right
version
of
IM
in
the
right
directory
You
can’t
move
or
uninstall
it
once
you
start
using
it
Working With Installation Manager

12. Reviewing
installed
software

13. Installation
Manager
-­‐
View
Installed
Packages
Reviewing
installed
software

14. Installation
Manager
-­‐
Modify,
Rollback,
Uninstall

15. Upgrading
The
Infrastructure

16. Applying DB2 Fixes
• Download
the
DB2
fix
for
the
fixpack
you
need
from
FixCentral
• I
prefer
to
use
the
Universal
server
fixpack
• Extract
the
downloaded
file
• for
Linux
run
installFixPack
(from
universal
directory)
• for
Windows
run
setup.exe
(from
the
ESE
directory)
Applying WAS Fixes
• Using
online
repository
via
Installation
Manager
• Downloading
fix
files
from
Fix
Central
• Apply
to
every
server
• Rolling
back
fixes
Applying TDI Fixes
• Download
the
fixpack
you
need
from
Fix
Central
• Extract
the
zip
file
into
a
folder
where
there
should
be
a
new
UpdateInstaller.jar
• copy
that
file
into
IBMTDIV7.1maintenance
• Run
applyUpdates.bat/sh
from
IBMTDIV7.1bin
• -­‐queryreg
(current
components
and
versions)

17. db2level
Verifying
DB2

18. Verifying
DB2
db2licm
-­‐l

19. • applyUpdates.bat/sh
-­‐update
locationofzipfixfile
• when
all
components
are
updated
run
query
fix
again
to
confirm
Applying
TDI
Fixes

20. Applying
IBM
Connections
Application
Fixes
01
Download
the
fixes
from
Fix
Central
copy
to
a
“fixes”
directory
under
IBMConnectionsUpdateInstaller
02
From
the
AppServer
bin
directory
run
setupCmdLine.sh
/bat
03
Go
to
a
command
line
and
from
the
UpdateInstaller
directory
run
“updateWizard.bat/sh”
The
installer
will
ask
you
if
you
have
backed
up
your
customizations
-­‐
don’t
lie
to
it
:-­‐)

21. Updating
Connections
-­‐
Cumulative
Releases

22. • There
should
be
an
IBM
technote
with
details
of
the
release
• For
v5
all
the
CRs
are
referenced
from
the
same
technote
• http://www-­‐01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg21683118
• The
technote
contains
details
of
all
the
CRs
Planning
a
Cumulative
Release
Fix

23. • The
CR
update
document
has
things
you
MUST
do
and
things
you
CAN
do
• MUST
DO
• Application
Updates
• DB
Schema
Updates
• Any
Filenet
or
Cognos
Updates
MUST
Do

24. • There
will
also
be
a
list
of
supported
versions
for
your
DB
server,
for
WAS,
for
LDAP,
for
Linux
and
Windows
• also
check
detailed
system
requirements
http://
www-­‐01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg27042395
CAN
Do

25. WEBSPHERE
Optional
Verify you also install
any iFixes with your
WAS fix packs
DB2
Optional
Is your DB2 server
used for anything
else?
DB2 SCHEMA CHANGES
CONNECTIONS
APPLICATIONS
FILENET
COGNOS
Required when
required, otherwise
never upgrade

26. WebSphere
from profilesDmgr01bin
backupConfig.xx <filename> -
nostop
21 3
Customizations
datasharedcustomizations
Databases
db2 backup database
peopledb to d: with 2
buffers buffer 1024
parallelism 1 compress
without prompting
Updating
Connections
-­‐
Backing
Up

27. • via
Installation
Manager
• Unzip
the
CR
update
file
e.g.
5.0.0.0-­‐IC-­‐Multi-­‐CR03-­‐
LO84244.zip
(there
is
a
single
file
for
multiple
OS)
Updating
Connections
Applications

28. Updating
Connections
Via
Installation
Manager

29. Updating
Connections
Via
Installation
Manager

30. • Before
starting
any
Connection
servers
• Check
the
logs
• c:programdataIBMInstallationManager
• IBMConnectionsversionlog
• Dmgr
SystemOut.log
Verifying
The
Install
Step
1

31. • The
nodeagent
on
the
application
server
profiles
should
be
started
• Dmgr
will
deploy
the
updated
apps
to
each
node
• Monitor
SystemOut.log
on
the
Dmgr
to
verify
when
the
apps
are
fully
deployed
• The
actual
files
are
deployed
from
• dmgrconfigcellscellnameapplications
To
• profilenameconfigcellscellnameapplications
• the
file
date/time
stamps
should
match
Verifying
The
Install
Step
2.

32. • Now
is
the
time
to
apply
the
DB
schema
changes
• Download
the
database
updates
zip
file
linked
to
from
the
update
document
http://www-­‐01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg21683118
• Use
the
readme
in
the
SQL
directory
to
find
the
commands
to
run
• make
sure
you
are
logged
in
as
the
DB2
administrator
• I
like
to
pipe
the
command
to
a
text
file
so
I
can
review
the
output
by
adding
>[outputfile]
after
each
line
Step
3.
Stop
Here
Before
Starting
Any
Connections

33. If
you
don’t
update
the
DB
Schema
the
application
servers
will
still
start
the
applications
just
won’t
work
check
SystemOut.log
for
errors
relating
to
versions
of
the
db
schema

34. • Sync
the
nodes
• Start
each
server
individually,
monitoring
the
SystemOut.log
for
any
errors
• Test
every
URL
works
• /files
• /blogs
• /communities
etc
• Test
the
search
works
by
using
the
search
validation
URL
• <hostname>/search/serverStatus
(case
sensitive)
After
Any
Fixes
Or
Updates

35. Upgrading
Connections
-­‐
New
Releases

36. Side
by
Side
vs
In
Place
Upgrades

37. • In
place
upgrades
mean
more
downtime
• No
opportunity
to
test
prior
to
cutover
• Any
issues
that
occur
in
Connections
post
upgrade
have
to
be
fixed
immediately
• Test
servers
enable
you
to
create
the
data
migration
xml
and
bat/sh
files
first
and
minimise
your
downtime
when
cutting
over
production
Risks…

38. Questions