Upgrade : Upgrade Methodology
  

Upgrade Methodology

General Information

Please note that the Upgrade wizard will run all necessary scripts etc. for you. There is no need to run any scripts manually, unless specifically stated!

Possible Upgrade Path

Before you start, you need to make sure that you know the following:
a) Which is your current version of Orchestra? The version number can be found in the footer of Orchestra.
b) What possible upgrade path(s) are available to you, depending on your current Orchestra version. The image below illustrates this:

Before you begin (Test and Production environment) - Checklist

 
Step
Information
Check
Check your possible upgrade path.
 
Make sure that you have read through the Release Notes document, since it contains important information that needs to be considered before upgrade commences.
 
 
Make sure that you have your license details in place.
You can not use the same license key as for your current Orchestra version, if that version is Orchestra 5.x, since the Licensing model has been completely updated for Orchestra 6.x. For more information, see “Licensing” .
 
Obtain or download all software artefacts to be upgraded.
 
 
Make sure that the Orchestra Installation folder isn’t set to read only. This can be set in the properties for that folder.
 
 
Backup installation folder.
If you use the normal Windows operation of copying and pasting the folder, or dragging and dropping it, you may encounter problems with file names being too long. This means that some files will not be copied and you will be prompted about this problem. If this happens, cancel the copy operation and remove anything that was already copied to the target folder. Then, try using robocopy command line tool, instead. Entering “robocopy system backup /E” on the command line, for example, will copy the folder named “system” and make a copy named “backup”. Change these names as desired.
 
Backup databases.
 
 
Backup media content files. Optionally snapshot VM if using virtual machine technology for host.
Media content is all media files, such as images and videos, that are running on media displays and similar surfaces.
 
Prepare Regression Tests.
See “Regression Test” .
 
Prepare Performance Tests.
See “Performance Test” .
 
 

Suggested Upgrade Order

Naturally, depending on how your system is set up and configured, another upgrade order may be applicable for you. However, the following can be seen as a suggested guideline, with references to the applicable sections of this document:
1. Upgrade central and stat. These two components need to be upgraded at the same time. See “Orchestra Central” .
2. Upgrade distributed queue agents. See “Distributed Queue Agent” .
To be able to verify a successful central setup, you need to upgrade at least one distributed queue agent. When central and stat have been successfully verified, you can upgrade the rest of the distributed queue agents. The reason for this is that central and stat cannot be reverted if queue agents have been upgraded.
However, there is nothing that prevents the upgrade of Central and Stat at the same time as the distributed Queue Agents, given that the Central and Stat upgrade has been verifying before doing the distributed Queue Agent upgrades.
Please note that old queue agents must be upgraded as soon as possible and a combination of different versions must only be used temporary. Central and stat can work together with older queue agents (not more than 2 main versions back), but these older queue agents will not have all the new functionality.
3. When upgrading distributed agents on QEP based products, we advise to upgrade the QEP firmware at the same time. New QEP firmware includes security fixes and other improvements.
4. Upgrade BI. See “Business Intelligence”
5. Upgrade unit types and widgets, if you choose not to upgrade them automatically during the upgrade process. See “Unit types” and “Widgets” .
If testing fails at any point in the process, restore the environment from backups, address the problem, and repeat the process.