So we have IBM Connections installed, but now it’s time to consider what and when to update. It could be a WebSphere fix or a DB2 fixpack, a new application, or database scheme. Some updates are for security, some for performance and some for new features. In this session we'll discuss how you can decide when and what to upgrade, how to plan for and perform a safe upgrade, test when it’s complete and what things can trip you up along the way. All of this is based on lessons learned over hundreds of deployments.

1. Planning and Completing an IBM Connections Upgrade
TI-1084
Gabriella Davis
The Turtle Partnership
gabriella@turtlepartnership.com

2. Let’s talk about me for a minute
• 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
• gabriella@turtlepartnership.com
• twitter: gabturtle
• http://connections101.info
• http://turtleblog.info

3. Planning

4. What Are We Dealing With?
• Fixes
▪ WebSphere
▪ Applications
• Fixpacks
▪ Tivoli
▪ DB2 /SQL etc
• CRs (Cumulative Releases)
• .. and now Day 1 fixes

5. Deciding When / If To Upgrade
• 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

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

7. Subscription Options By Product

8. Before Any Fixes Or Updates
• Backup WebSphere
▪ profilesdmgrbinbackupConfig.sh/bat d:filename.zip -
nostop
• Backup the databases
▪ db2 backup database peopledb to d: with 2 buffers buffer
1024 parallelism 1 compress without prompting
• Read all the documentation
▪ http://www-01.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter
• Download all the necessary files

9. Working With Installation Manager
• 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
• You can upgrade it to the latest version though

10. Reviewing installed software

11. Reviewing installed software
• Installation Manager - View Installed Packages

12. Installation Manager - Modify, Rollback, Uninstall

13. Applying WebSphere Fixes

14. Applying WebSphere Fixes
• Using online repository via Installation Manager
• Downloading fix files from Fix Central
• Apply to every server
▪ Rolling back fixes

15. Applying FixPacks

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)

17. Verifying DB2
db2level

18. Verifying DB2
db2licm -l

19. 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)

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

21. Applying Interim Connections Application Fixes
• Download the fixes from Fix Central
▪ copy to a “fixes” directory under IBMConnections
UpdateInstaller
▪ From the AppServerbin directory run setupCmdLine.sh /bat
• Go to a command line and from the UpdateInstaller directory
run “updateWizard.bat/sh”
• It will ask you if you have backed up your customizations - don’t
lie to it :-)

22. Connections 5.5 Fixes

23. Updating Connections - Cumulative Releases

24. Planning a Cumulative Release Fix
• 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
• There are no CRs for Connections 5.5 yet but there are Day 1
fixes here
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg21972646

25. MUST Do
• 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

26. CAN Do
• 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

27. Deciding What To Upgrade & In What Order
• WebSphere (optional?)
▪ Verify you also install any iFixes with your WAS fix packs
• DB2 (optional?)
▪ Is your DB2 server used for anything else?
• Connections Applications
• DB Schema Changes
• FileNet
• Cognos

28. Updating Connections - Backing Up
• WebSphere
▪ from profilesDmgr01binbackupConfig.xx <filename> -
nostop
• Customizations
▪ datasharedcustomizations ..
• Databases
▪ db2 backup database peopledb to d: with 2 buffers buffer
1024 parallelism 1 compress without prompting

29. Updating Connections Applications
• 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)

30. Updating Connections Via Installation Manager

31. Updating Connections Via Installation Manager

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

33. Verifying The Install Step 2.
• 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

34. Step 3. Stop Here Before Starting Any Connections Servers
• 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 (v5)
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg21972646 (v5.5)
▪ 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

35. 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

36. After Any Fixes Or Updates
• 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)

37. Upgrading Connections - New Releases
Hello 5.5 !

38. In-Place vs Side By Side
• Upgrading from 5.0 - 5.5 can be done in place or side by side
▪ I avoid upgrading in place since there’s no way to back out
once you start
▪ It does mean running duplicate hardware until you cutover
to the new environment
▪ but it’s much safer and lower risk

39. Planning
• Installing Connections 5.5 is a small part of what you will need
to plan for
• If you are doing an in-place upgrade you will have to uninstall
the Connections applications before installing the latest version

40. Planning
▪ DB2 installation and patching
▪ TDI installation and patching
▪ Verify the Linux libraries and OS are at the right level
▪ Creating 5.0 databases to match the source data
▪ Patch the databases to match the source data
▪ Writing migration XML and script files to move the DB data
▪ Migrate the DB data
▪ Upgrade all the databases to v5.5 DB Schema
▪ Exporting artifacts from the existing environment
▪ Backing up and restoring the databases that aren’t migrated but need to be reused
eg. FEBDB, FNOS, FNGCD
▪ Installing and patching WAS
▪ THEN…..

41. Planning - More
▪ INSTALL CONNECTIONS…
▪ Upgrade to the latest CR that Connections supports
▪ Upgrade all the databases to the latest CR DB Schema
▪ Import the artifacts that you exported from 5.0
▪ Migrate the SSL keydb from source to destination
▪ Import the WAS internal key into the keydb
▪ Copy the shared content stores
▪ Copy the local search to one node
▪ Copy over the customisations and verify they still work
▪ Synchronise files in communities

42. Test All Existing Customisations
• In any Connections environment I recommend deploying a test
server
• All components other than Cognos can be installed on one
server
• Having a test server enables Customisations, iFixes and Interim
fixes to be tested before deploying to production

43. Things To Watch Out For…
• The keydb used by IHS must have the WAS certificate from the
deployment manager installed
• If you buy a 4096 SSL certificate you need to configure
WebSphere to support that by using unrestricted java library
files
• The XML files imported as part of the artifacts import may not
work as expected on Connections 5.5
• There may be configuration settings that are no longer
supported to in the wrong syntax

44. Connections 5.5 Day 1 Fixes
• IBM released a number of critical, required Connections,
database and Cognos fixes on the day Connections 5.5 became
available.
• These should be used as your primary install files , not the ones
you download from Passport Advantage
• Make sure you download all these files before starting your
install or migration
• Instructions and download links are all here
• http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?
uid=swg21972646

45. Connections 5.5 Day 1 Fixes
• There is a new DB Wizard to be used for creating or upgrading
databases
• http://ibm.co/1Pnwwqx (Windows) http://ibm.co/1WShfiU (*ix)
• There is a new UpdateInstaller file for Connections to enable the
new fixes to be applied http://ibm.co/1VvIBtN
• There are new iFixes for Connections http://ibm.co/1nDjtH6
• There is a new migration tool if you are moving from an earlier
version of Connections which brings in your artifacts and
configuration files http://ibm.co/1KfI1Qc
• There is a new Cognos wizard to be used when deploying
Cognos http://ibm.co/20bCTnH (Windows)

46. Thank you
Questions?

47. Acknowledgements and Disclaimers
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48. Acknowledgements and Disclaimers cont.
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