To Upgrade or Install New for ES2?

[g5spark]

We currently have LiveCycle ES (v8.2 SP3)/JBOSS installed in our environment.  We are looking to move to ES2.5 (v9.5) but dont know whether to upgrade the existing [ES --> ES2 + SP2] OR create a new instance of ES2 [+SP2] on our server?

Since all of our workbench processes are short lived and we do not use Rights management i've read we can do either..  Can anyone comment on why/which method is better and why?

Is a new install quicker?

Our production environment is clustered between ServerA and ServerB.  Does the clustering of our prod env, change your answer?

Our intention for the prod upgrade is

Stop locators.

Stop ServerA.  All transactions goto Server B.

Upgrade Server A.

Restart Server A and stop Server B.  All transactions will goto Server A.

Upgrade Server B.

Restart locators.

Env will be clustered again..

[Hina_Rastogi]

Hi g5spark,

There are specific advantages/disadvantages to each of the options you have. I'm listing them below and I hope that would help you make a decision.

In case you choose to upgrade, you'll be reusing a lot of stuff from your existing installation, global document storage (GDS) directory contents and database being some of these.

The benefit of upgrade is:

1) You'll NOT have to re-create your processes in LiveCycle ES2.5

2) If you have configured an LDAP directory server, it will come pre-configured

3) If you have any custom DSCs that will also be brought forward.

4) Any configuration settings added/modified in LiveCycle Administration Console will also be retained.

5) A cluster upgrade is similar to a standalone upgrade and doesn't require anything special.

Upgrade is a little lengthier than a fresh install in the terms that:

1) You will have to shutdown your existing system and take a backup of your global document storage (GDS) directory contents and the database along with few other things described in detail in upgrade documentation.

2) You can continue to use your existing processes as is, however, if you want to take advantage of the new Application Model of LiveCycle ES2.5 you MAY have to do some manual modifications to your processes.

3) Considering that your environment is a clustered one, you must bring the entire cluster down, you cannot upgrade each cluster node independently.

In case you choose to go for a fresh installation, you cannot reuse anything from your existing insallation.

The benefit of a new install is:

1) You don't have any application downtime. Once you have your new system up and running, you can just communicate it to your users to shift from older to newer server.

2) You don't have to worry about taking backups and restoring them.

3) You will create your processes directly in the new Application Model.

Few disadvantages of a fresh install would be:

1) You'll need to write your processes from scratch which should include the time of learning the new Application Model.

2) Any custom components would have to be re-deployed.

3) Any custom configurations would have to made again.

Let me know if there are still doubts around any of the approach you are considering and I'll be happy to help.

Thanks and Regards,

Hina Rastogi

[g5spark]

Hina

Thanks for the reply..

I do have some questions with regard to clustered env....

You state

1) You don't have any application downtime. Once you have your new system up and running, you can just communicate it to your users to shift from older to newer server.

3) Considering that your environment is a clustered one, you must bring the entire cluster down, you cannot upgrade each cluster node independently.

Are you saying that if I do an upgrade, i have to have downtime?  That may be the determiner of which option we proceed with.  Here's what i was thinking we'd do for prod..

I was told that if we turn off the locators, that we will get errors reported in the clusterbut it wont stop the processing...

2nd. you state

1) You'll need to write your processes from scratch which should include the time of learning the new Application Model.

Why can't i export and import my existing workbench processes into our new env as per

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/livecycle/9.0/leverage_legacy_solutions.pdf

[Hina_Rastogi · Accepted solution]

Hi g5spark,

Yes, in case you choose to upgrade, you'll have a downtime.

The downtime is required to take a consistent backup of the data associated with your current LiveCycle system.

This data will be used during the upgrade process, hence, you must have a copy of it and it is also required in the event you encounter an unexpected failure during upgrade.

However, this is the ONLY downtime required.

In a LiveCycle cluster, the global document storage (GDS) directory contents and the database is shared amongst the cluster nodes, hence you cannot do an upgrade per node.

If one node is upgraded, the other nodes will automatically have upgraded GDS and database contents. The only difference will be that upgraded node with have new EARs and the non-upgraded nodes will continue to run old EARs against upgraded GDS and database, which may result into errors.

Yes, you can leverage you existing processes through import/export. Sorry to have missed that in my earlier reply. But yes, you'll have to have knowledge to Application Model in that case too. In case of upgrade, you don't require to do anything at all.

Thanks and Regards,

Hina Rastogi