Re: Upgrade in place Navigate 9.3 to 9.6.

avillanueva · ‎Nov 18, 2024

Planning a system upgrade with Windchill 12 to 13 as well. Looking to see who has been down this road ahead of me and to share feedback. Specifically these questions:

1. Will Navigate 9.6 work with Windchill 12.0.2 CPS8? Or will it fail since CPS is not current? If it does work, it would be great since I do not need to upgrade both at the same time.

2. Does upgrade in place alter or update the database? Just need to know in rehearsals if DB has to be reset as well.

3. Will any custom apps be an issue? I have a few in there. Just checking if there are any special concerns here.

slangley · ‎Nov 20, 2024

Hi @avillanueva

I've reached out to the Navigate team to see if they can answer your questions, but in terms of compatibility between Navigate and Windchill, I'm not sure Windchill 12.0.2 CPS8 is supported per the Release Advisor. Hopefully, the Navigate team will be able to confirm.

Regards.

--Sharon

avillanueva · ‎Nov 21, 2024

Thanks. I did see Release Advisor. There is supported and will not function. In this case, I am just looking to confirm the latter since the time window is short until we complete Windchill upgrade but it makes project planning a whole lot easier.

barko · ‎Nov 21, 2024

Will Navigate 9.6 work with Windchill 12.0.2 CPS8? Or will it fail since CPS is not current? If it does work, it would be great since I do not need to upgrade both at the same time.

Navigate 9.6 is not supported with Windchill 12.0.2.8. The CPS at the lowest supported level usually contains code changes necessary for Navigate to function with Windchill. The lowest supported CPS for Windchill 12.0.2 is CPS 20 (Windchill 12.0.2.20).

Does upgrade in place alter or update the database? Just need to know in rehearsals if DB has to be reset as well.

Yes. The new Navigate extensions and metadata will be written to the database. A database backup prior to rehearsal is recommended.

Will any custom apps be an issue? I have a few in there. Just checking if there are any special concerns here.

In Navigate 9.5.0 services in the Odata connector were classified as Public, Private, or Restricted. This caused some issues with some customizations that used OOTB services that could no longer be accessed. This caused so many problems with customer customizations that the classifications were removed in Navigate 9.5.4. Be aware of this if you decide to go to Navigate 9.5.0 for any reason. The classifications are not present in Navigate 9.6.0.

With each release of Navigate some PTC Java methods are updated. If customizations use methods that were updated the customizations may need editing to work again. An example of the changes is a change in the syntax of the method, which will require a corresponding update in the customization. Changes are documented in the PTC javadocs. This is very specific to the details in your customizations, and may be minor or major depending on what methods or services you have reused.

avillanueva · ‎Nov 21, 2024

Considering that I am moving to Windchill 13.0.2, I guess that means changes need to be made in parallel. New target system for Windchill like normal but I would have to rehearse on a clone of Navigate which makes upgrade in place pointless. Might as well clone it, upgrade the clone and test with WC 13 including custom apps, get those fixed if needed and then join with production WC 13 when its ready.

barko · ‎Nov 21, 2024

There is no viable rehost method for Navigate like there is for Windchill, but a VM clone should function for rehearsal because it retains the FQDN and hard-coded references to it. I think it may have an issue replacing the previous VM in Active Directory because the GUID may change. Talk to an Active Directory Administrator to be sure.

It appears to me that the surest way to proceed is to create a new VM and join the AD domain. Then do a fresh install of 9.3 on the new VM, restore the database from a backup of the original 9.3, and import the configuration and customizations from the original 9.3. Check that everything works as expected, then upgrade the newly installed 9.3. You can follow that procedure as many times as you feel necessary for rehearsal and then join PROD.

avillanueva · ‎Nov 21, 2024

I was able to get a working test instance (clone) of 9.3 and linked that up to my clone of Windchill. It was a slog but I was able to alter all the hostname locations to bring it up as "-test". I might be able to make use of that system to rehearse on. Agree, there should be better documents procedures for things like this.

CP_9153795 · ‎Nov 27, 2024

@avillanueva - Similar situation with upgrading Windchill (12.1 --> 13.1) and Thingworx Navigate (9.3 --> 9.6) .. Any suggestions or notes on cloning Thingworx would be great. Thanks