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How often are you applying Windchill 10.2 CPS (Critical Patch Sets) and how long is it taking?

sking
11-Garnet

How often are you applying Windchill 10.2 CPS (Critical Patch Sets) and how long is it taking?

We have multiple 10.2 Windchill environments (development, testing, staging) which are also clustered, some with multiple nodes. 

We will compare the files being updated to make sure that we are good on our existing customizations and configurations.

We will also do some level of testing before executing the PSI on production.

1. Back up codebases on all 4 prod nodes

2. Run CPS PSI on cache master node

3. Fix permission on IE tasks (we have non default settings on some which get wiped out when running the PSI)

4. Back up modified cach master codebase

5. Move\rename pre-CPS codebases on MS nodes

6. Restore cache master codebase from step 4 on MS nodes

7. Update new MS node codebases with site.xconf from pre-CPS codebase and propagate properties

8. Fix Creo publishing configuratin on each MS node

9. Fix middleware credentials on each MS node

10. Restart and a quick technical checkout

Just focusing on these 10 steps for production it takes a good 4-5 hours.

Our management is interested in what others are doing in the area of Critical Patch Sets; how often (monthly, quarterly, etc.) and how long (in hours per environment).

Can you guys share how often and how long (please specify monolithic or clustered)?

27 REPLIES 27
TomU
23-Emerald IV
(To:sking)

We have two environments, production and test, and both are monolithic (with separate database servers.)  Typically I will apply every CPS that comes out, so monthly.  Sometimes I will apply the CPS to test first, and other times I just go straight to production (but store a snapshot of the VMs first, just in case...)  I would guess that on average the whole process takes about an hour.

RandyJones
19-Tanzanite
(To:sking)

Like Tom I also apply every CPS, so monthly. I always apply first on a test server and then on production.  I also always take zfs snapshots before applying. Takes right at an hr per environment. Our setup is monolithic with master and 3 replica servers.

Interesting discussion as we have just moved to 10.2 and are looking into our strategy with regard to this.

Our dilemma is that we obviously want to install those CPS that include security patches, however some CPS force an upgrade of the WGM for 3rd part CAD apps which means we would need to upgrade several hundred CAD machines around the group at the same time. Not something we would want to be doing on a monthly basis.

Hi,

 

PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager for CPS is currently an optional installation in PTC Windchill 10.2 M030 CPS. This means the administrator has the option to choose whether to install PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager CPS.

 

• If the administrator chooses not to install 10.2 M030 PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager CPS and goes ahead with only PTC Windchill 10.2 M030 CPS, then there is no requirement to reinstall PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager on all client systems; however, the administrator would not receive any of the PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager fixes that were provided in PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager CPS.

 

• If the administrator chooses to install PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager CPS, then reinstallation of PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager on all client systems is mandatory.

 

• The administrator can also update the server installation later, if PTC Windchill Workgroup Manager CPS is required.

 

Regards,

 

Pankaj Mooteri

Product Manager - PTC

GaryMansell
6-Contributor
(To:pmooteri)

Hi Pankaj,

We were under the impression that the CPS WGM upgrade was not always optional - ie on occasion the CPS may insist that the WGM is updated - is this not the case?

Rgds

Gary

Hi Gary,

PTC has kept the option to impose mandatory WGM update ONLY in the case where there would be dependency on server side for WGM. We understand the efforts required for re-installation of WGM on all end users system, if we impose this restriction. Hence, we sincerely try to avoid such situations. So, we cannot provide a generic statement of all future WGM CPS will be optional in 10.2 M030.

In 10.2 M030, we are at 10.2 M030 CPS13 that is being qualified, but there is no restriction until now for mandatory update of WGM along with Windchill CPS update.

Please let me know, if any further clarifications on WWGM-CPS is required.

Regards,

Pankaj Mooteri

Product Manager - PTC

rkayasth
6-Contributor
(To:pmooteri)

Hello Pankaj,

A silly question.....I know...

But I am not able the CPS for my logins...can you guide me where these are available?

Thanks,

Ravin kayasth

TomU
23-Emerald IV
(To:rkayasth)
mmuth
1-Newbie
(To:sking)

We talked about this at the TCs in January some. One admin told me that it didn't take him all weekend to install the patch, only 7 to 8 hours.

We are still doing practice migrations, so no data to destroy yet. Just running the PSI has taken between 1 and 4 hours. Hopefully that will converge with experience. Add on taking backups, testing and restoring or deleting the backed up data, and I would expect to need about 4 to 6 hours per CPS.

Mary-Ann

sking
11-Garnet
(To:mmuth)

Mary-Ann,

Thank you for your input.  Are you running a monolithic or clustered environment?

mmuth
1-Newbie
(To:sking)

A monolithic environment with multiple remote file servers.

TomU
23-Emerald IV
(To:sking)

Keep in mind that the remote file servers only required the installation of the CCSDSU patch.  This goes much faster.  I haven't timed it, but I'm pretty sure it's less than 10 minutes per server...

mmuth
1-Newbie
(To:TomU)

But the ccsdsu file only contains PTC updates. If you need the Apache update (like in CPS 12), you will need to run the PSI on the file servers to get it. 

RandyJones
19-Tanzanite
(To:mmuth)

Mary-Ann Muth wrote:

But the ccsdsu file only contains PTC updates. If you need the Apache update (like in CPS 12), you will need to run the PSI on the file servers to get it.

For me the FileServer PSI takes about 12 minutes to run. It takes longer than that to copy the PSI from the master to the replicas. Same situation as the CcsDsu patch - takes longer to copy from the master to the replicas than to apply. Of course that depends on the wan bandwidth you have to your replicas.

TomU
23-Emerald IV
(To:mmuth)

Do you have any idea how long it takes to transfer 4+ GB half way around the world on a 1.5 mb connection... 

Edit:  Only the "CcsInstallerBundle.zip" and "CcsDsu.zip" need to be transferred to the remote site.  Not the entire 6+ GB CPS.

RandyJones
19-Tanzanite
(To:TomU)

Tom Uminn wrote:

Keep in mind that the remote file servers only required the installation of the CCSDSU patch.  This goes much faster.  I haven't timed it, but I'm pretty sure it's less than 10 minutes per server...

It takes around 6-7 minutes for me to apply the CcsDsu patch on my replicas. It takes longer than that to copy the CcsDsu files from the master to the replicas - depending on the wan bandwidth to the replicas.

RandyJones wrote:

Tom Uminn wrote:

Keep in mind that the remote file servers only required the installation of the CCSDSU patch.  This goes much faster.  I haven't timed it, but I'm pretty sure it's less than 10 minutes per server...

It takes around 6-7 minutes for me to apply the CcsDsu patch on my replicas. It takes longer than that to copy the CcsDsu files from the master to the replicas - depending on the wan bandwidth to the replicas.

I just updated a 11.0 F000 CPS01 replica to 11.0 F000 CPS02 and this process took 5min 24sec:

root@wc-fs03-wct01:~# windchill version; windchill stop; windchill start; windchill version

      Timestamp: March 04, 2016 - 10:33:23 (GMT: Mar 4, 2016 4:33:23 PM)

      Support     Support                           Installer                               

      Datecode    Release Number  Release Id        Sequence   Display Label                

  --  --------    --------------  ---------------   ---------  ---------------------        

      F000-CPS01  11.0            ie.11.0.0.01.15   01         PTC Windchill 11.0 Info*Engine

      F000-CPS01  11.0            wnc.11.0.0.01.15  01         PTC Windchill 11.0 Services  

  There are no patches installed.

  There is no non-default locale support installed.

Server Manager stopped.

Starting the CCS update process.

CCS Update: Starting extraction and registration.

Preparing to extract files, this may take a while...

Number of zip entries (file elements) is:391

Completed!

CCS update process completed.

2016-03-04 10:38:42,345 INFO  [main] wt.manager.ServerLauncher - Starting ServerManager

      Timestamp: March 04, 2016 - 10:38:47 (GMT: Mar 4, 2016 4:38:47 PM)

      Support     Support                           Installer                               

      Datecode    Release Number  Release Id        Sequence   Display Label                

  --  --------    --------------  ---------------   ---------  ---------------------        

      F000-CPS02  11.0            ie.11.0.0.02.10   01         PTC Windchill 11.0 Info*Engine

      F000-CPS02  11.0            wnc.11.0.0.02.10  01         PTC Windchill 11.0 Services  

  There are no patches installed.

  There is no non-default locale support installed.

root@wc-fs03-wct01:~#

sking
11-Garnet
(To:sking)

‌Would love to hear from someone with a multi node cluster configuration.   Thanks for all the feedback so far which has been great!

jessh
5-Regular Member
(To:sking)

So shouldn't that be just a matter of installing the CPS on one node and using your node mirroring strategy (rsync, robocopy, or SCM, e.g. git) to mirror that to the other nodes.

[I assume a node mirroring strategy as running a cluster without one is a not recommended.]

It seems to me that if PTC is trying to emulate MS with monthly updates/patches, then the goal would be to have it as automatic as MS does as well.  The software needs to be intelligent enough to download, stop WC, install new software, and restart either automatically or with very minimal software interaction.  (Like MS.)

Anything less and PTC is placing additional burden on it's customers to maintain the system.

-marc

RandyJones
19-Tanzanite
(To:mdebower)

Marc DeBower wrote:

It seems to me that if PTC is trying to emulate MS with monthly updates/patches, then the goal would be to have it as automatic as MS does as well.  The software needs to be intelligent enough to download, stop WC, install new software, and restart either automatically or with very minimal software interaction.  (Like MS.)

Anything less and PTC is placing additional burden on it's customers to maintain the system.

-marc

I am extremely glad that PTC does NOT do that. I would never want my Windchill systems to automatically download something, install it, and restart. There are also Windchill installs that are not connected to the outside world because of security reasons.

Installing CPS's and maintenance updates is just not that difficult if you practice on a test environment, create a cheat sheet from that, and then update the production system.

...and just like MS allows for those cases, so would PTC.

The software would need to give options for automatic download and install or for manual intervention.

Why should a $49.00 software be more feature rich than a $100K one?

Hi Marc

If you allow me to participate to this discussion the answer is exactly in your last sentence. this is a 100K$ software so each instance is almost unique in it's configuration. I can't imagine what would be a troubleshooting process for updates in case of your scenario. Software that have auto update like windows are not open to complex configuration nor to customization. Windchill is highly configurable and customize-able solution so any update scenario from PTC have to handle all cases from the small OOTB deployment to complex customized/clustered deployments.

Regards,

Invisigoth
14-Alexandrite
(To:sking)

Hello,

I landed here while looking for hints to see if my upgrade is 'stuck' or if some parts of the install just take a really long time.
This is a 10.2 M010 CPS-9 to M030 CPS-13 update.  Only the Windchill Directory server service is running, since the install stopped to notify that was needed.

It's been stuck here for about an hour:

---------------------------------

Beginning installation sequence...

Stopping PTC HTTP Server...

PTC HTTP Server is not running

Packaging PTC Solution Installer for Remote File Server Support...

Installing Java Development Kit (JDK)...

Java Development Kit (JDK) installed to E:\PTC\Windchill\Java

Packaging Java Development Kit (JDK) installer for Remote File Server Support...

Installing PTC Embedded Servlet Engine (based on Apache Tomcat)...

PTC Embedded Servlet Engine (based on Apache Tomcat) installed to E:\PTC\Windchill\Windchill\tomcat

Packaging PTC HTTP Server installer for Remote File Server Support...

Packaging PTC Embedded Servlet Engine (based on Apache Tomcat) installer for Remote File Server Support...

Installing PTC HTTP Server...

PTC HTTP Server installed to E:\PTC\Windchill\HTTPServer

Installing PTC Pro/INTRALINK Oracle...

--------------------------

The screen says "Installing . . .Executing Action ptc.windchill.install.suite.SubinstallerManager" with the status bar at 3%.

This is a single VM test environment so if I have to cancel out I can.  How would I know if I have to?

The disk and CD icons for the VM are very active.

Thank you,

ML Starkey

ML Starkey wrote:

Hello,

I landed here while looking for hints to see if my upgrade is 'stuck' or if some parts of the install just take a really long time.
This is a 10.2 M010 CPS-9 to M030 CPS-13 update.  Only the Windchill Directory server service is running, since the install stopped to notify that was needed.

It's been stuck here for about an hour:

.
.
.

The screen says "Installing . . .Executing Action ptc.windchill.install.suite.SubinstallerManager" with the status bar at 3%.

This is a single VM test environment so if I have to cancel out I can.  How would I know if I have to?

You can tail the <Windchill-InstallDir>/PSI/installer/logs/PTCSOLNINSTALLER_PtcInstall.log file. The installer writes to this file.

Invisigoth
14-Alexandrite
(To:RandyJones)

Thanks Randy!

Invisigoth
14-Alexandrite
(To:Invisigoth)

. . . . I just knew once I posted something, the installer would get further.  And it has!  I'll presume the answer to my question is: some portions may take a while.

Thanks!

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