windchill 12.1.2.5

[RW_10682860]

We are planning to move from Windchill PDM Essentials is 11.1 M020 to Windchill PLM 12.1.2.5

Prior to upgrade, documents say we need to run a WinDu tool. Where is a download link for a recent version of Windu diagnostic tool. I was able to get to the following page:

https://support.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/freefull_cs.jsp?&im_dbkey=122537&icg_dbkey=893&_gl=1*cpxl6v*_ga*MTgzMDg1NzM3OS4xNjgzODI3MTM4*_ga_1QBT6P6HR1*MTY4ODY0ODYxMC41Ny4xLjE2ODg2NDg5NjEuMC4wLjA.*_ga_CBN5QVB9VJ*MTY4ODY0ODYxMC40NS4xLjE2ODg2NDg5NjEuMC4wLjA.

If this happens to be the right page, which zip file should we download. Also, is there a guide to use the WinDU tool and resolve the fixes it recommends.

Sincerely,

Raj

[jbailey]

Windu patches after Windchill 10.2 are bundled in the CPS patches.  I would consult the CPS release notes to see what CPS patch has the latest Windu bundled - and then update to at least that CPS.

PTC does not provide Windu patch updates out side of CPS patches anymore - so you will have to apply the CPS.

[avillanueva]

Unless they are on a really old CPS of 11.1 M020, WinDU should already exist in the Windchill install. This should be run regularly as part of maintenance. Do you think upgrading CPS ahead of a version change is just extra effort?

[jbailey]

It is until it isn't 🙂

It would likely depend on CPS notes and if you ran into issues during a rehearsal  

[RW_10682860]

If the requirement before upgrading is to run WinDU then it should be IMO. However, it is an extra effort since we are anyways planning to move to a upper version so why run a Diagnostic, Apparently there will be many failures in that case which is quite obvious.

Honestly running a WinDU on a system which has a older windchill version and that is supposed to go to a new version yet does not make much sensible. But yeah!

[jbailey]

The importance of running Windu before an upgrade is not just to fix issues in the current Windchill, but to identify problems that would prevent a proper upgrade/migration. The reason you would use the latest Windu, is there may be newer validators based on the latest versions of Windchill available to upgrade to. 

[RW_10682860]

So if we have a new machine/VM with a newer Windows OS and we would install Windchill 12.1.2.5 to be precise, is there a need to run WinDU then? This would not sure help right?
However if we upgrade a existing system your answer is perfect! Thank you for all the responses.

Sincerely

[jbailey]

You would be running Windu on the source system.  It does an a "pre-upgrade mandatory" check. If it doesn't pass the these checks, your upgrade will fail (even if it is a rehost upgrade).

[RW_10682860]

Ok now all this when connected makes sense. Perfect. Thanks a ton for the clarity!

[buenosroas]

Hi

Sorry for the rather long (and unsolicited) post, but I just couldn't help it. 

Are you planning to do the upgrade yourselves? And if so, have you tried to upgrade Windchill before? I presume not since you're moving from Essentials to PDMLink. 

If you haven't already, make sure to study the Installation and Upgrade guide. Make a plan ahead. Upgrading Windchill is a complex process. 

• Before you start a test upgrade, be sure to get a backup of your clean target system. Some times you need to reset and start with a blank slate, and this is by far the easiest way.
• Be sure to do a test migration first and document all steps, commands used, errors encountered and what you did to fix them. It is quite normal to face a blocking issue that you need to resolve before you may continue. Be prepared to have to start from scratch. When you have successfully completed the test migration and have a running system afterwards, test everything to make sure it is working to satisfaction.
• When you have made sure it is running ok, consider doing a rehearsal migration where you run through the same steps that you used in the test migration. When you want to do the final migration and go live you may find that not every step you did in the test migration are applicable to the final migration. That is the reason why you'd want to do a rehearsal before go-live.
• I posted a step by step process for upgrading Windchil previously here https://community.ptc.com/t5/Windchill/Upgrade-from-Windchill-11-0-to-WIndchill-12-0/m-p/881315#M72473 that you may find useful. While this list contains references to Oracle and Creo, the same steps apply even if you have SQL Server or a different CAD solution. 
• If you have a reseller at hand you may want to consider hiring help or outsourcing this task to them. They'll have the necessary experience and a direct link to PTC in case of emergencies.

Good luck!

[RW_10682860]

Thank you a ton. The reply is not long of course but detailed and helpful. Grateful for that and time taken to help out. I will sure go into this information line by line. 

I am doing this the first time. We are planning to have a new brand VM with a recent Windows OS and Windchill 12.1.2.5.

We are on now "Windchill PDM Essentials 11.1 M020". To begin with the abbreviations "PDM" and PLM" was so confusing. But now we get that there is no more PDM Essentials and so it is PLM 12.1.2.5.

But do please rectify if I have understood it wrong. 

Hoping a smooth ride!. Thanks again for everyone's and your clear explanation and insights that will help us a long way!

Sincerely,

Raj

[buenosroas]

You're very welcome.

One of the things that you will face when going for Windchill 12.x is that 12 no longer includes Windchill DS bundled. The compatibility matrices (https://release-advisor.ptc.com/releaseMatrix?product=Windchill%20PLM&version=12.1.0.0) just state that it is compliant with any "v3 compliant directory service" software. Since you have Windchill DS 11.2 already I would make use of that together with Windchill 12.

We have and it's working beautifully. Even if you have Windchill connected to Active Directory I highly recommend that you make use of Windchill DS for the Site Admin (wcadmin) and/or any other users that you make use of for operational purposes (i.e Solr admin user, publishing user etc). That way you will be able to disconnect Windchill from AD completely and still have a fully operational system.

If I recall Windchill Essentials was only supported with SQL Server, so these steps (from the other post I linked to) may not be applicable to your process:

• Execute pre-import queries
• Prep DB before import to avoid broken indexes! 
• Fix broken indexes
• Fix broken packages

Those were in my list because the process of using Oracle datapump (a backup method) would some time break indexes that would have to be recreated after importing the DB.

Of all the steps in there, your most important thing is to make a backup of the clean LDAP configuration before you migrate from 11 to it. Keep the backup all the way untill you are live on 12. It is by far the hardest thing to reset if you lose the clean config.

Again, good luck. 🙂