PDMLink 10.0 upgrade

Ben,

The Upgrade guide is a "just do this" document with no real explanation of why.The process really is doing an upgrade of the 9.1 data but it is doing it in the context of the 10.0 installation. There are a lot of tedious 'preparation' steps that buddy the water with respect to what is really going on. Windchill "upgrade"is split into5 'basic' steps.

1. Clone 9.1 and configure it to meet the upgrade requirements: clean WINDU report, WindchillDS, no cluster configuration, resource allocations, etc.


2. Install 10.0 and configure it toaddress 9.1configuration and customizations.


3. Copy the 9.1 LDAP, file vaults and database ot the 10.0 server without overwriting the 10.0 information.


4. Run the upgrade tool on the 10.0 system


5. Validate and repeat or go live.

1. You still need a full clone of 9.1 to support the "upgrade" process. Don't attempt to upgrade directly from production. Maybe you have noticed all the configuration changes from 9.1 are manually applied to 10.0 prior to running the upgrade tool? Maybe you also noticed the upgrade toolsettings don'texplicitly identify the source9.1 server? I believe the source system is only used to reconfigure file vaults, upgrade from Aphelion to WindchillDS, convert from cluster to monolithic Windchill server,and perform other upgrade preparation steps that could negatively impact your production system.The 9.1 source systemdoesn't appear to be directly used by the the upgrade tool - unless you are using it as your file vaults server. That said, I haven't tried to turn it off when running the upgrade tool to see if anything fails.

PTC Technical Support wants you to have a second clone of 9.1 (turned off) to use as a pre-upgrade reference point just in case the upgrade process fails. I haven't needed it for smaller, simpler Windchill deployments but I'm guessing if I ever have an upgrade failure it will be invaluable.

2. The 10.0 system is a clean installation but you must evaluate all 9.1 system tweaks not stored in the database or LDAP and migrate them to the 10.0 system. That includes - but is not limited to - property changes in site.xconf and other xconf files, rbinfo changes in the wtCustom folder (e.g. custom life cycle state names or custom file/state based revision series), and all 'customizations' found in the wtSafeArea folder.

3. You mustcopy the 9.1 database instance to the 10.0 database server (don't rehost it). It must remain a separate database instance and not overwrite the 10.0 instance. The 9.1 database instance will be upgraded "in place" on the 10.0 database server by the upgrade tool and will become your future 10.0 database.

The 9.1 LDAP entries (entire structure) will be imported into the 10.0 LDAP server and co-exist as a separate nodal structure going forward. Handle the file vaults however you desire based on the upgrade process options.

4. The update tool may take some time to complete but is the easiest step in the process. As far as I can tell it does not reference the 9.1 clone except maybe to point to a file vaults location -depending on how you chose to handle file vaults.

5. Validation is relatively straight forward. Review Windchill's and the update tool's logs for errors. Run WINDU again, validate file vaults and other system configuration settings. Then spot check the data to ensure it is good.

Kind Regards,

Matt

In Reply to Ben Loosli:

Planning an upgrade from PDMLink 9.1m060 to 10.0m030 and the process is confusing me. We are also migrating from 32-bit hardware to 64-bit hardware. Let me set the current situation and then the proposed one.

Server 1 has Windchill, WindchillDS, Apache, Tomcat and the file vaults

Server 2 has Oracle 11gr2 and is already a 64-bit server.

Server 3 will be the new 64-bit host for what is running on Server 1

Using he PTC Windchill Upgrade Guide for release 9.x to 10.0 released January 2012 with Windchill 10.0m030.

The upgrade steps are basically this:

Run WinDu and resolve errors - done

Export the database and the LDAP data - database is not being moved or rehosted

Copy Vaults to new server - an all day process for us.

Already did the WindchillDS conversion

This is where the steps start toconfuse me- Install the Target system and verify it runs. To me the target system is Windchill 10m030. I have no problem building a new 10.0m030 system and getting it to run. But where does my site.xconf come into the conversion between servers? My queues, workflows, roles, ACLs and all of that are alreadyover as part of the Oracle data but they are in 9.1 'format' not 10.0 'format'.

No customizations, so this can be skipped

Now for the really confusing part - Import the database and LDAP into the target system. Oracle data is already in the new serevr and proper version. - What do I need to import then into Windchill 10.0m030? Do I need to use another system and import the 11gR2 dump from the 9.1 'version' of Oracle into a new 10.0 'version' of the database?

Run the Upgrade Manager

Execute final upgrade steps

Validate the upgrade runs

So my main issues are the database and the support files under the loadpoint of Windchill and codebase and getting them upgraded. Does the Upgrade Manager handle these other tasks? I have read the Windchill Upgrade Reference guides, but they are as clear as mud.

Any help in understanding the isssues involved with this are appreciated. Maybe I just need to think of it as a rehost of 9.1 and then an upgrade to 10 and let the steps fall into place.

PS: I am NOT looking for offers from consultants to do the work for me. None of you are qualified to work on our production system which is in a classifed non-internet connected environment.

Matt Meadows

Solutions Architect
VIRSO Inc
O: 618 937 8115
C: 314 749 8377
E: mmeadows@virsoinc.com