®

IBM FileNet P8 v3.5 to v4.5 Migration

Paul Reeves, Laurent Vincent

Stuttgart, July 8-9, 2009

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Some Thoughts about this Session

 We recommend using Lab Services for upgrades

 We do not recommend customers upgrade from P8
3.5 to 4.5 by themselves
– Customers can purchase Premium Support Services delivered
by the Global Upgrade/Install Team

 So…

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Our Goal for this Session

 Is Not to learn how to perform the upgrade, but…

 Understand the P8 3.5 to 4.5 upgrade process

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3.5 to 4.5 Upgrades – Current Status

 More complicated than new install due to J2EE CE
– Will require installation of an “additional” application server for
the Content Engine
 Average time to complete the upgrade is 6 - 8 weeks
 The upgrade process has 24 tasks
– Fewer tasks than a new installation

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What IS Supported
 Records Manager 4.5
 eForms 4.0.2
 E-Mail Manager 4.0.2
 Records Crawler – Not Supported as of January 2009
 BPF 4.1.0-001
 SharePoint 2.2.0.1
 Rendition Engine 4.5
 Content Search Engine 4.5
– Must re-index all of your content

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What is NOT Supported

 Can’t change LDAP provider during upgrade
– Can’t have 3.5 with Active Directory, then go with
Sun Java System Directory Server in 4.5
– Would need to do this before or after the upgrade
– 3.5 LDAP migration tool is available, but has limited functionality
 Can’t change database during upgrade
– Would need to do this before or after the upgrade
 Can’t have 4.5 CE from 3.5 AE
– Now is the time to do a fresh 4.5 AE install on your new 4.5
Application Server

Important Information!

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What Needs to be Updated?

 Configuration Data
– GCD was a file in 3.5, now it gets stored in CE GCD database

 Data in Object Store database(s)

 Minor upgrade of XML file for file stores
 Process Engine in place upgrade and database
upgrade
 Application Engine in place upgrade
 Applications
– .Net, Java, COM

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Order of Upgrade Process

 Back everything up
– Database, File Stores, GCD (in P8 3.5)
 Content Engine must go first
– New 4.5 App Server is installed, create CE GCD
database, upgrade Object Stores and upgrade file
stores (minor change to stake.xml file)
 Process Engine (4.5)
– Not a “fresh install”, upgrade in place
– For SQL Server, you will need to create ODBC
connections
 Application Engine (4.0.2)
– Upgrade in place

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4.0 First, or Straight to 4.5?

 If you are at the latest 3.5.x patch levels,

you can go straight to 4.5
 Engineering recommends not going from
3.5 to 4.0, then from 4.0 to 4.5
 Bug fixes in 4.5
 New functionality in 4.5

Conclusion: Go Straight to P8 4.5!

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Mixed Components
 We now support mixed versions of P8
components
– Example: Could have CE 4.0.1, AE 4.0.2, and
PE 4.5
 This is only for P8 4.0 or P8 4.5
 An easier way to upgrade!
– Difficult to upgrade 5 farmed AEs and 5 farmed
CEs in one weekend!
 “Rolling” Upgrade NOT supported
– Example: cannot have 2 CEs, one at 4.5 and one
at 4.0.1

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Reserved Words

 Content Engine “reserves” certain property and folder

names
– Example: “Property” and “Name” are reserved words

 If you have a metadata property in your P8 3.5

application called “IBM”, and “IBM” is a reserved word
in P8 4.5, your Content Engine upgrade will fail
 Reserved Word checking tool available from CSS
 P8 4.5.1 CE will have “F_Property” metadata

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High Availability in P8 4.5

 Could do either CE farm or cluster in 3.5
 In 4.5 we do not support “server independent” farming
of the CE. We support App Server Clusters
– Example: WAS ND WLM (Workload Manager)
– Don’t use hardware load balancing for CE EJB traffic!
 PE can now be farmed
– State was pushed down into the database
 AE farming same as 3.5
 Reference HA/DR tech note

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Application Development Considerations

 P8 4.0.x provides several API compatibility layers

which applications can continue to use
 Applications that do not need to utilize 4.0.x features
require no transformation
– If your 3.5 application does not require any 4.x functionality,
your application will work
 Applications that need to leverage new features of
4.0.x will require modification

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Application Development Considerations

 Existing applications which utilize Content or Process

Engine 3.5.x Java APIs can take advantage of
backwards compatibility provided by 4.0.x
 3.x COM API can leverage 4.0.x backward
compatibility but may require code changes
 .NET applications using COM interoperability to
access P8 will no longer work with P8 4.0.x
 Be aware of event action changes

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Other Considerations

 Trend: Customers are going from Windows to Unix

– PE is usually already on Unix, so why not CE too?

 Think about taking advantage of new HA in P8 4.5

– PE Farming
– WebSphere Clusters for CE

 We are now bundling DB2 and WAS with P8 4.5

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P8 4.5 Tools and Documents Available

 Planning and Preparation Guide
– ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/data/cm/filenet/docs/p8doc/45x/plan_and_prepare.pdf
 Installation and Upgrade Guide
– ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/data/cm/filenet/docs/p8doc/45x/_install_guide.pdf
 Installation and Upgrade Spreadsheet – Contains all Configurable Parameters
– http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3273&uid=swg27010422
 Hardware and Software Guide
– http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27013654&aid=1
 Release Notes
– ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/data/cm/filenet/docs/p8doc/45x/p8_450_release_notes.pdf
 High Availability Technote
– ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/data/cm/filenet/docs/p8doc/45x/p8_45_high_availability.pdf
 Fix Pack and Compatibility Matrix
– http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3278&uid=swg27014734
 Platform Documentation
– http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=3273&uid=swg27010422

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