This page is for system administrators who are upgrading an existing PhixFlow instance from one release to another. This page explains the standard steps that you should always follow.
Some releases contain special instructions.
When planning an upgrade, please check the special instructions for each intermediate release and follow the additional steps as indicated.
Planning your Upgrade
Check Supported Versions and Special Instructions
Please read the System Requirements and Compatibility page. Check for any special upgrade instructions between your current and target versions of PhixFlow.
Ensure that your versions of:
- the database
- Tomcat
- Java
are supported in the planned upgrade.
If any of these items need updating, please contact your IT team several weeks in advance of the planned upgrade.
Check Java and Database Connectors
If Java needs upgrading, you must verify that any JDBC connectors you have installed to non-standard databases are still supported. The standard databases supported by PhixFlow are Oracle, MS SQL Server and MySQL/ MySQL. The drivers needed to connect to these databases are shipped with PhixFlow, and connections to external databases through PhixFlow data sources are supported by these drivers; see Datasource.
However, if you have connections to external databases other than these - for example, Netezza, Teradata, DB2 - then you will have installed JDBC drivers for these in the folder [tomcat home]/lib
. You must check that your current version of each installed driver is compatible with the new version of Java, and if not, obtain a new version of the JDBC driver from the supplier.
How to Upgrade
Step 1 Backup your Database
Ensure that you have a recent, full backup of your PhixFlow database. If you need to rollback (see "Rollback Upgrade" below), your PhixFlow configuration and data will revert to this point.
We also recommend that you:
Review your installation for any remaining uses of the discontinued features mentioned in the release notes. All data related to the use of these features will be removed when PhixFlow is migrated to the new version.
Backup all tables except those whose names begin with a 'zz'. This backs up the data tables that do not contain table data.
Step 2 Review Special Upgrade Instructions
Review the Special Upgrade Instructions for all the intermediate releases between your current version and the version to which you are upgrading. make a note of any that will need to be performed during the upgrade.
Step 3 Stop Tomcat and Delete the Work Directory
Stop the Tomcat service.
PhixFlow will not be available to users until the upgrade is complete and you restart Tomcat.
Delete the Tomcat
<tomcat base>/work
directory. For example in a Linux installation, enter:rm -r /opt/tomcat/work
Step 4 Upgrade the Environment
If necessary, upgrade to supported versions of Java, Tomcat and your database: Oracle, SQL Server or MySQL / MySQL. See Planning your Upgrade, above.
Remember, if you are Upgrading Tomcat, to restore any JDBC drivers needed for any data sources that use database technologies or versions not supported for PhixFlow's own connections. Make sure that any additional JDBC drivers you use are placed in:
[tomcat home]/lib
See also:
Step 5 Unzip the PhixFlow Release
Unzip the PhixFlow release package into a temporary directory.
We will refer to the new PhixFlow release directory as $RELEASE
and its corresponding Tomcat directory as $TOMCAT.
Step 6 Install the New Webapp into Tomcat
Move the live PhixFlow installation directory, $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow
, to an archive location.
For example, on Linux: mv $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow $ARCHIVE/phixflow-<current date>
Copy $RELEASE/webapp/phixflow
to $TOMCAT/webapps
.
For example, on Linux: cp -r $RELEASE/webapp/phixflow $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow
Step 7 Configure the Webapp
The webapp configuration step depends on which version you are upgrading from and to. Please follow the appropriate section below
Step 8 Re-start Tomcat
Restart the Tomcat service and verify you can login successfully.
Step 0 Special Upgrade Instructions
Review all special upgrade instructions have been implemented.