These are the general steps that you should always follow when upgrading and existing PhixFlow instance from one release to another.

Contents

Before Upgrading

Check Compatibility Guide and Upgrade Planning to ensure that your version of database, tomcat and 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.

Java upgrades

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/ MariaDB. The drivers needed to connect to these databases are shipped with PhixFlow, and connections to external databases though PhixFlow datasources are supported by these drivers. 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.

Special upgrade instructions

Also check Compatibility Guide and Upgrade Planning for any special upgrade instructions between your current and target versions.

Upgrade

Backup your Database

Ensure that you have a recent full backup of your database. If, for any reason, you need to rollback (see "Rollback Upgrade" below), your PhixFlow configuration and data will revert to this point.

Stop Tomcat

Stop Tomcat. PhixFlow will not be available to users until the upgrade is complete.

Environment

If necessary, upgrade to supported versions of Java, Tomcat and Oracle, SQL Server or MySQL / MariaDB.

See above for details.

Remember, if you are upgrading tomcat, to restore any JDBC drivers needed for datasources that use database technologies or versions not supported for PhixFlow's own connections. See Tomcat Installation for details, but in brief, make sure that any additional JDBC drivers you use are placed in:

[tomcat home]/lib

Unzip the PhixFlow Release

Unzip the PhixFlow release package into a temporary directory.

We will refer to the new PhixFlow release as $RELEASE.

Install the new Webapp into Tomcat

Move the live phixflow installation, i.e. the directory $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow, to an archive location.

E.g. on unix/linux: mv $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow $ARCHIVE/phixflow-<current date>

Copy $RELEASE/webapp/phixflow to $TOMCAT/webapps.

E.g. on unix/linux: cp $RELEASE/webapp/phixflow $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow

Copy the following files from the WEB-INF/classes directory in the archive of the live installation into the corresponding directry in the new phixflow webapp:

• phixflow-datasource.xml
• phixflow-instance.xml
• phixflow-domains.xml
• log4j.properties

E.g. copy $CV_ARCHIVE/phixflow-<current date>/WEB-INF/classes, to $TOMCAT/webapps/phixflow/WEB-INF/classes

Upgrade the Database

Run all migration scripts run in sequence from the starting version to this version e.g.:

E.g. for Oracle users:

cd $RELEASE/schema/oracle/migration/X.Y
sqlplus myUsername/myPassword @migrate_schema_from_x_y_z_to_X_Y_Z.sql

E.g. for SQL Server users:

cd $RELEASE/schema/sqlserver/migration/X.Y
sqlcmd -S myServer\myInstance -U myUsername -P myPassword -d myDatabase -i migrate_schema_from_x_y_z_to_X_Y_Z.sql

Re-start Tomcat

Import new Templates package

Go to the Administration Menu → Import Configuration. 

Select the new Templates file from {phixflow_release_folder}/install/phixflow_templates_{version_number}. The system will import new templates set (Styles, Layout Templates, Palettes). The user can choose to use new templates or stay with the current ones.

To update the default System Palette, go to the System Configuration and update the Default Component Palette field.

Complete

The upgrade is now complete.