Upgrading to Version 12 -

[wjm8914]

We recently upgraded from version 11 to 11.52.  ALM. Performance Center and UFT

We built an entirely new environment to support it.

Now Version 12 comes out and HP best practice is to use new servers.

Mgmt not happy so we're looking to uninstall 11.52 and install version 12.

We have 

two ALM servers

one shared file server

a three server oracle db cluster

Performance Center server

seven controller servers

35 load generator servers.

Can we uninstall 11.52 and still use our current share File Share and DB for version 12 or is this not possible?

I've read through the install guide but the environment we have doesn't exactly fit any of the scenarios HP's listed.

[Craig_Drummond]

wjm8914,

Are the servers (OS, Memory and DB software) you have for 11.52 still listed as compatible in version 12?  If so, it is possible to do an upgrade in place.  You have to be very carefull during the install and configuration process to choose the right options so you don't end up doing a new install.

If your servers are not listed as supported in version 12 then it would not be recommended to attempt to do an upgrade in place.

Craig Drummond

HP Premier Support Technical Account Manager - ALM Products

[wjm8914]

Thanks Craig, I'll double check to make sure the environment is compatible.

Are there step by step instructions available somewhere on the HP site to do this?

All the documentation I found does not include this option.

We have a test environment (much smaller) that I can try it out on before we do the production environment.

based on what I could find, I'd have to uninstall ALM 11.52 then install 12 but I can update Performance Center.

Would I have to recover each project or verify and repair each project individually after the upgrade is completed?

Thanks again

Bill

[Craig_Drummond · Accepted solution]

Bill,

I would suggest that you perform a full un-install of each component (ALM, PCS, Hosts) and then install the new software.  When you install the ALM Software, you will automatically go to the configuration wizard, here you need to make sure that you choose to keep your previous settings and then choose to copy and upgrade your Site Admin DB.  This will allow you to then perform a Verify, Repair, and upgrade on all your existing projects, starting with the Lab Management project.  After that is all done you will be upgraded.

If you have a test environment of any size I would strongly suggest that you perform and document each step that is required to upgrade in place.  This is not the recommended method and I don't think that the documentation is very comprehensive around this process because it is not recommended.  But more importantly, doing a practice upgrade is  so that you have seen the steps before, and also so that if you run into any problems you can open a case with support and we can help you  find a resolution in your test environment rather than in your production environment (that would be completely down) and also so you can minimize the amount of downtime that you will have.

Please be aware that when upgrading in place, your users will need to be off the system for the moment that you start the upgrade until the upgrade is complete.  Depending on the number of projects that you have this could be from several hours to several days.  If you can backup your production data and restore it into your test environment, then perform the practice upgrade but using the real data, you will be able to more accurately predict the amount of downtime your upgrade will require.

As with any upgrade, but more importantly with an upgrade in place, you should have a full and complete backup of the entire smart repository and all the databases\schema's before you do any un-installing and re-installing.

One other suggestion, but it may not go over to well if your management is not willing to consider new servers, would be to contract HP or a Partner's Professional Services group to be on-site and assist you with the upgrade.   Another option to consider would be something new that HP Support is offering called Technical Service Days.  You can talk with your HP Sales rep about the details of both those options.

Hope this helps you out.

Craig Drummond

HP Software Premier Support - Technical Account Manager - ALM Products

[William Schmitt]

Bill,

I have an environment similiar to yours, and I tried to do the upgrade from 11.00 to 12.00 in place, but I did run into issues.  This upgrade path used to be acceptable prior to 12.00, but now HP does recommend having separate environments. 

You probably don't need two new servers, if as Craig said, your servers support v12.  You can upgrade just one of your existing servers to 12 at first and leave the other one on 11.  If you have your two servers on a load balancer, you will have to disconnect them and address them separately.  If your database has capacity, then you probably don't need a new db, but it does make it easier.  In any case, back up all of your schemas to some temporary location, so you can restore project schemas that fail the upgrade.  Follow the instructions to upgrade a copy of your siteadmin schema.  From this point, the two siteadmin schemas are separate - any change to one (ie adding new users, projects, etc.) must also be made in the other.

You should create a new repository folder on your existing file share.  In fact, I found this to be necessary, as the install for 12 will get confused if you try to use the same file repository.  There are some upgrade scripts that will not run properly if the old version of the script is found instead.

Then you can upgrade the projects one at a time to v12.  The v11 projects can still be used by connecting to the 11 server.  Only the project being upgraded is unavailable to the users.  After all projects are upgraded and verified, you can install 12 on the other server, and point it to the new siteadmin schema.

I've been playing with this upgrade in a test environment for the past 6 months and I believe that I've worked through all the issues.  I did not have to worry about Perf Center, as we already have a completely separate environment for that.  Of course, my experiences will be different from yours, so use my suggestions with caution.  When I do finally make the upgrade in my prod environment, I may follow Craig's suggestion to have the experts standing by to assist just in case.

Good luck,

William

[Mark-HPSW]

HI Bill,

As Craig mentioned, one option may be to have HP Professional Services come on-site to assist with your upgrade.  If you would like to discuss this option, please feel free to reach out to me and I can get you connected to the team.

Thanks,
Mark

[wjm8914]

Thanks to all for you responses.  I'm glad I posted the question here.  The HelpDesk didn't mention most of the items to look for in their response to the same question in the case I opened. 

As for doing it first in a test environment, I work for the government, we do everything three times so I have a dev and test environment to try this in before moving it to Prod. 

[wjm8914]

Mark, I may be reaching out to you if we get approval for the funding.  

Thanks,

[Mark-HPSW]

@wjm8914

Bill-  Here is a page with some further specific information about ALM/QC Upgrade and Migration Services.