Sun Java System Application Server 9.1 Upgrade and Migration Guide

Upgrade Overview

The following table shows supported Sun Java System Application Server upgrades. In this table, PE indicates Platform Edition and EE indicates Enterprise Edition.

Table 2–1 Supported Upgrade Paths


Source Installation	9.1
7.X PE	Not supported
7.XSE	Not supported
7.XEE	Not supported
8.0PE	Supported (Upgrade from 8.0 PE domain to 9.1 developer domain is supported)
8.1PE	Supported (Upgrade from 8.1 PE domain to 9.1 developer domain is supported)
8.1EE	Supported (Upgrade from 8.1 EE domain to 9.1 enterprise domain is supported)
8.2PE	Supported (Upgrade from 8.2 PE domain to 9.1 developer domain is supported)
8.2EE	Supported (Upgrade from 8.2 EE domain to 9.1 enterprise domain is supported)
9.0PE	Supported (Upgrade from 9.0 PE domain to 9.1 developer domain is supported)

Note –

Only the enterprise profile supports upgrades from Application Server Enterprise Edition 8.x.

Upgrade Tool Interfaces

You can use the tool through the command-line interface (CLI) or the GUI.

To use the Upgrade tool in GUI mode, issue the asupgrade command with no options.

To run the Upgrade tool in CLI mode, invoke the asupgrade command with the -c/--console option. You can run the upgrade CLI in the interactive or non-interactive mode. If you supply all required arguments when invoking asupgrade on the console, the upgrade is performed in non-interactive mode and no further input is required. For a complete list of asupgrade options, refer Table 2–2. If you invoke the tool only with the -c/--console option, the tool enters the interactive CLI mode, where the user is asked for a series of inputs.

Note –

Ensure that the -c/--console option is the first option in the command line, if you want to run asupgrade in CLI mode.

Upgrade Terminology

The following are important terms related to the upgrade process:

Source Server: the installation from which you are upgrading to the new version.
Target Server: the installation to which you are upgrading.
Domains Root : the directory where the domains are created. This directory, by default, is the location specified as AS_DEF_DOMAINS_PATH in the asenv.conf file (on Solaris) or the asenv.bat file (on Windows).
Domain Directory or domain-dir: the directory (within the Domains Root) corresponding to a specific domain. All the configuration and other data pertaining to the domain exists in this directory.
Install Root: the directory where the Application Server is installed.
Administration User Name: Name of the user who administers the server. This term refers to the admin user of the Application Server installation from which you want to upgrade.
Password: Administration user’s password to access the Domain Administration Server (DAS)(8-character minimum) of the Application Server installation from which you want to upgrade.
Master Password: SSL certificate database password used in operations such as Domain Administration Server startup. This term refers to the master password of the Application Server installation from which you want to upgrade.

Upgrade Tool Functionality

The Upgrade Tool migrates the configuration, deployed applications, and certificate databases from an earlier version of the Application Server to the current version. The Upgrade Tool does not upgrade the binaries of the Application Server. The installer is responsible for upgrading the binaries. Database migrations or conversions are also beyond the scope of this upgrade process.

Only those instances that do not use Sun Java System Web Server-specific features are upgraded seamlessly. Configuration files related to HTTP path, CGI bin, SHTML, and NSAPI plug-ins are not be upgraded.

Note –

Before starting the upgrade process, make sure that you stop all server instances, node agents, and domains (in that order) in the source server (the server from which you are upgrading) and the target server (the server to which you are upgrading).

Migration of Deployed Applications

Application archives (EAR files) and component archives (JAR, WAR, and RAR files) that are deployed in the Application Server 8.x environment do not require any modification to run on Application Server 9.1.

Applications and components that are deployed in the source server are deployed on the target server during the upgrade. Applications that do not deploy successfully on the target server must be migrated using the Migration Tool or asmigrate command, and deployed again manually.

If a domain contains information about a deployed application and the installed application components do not agree with the configuration information, the configuration is migrated as is without any attempt to reconfigure the incorrect configurations.

Upgrade of Clusters

In Application Server 8.x, the clusters are defined in the domain.xml file and there is no need to specify clusters separately. Another notable difference is that in Application Server 8.x, all the instances within a cluster reside within the same domain and therefore, in the same domain.xml file.

Transfer of Certificates and Realm Files

The Upgrade tool transfers certificates from the source certificate database to the target. The tool transfers security policies, password files from standard, file-based realms, and custom realm classes.

Upgrade Verification

An upgrade log records the upgrade activity. The upgrade log file is named as the upgrade.log and is created in the domains root where the upgrade is carried out.

After you have upgrade a domain, you can see a file whose name is in the following format: upgradedTo<releasenumber>. For example, a domain that has been upgrade to 9.1 will have a file called upgradeTo91 in its config folder.

Upgrade Rollback

If an upgrade in progress is cancelled, the configuration before the upgrade was started is restored.

Note –

You can cancel the upgrade process only if you are running the Upgrade Tool in GUI mode.