Communications Express 6.3 Upgrade

This document provides information on upgrading to Communications Express 6.3, and rolling back to the previous version of Communications Express.

This document includes the following sections:
Upgrading to Communications Express 6.3
Upgrading Shared Components
Migrating Configuration Data
Adopting the Best Upgrade Strategy to Minimize Downtime, Cost, and Complexity
Rolling Back to the Legacy Communications Express Version

Upgrading to Communications Express 6.3

The upgrade procedure is same as upgrading from an earlier version of Communications Express to Communications Express 6.3.
If you are upgrading from 6.2 or earlier to 6.3, refer to Chapter 6, Upgrading Communications Express of the Sun Java Communications Suite 5 Upgrade Guide .

You can directly upgrade to Communications Express 6.3 from Communications Express 6.2 or earlier by applying the patch 21 on top of Communications Express 6.2. You can upgrade from Communications Express 6.2 to Communications Express 6.3 (Communications Suite 5/Communications Suite 6) or Communications Suite 5 (any Communications Express 6.3) to Communications Express 6.3 patch 21.

Upgrading Shared Components

It is generally recommended that all Communications Suite components on a computer system (and in a computing environment) be upgraded to Communications Suite 6. However, Communications Express has hard upgrade dependencies only on the following shared components:

• Messaging Server 7.0 (7.0-0.03)
• Calendar Server 6.3 (6.3-7.03)
• Directory Server Setup (Comms DSSetup) 6.4 (6.4-1.04)

Upgrading other Communications Suite 5 product components, on which Communications Express depends, is therefore optional.
Communications Express 6.3 supports Application Server 9.1.
For information about upgrading shared components, see:

• Messaging Server 7.0 Upgrade
• Calendar Server 6.3 Upgrade
• Upgrading comm_dssetup.pl

For more information about Communications Suite 6 software dependencies, see Requirements for Communications Suite 6 .

Migrating Configuration Data

Migrating the configuration data from Communications Suite 5 to Communications Suite 6 is same as migrating from previous versions to Communications Suite 5. For more information, refer to step7 under Upgrade Procedure (Solaris) in Upgrading Communications Express .

Adopting the Best Upgrade Strategy to Minimize Downtime, Cost, and Complexity

You can adopt the following strategies to minimize cost, downtime, and complexity:

In-place upgrade

The binaries of the old version are replaced with the binaries of the new version.

This is the normal upgrade procedure as explained in Chapter 6, Upgrading Communications Express of the Sun Java Communications Suite 5 Upgrade Guide .

Side-by-side same host upgrade

The new software version is installed on the same machine as the old version with both operating simultaneously. After the new version is configured and tested, you can switch over to the new version.

For side-by-side same host upgrade:

1. Install fresh version of Communications Express on the same machine, which hosts the older version, using commpkg install --altroot.
2. Run the product specific utility (or use manual steps) to move config/data

   patch-config/install-newconfig
   

   
   

3. Stop the old server and start the new one.

Co-existent upgrade

Existing services remain online while a new environment on separate hardware is constructed and users are carefully migrated to the new system after testing.

For co-existent upgrade:

1. Check if the hardware is ready.
2. Install latest version of Communications Express and all dependent products on a new machine using commpkg install.
3. Configure Communications Express manually on the machine. It is same as cloning the configuration of legacy machine on the new machine.
4. Run the product specific utility (or use manual steps) to move config/data

   patch-config/install-newconfig
   

   
   All the above upgrade strategies may be performed. But Co-existent Upgrade Strategy is the safest and most secure. It minimizes or even eliminates user downtime.

Rolling Back to the Legacy Communications Express Version

To roll back from Communications Express 6.3 to the older configuration, refer to Rolling Back the Upgrade .