Module 10

Upgrading the Content Server and

Components

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

 Module Objectives

• Perform pre-installation tasks

• Upgrade Content Server
• Upgrade Connection Broker
• Upgrading in a multiple Content Server environment

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-2

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Pre-Upgrade Tasks Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Pre-Upgrade Considerations
• Upgrading a Content Server and
• Upgrading a Content Server and
Connection Broker
Connection Broker
• Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
• Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
• The following tasks must be performed Content Server Environments
Content Server Environments

on Content Server host prior to upgrading:

1. Backup the repository
2. Remove old job reports
3. Run repository cleanup jobs
4. Upgrade the operating system (if needed)
5. Backup the cleaned operating system
6. Run the Consistency Checker
• The Consistency Checker job looks for repository inconsistencies,
such as
­ Users with non-existent default groups
­ permissions sets with non-existent users
­ dm_sysobjects that point to non-existent content files
• Fixing inconsistencies in the repository improves the quality of the
data in the repository and results in a smoother upgrade

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-3

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Pre-Upgrade Considerations (1 of 3)

• Upgrading to Content Server 6.x is supported only from Content

Server 5.3 and later
­ Previous version of Content Server must first be upgraded to version 5.3
before they can be upgraded to version 6
­ Upgrading from Content Server 4
• First, upgrade from version 4.2.3, 4.2.5, 4.2.6, or 4.2.8 to version 5.2.5
• Then, upgrade to version 5.3
• Refer to the EMC Documentum System Upgrade and Migration
Guide for
­ Supported client versions for a particular version of Content Server
­ Supported client versions for upgrade to version 6
­ Whether or not previous software needs to be uninstalled first prior to
upgrade
­ System requirements, such as supported database and operating system
versions
­ Detailed migrations steps and considerations
• Migration information can also be found in the Content Server
Installation Guide
Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-4
© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Pre-Upgrade Considerations (2 of 3)

• All repositories in an installation must be upgraded at the same

time, on Windows and UNIX platforms
• After upgrading, it is not possible to revert to previous versions
of the server
• database_refresh_interval
­ This is an optional key in the [SERVER_STARTUP] area of
server.ini
­ By default, this key is not included in server.ini and the
database_refresh_interval is automatically set to 1
• The database_refresh_interval setting controls how often the
change checker process runs
• The change checker process updates type caches as types are created or
altered
­ If you added this key to server.ini, make sure that it is commented
out before the upgrade
­ After the upgrade, you can uncomment it and re-start the Content
Server
Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-5
© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Changed Features (1 of 2)

• In DMCL/DFC 6 and before, if a value that is too large is set

into a string attribute, the excessive data is silently discarded
with no error.
­ For example, if a 37 byte value is stored into a 32 byte attribute, the last
five bytes are discarded, causing no exception to be generated
• By default, DFC 6.5 now throws an exception if you try to
overrun the size of an attribute
• This behavior is governed by the
dfc.compatibility.truncate_long_values setting in the
dfc.properties file
­ Set to false to cause the DFC to throw an exception (default)
­ Set to true to silently throw away data as in the past

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-6

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Changed Features (2 of 2)

• Documentum 6.5 does not support linked store storage areas

­ The linked store and related types are deprecated
­ The CLEAN_LINKS administration method, which removes orphaned
link records, is deprecated
• In Documentum 6.5, external storage area plugins are only
supported to execute on the server, not on the client
­ To configure the plugin to execute on the server, set the a_exec_mode
property of the storage object to F (for false)
• In Documentum 6.5, the use of true, false, 0, or 1 to specify
boolean values in LDIF files is deprecated
­ It is now necessary to specify T for true and F for false
• For other changed features, refer to the EMC Documentum
System Migration and Upgrade Guide

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-7

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Effects of Upgrading a Content Server (1 of 2)

• Content Server is stopped and then restarted

• An ACS Server is installed and started
• Type definitions are modified and new type definitions may be
added
• New dm_format objects are created in the repository
• Some dm_format objects are updated
­ If any format objects have been modified, back up the changes before
upgrading the repository, which overwrites any changes
• Some system administration objects are created or modified
• New directories are created
• Upgrading Content Server does not affect the content in the
repository
­ The content itself requires no special migration

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-8

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Effects of Upgrading a Content Server (2 of 2)

• In Content Server 6.0 and later, the r_normal_tz property of the

dm_docbase_config object, controls how Content Server stores
dates in the repository
­ If set to 0, all dates are stored in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) time
(default)
­ If set to a non-zero value, it is interpreted as an offset of UTC time,
expressed in seconds
­ For example, if the offset represents the Pacific Standard Time zone, the
offset value is -8*60*60, or -28800 seconds
• When upgrading older repositories, r_normal_tz is set to the
offset representing Content Server local time
Greenwic Toront
h o

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-9

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Recommended: Try the Upgrade on a Test System
Before Upgrading a Production Repository

• Before upgrading a repository, it is a good idea to create an

environment in which to test the upgrade process
• To do this, create a new installation using the original server
software version, copy the repository, and upgrade that copy
­ Create the copy on a host that is the same platform as the production
system – such as Windows, Solaris, AIX, etc.
• After the upgraded copy is tested, upgrade the original
repository

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-10

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Database Considerations

• Documentum supports upgrading existing repositories that use

a database code page other than UTF-8
• On Oracle, Sybase, DB2: migrate the repository’s database to
Unicode using IBM’s tools
• On SQL Server, migrating the database to Unicode is not
supported

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-11

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Performing the Upgrade Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Pre-Upgrade Considerations
 Upgrading A Content Server and
 Upgrading A Content Server and
Connection Broker
Connection Broker
• Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
• Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
Content Server Environments
Content Server Environments

• Depending on the version, the Content Server Installation Guide

may instruct you to re-install the Content Server software
• The steps will also require you to:
­ Download the installation program (stored as a .zip or .tar file) from the
EMC software download site (http://emc.subscribenet.com)
­ Decompress the file
­ Disable all jobs
­ Shutdown the repositories/connection brokers and the Java Method Server
­ Run the installation program (downloaded and decompressed earlier)
­ Enter the information requested by the program
• The screens and prompts will look very much like what was shown when the
Content Server was first installed

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-12

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Content Server Upgrade
Installation Type

Click
Clickhere
heretotocreate
createnew,
new,upgrade
upgrade
or
orto
todelete
deleteconnection
connectionbrokers
brokers

Select
SelectCustom
Custom
Configuration
Configuration

Click
Clickhere
hereto
tocreate
createnew,
new,upgrade
upgradeor
orto
to
delete
deleterepositories
repositories

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-13

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Content Server Upgrade
Upgrading the Connection Broker

• Upgrade the Connection Broker first

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-14

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Content Server Upgrade
Repository

Continue
Continuewith
withserver
server
configuration
configuration

Upgrade
Upgradethe
therepository
repository

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-15

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Upgrading Distributed Content Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Repositories Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Upgrading A Content Server and
Upgrading A Content Server and
Connection Broker
Connection Broker
 Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
• Recommended approach:  Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
Content Server Environments
Content Server Environments

­ Shut down all Content Servers for the repository

­ Upgrade the primary Content Server first (that is, the Content Server
adjacent to the database), then upgrade the other Content Servers
• Note: If using encryption, ensure that the administration
encryption key (aek.key) is the same at all sites

Scranto New Londo Warsaw

(primary
n York n
)

Database

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-16

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Upgrading Multiple Repositories
(Object Replication)

• Repositories with object replication

­ Upgrade the source repository, then the target repositories
­ Replication is supported between repositories that use
different Content Server versions
• Note that if the object type in the source repository contains
additional (new) attributes that are not present in that object
type in the target repository, the additional (new) attribute
values are not replicated to the target repository

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-17

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Upgrading Repository Federations

• Documentum supports federations that contain repositories of

different versions
• If upgrading the repositories in a federation, upgrade the
governing repository first

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-18

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.
 Test Your Knowledge Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Pre-Upgrade Considerations
Upgrading A Content Server and
Upgrading A Content Server and
Connection Broker
Connection Broker
Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
Considerations for Upgrading Multiple
1. True/False: When upgrading the Content Content Server Environments
Content Server Environments

Servers in a distributed content environment, upgrade the

primary Content Server first and then upgrade the other
Content Servers.
2. True/False: When upgrading a connection broker, you must
first delete the existing connection broker.
3. In repositories that use object replication, what should be
upgraded first: the source or the target repository?

Documentum System Pre-Installation Tasks 10-19

© 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.