AIP Core - Application - schema upgrade on each AIP Node

Created by James Hurrell, last modified on Jul 05, 2021

Introduction

This section describes the upgrade process for the following components:

  • AIP Core installed on an AIP Node
  • Applications managed by an AIP Node and their corresponding schemas stored on CAST Storage Service / PostgreSQL and their associated delivery folder

Upgrades are performed on a "per Management Service schema basis", i.e. this means the following components undergo an upgrade to the new release of AIP Core:

  • The Management Service schema
  • All associated Analysis and Dashboard Service schemas
  • All associated Applications
  • All associated Assessment Models
  • Associated Delivery folder
  • Associated Extensions

Impact of upgrading on existing result data

Each AIP Core release provides new features which improve the value of the platform and justify an upgrade. However, there are a number of changes or improvements which can impact the measurement results/grades:

  • New or improved Quality Rules to perform deeper analysis
  • Updates to the Assessment Model, e.g. changes to rule weights, severity or thresholds. This can be mitigated by using the "Preserve assessment model" option during the upgrade
  • Improvements of the language analysis, e.g. more fine-grained detection of objects or links
  • Extended automatic discovery of files included in the analysis
  • Bug fixes to improve the precision of results
  • And, unfortunately, a new release may also introduce new bugs which may impact the results until they are discovered and removed

Therefore, please ensure that you are aware of the impacts of upgrading to a new release of AIP Core by consulting the following documentation - Changes in results post upgrade - a non-exhaustive list of potential impacts to result data.

Information and prerequisites

Supported upgrade paths

CAST recommends the most recent service pack where possible:

Major/Minor releaseStarting pointTargetPath supported?Notes
8.3.xAny 8.3.xAny 8.3.x(tick)It is not possible to upgrade from 8.3.0, 8.3.1 or 8.3.2 to 8.3.6. If you are using any of these releases please upgrade to the most recent service pack.
8.2.x8.2.168.3.12 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.158.3.10 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.148.3.9 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.138.3.7 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.128.3.6 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.118.3.5 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.108.3.4 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.98.3.3 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.88.3.2 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.78.3.1 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.2.0 - 8.2.6

8.3.0 - most recent Service Pack(tick)
8.1.x8.1.78.3.2 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.1.68.3.1 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

8.1.0 - 8.1.58.3.0 - most recent Service Pack(tick)
8.0.x8.0.0 - 8.0.58.3.0 - most recent Service Pack(tick)

CAST Transaction Configuration Center - Impact Factor configuration

In CAST AIP ≥ 8.1.x the stored procedures used to configure Impact Factor (see the CAST Transaction Configuration product help for more information) for Transactional Functions are now named as follows:

  • TCC_EFP_USR_IF_DELETED_RULE --> EFP_USR_IF_DEL_TF_RULE
  • TCC_EFP_USR_IF_MODIFIED_RULE --> EFP_USR_IF_MOD_TF_RULE
  • TCC_EFP_USR_IF_ADDED_RULE --> EFP_USR_IF_ADD_TF_RULE

This is so that their names are in-line with the stored procedures added in CAST AIP 8.1.x for configuring Impact Factor for Data Functions. By default and to avoid a situation where configurations from CAST AIP 8.0.x are lost following an upgrade to CAST AIP 8.3.x, CAST has included a call to the legacy CAST AIP 8.0.x stored procedures in the stored procedures in CAST AIP 8.3.x, for example:

  • EFP_USR_IF_DEL_TF_RULE will call in its code the existing stored procedure from CAST 8.0.x: TCC_EFP_USR_IF_DELETED_RULE

Despite the automated handling of this during the upgrade process, CAST highly recommends that you take a copy of the scripts in the legacy stored procedures so that you can start using them in CAST AIP 8.3.x in the new stored procedures.

7.3.x7.3.xAny 8.3.x(error)Please upgrade to the most recent release of 8.2.x and then to 8.3.x.

Specific technologies

Information about upgrading with IBM DB2 z/OS and UDB applications

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CAST has provided support for analyzing both IBM DB2 UDB and IBM DB2 z/OS via its DB2 Analyzer (provided out-of-the-box in CAST AIP ≤ 8.2.x) for some time now. This "legacy" analyzer requires the following:

  • For IBM DB2 UDB you must manually define a connection to the DB2 UDB instance - this instance must be available during the analysis process in the CAST Management Studio - this is known as an "online" analysis. In addition, a DB2 client layer must be installed on the workstation on which the CAST Management Studio is being run from.
  • For IBM DB2 z/OS a standalone extractor based on JCL must be installed on the target z/OS execution environment and then run to output data that the DB2 Analyzer can handle.

These requirements can sometimes present significant difficulties for the process of on-boarding an IBM DB2 application into CAST AIP. As a direct result of this and wanting to simplify the approach, CAST has developed the SQL Analyzer as a standalone extension. The extension analyzes DDL, DML and SQL exports and (in version ≥ 2.0) supports the analysis of IBM DB2. The analysis is therefore "offline" (no connection to a live database is required).

From CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.x, the legacy DB2 Analyzer (provided out-of-the-box in CAST AIP) is no longer available, therefore for upgrades to CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.x, existing IBM DB2 UDB and IBM DB2 z/OS analyses will still function and will not block the post-upgrade consistency snapshot, however, it will not be possible to package new source code in existing or new packages, therefore CAST recommends that you transition to the SQL Analyzer version ≥ 2.0 BEFORE you start the process of upgrading to CAST AIP 8.3.x. See How to transition from the CAST AIP DB2 Analyzer to the SQL Analyzer extension.

Information about upgrading with SAP BusinessObjects applications

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CAST has provided support for analyzing SAP BusinessObjects source code via its BO Analyzer (provided out-of-the-box in CAST AIP ≤ 8.2.x) for some time now. This "legacy" analyzer requires the following:

  • SAP BusinessObjects (the BO Designer module) must be installed on the workstation on which the CAST Management Studio is being run from.
  • you must manually define a connection to the SAP BusinessObjects instance on which your Universe files are used - this instance must be available during the analysis process in the CAST Management Studio - this is known as an "online" analysis.

These requirements can sometimes present significant difficulties for the process of on-boarding a SAP BusinessObjects application into CAST AIP. As a direct result of this and wanting to simplify the approach, CAST has developed the SAP BusinessObjects Analyzer as a standalone extension. The extension (introduced in CAST AIP 8.2.5) provides a means to analyze SAP BusinessObjects source code "offline", i.e. no connection to the SAP BusinessObjects instance is required. In addition there is no longer any requirement to have BusinessObjects (the BO Designer module) installed on the workstation on which the CAST Management Studio is being run from.

From CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.x, the legacy BO Analyzer (provided out-of-the-box in CAST AIP) is no longer available, therefore:

  • to analyze new SAP BusinessObjects applications, you must use the SAP BusinessObjects Analyzer (together with the CAST SAP BusinessObjects Extractor - not delivered with CAST AIP) which is delivered and installed automatically with CAST AIP 8.3.x with new CAST AIP triplets and as part of an upgrade.
  • for upgrades to CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.x, existing SAP BusinessObjects analyses will no longer function and will block the post-upgrade consistency snapshot. As such, CAST recommends that you transition to the SAP BusinessObjects Analyzer AFTER an upgrade, but BEFORE you generate a post-upgrade consistency snapshot (see Switching from legacy to new delivery/analysis method in SAP BusinessObjects Analyzer).

Information about upgrading when you have installed the custom UA package "SQL Script" extension

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Note that this section only applies to those upgrading to CAST AIP 8.3.0 - 8.3.4. The issue is managed automatically in CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.5.

If you are actively using a very old and unsupported custom Universal Analyzer language pack called "SQL Script" in your CAST AIP schemas, you must ensure that you perform the workaround described here BEFORE you being the upgrade process. This old Universal Analyzer language pack causes a conflict with the SQL Analyzer shipped by default with CAST AIP and will prevent the upgrade from completing.

To determine if you need to apply the workaround, run following query against your Management Service schema. When it returns a line, this old "SQL Script" language pack is installed.

select * from Cat where IdCat = 2361000

AIP Core upgrade

(tick)AIP CoreCAST ships updates to AIP Core in the form of maintenance releases (or service packs) - a change in the third digit of the release number. A maintenance release is best described as a collection of updates, fixes, or enhancements to the "baseline" CAST AIP 8.3.0 delivered in the form of a single installable package.
(tick)Application / schemas

Upgrading AIP Core on an AIP Node means that you must also upgrade all Applications hosted on the AIP Node to the new AIP Core release (this is know as a schema upgrade).

(tick)Mixing AIP Core releases with AIP Console
  • When using AIP Console ≥ 1.16, it is possible to to use different releases of AIP Core with AIP Console therefore you do not need to upgrade all releases of AIP Core on all AIP Nodes managed by AIP Console.
  • When using AIP Console ≤ 1.15, it is not possible to use different releases of AIP Core with AIP Console, therefore, choosing to upgrade AIP Core on an AIP Node necessarily means updating ALL instances of AIP Core on all AIP Nodes managed with AIP Console to the same release, and by extension, updating all Applications to the new AIP Core release (schema upgrade).
(tick)Upgrade process
  • The upgrade process is an "in place upgrade" and the installer will transform the previous release into the chosen release: i.e. Maintenance Releases do not exist as separate entities on the server
  • When a Maintenance Release is installed, an entry will be added to the Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features entries in the Windows Control Panel. If a previous release of the same release "track" also exists on the server, the entry for the previous release will be modified and will show the most recently installed release. In other words only one entry will be visible in the Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features entries in the Windows Control Panel regardless of the number of Maintenance Releases that have been installed.
  • A Maintenance Release cannot be uninstalled to leave behind the previous release.

  • If a previous installation of AIP Core of the same release "track" also exists on the server and if any files in the existing installation folder have been modified manually, they will be listed in an information popup during the upgrade process. This is for information only and will not block the installation:

  • Any files that have changed in the Maintenance Release, including those modified manually by the user, will be overwritten/replaced during the upgrade process, however, a backup of modified files is taken (stored in %PROGRAMDATA%\CAST\CAST\<major.minor version> under backup\SP_<version>) and individual files can be restored from this if necessary:

  • When running the installer and a previous release of AIP Core is already present on the server:
    • the installer will NOT install the shipped .NET Framework, even if it (or a more recent version of the framework) is not present on the target server. In this scenario, it is the responsibility of the end-user to install the required .NET Framework.
    • the installer will NOT remove any existing files. In other words, if the new setup does not include certain files or tools that were shipped in previous releases, these files or tools will still exist once the new Maintenance Release is installed.
(tick)Where to run the upgrade?

The upgrade must be run on the server hosting the AIP Node.

(tick)Obtain and unzip the installation media

Download the latest release of AIP Core from CAST Extend. This media contains:

  • the setup installer for AIP Core
(tick)Stop all services

Before starting any upgrade process, you must ensure the AIP Node service for AIP Console is stopped, for example by stopping the Windows Service or closing the CMD Window.

Application / schema upgrade

(tick)AIP CoreTo perform an Application / Schema update, an upgrade of AIP Core on the relevant AIP Node must have already been completed.
(tick)Generate a snapshotCAST highly recommends that you generate a snapshot before you start the upgrade process. This allows you to compare the pre and post upgrade results.
(tick)Perform a backup

Before starting the upgrade process, CAST strongly recommends that any existing analysis and result data from previous releases of AIP Core is backed up:

  • If you are using AIP Console to perform the upgrade, then a backup is performed automatically.
  • If you are using any other backup method, you should backup the following items as a basic minimum so that the existing AIP environment can be restored in case an error occurs during the upgrade process:
Item to backupHow to back it up
AIP schemas (Management / Analysis / Dashboard / Measurement Services)

Use the CAST Storage Service backup tools (CSSBackup) to backup each AIP schema you intend to upgrade.

Delivery folderEnsure that you make a copy of the Application's Delivery folder - simply by copying the folder to another location on disk.
When upgrading the AIP schemas, the upgrade process will drop any custom tables/views/procedures etc. you may have created that directly or indirectly use any default Analysis/Dashboard Service schema objects.
(tick)Understand choices with regard to Assessment Model handling

During the upgrade process using AIP Console or CAST Server Manager, you will need to choose an option with regard to the handling of the CAST AIP Assessment Model:

AIP Console

See Administration Center - Settings - Assessment Model Strategy for more information about the available options.

CAST Server Manager

See Application and schema upgrade using CAST Server Manager for more information about the available options.

(tick)Measurement schema

In ≥ 1.16 it is not necessary to perform a Measurement schema upgrade. The installation and upgrade of the Measurement schema is entirely managed by AIP Console with no manual intervention required. Technically, when you update to a new release of AIP Console, the Measurement schema will be updated to the latest release provided with AIP Console the first time data needs to be synchronized to the schema.

(tick)

Database access exclusivity

Ensure that you have exclusive access to the schemas you want to upgrade - i.e. that the schema is not being used by any other user, application or Dashboard.

(tick)

Check free RAM memory

Before starting this step, please ensure that you have at least 1GB of free RAM memory on your AIP Node. If you do not have sufficient free RAM memory, there is a risk that some of the upgrade actions may fail.

(tick)Ensure that your Delivery folder is accessibleEnsure that the Application's Delivery folder is accessible from the AIP Node.
(tick)Ensure that all schemas are from the same release of CAST AIPEnsure that all CAST AIP schemas (Analysis/Dashboard Service schemas) involved in the upgrade are installed from the same release of AIP Core
(tick)Application / Snapshot in the Management Service schemaEnsure that at least one Application with at least one Snapshot exists in the schemas you want to upgrade.

(tick)

Stop all services

If you are NOT using AIP Console to perform the upgrade, before starting any upgrade process, you must ensure the AIP Node service for AIP Console is stopped, for example by stopping the Windows Service or closing the CMD Window.

Instructions