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Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same database?

RENE MINDER, modified 7 Years ago.

Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same database?

New Member Posts: 2 Join Date: 3/1/17 Recent Posts
Hi

We have an environment with 4 Liferay 6.1 portal servers (referred to as "Node 1" till "Node 4" hereafter), sharing a common Oracle Database. Upgrading Liferay to 6.2 we understand will also upgrade the database.

Now we would like to setup additional nodes "Node 5" till "Node 8" in a way we can i) shorten the migration window, ii) friendly user test upgraded portals upfront and iii) quickly roll back in worst case by following these steps:
[indent]a) clone "Node 1" with Liferay 6.1 install to "Node 5"[/indent]
[indent]b) connect "Node 5" to the same Oracle Database[/indent]
[indent]c) upgrade Liferay 6.1 to 6.2 on "Node 5", which would also upgrade the shared database[/indent]
[indent]d) clone "Node 5" to Node 6, 7 and 8[/indent]
[indent]e) test Liferay 6.2 Nodes 5 till 8 (network load balancers with test virtual ip addresses will do the needful to point test traffic to these nodes)[/indent]
[indent]f) switch production traffic from Nodes 1 to 4 to Nodes 5 to 8 (network load balancer configuration changes will direct production traffic to the nodes 5 to 8)[/indent]
[indent]g) decommission Nodes 1 till 4 or upgrade and extend licenses to enable all 8 nodes[/indent]

I've tried to figure out whether the changes to the database scheme and possibly the data is backwards compatible... but no success. So the questions I have...

Q1) Will Liferay 6.1 based Nodes 1 till 4 stop working after step c) upgrading the Oracle database above?

The next questions only make sense if answer to the above implies Nodes 1 till 4 would keep working....
Q2) Will changes on Nodes 5 till 8 (LR6.2) also appear on Nodes 1 till 4 (LR6.1) in step e) where we are testing?

Q3) Will changes on Nodes 1 till 4 (LR6.1) also appear on Nodes 5 till 8 (LR6.2) after step d) where we are testing?

Many thanks for your help.

Best regards,
René
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David H Nebinger, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same databa

Liferay Legend Posts: 14914 Join Date: 9/2/06 Recent Posts
Rene Minder:
Q1) Will Liferay 6.1 based Nodes 1 till 4 stop working after step c) upgrading the Oracle database above?


Yes. They cannot use the same database.

In fact, if nodes 1 through 4 are not a proper cluster (sharing same data directory, set in a cluster configuration for messaging cache changes), I'm surprised that nodes 1 through 4 do not suffer from all kinds of problems.
Rene Minder, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same databa

New Member Posts: 2 Join Date: 3/1/17 Recent Posts
Many thanks for responding so quickly.

Have you come across other upgrade strategies allowing LR6.2 servers being setup and friendly user tested while LR6.1 servers are serving production traffic?
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David H Nebinger, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same databa

Liferay Legend Posts: 14914 Join Date: 9/2/06 Recent Posts
Sure. They need their own database and their own data directory though.
Jagannathan Asokan, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same databa

New Member Post: 1 Join Date: 3/9/17 Recent Posts
Few queries

1. What is the good Strategy to migrate from LR6.1 to LR6.2?
2. Let's consider that there is around 4-5 GB of data. What will be the time taken to migrate? Any benchmarks available for the same?
3. Is there any assistance provided by Liferay? What should be our support level to get this assistance?

The reason is, we have limited time window to do the migration.

Thanks
Jagan
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David H Nebinger, modified 7 Years ago.

RE: Liferay upgrade steps - Can LR6.1 and LR6.2 nodes share the same databa

Liferay Legend Posts: 14914 Join Date: 9/2/06 Recent Posts
Jagannathan Asokan:
1. What is the good Strategy to migrate from LR6.1 to LR6.2?


This is documented already: https://dev.liferay.com/discover/deployment/-/knowledge_base/6-2/upgrading-liferay

Basically you need copy of database and copy of data directory that the 6.2 instance will point at. Start 6.2 and let it complete upgrade. In case of failure, roll back database and data, fix data issue, start again.

Wash, rinse, repeat until upgrade is successful.

2. Let's consider that there is around 4-5 GB of data. What will be the time taken to migrate? Any benchmarks available for the same?


Unknown. Every install is different. If your 5 gig is because of a high user count, that will have a completely different upgrade path that if you have 5 gig of document/image data.

Two things you get by performing an upgrade "simulation" is a time estimate for the final upgrade to complete as well as an idea of how dirty your database is (as upgrade failures occur and you have to clean them up).

3. Is there any assistance provided by Liferay? What should be our support level to get this assistance?


If you're on EE, either Liferay or their partners have consulting support that can assist you to complete the upgrade. If you're CE, you're on your own. You might find independent or non-partner consulting help, but there's no directory or anything where you can find these people.

The reason is, we have limited time window to do the migration.


Then start sooner rather than later. Work on the upgrade simulations and build your cleanup script to resolve data errors that come up. When you're ready to pull the trigger, you should have everything you need to get the upgrade done.

And don't try to shortcut the processes because you feel like you don't have time. That is when instability will sneak into your portal environment. Odd things like data issues, layout issues, whatever resulting from a rushed or incomplete upgrade will nag you going forward and there's going to be little if anything you can do after the fact outside of rebuilding the broken stuff (if that's even possible).

Give your upgrade the time it deserves, it will pay you back in spades.