Upgrade: Separation of lifecycle between MobileFirst Server and MobileFirst Studio

There is a separation of the MobileFirst Studio and the MobileFirst Server upgrade lifecycles, which provides benefits to both developers and IT staff.

Since v6.1.0, IBM MobileFirst Platform Foundation allows a separation between the MobileFirst Server and MobileFirst Studio lifecycles. This separation means we can deploy project WAR files, apps, and adapters that are developed with any supported version of Worklight Studio (V5.0.6.x, v6.0.0.x, v6.1.0.x, and v6.2.0.x) to an instance of Worklight Server v6.2.0.x.

• For project WAR files that were built with versions earlier than v6.2.0.x, the apps and adapters that you deploy must be built with the same version of Worklight Studio as the version that we used to build the project WAR file. For example, if you develop a project with Worklight Studio V5.0.6 and deploy it to Worklight Server v6.2.0, the WAR file is deployed as a V5.0.6 project. We can deploy to this project only applications and adapters that are developed with Worklight Studio V5.0.6.

• For project WAR files that were built with versions v6.2.0.x and later, apps and adapters that were built with any version V5.0.6.x and above (but not later than the project WAR version itself) can be deployed.

Some limitations of this lifecycle separation are as follows:

• Only application environments supported by MobileFirst Server v6.3.0 can be migrated. Older application environments that are not supported by MobileFirst Server v6.3.0 (for example, iGoogle, Windows Phone 7.5, or Facebook) will no longer be available after the server upgrade.

• To deploy a project WAR file, use the tools provided with the target MobileFirst Server version you are deploying to. That is, to deploy with an Ant task to MobileFirst Server, use the worklight-ant-deployer.jar file located in the WorklightServer directory of the MobileFirst Server installation directory.

Terminology

In the topics that deal with migration and updating, the following definitions of several important terms are used:

• Upgrade – Moving from one version of software to the next. For example, you upgrade an installation of Worklight Server v6.1.0 to MobileFirst Server v6.3.0.

• Migrate – Updating, either automatically or manually, a piece of software so that it is able to use the next level of the software. For example, you migrate database schema of a MobileFirst project to use the next version level of MobileFirst Server. Or you migrate a MobileFirst application to use the next version level of MobileFirst Studio.

• Deploy – Installing an application on a server. For example, you deploy a MobileFirst application to a production instance of MobileFirst Server running on an application server.

Upgrade paths

The topics under this section apply to the following types of upgrade and migration paths:

• Major version change – For example, upgrading from V5.0.6.x to v6.3.0.

• Minor version change – For example, upgrading from v6.1.0 to v6.3.0.

• Fix pack upgrades – For example, upgrading from v6.3.0 to v6.3.0.x.

• Interim fix – For example, upgrading from v6.3.0 to an interim fix identified by a build number.

Parent topic: Upgrading to MPF v6.3.0