Migrate V4.0.x of WAS to a V6 stand-alone Application Server

Use the migration tools to migrate configuration data from V4.0.x of WAS to WebSphere Application Server V6.

 

Before you begin

If you use an earlier version of WebSphere Application Server, the system administrator might have fine-tuned various application and server settings for your environment. It is important to have a strategy for migrating these settings with maximum efficiency and minimal loss.

We can migrate administrative configurations with the Migration wizard, which is the graphical interface to the V6 migration tools (the WASPreUpgrade command and the WASPostUpgrade command). We can also migrate manually, using the tools from the command line, as this task describes.

You can perform incremental manual migration by calling the migration tools multiple times, each time specifying a different configuration file. There are various reasons for having multiple configuration files. Whatever the reason, migrating one configuration file at a time lets you test applications incrementally before continuing to the next configuration file.

Manual migration provides a more incremental migration approach than the complete migration that the Migration wizard provides. IBM provides a set of migration tools for migrating administrative configurations to the base WebSphere Application Server product from V4.0.x. The overall migration process is to install the V6 product, back up the current configuration and necessary files, and restore the configuration.

Before using the migration tools, consult the Release Notes document to understand what fixes apply to earlier versions. Applying fixes to an earlier version might also apply fixes to files that have a role in the migration. Apply any fixes to ensure the most effective migration of configurations and applications possible.

Typically use the WASPreUpgrade and WASPostUpgrade migration tools to upgrade from V4.0.x to V6 on the same machine. If your scenario includes migrating a V4.0.x configuration on one machine to WAS V6 on another machine, use the alternate procedure described in Migrating V4.0.x of WAS to a remote stand-alone V6 machine. After federating an application server node into a deployment manager cell, you cannot use the WASPostUpgrade migration tool on the Application Server node until you remove the node from the cell. To use the tool again, remove the node from the cell, use the tool, and add the node to the cell again.

 

Overview

This topic describes using the V6 migration tools to migrate the following products:

  • WebSphere Application Server Advanced Edition, V4.0.x

  • WebSphere Application Server Advanced Single Server Edition V4.0.x (the steps vary slightly)

The WASPreUpgrade tool saves the existing V4.0.x configuration into a migration-specific-backup directory. The WASPostUpgrade tool uses this directory to add the old configuration settings to the new V6.0 environment.

 

Procedure

  1. Perform a typical or custom V6 installation, as described in Installing the product and additional software.

  2. Use the V6 Profile creation wizard to create a stand-alone profile.

    Note: When you create the V6 profile, the NodeName you choose must match one of the NodeNames in the V4.0.x environment.

  3. Recommended: Use the Migration wizard to migrate the node (the recommended way to access the Migration wizard is through the First Steps console). If you choose to use the Migration wizard, you do not need to proceed through the rest of the steps in this task.

  4. Save the current configuration using the WASPreUpgrade script from the migration/bin directory of the product CD-ROM. Save the configuration in the migration-specific-backup directory 

    WASPreUpgrade /usr/tmp/migration-specific-backup /usr/websphere/appserver yourNodeName
    For V4.0.x Advanced Edition, verify that the administrative server of the existing environment is running. The WASPreUpgrade tool provides status to the screen and to log files in the migration-specific-backup directory. ASCII log file names start with the text WASPreUpgrade and include a date and timestamp.

    See WASPreUpgrade command for a list of the files and directories from the existing V4.0.x configuration that WASPreUpgrade saves to the backup directory.

    The WASPreUpgrade tool saves selected files from the V4.0.x install_root/bin directory. It also exports the existing Application Server configuration from the V4.0.x repository. The WASPreUpgrade tool calls the XMLConfig tool to export the existing V4.0.x repository to the websphere_backup.xml file in the migration-specific-backup directory.

    V4.0.x Advanced Single Server Edition does not require the administrative server to run at the time of migration. The WASPreUpgrade tool copies the server-cfg.xml file from the install_root/config directory to the migration-specific-backup/config directory.

    If errors occur for a V4.0.x Advanced Single Server Edition scenario while running the WASPreUpgrade tool, you might have to apply fixes to the V4.0.x installation to successfully complete the export step. See the IBM Support page for the latest fixes that might be applicable. When viewing this information from the information center, click Support to link to the IBM Support page.

  5. Migrate the previous configuration to the new installation with the WASPostUpgrade tool in the profile/bin directory of the V6 installation. The WASPostUpgrade tool migrates V4.0.x configuration information created by the WASPreUpgrade tool to the V6 installation.

    The WASPostUpgrade tool does not migrate Samples or the administrative console application because there are already Samples and an administrative console application in V6. The WASPostUpgrade tool records detailed information specific to each enterprise bean it deploys, in the WASPostUpgrade.log file.

  6. Stop the administrative server of the earlier version if it is running, before running the V6 node.

  7. Configure WAS after migration. This is a way of verifying the results of the migration tools. We can also use Configuration mapping during migration to verify the results of the migration. The topic has a detailed description of how the migration tools migrate objects, and what you should verify.

 

Result

Use the migration tools to perform a manual migration from V4.0.x of WAS to V6.

 

What to do next

After you test and verify that the applications and configuration data you moved to the V6 node is successful, one can uninstall the V4.0.x Application Server as described in the information centers for those releases. Click the Library link at the bottom of any V6 information center topic to locate the information centers for the other releases.

Return to Migrating configuration data to continue.

 

See Also


Migration tools

 

See Also


WASPreUpgrade command
WASPostUpgrade command