WebObjects: How to Upgrade a Deployed WebObjects Application Running in a Production Environment

Important: The steps outlined in this document do not cover the situation where the new WebObjects application needs to modify or access the same files as the current version, nor does it cover situations when there is an update to the database. If you have schema or other database changes it may not be feasible to do an in-place upgrade of your application.

Add new instances of your new application

Use the same name, but place the new application in a different path from the current application so it does not generate a name conflict.

1. In JavaMonitor, click the Applications tab

2. Click Config next to your application.

3. Change the Path variable to point to the new version of your application executable.

4. Deselect the AutoRecover option.

5. Select Update for new instances only.
Important: Do not click "Push" or "Push All" as this attempts to modify the currently running version of your application.

6. Make any other changes you feel are necessary to your environment in the other application categories (such as Application Settings).

7. Open the Detail View by clicking Detail View in the upper right corner of the page

8. Add the appropriate number of instances of your new application. Be sure you add them to the correct host if you have more than one configured.

Prepare your earlier application so it can be taken offline

1. In Detail View, of the application tool, turn AutoRecover to OFF on the earlier instances of your application.
This ensures that when you shut these instances down wotaskd won't try to automatically restart them.

2. Turn on Refuse New Sessions on your older instances.
This allows your application to continue processing any current sessions, but they will refuse to accept any new ones.

Bring the new instances online

1. In Detail View start the new instances of your application by clicking the green button to the right of each new instance

When the new instances come online they will begin processing any new requests while the old instances complete their current sessions, or time out.

2. To add a level of robustness to your deployment you should turn AutoRecover back on for your new instances. This tells wotaskd to restart your instances in case they should go offline unexpectedly.

Shut down the old instances

1. Click the Red Light next to each instance to stop it when it no longer has any active sessions.
You can see the number of active sessions per instance from the application's "Detail View".

2. Delete the old instances after they all have stopped.

If there are issues when both versions of the application run at the same time, you need to bring the new instances online after you shut down the old instances.