Upgrading WebFOCUS Server and Client on an Active PMF Environment

Considerations for Upgrading PMF in an Active WebFOCUS Environment

PMF is designed to run in an operational WebFOCUS environment. The PMF application has many dependencies in the WebFOCUS environment, and a WebFOCUS upgrade that does not take these dependencies into account can cause PMF to stop working. The many capabilities of PMF are built on top of WebFOCUS core features.

The various components of PMF and their ties into your WebFOCUS environment are as follows.

Component of PMF...	Controlled By...
Authorization of PMF Owners (users)	MR/CUS authentication mode. Pass-through of MR/CUS authenticated user information using SITE.WFS. Consistency of security between pre-upgrade and post-upgrade environments. Web server configuration for secure sockets (HTTPS).
Chart output that produces PNG and similar chart formats for Dashboard Gadgets, report drills, and inline graphics, such as, sparklines.	JSCOM3 configuration on WebFOCUS Reporting Server. WebFOCUS Client graphsrvurl parameter. Presence of shared output folder on WebFOCUS Client or web server.
Report output formats including active report, PDF, Excel2K, SVG, and XML.	MIME type settings in WebFOCUS Client and web server configuration. Installation of any needed plug-ins in users browsers.
International settings controlling display of non-Western characters, currency symbols, and date formats.	Web server character encoding code pages. WebFOCUS Client configured code pages. WebFOCUS Reporting Server configured code pages. Note: Generally, any requests coming through the WebFOCUS Client control the Reporting Server code page settings. However, in Reporting Server-only debugging scenarios, the WebFOCUS Server would need the same code page configured as the WebFOCUS Client, or you would get different results while debugging. WebFOCUS Reporting Server configured currency settings and default date formats.
WebFOCUS Client configuration and security (including MR/CUS Security).	Installation and correct operation of PMF WebFOCUS MR API modules on the current WebFOCUS Client. These are generally stored under the webapps folder on the WebFOCUS Client machines.
WebFOCUS Visual Discovery.	Installation of Visual Discovery tools in WebFOCUS Client environment. Licensing of Visual Discovery tools in WebFOCUS Client environment.
ReportCaster scheduling and integration.	Installation and correct operation of PMF ReportCaster API modules on the current WebFOCUS Client. These are generally stored under the webapps folder on the WebFOCUS Client machines. Installation and configuration of correct Java integration components required to let ReportCaster communicate with your RDBMS.
PMF MR Domain and content.	Presence of any application folders referenced for the Performance Management Framework domain as configured in your WebFOCUS Client. Presence of any custom content contained in the Performance Management Framework domain as configured in your WebFOCUS Client – though this would be non-standard.
Connections to current source data used for PMF Measure and Dimension loads and operational reports.	Adapter connections and security information as configured on the current WebFOCUS Reporting Server. RDBMS Client to enable the physical connection to the source RDBMS, as installed on your current WebFOCUS Reporting Server systems. Metadata contained in folders in your WebFOCUS applications. Check your WebFOCUS application path on your current Reporting Server to obtain these.
Connection to the PMF Data Mart.	The pmf_system adapter connection configuration on your current WebFOCUS Reporting Server. RDBMS Client to enable the physical connection to the RDBMS, as installed on your current WebFOCUS Reporting Server systems.
PMF customizations, as performed by consultants and your own developers.	Presence of additional WebFOCUS application folders on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and, separately, the WebFOCUS Client (if your installation is multi-tier). Both the folder names and their content must be present on the upgraded system. Presence of additional Gadgets and modules in the PMFGADGET application folder on your WebFOCUS Reporting Server and WebFOCUS Client machines. See Tips for information on how to transport these to your new environment. Presence of a PMFCUSTOM application folder. Both the folder names and their content must be present on the upgraded system. Presence of any application folders and content referenced in the default WebFOCUS Reporting Server application path, which would be needed to run operational reports in PMF after the upgrade.

Recommended WebFOCUS Upgrade Process for Active PMF Installations

How to:

Upgrade WebFOCUS

Upgrading WebFOCUS on an environment where PMF is already installed requires a careful process. It is important, before you upgrade WebFOCUS, to always confirm what working applications are installed and operational, so that the upgrade process does not cause any applications to stop working properly.

You should always check the minimum version of PMF required to run in any new versions of WebFOCUS. Note that although current versions of PMF are routinely certified on each new release of WebFOCUS to ensure PMF works properly, older versions of PMF might not be so certified. In some cases, if you are running older versions of PMF, you might need to consider upgrading PMF after upgrading WebFOCUS, since your older version of PMF might not be certified to run on that newer version of WebFOCUS.

If you have any questions about this, please consult your Information Builders support representative to understand if, and when, an upgrade to PMF might be required.

Top of page

Procedure: How to Upgrade WebFOCUS

The guidelines to follow when you are going to upgrade WebFOCUS are:

Before starting to perform the WebFOCUS upgrade, assess the current WebFOCUS environment to make sure running applications, including PMF, will continue to operate:
- Check the table above to make sure you collect the full and complete current configuration for the WebFOCUS environment that is currently installed, as to how any changes to that environment (for example, installing a new version of WebFOCUS) would affect PMF.
- Check to make sure the version of PMF you are running is certified with the version of WebFOCUS to which you are planning to upgrade. If it is not, you will also need to upgrade PMF after upgrading WebFOCUS.
- Take note of all current production and in-development applications besides PMF that are working in the environment, and gather up the aspects of the WebFOCUS configuration needed to continue to allow these to function properly.
Collect any specific configuration settings and files needed for PMF and any other running applications, to prepare for migration after upgrading WebFOCUS. Consult the table above to be able to list these, and then collect them.
After checking on all the above, perform the WebFOCUS upgrade.
To speed up the recertification process, take advantage of any in-built migration utilities available on the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and the WebFOCUS Client. This could, through automation, make the final step in this process faster.
Re-integrate and apply any missing components, from the settings and files you collected in step 2.
Test and confirm PMF operation in the upgraded and migrated environment. It is strongly recommended that you test all common functions, and log in to PMF with various trusted user IDs, to ensure all works correctly.

Tips

All metadata and connections that would affect PMF source loads must be consistent between the initial state of the WebFOCUS Reporting Server and its new state after the WebFOCUS upgrade. The automatic migration facility in the Reporting Server upgrade will frequently be of help here, to ensure the connections are consistent. However:
- Additional software and network connections (for example, drivers and RDBMS client software) might be needed to enable the migrated machines to access the source data for PMF loads and any operational reports.
- If you are installing the upgrade to a different physical set of machines, the migration tools will not know about the configuration of the original server, so you must apply the adapter connections manually.
If the PMF data mart is being moved to a different RDBMS as part of the upgrade, you can use the PMF Snapshot and Restore technology to transport the PMF data mart between the two RDBMS systems. For more information, see Snapshot and Restore.
If you have custom PMF Flex Gadgets or other custom PMF Gadget content installed in your PMF environment, note that any files needed to run these are not automatically deployed if you re-install PMF. This is because frequently the PMF installer has no way to see the custom files of your current environment (for example, you might be installing the upgrade to a new or different environment.). You can take advantage of the PMF export and register capability to move these components. For more information, see the PMF Administrator Guide.

Upgraded WebFOCUS and PMF No Longer Works?

Here are some tips if you upgraded WebFOCUS and now PMF is no longer working.

Check the Troubleshooting chapter in this guide and see if the errors or issues you are having with PMF match any of these. If they do, try the debugging and remedy steps as documented in Troubleshooting Common Issues.
Check the general WebFOCUS documentation and release notes.
Check the PMF documentation and release notes.
Contact your Information Builders support representative to assist you. This is the best way to remedy any issues you might have that are not covered in the current Troubleshooting section.