Finishing the 7.02 Upgrade

[heinscott]

Hello, I have what I hope will be an easy question for one of you.
I have recently, on my dev machine, gone through the process of upgrading my AC install. Now, everything seems to be working here (so far), and we are wanting to roll these changes to our server. Now, here is the question...
My boss is worried about the down time of making all the changes on the server, and instead has asked me to leave what is running currently up and just create a new website with the upgraded version. Do any of you know any way of accomplishing this? I figure I could make a new website on my server, copy all of the files to this new site (lastly copying over the database config and mdf file from the current site). Then, when everthing is in place, I would want to stop the one, and start the other, hopefully keeping the same domain for both. That is what I am not sure about, as I don't have a lot of experience with windows servers.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks,

Scott

[nickc]

Assuming you have only one web server, a little down time is inevitable.
In the past, I've posted a message into the site header scriplet warning site users that there will be scheduled maintenance at <time> so finish up shopping before <time>. Then deploy your 7.0.2 code, point a new web site at it, use a different domain or host header, something like testing.mydomain.com, and make sure Able is running in demo mode. You won't be able to test SSL unless you also use a different IP. When ready, disable the existing site (app_offline.htm or equivalent), configure SSL on new site, disable demo mode on new site, move host header to new site... what did I forget?
I wouldn't recommend changing the database unless necessary - are there structural changes to the db in the 7.0.2 build? If not, just point the new site at the existing db.

Very handy to have an extra virtual IP or two on your web server. That way, you can even run a licensed version of your test site before switching, by using your local hosts file to point your real domain at your test site. With full control of DNS, you could then make that IP the new home for your site...

[jmestep]

There are several changes to the database in 7.0.2 and you would need to run the upgrade script to make those. There are also tax and shipping changes that you would need to set after the database upgrade. There are a couple of changes in the style.css- most important is the one affecting the reviews.
Scott, you also need to make sure you have your email template changes ready to go because those are necessary due to the addition of the Order Number field.
I thought I had all my customizations integrated when I did my first upgrade but at least one of them was a real surprise, like the change in the checkout flow for logged in vs. not logged in customers. And the new category search bar aware code. I ended up adding my customizations to the Able 7.0.2 code instead of making a few 7.0.2 changes to my custom code like I had done in other upgrades.
Do it at a low traffic time and when your boss is out in the middle of the lake without a cell phone or something.

[heinscott]

Yeah, I had the same issues, Judy. I had to keep my customized files, and just add new ones to the install, and then make whatever changes were necessary because of CommerceBuilder changes. The CategorySideSearch was my biggest problem, as that file couldn't be replaced with a customized version on previous versions. Everything seems to be running fine as far as all that goes... my boss is just worried about any down time. I really don't think there is a work around because of SSL, but, I'm going to do a little research with our hosting company today, and see what I can come up with.

Thanks for the help,

Scott

[heinscott]

One quick question Judy...
I was wondering if you could explain what changes exactly I need to make after upgrade? Like you said with tax and shipping, but, what exactly changes that I should be aware of? Also, in the email templates, is it just a matter of switching OrderId to OrderNumber? Any help you can give me would be much appreciated... The checkout process (minus the actual capturing of funds) appears to be working on my dev machine, as far as I can tell, but, I would love to get as many possible problems worked out before I deploy this. Oh yeah... I just talked to my hosting company too, and they said that it would be okay to just copy the new installation in its entireity to a new directory, and then setup a new website with the same ip, domain, etc, and they would be able to copy over our ssl certificate so it is running for both sites. Then, I should be able to just turn the current site off, and then turn the new one on. Of course, I won't be able to test before deployment, but, at least I can easily and quickly switch back if it becomes apparent that it is necessary.
Thanks for all the help. I super appreciate it!

Scott

[jmestep]

The help topic isn't real clear that this should be done for 7.0.2 also, but here is the link:
http://help.ablecommerce.com/upgrades/a ... ks%207.0.1

[heinscott]

Thanks Judy. That answers my questions!
Scott

[nickc]

Hmm. Apologies for my uneducated database comment. Still putting off upgrading.

Note to Able design team -
Would be nice if new rational version numbering (http://help.ablecommerce.com/upgrades/a ... hanges.htm) took into account some basics, like:

Version X.Y.Z
- change in X = architecture change
- change in Y = database change
- change in Z = code change

So I would know immediately that in 7.1.3, the database has changed, and in 7.0.3 it has not.