Updating to a New Maintenance Release
Windchill PDM Essentials is updated in the same way as
Windchill PDMLink, using the PTC Solution Installer (PSI), NOT the
Windchill Installation Assistant (which is only used for fresh installations, or as part of an upgrade to a new release). In order to apply platform maintenance release updates to your deployment of
Windchill PDM Essentials, you must download the
Windchill service packs located in the
Windchill PDM Essentials download files section of the PTC Support Web site:
http://www.ptc.com/support/support.htm.
After downloading the required images, use the following procedure to apply a maintenance release update:
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PTC recommends that you always use a test (pre-production) system to ensure that your Windchill products are operating as expected before deploying them in a production environment. This allows you to identify any potential issues on the test system without interfering with production system activities. After you have installed the maintenance release on a test system and are satisfied with the results, repeat the maintenance release installation process on your production system. Because of the work you did on your test system, installing the maintenance release on your production system should take less time.
If you choose to update your production server directly, make sure to back up the server and database or take a snapshot if you deployed in a virtual environment. This enables you to restore your system if there is an issue with the update. For backup details, see step three below.
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Before updating, determine whether or not your source system is set up to use the Simple Number (also known as the Harvard Series) version scheme. Any existing document or CAD document has a version and iteration designator. The version scheme is Simple Number (Harvard Series) if the version of documents and CAD documents appears as 1.1, 1.2,....2.1, 2.2,... etc. If your system uses the Simple Number (Harvard Series) version scheme, make a note before beginning; the update process requires an additional step. For more information, see Post Update Steps for Simple Number (Harvard Series) Version Scheme.
1. Create a staging directory on the target system for the images you downloaded. Place the media files in the new staging directory:
a. Click Copy to staging.
b. Click Browse and navigate to the directory containing the CD zip file or CD drive with the product CD.
c. Click OK.
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A staging directory is a directory where you copy the product media before beginning the installation. This allows the PTC Solution Installer to access each CD image without stopping to prompt you during installation.
Using a staging area provides a faster installation experience and removes the need to insert media during installation.
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2. If the implementation of Windchill at your site involves modifying files supplied by PTC, it is important to understand that the maintenance installation process could overwrite any file that is delivered by PTC (except for the site.xconf file). This includes files that you may have modified.
Using the test system allows you to incorporate updates from PTC into any site-modified files and validate the maintenance release or point release with your own customizations without interrupting work being done on your production system. PTC recommends that you store a copy of all site-modified files in the safe area directory structure under the Windchill installation directory. Then, follow the below instructions by running the PTC Solution Installer with the service pack installation type option of "Updates for Site-Modified Files to Safe Area." You will have access to the files that PTC has changed for the maintenance release and can update your site-modified files accordingly. After updating your site-modified files, follow the below instructions again to run a "Complete" service pack installation on your test system to verify that the updated system, incorporating your site modifications, works according to your requirements.
After you have installed the maintenance release or point release on a test system and are satisfied with the results, copy the site-modified files that you have updated to the safe area directory (<Windchill>/wtSafeArea/siteMod) on your production system. Then, repeat the maintenance release or point release installation process on your production system.
3. Prepare your system for the update by performing the following steps:
a. Ensure that the test system and the production system are in sync.
b. Take your production system offline by stopping any web server, servlet engine, or Windchill servers that could interact with the Windchill product files. This includes stopping the Windchill and Apache services (services.msc) and closing any application that may have a Windchill file open (for example, a text editor, a Windchill shell, or a Windchill log file).
c. Delete the content in the <Windchill>\Tomcat\instances\ folders.
d. When your system is offline, but before installing the maintenance release, perform all necessary backups. Backing up your files is an important step in the process. If you do not have backup files, you may not be able to restore files if an error occurs. At a minimum, you should back up the following:
▪ Windchill database—Use the database backup procedures available for the SQL Server environment. This backup should follow your site’s data recovery processes.
▪ Windchill solution installation directory—By default, this is C:\ptc. Back it up by creating a duplicate copy of it and keep it somewhere that follows your site’s data recovery processes.
▪ Windchill solution LDAP directory content (LDIF file)—Execute the LDAP export procedure described in
Exporting Entries to an LDIF File. Store the LDIF file somewhere that follows your site’s data recovery processes.
▪ PTC Solution Installer Global Registry directory—Create a duplicate copy of the PTC Solution Installer Global directory called “installer” located in the <Installation_Location>/PSI directory. Store the PTC Solution Installer Global Registry directory somewhere that follows your site’s data recovery processes.
4. If the system you are updating includes Windchill Workgroup Manager, ensure that the client JAR files are up-to-date. The Windchill Service Pack installation automatically rebuilds client JAR files. When you are selecting options in the PTC Solution Installer, be sure to select Windchill Workgroup Manager under optional products (see step 13).
5. Launch PSI:
a. Insert the PTC Solution Installer CD.
b. From a command prompt window, navigate to your CD drive, and then enter the following command: setup.vbs
The PSI opens.
6. Choose the language for the installation session and click OK.
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The Before You Begin panel provides links to necessary documentation to install your Windchill solution.
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7. Accept the PTC Customer License Agreement.
8. Choose Update Existing Installation and click Next.
9. Select the installation to update and click Next.
10. On the Select Product page, select Install Maintenance Release and click Next
◦ If your solution is not in the specified directory, the installer presents the Products to be Updated panel for you to specify the product location.
◦ If you have made site modifications, the installer checks for the existence of the directory where the modifications are stored: <Windchill>/wtSafeArea/siteMod (where <Windchill> is the Windchill Services installation directory). The installer assumes that this directory holds a copy of all site-modified files. If the directory is not found, the Confirm No Site Modifications Directory message appears so you can confirm there are no site-modified files. Click Yes to continue or No and Cancel to quit the installation.
11. Specify the staging directory that contains your media, and then click Next.
12. Select whether or not to preserve existing web configurations, and then click Next.
13. If installing an update to Windchill Workgroup Manager as part of the Windchill update, select the checkbox next to all applicable Windchill Workgroup Manager authoring applications you want to install.
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In addition to installing Windchill Workgroup Manager on the Windchill server, the user must also install the Windchill Workgroup Manager client software. Those instructions are located in the guide and in the Windchill Workgroup Manager Help Center under the Installation and Configuration section for the applicable CAD or authoring tool.
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14. In the Select Installation Type panel, select Complete, and click Next.
15. PSI lists products and components that must be updated. Additionally, the PSI lists any products that need to be reinstalled to complete the update.
Click Next.
16. If the Apache Web server and Tomcat require an update, this panel gives the option to preserve the configuration files. If you clear this checkbox, the existing httpd.conf file will be overwritten by the default httpd.conf file supplied by Apache. If you select the checkbox, the existing httpd.conf file will not be overwritten.
Click Next.
17. On the Installation Overview page, review the information and click Install.
18. When the installation completes successfully, the Installation Complete panel displays the directories affected by the installation. Depending on the type of installation performed, the directories can include the selected directory where the installation took place, the selected directory and the <Windchill>/wtSafeArea/ptcCurrent directory, or only the <Windchill>/wtSafeArea/ptcCurrent directory.
The installation log files are located in the <Windchill>/installer/logs directory. The log files for the installation are named:
WSP_InstallLog.xml
WSP_PtcInstall.log
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If the installation fails, a panel is displayed that contains error messages and the names of the relevant log files. The log files can be helpful in determining the cause of the failure.
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If you file an installation support request, be sure to include the log files. There are separate log files for each Windchill Service Pack Installation that you do. Each set of log files is located in the installer/logs directory under the installation directory.
20. The update tool should be run after completing an update to an existing installation using the Windchill Service Pack option (such as a maintenance release update).
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The web server, Windchill Directory Server, and database should be up and running before running the Update tool.
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To execute the update tool, the following command must be executed from a Windchill shell by a Windchill administrator (wcadmin):
Update_Tool.bat -username <username> -password <password> -noui
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If the server gets shut down before the update tool completes running, an error occurs during startup when the Windchill service try to automatically start: The Windchill service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs.
To resolve this issue:
a. Start the machine in safe mode.
b. Access windows services from the Start menu: > .
c. Change the Windchill PDM Essentials windows services Startup Type property values from Automatic to Manual.
d. Restart the machine.
e. Run the update tool.
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If the following message appears, the Update tool has successfully completed: “Marking phase Load New Data as completed in the database.”
21. For Windchill Service Pack installations that update your Windchill solution installation directory, verify that the versions of the updated Windchill products are correct by navigating to > > .
The Release and Datecode fields should reflect the correct updated version.
You can also run the windchill version command to verify the correct version of Windchill.
If the Windchill version shows that any component installations are incomplete, repeat the installation, selecting the Recover installation type option.
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If you are first installing into a test system, you must repeat the installations in your production system.
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22. See the
Windchill Read This First for any manual configuration special instructions applicable for the maintenance release to which you are updating. You can download the latest
Windchill Read This First for your maintenance release at the following location on the PTC website:
https://www.ptc.com/en/support/refdoc.
This URL directs you to the PTC Online Support Web page for reference documents. For your document search criteria, select your product from the Product drop-down list, select the current release from the Release drop-down list, select Read This First from the Document Type drop-down list, and select Administrator from the User Role drop-down list.
23. When the tablespace of a modeled table is changed from WCAUDIT to some other tablespace as part of an update, the change is detected and the following script is generated during the Upgrade Database Schema phase:
<windchill>\Upgrade\UpgradeReports\UpgradeDatabaseSchema\MoveTablesSql-<date>.sql
If the script exists in the listed location, you need to run this script manually to move the tables to the WCAUDIT tablespace to match with an out-of-the-box database schema.
24. Bring the system back online by restarting the Windows services for Apache Web Server and Windchill server.
For more information about
Windchill Service Pack updates, see
Updating an Existing Installation.
Post Update Steps for Simple Number (Harvard Series) Version Scheme
After the update has completed successfully, if your source system was set up to use the Simple Number (Harvard Series) version scheme, perform the following additional steps:
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Any existing document or CAD document has a version and iteration designator. The version scheme is Simple Number (Harvard Series) if the version of documents and CAD documents appears as 1.1, 1.2,....2.1, 2.2,... etc.
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In a windchill shell, type the following commands to add the correct properties:
• xconfmanager -s wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.delimiter=. -s wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.depth=16 -s wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number.level.1=wt.series.IntegerSeries -t codebase/wt.properties -p
• xconfmanager --add wt.series.HarvardSeries.seriesNames=MilSpec,Number -t codebase/wt.properties -p
For more information about the xconfmanager Utility, see
Using the xconfmanager UtilityIf these steps are not performed, the following error occurs:
ERROR [ajp-bio-8010-exec-1] com.ptc.core.htmlcomp.jstable.JSPersistableDataUtility cadauth
- JSPersistableDataUtility.getValue :: wt.util.WTRuntimeException:
Unable to construct version identifier for series: wt.series.HarvardSeries.Number;
nested exception is:
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
wt.util.WTRuntimeException: Unable to construct version
