How to Upgrade or Apply Services Packs and Rollups To The Protected Applications with Neverfail Engine Installed

How to Upgrade or Apply Services Packs and Rollups To The Protected Applications with Neverfail Engine Installed

Summary

This Knowledgebase article provides procedures for upgrading an application protected by Neverfail Engine in a Pair configuration.

More Information  

This KB article is for applying service packs, patches and hotfixes and not major version application upgrades.

Notes:
  • Prior to attempting this upgrade, you should read the entire procedure. 
  • This procedure requires downtime as it involves a series of switchover between Primary and Secondary servers so you might want to schedule a maintenance window for doing it.
  • The procedure starts by applying the application service packs/rollups on the Secondary server first so that in case that process fails, your Primary server remains untouched and can be used as before by simply remaking it Active. 
  • Prior to updating check the release notes of the Neverfail plug-in for your protected application and make sure it supports the new application version or Service Pack.

Procedure

On the Active Server

 
Note: If the Secondary server is the active server, please omit step 1. below. 
  1. Using the Neverfail Advanced Management Client, perform a switchover by clicking the Make Active button. Wait for the Secondary server to become active.
On the Secondary (now Active) Server
  1. Using the Shutdown Group option in the Neverfail tray icon, shutdown Neverfail Engine on the Secondary (active) and Primary server leaving the protected applications running.
    Pair status: Secondary active with Engine stopped and application running and Primary passive with Engine and applications stopped.
  2. If upgrading the Application to a later update:
    1. Install the Application Update by running its setup program/service pack.
    2. If asked, reboot the server at this point. 
    3. Verify that Application is operational.
    4. If the server was rebooted, shutdown Neverfail Engine on the Secondary server.
    5. If the upgrade procedure was successful proceed to the next step, else goto "upgrade failed".
  3. Change the server role to Secondary/passive. To do this please perform the steps below:
    1. Launch the Neverfail Configure Server Wizard and click on the Machine tab. Change the Active Server to be the Primary.
    2. Using the Windows Service Control Manager, start Neverfail Engine service.
    3. Wait until Engine stops all the services of the protected application. This can be checked/seen under Application/Services section of the Neverfail Advanced Management client.
    4. Using the Windows Service Control Manager, stop Neverfail Engine service.
On the Primary Server (Assuming a successful upgrade of Secondary completed):
  1. Make sure the Primary role is now Active.
    1. Launch the Neverfail Configure Server Wizard and click on the Machine tab. Change the Active Server to be the Primary.
    2. Using Windows Service Control Manager, start Neverfail Engine service.
    3. Wait until all services of the protected application are started.
    4. Using the Shutdown Engine option, shutdown Neverfail Engine on the Primary (now active) server leaving the protected applications running.
  2. If upgrading the Application to a later update:
    1. Install the Application Update by running the setup program/service pack.
    2. If asked, reboot the server at this point.
    3. Verify that Application is operational.
    4. If the upgrade procedure was successful proceed to the next step, else goto "upgrade failed".
    5. Start Neverfail Engine on the Primary Server.
  3. Finalising Upgrade:
    1. Start Neverfail Engine on the Secondary server.
    2. Using the Neverfail Advanced Management Client:
      1. Under Applications\Tasks section verify that the Protected Service Discovery task from under the section of your protected application has run.
      2. Check that the system completes the Full System Check.
  4. If the upgrade on Secondary/Primary server fails:
    1. Research the cause of the upgrade failure.
    2. If the issue can be resolved then it is safe to proceed with the upgrade procedure. Otherwise, you can revert to the previous version.
    3. To revert to a previous version:
      1. Uninstall the upgraded components and check the application starts after the rollback.
      2. On the Secondary server, launch the Neverfail Engine Configure Server Wizard and click on the Machine tab. Change the Active server to be Primary.
      3. Reboot the server.
      4. Neverfail Engine will start and the Application will be stopped.
      5. On the Primary server, launch the Neverfail Engine Configure Server Wizard and click on the Machine tab. Change the Active server to be the Primary.
      6. Restart Neverfail Engine on the Primary Server and allow the system to synchronise.
      7. Using the Neverfail Advanced Management Client, check that the system starts and completes the Full System Check.
      8. Investigate the cause of the application upgrade failure on the Secondary server.
Note: In the event of the server connecting to a remote database (DB) you should create backups at key points of the patching process in the event of DB structure changes.
  • Backup the remote DB before upgrading on Secondary
  • Backup the remote DB again after upgrading on Secondary (when upgrade successful)
  • Restore the remote DB to the pre-upgrade point BEFORE starting the upgrade on the Primary (before starting Step 5)

 Applies To

Customer Applications  
Neverfail Engine 

Related Information

None
 
KBID-3003