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Methods For Upgrading Or Updating Virtualized Applications

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 by Michel Roth

The Sofgrid Team has published yet another very insightful article that always get asked somewhere along the road when implementing Softgrid. How do I upgrade my applications? The article talks about the three ways you can upgrade an existing Softgrid application with the current version of Softgrid. It also talks about which method is best used in which scenario. Here's a quick recap of the three possible methods you coudl use:

Active Upgrade
The first application update method is called Active Upgrade. In this configuration, the existing package is copied down to a sequencer workstation. The package is then Opened for Package Upgrade, a function found in the sequencer. The sequencer will extract out the contents of the SFT file and restore the application to the end state from the last sequence. The sequencer user then simply restarts the Monitoring process in the sequencer, and once monitoring restarts, the user performs any updates to the application as necessary.

New Application/Parallel Execution
The second application update method can be called New Application/Parallel Execution. In this configuration, the application is re-sequenced, starting with the base installer, then the updates are performed as necessary. This creates an entirely new package that represents the updated version of the application. The new package file is then copied to the content share and the SoftGrid administrator adds a new application record for this package.

Application Branch/Parallel Execution
The final application update method can be called Application Branch/Parallel Execution. This configuration is very similar to the New Application method, with one very important distinction. In this configuration, the application is not completely re-sequenced. The existing SFT file is copied down to a sequencer workstation. The SFT file is then Opened for Package Upgrade, a function found in the sequencer. The updates would be performed as in the Active Upgrade, however now the sequencer user performs a Save As of the package, NOT a save. Once this Save As process is started, the sequencer will prompt for a new Package Root, Suite Name, SFT file name, and it will also create a new GUID for the SFT.

Definitely worth reading the entire article.