About Upgrading Application Server

Important: Direct upgrade to Application Server 2023 R2 is supported from Application Server 2017 and later. Your system must meet the minimum system requirements, including operating system version, SQL Server version, and .NET Framework version. Note that only 64-bit operating systems are supported. For more information, see Supported operating systems, the System Platform Readme, and the AVEVA Global Customer Support website.

Users must belong to the OS group aaConfigTools to connect to a Galaxy from the IDE. Assign users to this group as needed using an administrator command prompt.

To assign users using an administrator command prompt

1. Open a command prompt as administrator.

2. In the command prompt enter:
   net localgroup aaConfigTools <user name> /add

Important Upgrade Information

• 64-bit operating system required: A 64-bit operating system is required to install System Platform 2023 R2 SP1.

• 64-bit SQL Server required: For components that require SQL Server, such as Application Server and Historian, you must have a 64-bit version of SQL Server installed.

• .NET Framework: System Platform 2023 R2 SP1 requires .NET Framework 4.8. If your system does not have this version or a newer version installed, the .NET Framework will be installed prior to product installation. A restart may be required, after which setup.exe will resume automatically. See System Platform prerequisites for additional information.

• Licensing Change: If you are upgrading from System Platform 2014 R2 SP1,you will need to upgrade first to System Platform 2017 as an intermediate step. You will be changing to the new licensing system. This new "Activated License System" requires a License Server to be hosted on a machine that can be accessed by all nodes in the system. Additional license servers can be installed for more granular licensing management or redundancy.

  Since the License Server is a new component, it is not added during the upgrade process. Upgrade the Galaxy Repository node first, and then use the Modify workflow to add the License Server after the node has been upgraded. See License Installation and Activation for additional information.

  Only one License Server is required per overall system.

  Note: The Galaxy Repository node is the default installation location for the License Server. You can, however, select a different node, or install the License Server on a standalone node, depending on your system size and architecture.

• Network Account: In System Platform 2017 Update 2 and prior releases, the Network Account was a member of the system Administrators group. Starting with System Platform 2017 Update 3, the Network Account was removed from the Administrators group to enhance system security.

  When you upgrade from System Platform 2017 Update 2 or an earlier version, a security warning asks if you want to remove the Network Account from the Administrators group. This is the best option for security. However, you can leave the Network Account as a system administrator, if the account is used by another application and if removing administrator rights will affect that application.

• AVEVA System Monitor: The System Monitor Manager tracks the availability of the License Server and provides email notification of its status to ensure uninterrupted system operations. A System Monitor agent is installed on each node and communicates with the System Monitor Manager if there is an issue with the connection between the System Platform node and the License Server.

  The System Monitor Manager is not automatically added during the upgrade process. To add the System Monitor Manager, upgrade the Galaxy Repository node first, and then use the Modify workflow to add the System Monitor Manager when the upgrade completes. The System Monitor agent is automatically added to each upgraded node. Configure the System Monitor agent on each remote node to point to the System Monitor Manager. See Configure AVEVA System Monitor for additional information.

  Only one System Monitor Manager is required per overall system.

• Application Server: Every redundant Application Server run-time node must use the System Management Server if data is being historized. Redundant nodes have an instance of HCAP running, which is used to synchronize tags and store-and-forward data between redundant AppEngines. As of of System Platform 2023 R2, secure communication is required for HCAP, and thus, redundant nodes will not be able to synchronize data without the SMS.

• InTouch Access Anywhere: If you plan to upgrade System Platform on a computer that has InTouch Access Anywhere Server or InTouch Access Anywhere Gateway installed, you must first uninstall the InTouch Access Anywhere Server or Gateway. After you upgrade System Platform, you can reinstall InTouch Access Anywhere. See Upgrading InTouch Access Anywhere for details.

• Common Platform: The System Management Server, a security component, was added for System Platform 2017 Update 3. If you are upgrading from a prior version that did not have the System Management Server, it is automatically installed on the GR node when you upgrade to System Platform 2023 R2 SP1. There should be only one System Management Server in your System Platform topology, and every node should be configured to point to it. See System Management Server for additional information. If some nodes will not be upgraded, communication with non-upgraded nodes will continue to use legacy communication protocols.

  In multi-galaxy environments, configure only one GR node as the System Management Server, and configure the other nodes to point to it.

  If the System Management Server is not configured for redundant Application Server nodes, there will be data loss, as well as warnings and error messages.

About the Modify Workflow

The upgrade process can only upgrade System Platform components that are already installed on your system. Since upgrading may introduce new components that were not part of prior releases, you need to run setup.exe and launch the Modify option to install new components that may not have been available in prior versions of System Platform. The components that you may need to install through the Modify option include:

• AVEVA System Monitor Manager

• AVEVA License Server

To add components through the Modify option

3. Upgrade the node and configure it.

4. Run the installation program again from the installation DVD (setup.exe).

5. Select the Modify option.

6. Select the component(s) you want to install.

• You can upgrade SQL Server after Application Server is installed. Refer to Microsoft’s SQL Server resources for guidelines and procedures.

  To upgrade SQL Server after Application Server is installed, we recommend that you undeploy any galaxies deployed on the relevant computer, and that you undeploy all Platform Common Services. For more information, see the Application Server User Guide.

You can upgrade the following Application Server components:

• Bootstrap

  You will see a warning message if you attempt to upgrade a computer with a deployed WinPlatform. You have the choice to continue with the upgrade or to cancel. If you continue with the Bootstrap upgrade, the deployed WinPlatform object is removed from run time and upgraded.

  If an InTouchViewApp instance is deployed for a managed InTouch application, the folder is undeployed and deleted. You are prompted to stop InTouch WindowViewer from running the managed application.

• IDE and Bootstrap

  You will see a warning message if you attempt to upgrade a computer with a deployed WinPlatform. You have the choice to continue with the upgrade or to cancel. If you continue with the upgrade, the current IDE and Bootstrap are removed and the new versions are installed.

  If an installed InTouchViewApp instance is deployed for a managed InTouch application, the folder is undeployed and deleted. You are prompted to stop InTouch WindowViewer from running the managed application.

• Galaxy Repository (GR) and Bootstrap

  You will see a warning message if you attempt to upgrade a computer with a deployed WinPlatform or a client application is connected to the GR node. You can choose to continue with the upgrade or to cancel. If you continue, the components are removed and upgraded.

  Upgraded IDE/Client nodes cannot connect to a non-upgraded GR node. The GR node is undeployed before it is upgraded.

• IDE, GR, and Bootstrap

  A warning message is displayed if you attempt to upgrade a computer with a deployed WinPlatform or if a client application is connected to the GR node. You can choose to continue with the upgrade or to cancel. If you continue, all components are removed and upgraded.

• Run-time node

  Upgrading the Bootstrap on any computer removes the running WinPlatform and AppEngine. Both of these system objects are marked as undeployed if they are running on any Galaxy node.

  Note: No system objects are removed on non-GR nodes when migrating from earlier versions of Application Server.

If a remote node is disconnected from the GR node, or if you upgrade the remote node before you upgrade the GR node, the remote Platform is not marked as undeployed. You must undeploy and redeploy the Platform.

The run-time functionality of Application Server continues throughout the upgrade process, except during a run-time node upgrade. Configuration, however, must be done using components that are at the same version level. For example, you cannot use the Galaxy Browser in the InTouch HMI on a non-upgraded node to view or select attributes from an upgraded Galaxy. You can, though, view or modify run-time data using an InTouch window or the Object Viewer.

Special considerations apply if you are upgrading both the Application Server and the Historian. For more information about upgrading the Historian, see Upgrade from a previous version of AVEVA Historian.