There are a couple of approaches to doing an upgrade. What is best for you comes down to how mission critical your Iguana interfaces are and the amount of effort you want to put into the upgrade process.
Mission Critical Systems
- Use a test environment:
- First deploy a new version of Iguana in a test environment
- Validate that there are no issues with your interfaces
- You may wish to do a period of parallel running in the test environment
- Consider parallel running for Iguana in the live environment:
- You need to do a second (separate) install of the new version of Iguana on the production server
- This will require a manual install
- You will need a new license key for this install even though it is on the same machine
- This guide for best practices for doing an easy upgrade with manual installation should be helpful
- Advantages of parallel running in the live environment:
- Parallel running requires more work but carries the least risk
- Gives you time to validate channels on the new version of Iguana in a live environment
- You can run one or more channels in parallel until you prove it is safe to turn them off in the old instance
Tip: if the overhead of running all channels in parallel is too high, just work on a subset
- To transfer your configuration to the new (parallel) Iguana instance, there are two key files to copy over:
- vcs_repo.sqlite which is the fossil repository with all the Translator source code and VMD files
- IguanaConfiguration.xml which, as the name suggests, is the Iguana configuration file
- Optionally you can copy the log files.
Note: For more information about transferring Iguana to a new machine, see how to transfer Iguana to a new system and how to backup and restore Iguana.
- For older channels using VMD files and python modules you must ensure that these files are still available.
- If you are upgrading from an Iguana 3.x version then read this.
Non-Critical Systems
- Check that the Iguana license Maintenance Expiry Date is current (Settings > License Entitlement)
- Backup Iguana before upgrading
- Upgrade Iguana:
- For Windows do an automatic install to upgrade to the new version of Iguana
- For Linux, Unix and Mac the only upgrade option is a manual install
- We also recommend:
- Before you upgrade configure all channels so they do not start automatically
- Test channels individually after the upgrade, before setting them back to auto-start
- After upgrading you need to refresh the browser cache, or you may see some very odd bugs. Usually F5 is enough
About Milestones
When upgrading to a new version of Iguana, you must first ensure that you have no uncommitted changes in your scripts. If you forget to commit milestones before upgrading, Iguana will not start post-install. If you have forgotten this step and find yourself stuck, use the following work-around to access the software:
- Stop the Iguana service.
- In the Iguana install directory, navigate to the following folder: ..\iguana\edit
- Rename the “edit” folder (for example, “edit_old”).
- Restart the Iguana service.
Warning: Any uncommitted changes made to your script prior to the upgrade will be lost.