Upgrade Approach
Most large organizations have many independent or semi-independent OpenROAD applications. Usually the same end users are running these applications. In other cases, independent groupings of end users are running applications. Some organizations also use multi-tier architectures using the OpenROAD Server.
These situations raise the question of whether separate applications running different OpenROAD image versions can be upgraded independently.
Observe the following guidelines when you are considering selective upgrading of OpenROAD applications:
• Dual development environments are required for OpenROAD 2006 (5.0) and OpenROAD 5.1.
• While running OpenROAD 2006 (5.0) images using OpenROAD 5.1, runtime is not known to cause any problems. We recommend that you rebuild the applications using OpenROAD 5.1 before running them under OpenROAD 5.1.
• Running OpenROAD 5.1 images using OpenROAD 2006 (5.0) runtime is not supported.
• If you are using an OpenROAD 2006 (5.0) Server, it is not imperative that you upgrade it just because its OpenROAD clients have been upgraded to 5.1. But we recommend, as a best practice, that you upgrade both sides as part of the overall project. This will keep all your OpenROAD software running on top of the OpenROAD 5.1 runtime while also ensuring that all OpenROAD software was built against OpenROAD 5.1.
Actian Corporation also recommends as a best practice that, if you do plan to upgrade both OpenROAD clients and OpenROAD Servers to OpenROAD 5.1, you do so in separate phases of the project, performing adequate testing in between. This will help you isolate problems on either the client or server side of the equation during the upgrade project. Fix or document any problems before moving on to the next part of the upgrade.
It does not matter whether the client side or the server side of the system is upgraded first. Again, this will allow you to isolate issues that might arise during a particular stage of the overall upgrade project.
If your OpenROAD installation is complex or sizeable, these considerations emphasize the need to plan your upgrade to OpenROAD 5.1.