From 2019.1 or later to latest (multi-server environment)

These instructions assume you have a multi-server environment. If not, see From 2019.1 or later to latest (single server) .

When upgrading a multi-server environment from 2019.1 or later:

  • upgrade the outer servers before upgrading the inner servers, and upgrade the innermost server last

  • you can upgrade a server whenever it is convenient to do so

  • new functionality on upgraded outer servers becomes available when the inner servers have been upgraded. This means that users can continue to use upgraded outer servers before the inner-most server is upgraded, but functionality is limited by the version of the inner-most server.

  • during the time the commit server is undergoing the upgrade process, users of edge servers cannot perform any of the many operations that require the edge servers to be connected to the commit server.

Note
  • A proxy or broker only needs to get the latest binary.
  • You DO need to run p4d -xu against all servers and replicas.
  • You do NOT need to run p4d -xu against offline db.* files (a set of db.* files periodically brought current by replaying the journal files from the production server).

Prerequisites

  • To upgrade Helix Server to a newer version, your Helix Server license file must be current.
  • Make sure that journaling is enabled so it can apply the upgrades to other servers.

Upgrade Steps

In the following steps, replace

  • [P4ROOT] with the path to the P4ROOT directory
  • [P4JOURNAL] with the directory path and name of the journal file

In the case of commit edge, the "innermost server" is the commit server and the outer servers are edge servers. In the case of a standard server and replicas of that standard server, the "innermost server" is a standard server.

On the outermost server

  1. Shut down the server by running p4 admin stop
  2. Install the new version of the p4d binary on the system.
  3. As the OS user that runs the Helix Server, run p4d -r [P4ROOT] -J [P4JOURNAL] -xu
  4. Wait until you see this message:
    Upgrades will be applied from '-xu' at upstream server
  5. Restart the server.

On the servers between the outermost server and the innermost server

  1. Shut down by running p4 admin stop

  2. Install the new version of the p4d binary on the system.
  3. As the OS account owner of the Helix Server, run p4d -r [P4ROOT] -J [P4JOURNAL] -xu

  4. Wait until you see this message:
    Upgrades will be applied from '-xu' at upstream server

  5. Restart the server.

On the innermost server

  1. Shut down by running p4 admin stop
  2. Install the new version of the p4d binary on the system.
  3. As the OS account owner of the Helix Server, run p4d -r [P4ROOT] -J [P4JOURNAL] -xu
  4. Wait until you see this message:
    Upgrades will be applied at server startup.

  5. As the OS account owner of the Helix Server, start the innermost server.

  6. Inform your users that they can resume work.