Use Upgrade Scripts
Write a step by step process for upgrading your Livelink software. Test your Upgrade Scripts. Edit your Upgrade Script with any changes you come across while practicing the upgrade.

Test the Upgrade
It is always best to test your Livelink software upgrade in a Test environment that closely matches your Production environment. Copy the Production database and Production file store to your Test environment and practice the upgrade at least once. Testing on the Test Environment will help you smooth out any wrinkles prior to the live Production upgrade. Testing will also give you an idea of how long the Production upgrade will take.

Upgrading on New Servers
When upgrading Livelink on new hardware remember to add the new Livelink server IP addresses into the [security] section of your opentext.ini files. If the CGIHosts= value is being used, be sure to add the new IPs to the CGIHosts= values. Make sure you remove old IP address from the CGIHosts= list as well.

New servers’ IP addresses should be added to the list of machines able to use mail relay on the server(s) you are using to send Livelink notifications from. From the Administration Pages in the Notification Administration section, click on the Test E-mail Delivery link and send yourself an e-mail to verify that your mail server will relay the e-mail.

Livelink Audit
After upgrading your Livelink instance, verify that all of the auditing interests are set properly. From the Administration Pages in the System Administration section, click on the Administer Event Auditing link and then the Set Auditing Interests link. Review the list of Events and consider checking the checkboxes of those event items that are not checked. After some version upgrades and module installs additional events are available to be audited.

Upgrade Patches
Some core modules and many optional and custom modules require patches during the upgrade process. Log into Open Text Knowledge Center and review the release notes for each module. Certain patches need to be applied at certain steps during the upgrade process. Some of those patches are also removed during the upgrade process. Refer to the release notes and patch notes within the Knowledge Center.

Recreate the Livelink Index
Newer versions of the Livelink software have enhanced the Livelink index. Take advantage of these improvements by recreating your Livelink index as part of your software upgrade. Practice the recreation of your Livelink index in your Test environment give you an idea of how long the recreation of the index in Production will take.

Review Custom or 3rd Party Modules
Custom developed or 3rd party modules are where most administrators have issues with upgrades. You need to carefully review and test each one of these modules in a development or test environment. Contact the vendor of the 3rd party module to see if an updated module is available that is compatible with the Livelink version that you will be upgrading to. If your custom modules need to be upgraded but have no or limited development resources to perform the task, NCI can do this for you. We have developers that have upgraded numerous modules to be compatible with the latest Livelink versions.

Use professional help if you need it!
Livelink Upgrades vary in terms of complexity and difficulty and will depend on your system. One thing that is constant, is that they can be tricky to troubleshoot or rollback if issues occur. Thus, it might be a good idea to work with certified Livelink Consultants from NCI who have the experience and know-how of doing upgrades.

Read more about our Livelink Version Upgrade Services