Rocket U2 | UniVerse & UniData

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  • 1.  Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 01-10-2024 10:00
    Edited by Chuck Stevenson 01-10-2024 16:01

    Have you upgraded to either 11.4 or 12.2? 

    A while back I went from 11.3 to 12.1.  (In our case, we were motivated to jump because we were running on an old version of Windows server  that our system admins wanted to upgrade &, iirc, our version of 11.3 wasn't authorized for where they wanted to go.)

    We've had some I/O problems with 12.1 & it looks like Rocket is not really maintaining 12.1 with hot-fixes or enhancements & instead encouraged us to go to 12.2.    But now I see there is an 11.4.  And rumor has it there may be at least 1 more 12.1 I/O bug that hasn't been fixed yet in 12.2.

    We aren't really using any new 12.x functionality, & other than having to tweak some admin utilities that rely on things like LIST.READU which has changed,  I think we could go 'back' to 11.4 if that is a more stable release.

    The general question for people who are still on 11.3 is whether/why they should jump to 12.2 or 11.4? 

    TIA

    Chuck Stevenson



    ------------------------------
    Chuck Stevenson
    DBA / SW Developer
    Pomeroy
    US
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 01-10-2024 14:38

    Chuck,

    The introduction of the System Buffer in UniVerse 12 to support RFS has operational implications- whether or not RFS is used. In particular, any manipulation of UniVerse data files at the O/S level while UniVerse is running or if it has not been specifically configured to allow this on a case-by-case basis can result in UniVerse halting. I recommend reading up on 'uv_unload'  in particular. 

    If there is not a specific reason to go to UniVerse 12 with RFS I'd be tempted to stay with 11.x for now at least.  If looking for specific tuning advice I recommend contacting Rocket Support for any 'gotchas' and 'tips', though specific advice on an individual system may need to be passed to Professional Services.

    Hoping this helps

    JJ



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    John Jenkins
    Thame, Oxfordshire
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  • 3.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 01-10-2024 15:58

    John,

    Much appreciated.  Much.

    "If there is not a specific reason to go to UniVerse 12 with RFS I'd be tempted to stay with 11.x for now at least."

    In my case, I'm already on 12.1, so I'd be going from 12.1 down to 11.4.  I'll need to perform due diligence to be sure we don't rely on anything in 12, but I think we're good.  I've never upgraded to a lower release before.

    RFS is not used, nor do I anticipate it.

    I'll take a look at uv_unload.

    Thanks again,

    cds



    ------------------------------
    Chuck Stevenson
    DBA / SW Developer
    Pomeroy
    USA
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 01-11-2024 15:15

    Chuck,

    When stepping backward in UniVerse releases you can hit a problem in the downgrade process where the later 'uvconfig' file has newer parameters tha are not understood by the earlier release. The up(down)grade will normally add any new parameters it needs but will not remove later parameters it does not understand. As a result the up(down)grade can halt as UniVerse fails to start at various points in the process such as merging a new 'uvconfig' and when starting a UniVerse service. 

    I recommend performing a fresh UniVerse 11.x installation and manually merging in any specific uvconfig parameter changes you have made in the past (these should already be preserved in the UniVere 12 'uvconfig' file - just don't add the new parameters that were added at 12.x. Once done, copy in the key data files fro  the saved UniVerse 12 'UV' account :

    • UV.ACCOUNT
    • &DEVICE&
    • etc.

    Once done, then running UPDATE.ACCOUNT in the local data accounts should be sufficient for almost everything, though polkease verify:

    • ODBC access
    • UniObjects access
    • Printer usage
    • Ony specific relevant bug fixes in 12.x that might affect you, verifying their statyus in the 11.x release.

    I recomemnd staging a dry run first on a test system, obtaining an evaluation license from Rocket should be fairly simple on request.  

    Hoping this helps

    NOTE: If you have a backup of the UV account and home structures from prior to the 12.x install you could consider a restore of the UV account and structures as an alternative to the older version then treat as a normal 11.x upgrade. This should include 'unishared' asa home structure and also check the contents of the 'unirpcservices' and 'uvhome' files.

    JJ



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    John Jenkins
    Thame, Oxfordshire
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  • 5.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 01-11-2024 17:50

    That's good advice, thanks.   Fresh install, not upgrade.   I can pull up the old 11.3 uvconfig & work from there.   I generally refrain from tweaking the UV account & the base install.

    And yes, I have a dev/qa system that I always change first. 

    It sounds like dropping from 12.1 --> 11.4 is the recommended course of action.

    Is there a roadmap for Rocket's plans for versions 11.4.xxx, 11.5,  12.2, 12.3, 13?

    -- -- --

    TIA to any other users about their own update experience & plans. 

    cds



    ------------------------------
    Chuck Stevenson
    DBA / SW Developer
    Pomeroy
    USA
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 14 days ago

    We're finally getting around to the 12.1 à 11.4 downgrade.  

    Had troubles & would like to know if this resonates with anyone else.

    I took JJ's advice to do a new install.   Eazypeazy playing with a clone of our production system.

    But devQA crashed hard when I attempted the Windows Setting > App Uninstall (Win  Svr 2019).

    I think it was a windows permissions problem of my own making,  but I'm not sure.

    Here's a summary of my workaround, some details left out:

    Uninstall worked from an elevated command line ("Run as Administrator".  Even tho my login was already in administrator group.):

    - "C:\Program Files (x86)\InstallShield Installation Information\{E7EA0E92-3AFF-11D4-8961-00500462FF70}\setup.exe" -runfromtemp -l0x0009 uninstall -removeonly

    - I renamed c:\U2  to keep a copy.

    - Install would not run via the supplied GUI, but using the same elevated command line trick this worked:

    - C:\Users\simsadmin\Downloads\Pomeroy_UV_11_4_1\UV_WINDOWS_11.4.1.1002\universe\i386\setup.exe

    That was the devQA clone.  I thought I'd run it by this august body before going further.

    Chuck Stevenson



    ------------------------------
    Chuck Stevenson
    DBA / SW Developer
    Pomeroy
    US
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 14 days ago

    Chuck,

    Windows security settings are definitely the favorutites here. I'd start with the UAC registry entries for elevated executions - these can affect the way that XAdmin works (or not!) as the case may be.

    Essentially when an elevated cpommand attempt is made there is usually an interative prompt for a password - which is not visible behind many GUI screens and thus fails.  The solution is to set 'Elevate without prompting' on command execution and there are some additional associated registry settings as well - see HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

    Regards

    JJ



    ------------------------------
    John Jenkins
    Thame, Oxfordshire
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

    Posted 6 days ago

    Chuck,

    I found some notes - see below:

    Universe on Windows Server Windows 2008 R2 and later:


    In this version of Windows, User Account Control (UAC) will prevent access to files owned by others, even if the person logged-in to Universe is an administrator or domain administrator, or has appropriate permissions to the files. This is apparently related to UAC's "Admin Approval Mode" prompting feature which normally prompts an interactive user for administrative approval in some circumstances at least. The Universe services are set not to allow the service to interact with the desktop. Therefore any prompting by UAC is suppressed and the user just gets a write failure or a message, "Access is denied". Setting UAC to "Never notify" through the Windows GUI in control panel DOES NOT turn off UAC or affect this behavior.

    To truly turn off UAC, edit the local security policy (secpol.msc), or create a group policy object with the same settings below and apply it to the server.

    • From powershell or a command prompt on the Universe server, type secpol.msc and enter.
    • Click/expand your way down to the "Security Settings> Local Policies> Security Options> User Account Control:*" related settings.
    • Set "Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode" to "Elevate without prompting"
    • Set "Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode" to Disabled.
    • Set "Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation" to Disabled.
    • Close secpol.msc. You'll be prompted to reboot Windows.

    Hope this helps,

    Regards

    JJ



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    John Jenkins
    Thame, Oxfordshire
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