Universe 11.4 or 12.2 - which to choose?

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

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Chuck Stevenson
DBA / SW Developer
Pomeroy
US
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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

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,

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

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

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

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