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Upgrading and migrating
Learn how to upgrade HCL Launch elements, including the server, agents, and how to migrate data.
Upgrading agents
In most cases, you upgrade agents from the server interface, but you can also upgrade the agents from the command line. Always upgrade agents and agent relays in addition to upgrading the server.
Upgrading agents remotely
You can upgrade agents that have a status of Upgrade Recommended or Upgrade Required by using the Upgrade action.

Upgrading and migrating
Learn how to upgrade HCL Launch elements, including the server, agents, and how to migrate data.
- Testing an upgrade
  Before you upgrade your production HCL Launch server, for best results, perform a test upgrade, verify the challenges you are facing, and resolve them before performing an actual upgrade.
- Upgrading the server
  You can upgrade the HCL Launch server to incorporate to a later version. Always upgrade agents, agent relays in addition to upgrading the server. Upgrading the server, agents, agent relays are each completed independently. Unless specified, upgrade the server before you upgrade the agents.
- Upgrading high-availability installations
  All servers that are configured for the HA feature must be on the same version. Thus, all servers must be upgraded at the same time.
- Upgrading agents
  In most cases, you upgrade agents from the server interface, but you can also upgrade the agents from the command line. Always upgrade agents and agent relays in addition to upgrading the server.
  - Upgrading agents remotely
    You can upgrade agents that have a status of Upgrade Recommended or Upgrade Required by using the Upgrade action.
  - Upgrading agents from the command line
    You can upgrade agents by stopping them and running the installation program for the new version.
  - Upgrading agents in silent mode
    You can upgrade agents by specifying the installation properties in a text file.
- Upgrading agents as services on Windows using command-line
  You can upgrade the currently running Deploy agent as a Windows service even though you initially didn’t install HCL Launch agent as a service during the installation process.
- Upgrading agent relays
  In most cases, you upgrade agents relays from the command line, but starting from 7.0.4.2 version, you can upgrade the server from the interface. Always upgrade agents and agent relays in addition to upgrading the server.
- Migrating the server database
  The server installation files include a script that migrates the server database from Derby to another database system. You can not migrate from any database other than Derby.
- Migrating the server to Kubernetes/Openshift
  You can migrate your HCL Launch server from an on-premises production installation to a containerized instance that runs in a Kubernetes or Openshift cluster.
- Migrating an existing IBM® installation to HCL Launch

Upgrading agents remotely

You can upgrade agents that have a status of Upgrade Recommended or Upgrade Required by using the Upgrade action.

Before you begin

To ensure compatibility and optimal performance, run the same version of the HCL Launch server and agents. Server and agents of different versions may result in unexpected behavior. In such case, you must update or roll back the server and agents so that they run the same versions.
You must upgrade the server before you upgrade the agents.

About this task

The agent status indicates when it is time to upgrade it. You must upgrade agents in the following cases:

When an agent has the Upgrade Required status. Such agents cannot run deployments until they are upgraded. This status might occur if a change is made to server-agent communications.
When an agent has the Upgrade Recommended status. It might occur after a performance enhancement. An agent with the status Upgrade Recommended can run deployments, but for best performance, upgrade the agent.
To improve the HCL Launch security by using a TLS protocol. Some older agents are only compatible with SSLv3. SSLv3 is dynamically enabled if necessary. See Supported TLS and SSL protocols and ciphers.
Upgrade agents and agent relays in addition to upgrading the server.

Refer to the Upgrading z/OS agents section for information about upgrading the z/OS agents remotely.

You can upgrade agents individually or in a batch. To upgrade agents:

Procedure

Click Resources > Agents.
The Agents pane lists agents and their status.
Select the check boxes for the agents to upgrade.
Click () Actions > Upgrade
Upgraded agents are taken offline while the upgrade is applied and have the Offline status. If the upgrade finishes, the agents are automatically restarted and have the Online status. If the agents do not come back online, check their logs for error messages.
Note:
Updating many agents simultaneously can have a significant affect the server. As a rule-of-thumb, limit the number of simultaneous upgrades to 10 or fewer.

Results

Upgraded or installed agents are migrated to compact mode. Note that agents are updated to compact only if the agent is installed/upgraded on a platform that supports compact agents.