Considerations for upgrading from version 5.2.6.x

Upgrading from Sterling B2B Integrator version 5.2.6.x to the latest version has certain impacts.

ActiveMQ is no longer bundled with Sterling B2B Integrator

A messaging queue is required for Sterling B2B Integrator if you are using adapter containers.

ActiveMQ is no longer bundled and installed with Sterling B2B Integrator. You must use install and use IBM MQ as the messaging queue.

If your current setup has adapter containers, you must install IBM MQ and set the required properties for IBM MQ before you upgrade.

Due to the removal of Active MQ, the following features are no longer available in Sterling B2B Integrator:
  • Scheduled Business processes:
    • RetentionProcessor
    • MESAVisToolkit_RetentionProcessor
  • Event listener FIFO adapter configured with internal Active MQ
  • Services configured with internal Active MQ:
    • Sterling Community Manager Agreement Conversion Status Service
    • Sterling Community Manager Integration Adapter
Note:
  • The SCMEventListener is an event listener for Sterling Community Manager. If you use this adapter to listen to the events, you must configure external ActiveMQ before enabling this listener service. By default, this service is disabled as out-of-the-box Active MQ is removed.
    The system displays exceptions in the log files when you try to enable the adapter without configuring the external ActiveMQ.
  • As part of Sterling B2B Integrator startup, the run.sh script is used to trigger startListeners.sh, which starts the Event Service for internal Active MQ. Since, the bi listener is no longer required, you do not see the bi.pid file.
    After you restart Sterling B2B Integrator, you see only noapp.pid and ops.pid. For more information on how to install external MQ, see Installing IBM MQ.

If you are using the bundled ActiveMQ for any messaging purpose, you must migrate to IBM MQ or configure external ActiveMQ.

External ActiveMQ is still supported for JMS adapter. If you are already using External ActiveMQ for JMS adapter, you can continue to use it.

JDK 8 is the only supported JDK version

There are several impacts due to this change:
  • If you are not already using JDK 8, you must upgrade your JDK before you upgrade Sterling B2B Integrator to the latest version. You can use the upgradeJDK script to upgrade your version of JDK.
  • Only ciphers that are supported by JDK 8 can be used in Sterling B2B Integrator. You can update your cipher suites in security.properties.
  • Previously defined ciphers in customer_overrides.properties are not changed upon upgrade to the latest version.
  • DefaultCipherSuite contains a list of JDK 8 ciphers that can be used when others are not available.

Change in installation directory structure for an IIM installation

If you install Sterling B2B Integrator using IIM, the installation directory structure has changed from the directory structure in v5.2.6.x.

The installation files of the latest version are located in: <install_dir>/

The installation files for 5.2.6.x were located in: <install_dir>/install/

You must modify the installation file path in all your customizations for them to continue to work with Sterling B2B Integrator.

Important: This is applicable only if you install Sterling B2B Integrator using IIM.

B2BAPI port changes

After you upgrade to the latest version, the B2BAPI port number may change.

The API URLs will not work. You must get the correct port number and replace it in the API URLs.

To get the changed port number, see the LIBERTY_HTTPS_PORT and LIBERTY_PORT properties in sandbox.cfg.

MESA Developer Studio not supported

From v6.0 onwards, MESA Developer Studio is no longer bundled with Sterling B2B Integrator. After upgrading to the latest version, customizations from previous versions will not be available in Sterling B2B Integrator.

To customize the appearance of the Sterling B2B Integrator user interface, follow the instructions provided here: Customizing the Sterling B2B Integrator user interface.

To develop a new workflow service, see Creating a Service.

MySQL database is not supported

In previous versions of Sterling B2B Integrator, the MySQL database was supported for non-clustered installations of Sterling B2B Integrator. From v6.0 onwards Sterling B2B Integrator does not support the MySQL database.

DB2 requires additional tablespace

If you are upgrading from a version prior to v5.2.6.2, you must ensure that all tablespaces used by Sterling B2B Integrator tables have a minimum page size of 8K. Otherwise the installation fails.