Upgrading Watson Discovery to the latest Version 4.5 refresh

Important: IBM® Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5 will reach end of support (EOS) on 31 July, 2025. For more information, see the Discontinuance of service announcement for IBM Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.X.

Upgrade to IBM Software Hub Version 5.1 before IBM Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5 reaches end of support. For more information, see Upgrading IBM Software Hub in the IBM Software Hub Version 5.1 documentation.

A project administrator can upgrade Watson Discovery from Version 4.5.x to the latest Version 4.5 refresh.

What permissions do you need to complete this task?
The permissions that you need depend on which tasks you must complete:
  • To update the Watson Discovery operators, you must have the appropriate permissions to create operators and you must be an administrator of the project where the Cloud Pak for Data operators are installed. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} environment variable.
  • To upgrade Watson Discovery, you must be an administrator of the project where Watson Discovery is installed. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} environment variable.
When do you need to complete this task?
If you didn't upgrade Watson Discovery when you upgraded the platform to the latest 4.5 refresh, you can complete this task to upgrade your existing Watson Discovery installation.

If you want to upgrade all of the Cloud Pak for Data components at the same time, follow the process in Upgrading the platform and services instead.

Important: All of the Cloud Pak for Data components in a deployment must be installed at the same release.

Information you need to complete this task

Review the following information before you upgrade Watson Discovery:

Environment variables
The commands in this task use environment variables so that you can run the commands exactly as written.
  • If you don't have the script that defines the environment variables, see Setting up installation environment variables.
  • To use the environment variables from the script, you must source the environment variables before you run the commands in this task, for example:
    source ./cpd_vars.sh
Installation location
Watson Discovery is installed in the same project (namespace) as the Cloud Pak for Data control plane. This project is identified by the ${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} environment variable.
Storage requirements
You must tell Watson Discovery what storage you use in your existing installation. You cannot change the storage that is associated with Watson Discovery during an upgrade. Ensure that the environment variables point to the correct storage classes for your environment.

Before you begin

This task assumes that the following prerequisites are met:

Prerequisite Where to find more information
The cluster meets the minimum requirements for Watson Discovery. If this task is not complete, see System requirements.
The workstation from which you will run the upgrade is set up as a client workstation and the cpd-cli has the latest version of the olm-utils-play image. If this task is not complete, see Setting up a client workstation.
The Cloud Pak for Data control plane is upgraded. If this task is not complete, see Upgrading the platform and services.
For environments that use a private container registry, such as air-gapped environments, the Watson Discovery software images are mirrored to the private container registry. If this task is not complete, see Mirroring images to a private container registry.

Procedure

Complete the following tasks to upgrade Watson Discovery:

  1. Logging in to the cluster
  2. Updating the operator
  3. Specifying configuration options
  4. Upgrading the service
  5. Validating the upgrade
  6. What to do next

Logging in to the cluster

To run cpd-cli manage commands, you must log in to the cluster.

To log in to the cluster:

  1. Run the cpd-cli manage login-to-ocp command to log in to the cluster as a user with sufficient permissions to complete this task. For example:
    cpd-cli manage login-to-ocp \
--username=${OCP_USERNAME} \
--password=${OCP_PASSWORD} \
--server=${OCP_URL}
    Tip: The login-to-ocp command takes the same input as the oc login command. Run oc login --help for details.

Updating the operator

The Watson Discovery operator simplifies the process of managing the Watson Discovery service on Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform.

To upgrade Watson Discovery, ensure that all of the Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) objects in the ${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} project, such as the catalog sources and subscriptions, are upgraded to the appropriate release. All of the OLM objects must be at the same release.

Who needs to complete this task?
You must be a cluster administrator (or a user with the appropriate permissions to install operators) to create the OLM objects.
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task only if the OLM artifacts have not been updated for the current release using the cpd-cli manage apply-olm command with the --upgrade=true option.

It is not necessary to run this command multiple times for each service that you plan to upgrade. If you complete this task and the OLM artifacts already exist on the cluster, the cpd-cli will recreate the OLM objects for all of the existing components in the ${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} project.

To update the operator:

  1. Update the OLM objects:
    cpd-cli manage apply-olm \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_operator_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_OPS} \
--upgrade=true
    • If the command succeeds, it returns [SUCCESS]... The apply-olm command ran successfully.
    • If the command fails, it returns [ERROR] and includes information about the cause of the failure.

What to do next: Upgrade the Watson Discovery service.

Specifying configuration options

When you upgrade the service, you must configure the same deployment type as was used for the previous deployment. A production deployment type is configured for 4.5.x deployments by default. If your earlier version is a production deployment type, then no additional action is required.
Attention: If your earlier version is a starter or development deployment type, then you must configure the upgrade to create the same deployment type.
To configure the deployment type for the upgrade, complete the following steps:
  1. Check the existing configuration to determine which deployment type is specified for it. From the existing cluster, run the following command:
    oc get WatsonDiscovery wd -ojsonpath='{.spec.shared.deploymentType}'
    Make a note of the value that is returned.

    If the result is Starter or Development or if nothing is returned, then continue with this procedure.

    If Production is returned, skip the remaining steps.

  2. Create a file called install-options.yml in the work directory.

    The file path for the Cloud Pak for Data command line interface work directory is cpd-cli-workspace/olm-utils-workspace/work.

    Tip: You can use the same file to provide input for multiple components. Each setting name is prefixed with the component name.
  3. Add the following setting to the file:
    discovery_deployment_type: <existing deployment type>
    where <existing deployment type> is the value Starter or Development, whichever was returned from step 1.

    If no value was returned, specify Development.

Attention: You cannot change to a new storage solution as part of an upgrade. If you want to use a different storage solution from the storage solution that you used in an earlier 4.5.x release, you must complete a full installation, not an upgrade.

When you upgrade Watson Discovery, include the --param-file=/tmp/work/install-options.yml option in the command.

Upgrading the service

After the Watson Discovery operator is updated, you can upgrade Watson Discovery.

Who needs to complete this task?
You must be an administrator of the project where Watson Discovery is installed.
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task for each instance of Watson Discovery that is associated with an instance of Cloud Pak for Data Version 4.5.

To upgrade the service:

  1. Update the custom resource for Watson Discovery.

    The command that you run depends on the storage on your cluster:

    Red Hat OpenShift Data Foundation storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true \
--upgrade=true
    IBM Spectrum Fusion storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    Remember: When you use IBM Spectrum Fusion storage, both ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} and ${STG_CLASS_FILE} point to the same storage class.
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true \
--upgrade=true
    IBM Spectrum Scale Container Native storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    Remember: When you use IBM Spectrum Scale Container Native storage, both ${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} and ${STG_CLASS_FILE} point to the same storage class.
    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true \
--upgrade=true
    Portworx storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--storage_vendor=portworx \
--license_acceptance=true \
--upgrade=true
    AWS with EFS and EBS storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true
    IBM Cloud with IBM Cloud File Storage and IBM Cloud Block Storage

    Run the following command to update the custom resource.

    cpd-cli manage apply-cr \
--components=watson_discovery \
--release=${VERSION} \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--block_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_BLOCK} \
--file_storage_class=${STG_CLASS_FILE} \
--license_acceptance=true \
--upgrade=true
    Remember: To specify advanced installation options for Watson Discovery add the following line before the --license_acceptance entry:
    --param-file=/tmp/work/install-options.yml \

Validating the upgrade

Watson Discovery is upgraded when the apply-cr command returns [SUCCESS]... The apply-cr command ran successfully.

However, you can optionally run the cpd-cli manage get-cr-status command if you want to confirm that the custom resource status is Completed:

cpd-cli manage get-cr-status \
--cpd_instance_ns=${PROJECT_CPD_INSTANCE} \
--components=watson_discovery

What to do next

Watson Discovery is ready to use. For information about how to give people access to your instance, see Administering Watson Discovery.