Mixed version deployment within an Engineering Lifecycle Management instance

In this scenario, an Engineering Lifecycle Management deployment consists of an IBM® Jazz® Team Server and one or more registered applications. It is typically an enterprise topology but might be any one of the standard deployment topologies.

The one caveat is the federated (not modified federated) topology which is made up of multiple collaborating Engineering Lifecycle Management instances and covered in Mixed version deployment between Engineering Lifecycle Management instances.

Considerations

  • Data Warehouse (DW) or Lifecycle Query Engine can be populated with data from one or more applications of different versions. JRS Report Builder (RB) or PUB can report on DW or Lifecycle Query Engine data that comes from mixed versions.
  • Lifecycle Query Engine data validation continues to work even with data that comes from mixed versions.
  • OSLC linking between applications continue to work even if source and target are of different versions.
  • A global configuration can be built based on the contributions from the applications on different versions.
  • Jazz Authorization Server(JAS) is supported when used with mixed Engineering Lifecycle Management versions. However, it is only tested with an earlier version of JAS with a newer version of Engineering Lifecycle Management. In this scenario, the version of WebSphere® Liberty server Profile that is deployed is more important. 
  • Distributed SCM compatibility with the previous versions is not supported. If Distributed SCM is used between the Engineering Workflow Management instances, then each Engineering Workflow Management must be on the same Engineering Lifecycle Management version.
  • Ensure that the existing 3rd party or custom integrations are compatible with a mixed version deployment.
  • Consider whether any new feature released in version N of Engineering Lifecycle Management requires all applications that are involved in the feature’s scenario to be at the same version.
  • Existing automated deployment scripts might need some altering.

Guidelines

  • Upgrade all common services such as JTS, LDX, Global Configuration Management, and all reporting components (inclusive of RB, Engineering Insights, PUB, Lifecycle Query Engine, DCC) together. Upgrade them in the same outage. Do not stagger them.
  • Upgrade of the remaining Engineering Lifecycle Management applications, for example Engineering Workflow Management, Engineering Requirements Management DOORS® Next, Engineering Test Management, Rhapsody® Model Manager in a staggered approach. Time the upgrade when best suits your needs. Some can remain at version N-1 while others are at version N.
  • IBM desktop, build, and command line clients are N-1 compatible with their servers per Client and server version compatibility. They can be upgraded anytime after their server is upgraded.
  • Smaller deployments might have multiple Engineering Lifecycle Management applications on the same server. For example, a combination of Engineering Workflow Management, Engineering Test Management, Rhapsody Model Manager, Engineering Requirements Management DOORS Next with the Jazz Reporting Service RB and ENI reporting components. Upgrade of these servers can also be staggered. In this case, the entire server must be upgraded at the same time or split the reporting components out to their own server so they can be upgraded to version N first while the other applications can remain at version N-1.