Upgrading Projects Using ALM Robot

You can automatically upgrade multiple ALM projects in parallel to your new version of ALM.

As part of the upgrade process, ALM Robot performs the following actions as required:

  • Deactivate activated projects.
  • Undo check outs of entities in version controlled projects.

  • Copy projects' repositories to a new repository server, as needed.

  • Restore projects.
  • Once project upgrade is successfully completed, ALM Robot automatically removes the projects from the original ALM instance.
  • Verify, repair, and upgrade projects.
  • Activate any projects that were active before the upgrade.
  • ALM Robot does not perform any post upgrade activities, such as project validation, updating required changes that result from an ALM server change, aligning integrations, and so on.

Information on the upgrade process and the existing upgrade functionality, which is still available within Site Administration, can be found in the Project Upgrade part of the Application Lifecycle Management Installation and Upgrade Guide .

Note: Before you get started with ALM Robot, review the Considerations Before Getting Started with ALM Robot.

To upgrade your projects using ALM Robot:

  1. In Site Administration, select Tools > ALM Robot. ALM Robot opens.

  2. Click Add Activity to create a new activity for ALM Robot. The Activity Settings page displays.

  3. Define activity settings.

    On the Activity Settings page of the wizard:

    1. In the Activity Name box, enter a name for your activity.
    2. In the Type box, select Upgrade.

    3. Determine the source location of the projects for project selection. The source depends on where your Site Administration database schema is located.

      Target

      If you upgraded a copy of the existing Site Administration database schema when installing your new version of ALM, select Target as the source of the projects.

      Note: If the ALM source includes version controlled projects that have not been upgraded yet, and those projects have checked out entities, you must run the Upgrade activity using the Origin option instead of the Target.
      Origin

      • If you created a new Site Administration database schema when installing your new version of ALM, select Origin as the source of the projects, and click Edit Env list to define the ALM server from which you will select the projects to upgrade. For details on adding ALM environments, see Customizing ALM Robot.

        Note: The Origin server must be directly accessible by the Target server.

      • Copy projects repositories. Select this option as a default for copying all selected projects' repositories from the origin's base repository path to the target's base repository path. Note that you can remove specific projects' repositories from this selection in the Project Settings page.

        Notes:

        • You cannot copy a repository that resides on a network mounted drive on Windows.
        • To copy a repository on Linux, it must be mounted on a shared folder on the ALM server where ALM Robot is running. This path must be specified in the Origin Repository Path field.
        • When copying a repository, the user running the ALM service must have the relevant "read" credentials to the shared repository.

      • Origin Repository Path. If you select Copy projects repositories, enter the network shared path to the Origin Repository Path. This path must be accessible from the server where ALM Robot is running.

        Caution: If you do not select the Copy projects repositories option, you must manually copy the repository to the base repository path on the destination server prior to running the upgrade. Note that the repository folder structure must be preserved while copying the repository folders.

    4. Click Next to open the Projects Selection page and display the available projects.

  4. Select projects.

    On the Projects Selection page of the wizard:

    1. From the list of projects and domains, select the projects to include in your activity. You can select all projects, all projects in a specific domain, or specific projects.

      The Dependencies column indicates any project dependencies. Projects that have lab extensions are dependent on Lab_Project, and projects that are linked to a template are dependent on a template project.

      After your selection, click to move the selected projects to the Selected Projects & Rank pane.

      To remove projects from the selected list, select the projects and click to remove them from the Selected Projects & Rank pane.

    2. To set the order in the Selected Projects & Rank pane in which the projects will be processed during the upgrade, highlight a project and click the arrows at the top to move the project up or down in the list.

      Note:  

      • Lab_Project is always ranked first when selected, followed by template projects. All other projects are added to the Selected Projects & Rank pane in the same order as they appear in the Projects Tree, but can be moved according to your priorities.

      • Lab_Project is located in the DEFAULT domain.

      • By default, ALM Robot can process up to 10 projects simultaneously on each ALM node. To change the default value, edit the ROBOT_MAX_TASKS_PER_NODE site parameter and set it according to your environment performance, as a large value can cause performance degradation.

       

    3. Note any possible warning messages that may appear at the bottom of the Selected Projects & Rank pane.

    4. Click Next to open the Project Settings page.

  5. Define project settings.

    On the Project Settings page of the wizard:

    1. Under Project Name, select a project.

    2. If you selected Target as the source for the project selection, you can:

      Add an Exception File

      You can add an exception file to ignore certain warnings and errors while running the Upgrade activity.

      For example, if you have made changes to the schema such as the addition of tables, columns, or sequences, the upgrade processes may fail. You can define an exception file that instructs ALM Robot to ignore these changes during the upgrade process.

      Note: You can create a global exception file via the UPGRADE_EXCEPTION_FILE site parameter. This parameter impacts all selected projects.

      For details on exception files, see the "Define an Exception File" section of the Application Lifecycle Management Installation and Upgrade Guide.

      If you selected Origin as the source for the project selection, the following options are available.

      Copy Project Repository

      Enables you to copy the project repository from the Origin to the Target. You need to copy the project repository when you change the repository server or repository path. Repositories must be defined on a shared network path.

      If you selected Copy Projects Repositories on the Activity Settings screen, Copy Project Repository is automatically selected. If this option is unchecked, then the repository for this specific project will not be copied.

      If a project has a repository path different from the base repository path set in Site Administration, you must manually update the value for the From and To fields.

      Note:

      • You cannot copy a repository that resides on a network mounted drive on Windows.
      • To copy a repository on Linux, it must be mounted on a shared folder on the ALM server where ALM Robot is running. This path must be specified in the Origin Repository Path field.
      • When copying a repository, the user running the ALM service must have the relevant "read" credentials to the shared repository.
      Add an Exception File

      You can add an exception file to ignore certain warnings and errors while running the Upgrade activity.

      For example, if you have made changes to the schema such as the addition of tables, columns, or sequences, the upgrade processes may fail. You can define an exception file that instructs ALM Robot to ignore these changes during the upgrade process.

      Note: You can create a global exception file via the UPGRADE_EXCEPTION_FILE site parameter. This parameter impacts all selected projects.

      For details on exception files, see the "Define an Exception File" section of the Application Lifecycle Management Installation and Upgrade Guide.
      Target DB Schema Name Enter the database schema name used in the Target, if it is different from the database schema name in the Origin.

      Note:  

      If your project selection includes the Lab_Project, in order to upgrade it, ALM Robot requires a copy of the Lab_Project.

      To create a copy of the Lab_Project:

      1. Under Project Name, select the Lab_Project.
      2. Select Copy Project Repository.
      3. Select Target DB Schema Name and type a schema name for the copy.

    3. Click Next for a summary of the activity you have created.

  6. Review the activity summary.

    The Activity Summary shows the configuration of your activity. The Activity Tasks section shows the projects selected for your activity and the changes made per project on the Project Settings page.

    Click Submit. ALM Robot starts the validation process.

    If the validation process is completed successfully, the activity begins processing. The dashboard window opens. See ALM Robot Dashboard Actions for details.

    If ALM Robot detects an error while validating the selected projects, fix the error and click Submit.