[rt-users] Upgrade 3.6 to 3.8.

[Dominic Hargreaves]

On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 06:19:19PM -0800, Jose Diaz wrote:
> Hi everyone and thanks in advance.
> 
> does anyone know a good "step by step" guide to upgrade RT 3.6.7 to latest stable RT 3.8.x ?, which version is appropiate coming from 3.6.7 ?
> 
> I have Debian Lenny installation working with RT 3.6.7 done with "aptitude" program.

Hi,

You can get request-tracker3.8 packages from lenny-backports
(http://backports.debian.org/) or in the next version of Debian,
"squeeze", which is due to be released in the next month or so.

Unfortunately there is no automated process for migrating between
request-tracker3.6 and request-tracker3.8 (I'm hoping that things will
be better for migrations between request-tracker3.8 and
request-tracker4.0), but I've put together some ideas for a general
migration process below. They are rough untested notes based on my
experience maintaining the RT Debian packages and managing RT
installations with them, but there are no guarantees that they will work
for you. That said, I'd be interested in any corrections you have for
them. They assume that you want to do an in-place upgrade on the same
host. Depending on your environment, something more elaborate may be
required. Generally speaking, when moving between major versions of RT,
you should spend a decent amount of time testing the new version before
moving your live service across. Installing request-tracker3.8 on a new
host may be useful, and potentially less risky, especially if you use
mod_perl rather than FastCGI.

Don't just rely on these suggestions; make sure you read through
the UPGRADING document which comes with request-tracker3.8 too for
supplementary information. Also, if you've installed any extensions,
things will become more complicated.

All that aside, here is the rough process I might follow:

*  Upgrade to squeeze or configure lenny-backports (in both cases I
   recommend you wait for 3.8.8-7, which includes a recent security
   fix, to become available)
*  apt-get install request-tracker3.8
   *  Answer questions based on your current install. Make sure that
      RTName remains the same, or you will run into problems. Perhaps use
      a different WebPath temporily (but you can't use both versions
      together in the same Apache instance if you're using mod_perl).
   *  Decide whether to use dbconfig database configuration, maybe
      based on how request-tracker3.6 is set up. Use a different
      database name from your live install.
*  Configure Apache to use the new install (bearing in mind the above
   mod_perl caveat, and making sure you use a different base path in
   Apache, for example by modifying the
   /etc/request-tracker3.8/apache2-*.conf file you're using)
*  Perfom some initial testing with a fresh database
*  Dump your live database using native database tools, then load
   it into the database you're using to test with.
*  Run /usr/sbin/rt-setup-database-3.8 --action upgrade (probably as
   the www-data user)
*  Run /usr/sbin/rt-vulnerable-passwords-3.8 --fix (assuming you have
   3.8.8-7 or greater; probably as the www-data)
*  Run some tests against your live data
*  When ready to switch over service, stop your MTA and Apache,
   redump your database and go over the same database upgrade procedures
   above, reconfigure RT to use the same WebPath as your live service
   (dpkg-reconfigure request-tracker3.8) and then reconfigure Apache
   to use RT 3.8.
*  Start up your web server and MTA again

Dominic.

-- 
Dominic Hargreaves, Systems Development and Support Team
Computing Services, University of Oxford
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