OBIEE 11g - In-place upgrade from 11.1.1.6 to 11.1.1.7 using the GUI, step by step

1. Getting started

   Take a full backup of your OBIEE installation. You do take backups, right? If not, now is a very good time to start, upgrade or not. See the backup documentation, here
   Next, regardless of upgrade method, you need to download the complete OBIEE 11.1.1.7 installers for your platform, from here
   There are two options for upgrading to OBIEE 11.1.1.7 from an earlier release of 11g:
   1. “Out-of-Place”, which in the olden days of software was called “reinstallation”. A brand new copy of OBIEE is installed, and the relevant configuration files (RPD, web cat, and so on) are migrated to the new installation, and then the old one decommissioned.
   2. “In-Place” – OBIEE is upgraded where it resides, and what was a 11.1.1.6 (or .3 or .5) OBIEE then becomes 11.1.1.7
2. I have tested it on Linux and Windows, from both 11.1.1.6.2 BP1 and 11.1.1.6.9, to 11.1.1.7.

Out-of-place upgrade

The installation process for 11.1.1.7 is identical to previous versions (except you now have the option to install Essbase too).

Once you have installed 11.1.1.7, you migrate your RPD, web catalog, security configuration and component configuration over from your existing installation. You also need to think if you want to keep any of your RCU table content (Usage Tracking, Event Polling, etc), and manually migrate this, watching out for if the RCU table definitions have changed.

In-place upgrade

The outline of an in-place upgrade is as follows:
1. Do a Software Only Install of 11.1.1.7, into the existing installation
2. Run the Patch Set Assistant to update the RCU schemas for 11.1.1.7
3. Run the Configuration Assistant to update the BI domain

This can be done using the GUI tools, or scripted using response files.

1. Shutdown the BI stack (WLS Admin Server, Managed Server, Node Manager, OPMN)
2. Run 11.1.1.7 installer (runInstaller on Linux or setup.exe on Windows)
   1. Select Software Only Install
      

      

   2. Specify the existing FMW_HOME (this should be pre-populated in the OUI installer screen)
      

      

   3. Click Next through the following screens, until the installation begins.
3. Run the Patch Set Assistant (PSA). This is located in oracle_common/bin/ and is called psa on Linux or psa.cmd on Windows
   1. Under Available upgrades select Oracle Business Intelligence
      

      

   2. Before running the PSA you should make sure you’ve got a valid database backup (just as you should for the whole BI stack). You are given checkbox to tick to confirm you’ve taken the backup.
   3. Enter the details of the database where your existing RCU tables reside, along with a DBA-privileged user.
      When specifying DB credentials, note that it is different from the RCU screens – if connecting as SYSDBA you must enter SYSDBA AS DBA (as you would if connecting from sqlplus etc)Click Connect. The PSA then brings back a list of RCU schemas; select the MDS one

      

   4. Complete the following screen for the BIPLATFORM schema, and continue through the PSA. Click Upgrade.
      

      

4. Start Node Manager
   1. On Windows, this is a service
      

      

   2. On Linux, go to your FMW home and run ./wlserver_10.3/server/bin/startNodeManager.sh
5. Start the Web Logic Administration Server (AdminServer)
   1. On Windows, go to your FMW home folder and then double click onuser_projects\domains\bifoundation_domain\bin\startWebLogic.cmd
      

      

   2. On Linux, go to your FMW home and run ./user_projects/domains/bifoundation_domain/bin/startWebLogic.sh
   Wait until the Admin Server is running – you should be able to login to the WLS Console athttp://<yourhost>:7001/console, and the Admin Server command window will show Server started in RUNNING mode

   

6. Run the Configuration Assistant
   1. The script is in the Oracle_BI1\bin folder
      1. On Windows, go to your FMW home folder and then double click on Oracle_BI1\bin\config.bat
         

         

      2. On Linux, go to your FMW home and run ./Oracle_BI1/bin/config.sh
   2. Select Update BI Domain and then enter the details of your domain.
      Note on Windows, if you are using a loopback adaptor (which you should on a DHCP host such as often found on a VM) make sure the hostname that you specify is the one you have in your hosts file for the loopback IP.

      

      

      

7. The Configuration Assistant will [re]start AdminServer, the managed server, and OPMN components.
8. Flush your browser cache, and then login to OBIEE and enjoy the new version number and the sloping tabs of Fusion skin