After the upgrade and configuration changes to the project are complete, it is recommended to perform system testing of the new project version. This is to check that functionally and operation behaves as expected before applying the new project to the production environment.

When changing to use a newer product version, the hardware/software key may need to be updated. To prepare the system, it is recommended to update the production machine keys before the project is updated on the production machines as the updated key will still license the previous version.

Prepare Configuration [INI] Files

Before beginning any changes to the production computers, it is recommended that you backup the configuration [INI] files for each machine as they may be required for reference.

The current configuration file can be used with the new product version after the path parameters have been updated to the new version file locations. Refer to the setup of the development environment section of the specific version for further parameter information.

The Setup Editor and Setup Wizard can be used to finalize the configuration of the computer setup.

During a migration with an existing system, it may be useful to use a new set of IP addresses and computer names for the new version. This is typically done when there is a need to provide isolation between the system project versions to allow the two systems to individually co-exist on the network for a period of time.When isolated, the systems will be independent and not cross communicate or synchronize between the existing and new versions. This type of upgrade would have the new version start with a snapshot of the historical data from the previous system and then run in parallel.

The project may be using specialty drivers and if so, it is recommended to backup the driver files located in the product ‘bin’ directory. Existing specialty drivers that are used may be required to be installed for the new version. The driver web can be checked for availability and compatibility with the new version at the DriverWeb.

The project may be using specialty software to provide certain system functionality. These applications may be required to be updated or re-installed during the upgrade process and considered in the context of the upgrade.

The project may be using custom configuration forms in the product. This configuration is located in the FRM file which may be required in the new installation. For further information please see KB1579.

A project upgrade may also require the trend and alarm data to be updated based on the new product features. It is recommended to keep a backup of the existing production trend data files and the alarm save data file from the original

Once the data files have been upgraded, the updated data files may not be compatible with the previous version.

It is not recommended to change the directory path of the trend data files during the project upgrade as this may affect the trend operation. The default data directory may be changed between product versions and may need to be considered in the context of the install and upgrade with regards to the trend file location.

When changing to use a newer product version, the hardware/software key may need to be updated. The hardware key is a physical key that plugs into either the parallel port or USB port of your computer. The key update utility can be run from the Help menu of the product Explorer application. To upgrade the key a new authorization code is required which can be created by using the AuthCode Generator.