Friday, October 3, 2008

Upgrading and Expanding Advantage Database Server

Stop Service If you are upgrading from a previous version of Advantage the 9.0 install will detect and uninstall the previous version of the server. You will be prompted to stop the service and perform the uninstall of the previous version. This functionality was added in the installer beginning with version 8.0 of Advantage.

Use pre-existing Serial Number Advantage service updates are distributed as a full install which will upgrade to the latest version of the server. Therefore there is no need to install version 9.0.0.0 before installing the latest service update, currently 9.0.0.7. If Advantage is already installed the installer will detect the currently running server and read the license information. The user is prompted to use the current information eliminating the need to enter any license information during the upgrade.

Adding users to your installed Advantage Server, also referred to as an expansion, can be done without running the installation program again. There is a utility called AdsStamp in the server directory which allows for upgrading, changing the language setting or updating the license information. Clicking the License button will bring up the License Information screen with your current license information. If you have purchased an upgrade or are adding a replication license simply put the new code in the appropriate location. Clicking the Next button brings up the Owner Information screen. After entering the owner information and startup options clicking Finish applies the new license information to the server.

AdsStamp Utility

ProdInfo_V9

Upgrading and expanding Advantage is very simple and quick process. However, it is important to ensure that no clients are using the system prior to the upgrade. Therefore, it may be best to shut down the service prior to making any changes.

2 comments:

Paul said...

Can I update ADS 8.1 32-bit that has been running on a 64-bit server (Server 2003 x64) just as easily? Will the install convert from both version 8.1 to 9.0, and from 32-bit to 64-bit without headaches? What about my existing data dictionaries, will they be, or will they require to be, reformatted or rebuilt? Thank you.

Chris Franz said...

The Advantage install program automatically detects older versions of Advantage and uninstalls them. So you can upgrade from 8.1 32-bit directly to 9.1 64-bit. The 64-bit version of the server accesses the data in the same way as the 32-bit version so no data conversion is required.
I do recommend that you read the effects of upgrading for 9.0 and 9.1 before performing the upgrade.