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Chapter 3. Applying patch updates to Red Hat Decision Manager

Patch updates of Red Hat Decision Manager typically include the latest security updates and bug fixes. Scheduled patch updates contain all previously released patch updates for that minor version of the product, so you do not need to apply each patch update incrementally in order to apply the latest update. For example, you can update Red Hat Decision Manager 7.0.0 or 7.0.1 to Red Hat Decision Manager 7.0.2. However, to keep your Red Hat Decision Manager distribution current with the latest fixes, apply patch updates to Red Hat Decision Manager as they become available in the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Automated patch tools are often provided with patch releases to facilitate updating certain components of Red Hat Decision Manager, such as Decision Central, Decision Server, and the standalone Decision Server controller. Other Red Hat Decision Manager artifacts, such as the decision engine and standalone Decision Central, are released as new artifacts with each patch update and you must re-install them to apply the update.

Note

Only updates for Red Hat Decision Manager are included in Red Hat Decision Manager patch updates. Patches to Red Hat JBoss EAP must be applied using Red Hat JBoss EAP patch distributions. For more information about Red Hat JBoss EAP patching, see the Red Hat JBoss EAP Patching and upgrading guide.

Prerequisite

Your Red Hat Decision Manager and Decision Server instances are not running. Do not apply patch updates while you are running an instance of Red Hat Decision Manager or Decision Server.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the Software Downloads page in the Red Hat Customer Portal (login required), and select the product and version from the drop-down options.

    Example:

    • Product: Decision Manager
    • Version: 7.0.1
  2. Click Patches, download Red Hat Decision Manager [VERSION] Patch Update, and extract the downloaded rhdm-$VERSION-patch.zip file to a temporary directory.

    This patch update tool automates the update of certain components of Red Hat Decision Manager, such as Decision Central, Decision Server, and the standalone Decision Server controller. Use this update tool first to apply updates and then install any other patch updates or new release artifacts that are relevant to your Red Hat Decision Manager distribution.

  3. If you want to preserve any files from being updated by the patch update tool, navigate to the extracted rhdm-$VERSION-patch folder, open the blacklisted.txt file, and add the relative paths to the files that you do not want to be updated.

    When a file is listed in the blacklist.txt file, the patch update script does not replace the file with the new version but instead leaves the file in place and in the same location adds the new version with a .new suffix. If you blacklist files that are no longer being distributed, the patch update tool creates an empty marker file with a .removed suffix. You can then choose to retain, merge, or delete these new files manually.

    Example files to be excluded in blacklisted.txt file:

    WEB-INF/web.xml  // Custom file
    styles/base.css  // Obsolete custom file kept for record

    The contents of the blacklisted file directories after the update:

    $ ls WEB-INF
    web.xml web.xml.new
    $ ls styles
    base.css base.css.removed
  4. In your command terminal, navigate to the temporary directory where you extracted the rhdm-$VERSION-patch.zip file and run the apply-updates script in the following format:

    Important

    Make sure that your Red Hat Decision Manager and Decision Server instances are not running before you apply patch updates. Do not apply patch updates while you are running an instance of Red Hat Decision Manager or Decision Server.

    On Linux or Unix-based systems:

    $ ./apply-updates.sh $DISTRO_PATH $DISTRO_TYPE

    On Windows:

    $ ./apply-updates.bat $DISTRO_PATH $DISTRO_TYPE

    The $DISTRO_PATH portion is the path to the relevant distribution directory and the $DISTRO_TYPE portion is the type of distribution that you are updating with this patch.

    The following distribution types are supported in Red Hat Decision Manager patch update tool:

    • decision-central-eap7-deployable: Updates Decision Central (decision-central.war)
    • kie-server-ee7: Updates Decision Server (kie-server.war)
    • kie-server-jws: Updates Decision Server on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (kie-server.war)
    • controller-ee7: Updates the standalone Decision Server controller (controller.war)
    • controller-jws: Updates the standalone Decision Server controller on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (controller.war)

    Example patch update to Decision Central and Decision Server for a full Red Hat Decision Manager distribution on Red Hat JBoss EAP:

    ./apply-updates.sh ~EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/decision-central.war decision-central-eap7-deployable
    
    ./apply-updates.sh ~EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/kie-server.war kie-server-ee7

    Example patch update to standalone Decision Server controller, if used:

    ./apply-updates.sh ~EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/controller.war controller-ee7

    The patch update script creates a backup folder in the extracted rhdm-$VERSION-patch folder with a copy of the specified distribution, and then proceeds with the update.

  5. After the update tool completes, return to the Software Downloads page of the Red Hat Customer Portal where you downloaded the patch update tool and install any other patch updates or new release artifacts that are relevant to your Red Hat Decision Manager distribution.

    For files that already exist in your Red Hat Decision Manager distribution, such as .jar files for the decision engine or other add-ons, replace the existing version of the file with the new version from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

  6. If you use the standalone Red Hat Decision Manager 7.0.1 Maven Repository artifact (rhdm-7.0.1-maven-repository.zip), such as in air-gap environments, download Red Hat Decision Manager [VERSION] Incremental Maven Repository and extract the downloaded rhdm-$VERSION-incremental-maven-repository.zip file to your existing ~/maven-repository directory to update the relevant contents.

    Example:

    $ unzip -o rhdm-7.0.1-incremental-maven-repository.zip -d $REPO_PATH/rhdm-7.0.0.GA-maven-repository/maven-repository/
  7. After you finish applying all relevant updates, start Red Hat Decision Manager and Decision Server and log in to Decision Central.
  8. Verify that all project data is present and accurate in Decision Central, and in the top-right corner of the Decision Central window, click your profile name and click About to verify the updated product version number.

    If you encounter any patching errors or notice any missing data in Decision Central, you can restore the contents in the backup folder within the rhdm-$VERSION-patch folder to revert the patch update tool changes. You can also re-install the relevant release artifacts from your previous version of Red Hat Decision Manager in the Red Hat Customer Portal. After restoring your previous distribution, you can try again to run the patch update.