Chapter 3. Applying patch updates and minor release upgrades to Red Hat Decision Manager

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.

   If you are upgrading to a new minor release of Red Hat Decision Manager, such as an upgrade from version 7.7.x to 7.8, first apply the latest patch update to your current version of Red Hat Decision Manager and then follow this procedure again to upgrade to the new minor release.

2. Click Patches, download the Red Hat Decision Manager [VERSION] Update Tool, and extract the downloaded rhdm-$VERSION-update.zip file to a temporary directory.

   This update tool automates the update of certain components of Red Hat Decision Manager, such as Business Central, KIE Server, and the headless Decision Manager controller. Use this update tool first to apply updates and then install any other 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 update tool, navigate to the extracted rhdm-$VERSION-update folder, open the blacklist.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 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 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 blacklist.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-update.zip file and run the apply-updates script in the following format:

   Important

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

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

   • rhdm-decision-central-eap7-deployable: Updates Business Central (decision-central.war)
   • rhdm-kie-server-ee8: Updates KIE Server (kie-server.war)
   • rhdm-kie-server-jws: Updates KIE Server on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (kie-server.war)
   • rhdm-controller-ee7: Updates the headless Decision Manager controller (controller.war)

   • rhdm-controller-jws: Updates the headless Decision Manager controller on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (controller.war)

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

     ./apply-updates.sh ~EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/decision-central.war rhdm-decision-central-eap7-deployable
     
     ./apply-updates.sh ~EAP_HOME/standalone/deployments/kie-server.war rhdm-kie-server-ee8

     Example update to headless Decision Manager controller, if used:

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

     The update script creates a backup folder in the extracted rhdm-$VERSION-update 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 update tool and install any other 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 7.8.0 Maven Repository artifact (rhdm-7.8.0-maven-repository.zip), such as in air-gap environments, download Red Hat Decision Manager 7.8.x Maven Repository and extract the downloaded rhdm-7.8.x-maven-repository.zip file to your existing ~/maven-repository directory to update the relevant contents.

   Example Maven repository update:

   $ unzip -o rhdm-7.8.x-maven-repository.zip 'rhba-7.8.1.GA-maven-repository/maven-repository/*' -d /tmp/rhbaMavenRepoUpdate
   
   $ mv /tmp/rhbaMavenRepoUpdate/rhba-7.8.0.GA-maven-repository/maven-repository/ $REPO_PATH/

   Note

   You can remove the /tmp/rhbaMavenRepoUpdate folder after you complete the update.

7. After you finish applying all relevant updates, start Red Hat Decision Manager and KIE Server and log in to Business Central.

8. Verify that all project data is present and accurate in Business Central, and in the top-right corner of the Business Central window, click your profile name and click About to verify the updated product version number.

   If you encounter errors or notice any missing data in Business Central, you can restore the contents in the backup folder within the rhdm-$VERSION-update folder to revert the 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 update.