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

Automated update tools are often provided with both patch updates and new minor versions of Red Hat Process Automation Manager to facilitate updating certain components of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, such as Business Central, KIE Server, and the headless Process Automation Manager controller. Other Red Hat Process Automation Manager artifacts, such as the decision engine and standalone Business Central, are released as new artifacts with each minor release and you must reinstall them to apply the update.

You can use the same automated update tool to apply both patch updates and minor release upgrades to Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.11. Patch updates of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, such as an update from version 7.11 to 7.11.1, include the latest security updates and bug fixes. Minor release upgrades of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, such as an upgrade from version 7.10.x to 7.11, include enhancements, security updates, and bug fixes.

Note

Only updates for Red Hat Process Automation Manager are included in Red Hat Process Automation Manager update tools. Updates 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.

Prerequisites

  • Your Red Hat Process Automation Manager and KIE Server instances are not running. Do not apply updates while you are running an instance of Red Hat Process Automation Manager or KIE 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.

    If you are upgrading to a new minor release of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, such as an upgrade from version 7.10.x to 7.11, first apply the latest patch update to your current version of Red Hat Process Automation Manager and then follow this procedure again to upgrade to the new minor release.

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

    This update tool automates the update of certain components of Red Hat Process Automation Manager, such as Business Central, KIE Server, and the headless Process Automation 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 Process Automation Manager distribution.

  3. If you want to preserve any files from being updated by the update tool, navigate to the extracted rhpam-$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 block 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 blocked 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 rhpam-$VERSION-update.zip file and run the apply-updates script in the following format:

    Important

    Make sure that your Red Hat Process Automation 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 Process Automation 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 Process Automation Manager update tool:

    • rhpam-business-central-eap7-deployable: Updates Business Central (business-central.war)
    • rhpam-kie-server-ee8: Updates KIE Server (kie-server.war)

      Note

      The update tool will update and replace Red Hat JBoss EAP EE7 to Red Hat JBoss EAP EE8. Red Hat JBoss EAP EE7 is used for WebLogic and WebSphere, whereas version EE8 is used for Red Hat JBoss EAP. Make sure that the KIE Server on WebLogic and WebSphere is not updated by the update tool.

    • rhpam-kie-server-jws: Updates KIE Server on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (kie-server.war)
    • rhpam-controller-ee7: Updates the headless Process Automation Manager controller (controller.war)
    • rhpam-controller-jws: Updates the headless Process Automation Manager controller on Red Hat JBoss Web Server (controller.war)

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

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

      Example update to headless Process Automation Manager controller, if used:

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

      The update script creates a backup folder in the extracted rhpam-$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 Process Automation Manager distribution.

    For files that already exist in your Red Hat Process Automation 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 Process Automation Manager 7.11.0 Maven Repository artifact (rhpam-7.11.0-maven-repository.zip), such as in air-gap environments, download Red Hat Process Automation Manager 7.11.x Maven Repository and extract the downloaded rhpam-7.11.x-maven-repository.zip file to your existing ~/maven-repository directory to update the relevant contents.

    Example Maven repository update:

    $ unzip -o rhpam-7.11.x-maven-repository.zip 'rhba-7.11.1.GA-maven-repository/maven-repository/*' -d /tmp/rhbaMavenRepoUpdate
    
    $ mv /tmp/rhbaMavenRepoUpdate/rhba-7.11.0.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 Process Automation 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 rhpam-$VERSION-update folder to revert the update tool changes. You can also reinstall the relevant release artifacts from your previous version of Red Hat Process Automation Manager in the Red Hat Customer Portal. After restoring your previous distribution, you can try again to run the update.