Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.0

Patching and Upgrading Guide

For Use with Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7

Red Hat Customer Content Services

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Abstract

This book is a guide for patching or upgrading a Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7 installation.

Chapter 1. Introduction

About Patches and Upgrades

Major Upgrades

A major upgrade or migration is required when an application is moved from one major release to another, for example, from JBoss EAP 6 to JBoss EAP 7. This type of migration is not addressed in this guide.

For instructions on how to migrate from previous releases of JBoss EAP, see the Migration Guide.

Minor Updates

JBoss EAP periodically provides point releases, which are minor updates that include bug fixes, security fixes, and new features. Minor updates are not applied via patching. If you plan to upgrade from one JBoss EAP point release to another, for example, from JBoss EAP 7.0 to JBoss EAP 7.1, code changes should not be required for applications that follow the Java EE specification and do not use any private, unsupported, or tech preview modules.

For instructions on how to upgrade from one JBoss EAP 7 point release to another, see the upgrading chapter.

Cumulative Patches

JBoss EAP also periodically provides individual or cumulative patches that contain bug and security fixes. Cumulative patches increment the minor release version by the last digit, for example from 7.0.1 to 7.0.2. These patches do not require migration and should not impact the server configuration files. The patch management system for ZIP/installer installations can also rollback the patch and server configuration.

For instructions on how to patch JBoss EAP, see the patching chapter.

Subscribing to JBoss Security Announcements

The JBoss team at Red Hat maintains a mailing list for security announcements for Red Hat JBoss Middleware products. You can subscribe to this mailing list to be notified of security-related announcements that affect JBoss EAP.

Chapter 2. Patching JBoss EAP

The method of applying a patch to JBoss EAP depends on your installation method. If you installed JBoss EAP using the ZIP or installer methods, you must use the ZIP-based patch management system. If you used RPMs to install JBoss EAP on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you must use RPM patches.

Important

Before applying or rolling back a patch, you should back up your JBoss EAP server, including all deployments and configuration files.

If you have a locally installed JBoss EAP Maven repository, you must also patch the Maven repository to the same cumulative patch version as your JBoss EAP server.

Patching a ZIP/Installer Installation

Cumulative patches for a ZIP or Installer installation of JBoss EAP are available to download from the Red Hat Customer Portal.

For multiple JBoss EAP hosts in a managed domain environment, individual hosts can be patched from your JBoss EAP domain controller.

In addition to applying a patch, you can also roll back the application of a patch.

Important Notes on ZIP/Installer Installation Patching

If you apply a patch that updates a module, the new patched JARs that are used at runtime are stored in EAP_HOME/modules/system/layers/base/.overlays/PATCH_ID/MODULE. The original unpatched files are left in EAP_HOME/modules/system/layers/base/MODULE, but these JARs are not used at runtime.

In order to significantly decrease the size of cumulative patch releases for JBoss EAP 7, you now cannot perform a partial roll back of a cumulative patch. For a patch that has been applied, you will only be able to roll back the whole patch.

For example, if you apply CP03 to JBoss EAP 7.0.0, you will not be able to roll back to CP01 or CP02. If you would like the ability to roll back to each cumulative patch release, each cumulative patch must be applied separately in the order they were released.

Applying a Patch

Note

JBoss EAP servers that have been installed using the RPM method cannot be updated using these instructions. See the RPM instructions for applying a patch instead.

You can apply downloaded patches to a JBoss EAP server using either the management CLI or the management console.

Applying a Patch to JBoss EAP Using the Management CLI

Download the patch file from the Red Hat Customer Portal at https://access.redhat.com/downloads/.

From the management CLI, apply the patch using the following command, including the appropriate path to the patch file:

patch apply /path/to/downloaded-patch.zip

Note

To patch another JBoss EAP host in a managed domain, you can specify the JBoss EAP host name using the --host= argument. For example:

patch apply /path/to/downloaded-patch.zip --host=my-host

The patch tool will warn if there are any conflicts in attempting to apply the patch. If there are conflicts, enter patch --help for the available arguments to re-run the command with an argument specifying how to resolve the conflicts.

Restart the JBoss EAP server for the patch to take effect:

shutdown --restart=true

Applying a Patch to JBoss EAP Using the Management Console

Download the patch file from the Red Hat Customer Portal at https://access.redhat.com/downloads/.

Open the management console and navigate to the Patch Management view.

For a standalone server, click the Patching tab.

Figure 2.1. The Patch Management Screen for a Standalone Server

For a server in a managed domain, click the Patching tab, then select the host that you want to patch from the table, and click View.

Figure 2.2. The Patch Management Screen for a Managed Domain

Click Apply a New Patch.

If you are patching a managed domain host, on the next screen select whether to shutdown the servers on the host, and click Next.

Click the Browse button, select the downloaded patch you want to apply, and then click Next.

Figure 2.3. Apply Patch Screen

If there are any conflicts in attempting to apply the patch, a warning will be displayed. Click View error details to see the detail of the conflicts. If there is a conflict, you can either cancel the operation, or select the Override all conflicts check box and click Next. Overriding conflicts will result in the content of the patch overriding any user modifications.

After the patch has been successfully applied, select whether to restart JBoss EAP now for the patch to take effect, and click Finish.

Rolling Back a Patch

You can roll back a previously applied JBoss EAP patch using either the management CLI or the management console.

Important

Rolling back a patch using the patch management system is not intended as a general uninstall functionality. It is only intended to be used immediately after the application of a patch that had undesirable effects.

Prerequisites

A patch that was previously applied.

Warning

When following either procedure, use caution when specifying the value of the Reset Configuration option:

If set to TRUE, the patch rollback process will also roll back the JBoss EAP server configuration files to their pre-patch state. Any changes that were made to the JBoss EAP server configuration files after the patch was applied will be lost.

If set to FALSE, the server configuration files will not be rolled back. In this situation, it is possible that the server will not start after the rollback, as the patch may have altered configurations, such as namespaces, which may no longer be valid and will have to be fixed manually.

Rolling Back a Patch Using the Management CLI

From the management CLI, use the patch history command to find the ID of the patch that you want to roll back.

Note

If you are using a managed domain, you must add the --host=HOSTNAME argument to the commands in this procedure to specify the JBoss EAP host.

Roll back the patch with the appropriate patch ID from the previous step.

patch rollback --patch-id=PATCH_ID --reset-configuration=TRUE

The patch tool will warn if there are any conflicts in attempting to roll back the patch. If there are conflicts, enter patch --help for the available arguments to re-run the command with an argument specifying how to resolve the conflicts.

Restart the JBoss EAP server for the patch roll back to take effect:

shutdown --restart=true

Rolling Back a Patch Using the Management Console

Open the management console and navigate to the Patch Management view.

For a standalone server, click the Patching tab.

For a server in a managed domain, click the Patching tab, then select the host that you want to patch from the table, and click View.

Select the patch that you want to rollback from those listed in the table, then click Rollback.

Figure 2.4. Recent Patch History Screen

If you are rolling back a patch on a managed domain host, on the next screen select whether to shutdown the servers on the host, and click Next.

Choose your options for the rollback process, then click Next.

Figure 2.5. Patch Rollback Options

Confirm the options and the patch to be rolled back, then click Next.

If there are any conflicts in attempting to rollback the patch and the Override all option was not selected, a warning will be displayed. Click View error details to see the detail of the conflicts. If there is a conflict, you can either cancel the operation, or click Choose Options and try the operation again with the Override all check box selected. Overriding conflicts will result in the rollback operation overriding any user modifications.

After the patch has been successfully rolled back, select whether to restart the JBoss EAP server now for the changes to take effect, and click Finish.

Clearing Patch History

When patches are applied to a JBoss EAP server, the content and history of the patches are preserved for use in rollback operations. If multiple cumulative patches are applied, the patch history may use a significant amount of disk space.

You can use the following management CLI command to remove all older patches that are not currently in use. When using this command, only the latest cumulative patch is preserved along with the GA release. This is only useful for freeing space if multiple cumulative patches have previously been applied.

/core-service=patching:ageout-history

Important

If you clear the patch history, you will not be able to roll back a previously applied patch.

Patching an RPM Installation

Prerequisites

Ensure that the base operating system is up to date, and is subscribed and enabled to get updates from the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux repositories.

Ensure that you are subscribed to the relevant JBoss EAP repository for the update.

Warning

When updating an RPM installation, JBoss EAP is updated cumulatively with all RPM-released fixes for the subscribed repository.

If you are subscribed to the 'current' repository, this may mean that your installation will also be upgraded to the next available minor release. For more details, see the information on choosing a JBoss EAP repository in the Installation Guide.

Back up all configuration files, deployments, and user data.

Important

For a managed domain, the JBoss EAP domain controller should be updated first.

To install a JBoss EAP patch via RPM from your subscribed repository, update your Red Hat Enterprise Linux system using the following command:

yum update

Optional: Patch a Local JBoss EAP Maven Repository

If you have installed the JBoss EAP Maven repository, it may also need to be patched.

The JBoss EAP Maven repository is available online or as a downloaded ZIP file. If you use the publicly hosted online Maven repository, updates are automatically applied, and no action is required to update it. However, if you installed the Maven repository locally using the ZIP file, you are responsible for applying updates to the repository.

Whenever a cumulative patch is released for JBoss EAP, a corresponding patch is provided for the JBoss EAP Maven repository. This patch is available in the form of an incremental ZIP file that is unzipped into the existing local repository. It does not overwrite or remove any existing files, so there is no rollback requirement.

Use the following procedure to apply updates to your locally installed JBoss EAP Maven repository.

Prerequisites

Valid access and subscription to the Red Hat Customer Portal.

The JBoss EAP 7.0 Maven repository, previously downloaded and installed locally.

Update a Locally Installed JBoss EAP Maven Repository

Open a browser and log into the Red Hat Customer Portal.

Select Downloads from the menu at the top of the page.

Find Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform in the list and click on it.

Select the correct version of JBoss EAP from the Version drop-down menu, then click on Patches tab.

Find Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform 7.0 Update <CP_NUMBER> Incremental Maven Repository in the list, where <CP_NUMBER> is the cumulative patch number you want to update to, and then click Download.

Locate the path to your JBoss EAP Maven repository. This is referred to in the commands below as EAP_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH.

Unzip the downloaded Maven patch file directly into the directory of the JBoss EAP 7.0 Maven repository:

For Red Hat Enterprise Linux, open a terminal and run the following command, replacing the values for the cumulative patch number and your Maven repository path:

$ unzip -o jboss-eap-7.0.<CP_NUMBER>-incremental-maven-repository.zip -d EAP_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH

For Microsoft Windows, use the Windows extraction utility to extract the ZIP file into the root of the EAP_MAVEN_REPOSITORY_PATH directory.

Chapter 3. Upgrading JBoss EAP

Important

This chapter describes how to upgrade from one JBoss EAP 7 minor release to another. For example, upgrading from JBoss EAP 7.0 to JBoss EAP 7.1.

If you are migrating from an earlier major release of JBoss EAP, for example from JBoss EAP 6 to JBoss EAP 7, see the Migration Guide instead.

Preparing for the Upgrade

Before you upgrade JBoss EAP, you need to be aware of the following potential issues.

If you back up and restore your configuration files when upgrading to newer point releases, you could overwrite new configurations that are in the new release and prevent new features from being enabled automatically. The recommended approach is to compare the old configuration to the new configuration, and only reapply specific configurations you need to keep. This can be done manually, or by creating a script that can apply the changes consistently to multiple server configuration files.

If you back up and restore an existing configuration for the upgrade, when the server restarts and updates the configuration files, the updated configuration may no longer be compatible with the previous version.

The upgrade may remove temporary folders. Any deployments stored in the data/content/ directory must be backed up prior to the upgrade, and restored after it completes. Otherwise, the server will fail to start due to the missing content.

Prior to applying the upgrade, handle any open transactions and delete the data/tx-object-store/ transaction directory.

The persistent timer data in data/timer-service-data must be checked to determine whether it is compatible. Before the upgrade, review the deployment- files in that directory to determine which timers are still in use.

Upgrading a ZIP/Installer Installation

Prerequisites

Ensure that the base operating system is up to date.

Back up all configuration files, deployments, and user data.

Download the ZIP file of the JBoss EAP version you want to upgrade to.

Important

For a managed domain, the JBoss EAP domain controller should be upgraded first.

An upgraded JBoss EAP 7 domain controller can still manage other JBoss EAP 7 hosts in a managed domain, as long as the domain controller is running the same or more recent version than the rest of the domain.

Move the downloaded ZIP file to the desired location. It is recommended that this is a different location to the existing JBoss EAP installation.

Note

If you want to install the upgraded version of JBoss EAP to the same directory as the existing installation, you will need to move the existing installation to a different location before proceeding. This is to prevent modified configuration files, deployments, and upgrades from being lost.

Extract the ZIP archive. This installs a clean instance of the new JBoss EAP release.

Copy the EAP_HOME/domain/ and EAP_HOME/standalone/ directories from the previous installation over the new installation directories.

Important

New features in the new release, such as new subsystems, may not be activated if the configuration files are copied from an older JBoss EAP installation. To use these new features, you must compare and update the old configuration files with the configuration files from the new version.

Review the changes made to the bin directory of the previous installation, and make the equivalent modifications to the new directory.

Warning

Files in the bin directory should not be overwritten by the files from previous versions. Changes should be made manually.

Review the remaining modified files from the previous installation, and move these changes into the new installation. These files may include:

The welcome-content directory.

Custom modules in the modules directory.

Optional: If JBoss EAP was previously configured to run as a service, remove the existing service and configure a new service for the upgraded installation.

Upgrading an RPM Installation

Prerequisites

Ensure that the base operating system is up to date, and is subscribed and enabled to get updates from the standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux repositories.

Ensure that you are subscribed to the relevant JBoss EAP repository for the upgrade.

If you are subscribed to the 'current' JBoss EAP repository, the upgrade will be available as soon as it is released. If you are subscribed to a previous minor JBoss EAP repository, you will need to change to the latest minor repository to get the upgrade.

For more information on JBoss EAP repositories, see the information on choosing a JBoss EAP repository and changing JBoss EAP repositories in the Installation Guide.

Back up all configuration files, deployments, and user data.

Important

For a managed domain, the JBoss EAP domain controller should be upgraded first.

An upgraded JBoss EAP 7 domain controller can still manage other JBoss EAP 7 hosts in a managed domain, as long as the domain controller is running the same or more recent version than the rest of the domain.

After you have subscribed to the relevant JBoss EAP repository and the upgrade is available, run the following command to upgrade your JBoss EAP installation:

yum update

The RPM upgrade process will not replace any of your modified configuration files, and will instead create .rpmnew files for the default configuration of the new JBoss EAP version.

To activate any new features in the new release, such as new subsystems, you must manually merge each .rpmnew file into your existing configuration files.

Upgrading a Cluster

JBoss EAP does not support the creation of clusters where the nodes are made up of different versions of JBoss EAP servers. All nodes within a cluster must be the same JBoss EAP version.

The upgrade process for a cluster involves creating a new JBoss EAP cluster comprised of nodes running the newer JBoss EAP version, and then migrating all clustered traffic from the previous cluster to the new cluster. After this is completed, the previous JBoss EAP cluster can be shut down and removed.

See the chapter on configuring high availability in the Configuration Guide for creating a new cluster, and the section on migrating traffic between clusters to migrate traffic from the old cluster to the new one.

Revised on 2016-09-19 12:22:14 EDT