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Migration from Versions 6.0/6.1/7.0 to 8.1

If you're upgrading from versions 6.0/6.1/7.0, your migration couldn't be any smoother. Like versions 6.0/6.1/7.0, version 8.1 conforms to the J2EE specification, and does not radically differ in its installation and application configurations.

Upgrading a WebLogic 6.0/6.1/7.0/7.0 Installation to 8.1

The installation structure of version 8.1 is similar to that of versions 6.0/6.1/7.0; however, there are a few changes that you need to take notice of.

The most apparent change is the new domain directory structure. By default, versions 6.0/6.1/7.0 placed domains under the \config directory inside the WebLogic Server installation directory. When you create a new domain in version 8.1, you have the option to create a domain to any location on your hard drive. If unspecified, a new domain is created in a default \user_projects directory that's installed under \bea. However, you're encouraged to create your own directory structure that best suits your application and needs.

When migrating a pre-existing domain into version 8.1, you can still use the same directory structure, but the recommendation is to place it in a new location outside the WebLogic Server installation directory.

If you choose to place your existing domain into a new domain structure, you have to make some adjustments to your startup scripts. In a text editor, open the WebLogic Server startup script for your old domain and make the adjustments shown in Table B.1.

TIP

Make a backup of your domain directory before attempting a migration. This is basic house keeping.


Table B.1 shows the before and after values of key properties in startWebLogic.cmd.

Table B.1. Before and After Property Settings

Property Name

Before

After

JAVA_HOME

C:\bea\jdk131_02

C:\bea\jdk141_02

WL_HOME

C:\bea\weblogicXXX

C:\bea\weblogic81

CLASSPATH

%WL_HOME%\lib\weblogic_sp.jar;

%WL_HOME%\lib\weblogic.jar

%WL_HOME%\lib\weblogic.jar

  1. Modify the bea.home property to point to the BEA home directory that contains your license.bea file:

    

    -Dbea.home=c:\bea

  2. You might need to change any references to relative paths to other files and also change any script that tries to verify a file on a relative path or in the old directory structure. Specifically, look at the start scripts and the config.xml file.

  3. Decide whether you want to use Cloudscape or PointBase. (those upgrading from 6.0 or 6.1 might have to make this decision). If you're migrating from 7.0 and are already using PointBase, you don't need to worry about this step. Ensure that the path to either database is set up correctly in your startWeblogic.cmd file.

  4. If you're switching to PointBase, change all references in the start scripts, class path settings, and so on to point to PointBase and not to Cloudscape. You also have to migrate your data from Cloudscape to PointBase: Use Cloudview in Cloudscape to generate a database script and run that script in the PointBase console.

  5. Repeat the steps for any additional servers in the domain.

It's important to make sure that all files referenced in your classpath are set correctly. For instance, if you're migrating a domain that makes use of the Cloudscape database incorporated in the version 6 or 7 installation, the classpath will still have to reference those files. This can become a little tricky when you're trying to use relative locations, so you might want to explicitly set the classpath reference from the root directory:



set CLASSPATH=%CLASSPATH%; c:\bea\wlserver6.1\samples\eval\cloudscape\lib\cloudscape.jar;

CAUTION

When you start your migrated domain in version 8.1, WebLogic reads the config.xml file and recognizes that it has been converted from an earlier version. WebLogic then runs in Compatibility mode. Compatibility mode enables version 8.1 to recognize and use users, groups, and ACLs through version 6's legacy files, such as the fileRealm.properties file.

Version 8.1 does not support the guest user as the anonymous user (as version 6.x did). To use this feature, you must pass the following argument in the startWeblogic.cmd script:



-Dweblogic.security.anonymousUserName=guest

Upgrading Version 6.0/6.1/7.0 WebLogic Applications

Like versions 6.0/6.1/7.0, version 8.1 conforms to the Sun J2EE specification and your existing WebLogic applications will usually require no change whatsoever. That said, there are still a few instances in which you'll either need to make alterations or will want to make alterations to take advantage of new features.

The circumstances in which you absolutely must make alterations are few. One is in the odd chance that your application uses remote relationships among container-managed persistence EJBs. Remote relationships are no longer supported in version 8.1. You can still use your application, but you'll have to combine and deploy all such EJBs into a single bundled JAR file.

Another situation occurs in the remote possibility that you're using NULL or guest as a username in an application—these names are no longer supported in version 8.1. You should also change the DOCTYPEs to point to the new DTDs to resolve any changes.

NOTE

Actually, you can still use the username guest by creating it as a valid user within the Administration Console. However, NULL is no longer permitted.


The most notable change you might need to make is to any Web service applications (available since version 6.1). Numerous changes were made to the Web service runtime system that make version 6.1 applications incompatible on version 8.1. For detailed information about upgrading your version 6.1 Web services, refer to the BEA documentation on the subject: http://edocs.bea.com/wls/docs81/webserv/migrate.html.

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