Updating from MU to MU

This page contains a detailed update procedure for updating the Dispatcher Paragon installation to a higher MU (Maintenance Update).

Before the Update

Expected System Outage

  • It is expected that the system will be out of order until the update is finished.

Expected Data Loss

  • If executed as documented, no data loss is expected.

  • In the case of a rollback, the data between step 1.5 (database backup) and Rollback is lost. Users will need to reprint their jobs once the system is operational again.

General Requirements

  • When updating to a new MU, all installed components (Dispatcher Paragon Management Servers, Dispatcher Paragon Spooler Controllers, Dispatcher Paragon FlexiSpoolers, Dispatcher Paragon Mobile Print Server, Dispatcher Paragon Workflow Processing Systems, Dispatcher Paragon Payment System and Dispatcher Paragon Payment System plugins) have to be updated.

  • If one or more Dispatcher Paragon services have the state Disabled, enable them before starting. If necessary, you can disable them again once the update is finished.

  • Make sure that no processes or services (e.g., from third-party backup tools) are using resources from the Dispatcher Paragon directory. Files in those directories are about to be replaced and if they are locked by any process, the update will fail. A common cause of an update failure is having pgAdmin running while updating Management Server with an embedded PostgreSQL.

Stop Dispatcher Paragon Services

  1. Stop all Dispatcher Paragon services in the whole environment (Management Servers, Site Servers) except the following (leave the services listed below running):

    1. Dispatcher Paragon Bundled Etcd

    2. Dispatcher Paragon Bundled PostgreSQL 9.4 (available if an embedded PostgreSQL DB is used)

      1. You can use the following PowerShell script to perform the task:

        Get-Service *YSoft* | Where-Object {$_.Name -ne 'YSoftPGSQL' -and $_.Name -ne 'YYSoftPGSQL' -and $_.Name -ne 'YSoftEtcd'} | Stop-Service

Backing Up Databases

Back up the SQDB6 and SQDB6_IMS databases. If you are using Dispatcher Paragon Payment System, also back up the SQDB6_YPS database.

See Backup of databases for detailed instructions.

Back Up Configuration Files

See Backing Up Configuration (and Binary) Files and perform the procedure on all Management and Site Servers.

Create a Snapshot (Optional but Recommended)

If you have Dispatcher Paragon installed on virtual servers, create a snapshot of all Management and all Site servers to simplify the rollback procedure. Snapshots should be made with all Dispatcher Paragon servers being stopped completely or at least services stopped on all servers, as described above.)

Updating Procedure

Update Management Servers

See Updating Using the Server Installer for detailed instructions.

On some systems, the following issue may appear: during installation of Dispatcher Paragon Workflow Processing System, the service is "marked for removal". In the Workflow Processing Server install log (c:\DispatcherParagon\WPS\WPS-install.log), there is an error saying that the service is already installed, and after restarting, the service is removed. If you encounter it, let Customer Support Services know about it. A workaround is to install the service manually after the restart by running WpsService.exe install from the elevated command line.

Re-activate the Dispatcher Paragon license

Re-activate Dispatcher Paragon license once the update of Management Server(s) is finished. See Management interface - License activation for detailed instructions.

Additional steps

If you want to change any Dispatcher Paragon configuration, you can do it now in System > Configuration.

If you are using failover/load balancing of terminals and updating from MU27 or earlier, make sure that enableNetworkLoadBalancer property is enabled in Dispatcher Paragon settings:

  1. Log in to the Dispatcher Paragon Web Interface with sufficient rights to administer printers (for example, "admin").

  2. Go to System > System settings

  3. Set enableNetworkLoadBalancer property to enabled and save the configuration.

Updating Site Servers

See Updating Using the Server Installer for detailed instructions.

If you are using a third party load balancer and updating from MU28 or earlier, make sure that scanServerIp is configured in TerminalServer.exe.config on each node:

  1. Edit the file <SafeQ_dir>\SPOC\terminalserver\TerminalServer.exe.config.

  2. Into the AppSettings section of the config file add new scanServerIp parameter and set it to the physical IP address of the local TS node.

    <add key="scanServerIp" value="physical_IP_address" />

  3. Save the file.

  4. Restart Dispatcher Paragon Terminal Server services to apply the settings

Updating Other Products

Updating SafeQube 2

See Updating YSoft SafeQube 2 for detailed instructions.

Updating Terminals

See Updating Terminals for detailed instructions.

Verifying the Functionality

Verify the basic functionality such as Printing, Copying, Scanning, Accounting, and Charging.

Rollback

Should you face issues during or after updating that block you from using Dispatcher Paragon, revert to the version prior to the update.

If a Snapshot of Servers Is Available

  1. Stop Dispatcher Paragon services on all Management and Site Servers.

  2. If an external database server is being used, restore the Dispatcher Paragon databases SQDB6, SQDB6_IMS, SQDB6_YPS to the state prior to the update.

  3. Revert Management Servers to the state prior to the update (one by one).

  4. Re-activate the Dispatcher Paragon license.

  5. Revert Site Servers to the state prior to the update.

If a Snapshot of Servers Is Not Available

  1. Stop Dispatcher Paragon services on all Management and Site Servers.

  2. Uninstall Management and Site Servers.

  3. Delete all Dispatcher Paragon folders.

  4. Perform a clean installation of Management Server(s) of the previous Dispatcher Paragon version – use the same Local GUID that was used before.

    1. Restore Dispatcher Paragon databases.

    2. Restore the configuration files from backup – do not restore the file safeq.properties , keep the new one.

  5. Re-activate the Dispatcher Paragon license.

  6. Perform a clean installation of Site Servers.

    1. Restore the configuration files from backup.

  7. If you were using custom certificates (e.g., for Web Interface or Terminal Server), set them up again according to the documentation.

Troubleshooting

Device Is Unable to Establish a Secure Connection with Terminal Server in MU17 and Newer, Although It Worked with the Previous MU

A new, more secure certificate was introduced with MU17 . Older devices may be unable to establish a secure connection with the Terminal Server.

Solution: Generate a new certificate compatible with the device and configure Terminal Server to use it. See Configuring secured connection between terminals and Terminal Server for detailed instructions.

FlexiSpooler Installation is Stuck During the Update

Installation is stuck on installing FlexiSpooler during the update without any obvious error. In installation log is the following exception: Exception calling "DeserializeObject" with "1" argument(s): "Unrecognized escape sequence."

Solution: Open the spooler.config and ensure that there are only forward slashes in jobStorePath. (e.g., change "jobStorePath":"C:\Spool\JobStore" to "jobStorePath":"C:/Spool/JobStore").