OBIEE 11.1.1.7 to 11.1.1.9 upgrade

OBIEE 11.1.1.9 was released on May 15, 2015 and has a few interesting new features. It is the first (and possibly the last) major release in the last couple of years. From my point of view, it isn't a revolution but evolution of the 11.1.1.7.x branch.
It's very easy to upgrade existing 11.1.1.7.x instance to 11.1.1.9.0 and involves the following steps:

• Download OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 distributive


• Determine currently used Weblogic server release


• Download Weblogic 10.3.6 upgrade installer [optional]


• Upgrade Weblogic to 10.3.6 [optional]


• Upgrade OBIEE software


• Upgrade database repository (MDS and BIPLATFORM)


• Upgrade various system components

Download OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 distributive

OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 does not need a separate distributive for the upgrade process. The same distributive is used for the installation of a new system or patching an existing one. At the time of this post, distributive is available only at OTN. Download all the files for your platform, copy to a server and unzip to one directory.

Determine currently used Weblogic server release

Typically when you install OBIEE 11.1.1.6 or 11.1.1.7 it comes prepackaged with Weblogic server 10.3.5. The only supported for OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 version of Weblogic is 10.3.6. You need to check for (or remember) a currently installed version of Weblogic server. To do it, open //yourserver:port/console (default port is 7001) and check Weblogic version. If it is 10.3.6 then skip the next step and navigate to "Upgrade OBIEE software". If your Weblogic version is 10.3.5 go to the next step.

Download Weblogic 10.3.6 upgrade installer

For upgrading Weblogic server 10.3.5 to 10.3.6 you need to download Weblogic upgrade installer from My Oracle Support. The easiest way is to search by patch number: 13529623. For most of the platforms, you will find a generic patch (not platform-specific).

Upgrade Weblogic to 10.3.6

Upgrading of Weblogic is quite simple and takes only a couple of minutes.
Stop all OBIEE components. You may use scripts from my post if you want to.

Copy Weblogic upgrade distributive to a server and unzip it.

There are only two files in the archive. One of them is a readme.html and the other one is the installer. Run the installer with command:

java -jar wls1036_upgrade_generic.jar

Note. This installer can work either in graphical or text mode. The upgrade process is pretty straightforward and doesn't need much commenting. Just follow the process and select the desired option by typing its number. The only step that not absolutely obvious is how not to register for security updates if you don't want to register. You need to select option 5. And type Yes at the next step. Start Weblogic (Admin server) when the upgrade is finished (once again my favorite ANT scripts). Wait for a few minutes while your WLS is starting. Check that the version is 10.3.6 now. Stop Weblogic before starting OBIEE software upgrade.

Upgrade OBIEE software

Upgrading of an OBIEE software is made by the usual installer without any special options or something like that. Simply run runInstaller (for Unix) or setup.exe (for Windows). Note. OBIEE installer has only a graphical mode so you need to setup X11 forward before you start. All steps should be familiar for you as they are exactly the same as during installation process of the previous release. The only trick is you should select Software only Install mode as your system was already configured before, and you don't need to do it again. Select Oracle Middleware Home of the previously installed system. All other steps are simple Next, Next, Next... It took a little more than 15 minutes to complete the process on my machine. It was a very slow virtual machine so it'll take a few minutes on a real server.

Upgrade database repository (MDS and BIPLATFORM)

There are a couple things left before you start newly patched system. You need to upgrade database repository schemas. Change directory to $ORACLE_HOME/bin and run psa (psa.bat) utility. It's Patch Set Assistant and it'll do repository upgrade part of the task. The documentation says that MDS schema should be upgraded before BIPLATFORM, but you don't need to do it manually. After selecting Oracle Business Intelligence option both schemas are selected and processed in the correct order. I don't think that any other step needs any commenting. All of the them are obvious. Note. You may get an error when running psa. Something like this:

/u01/oracle/Middleware/Oracle_BI1/bin/../../oracle_common/bin/psa:  
line 167: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.79.x86_64/bin/java:  
No such file or directory

The easy way to solve this problem is to install java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel.x86_64 package.

  
yum install java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel.x86_64  

Upgrade various system components

It's possible to do this manually or by Configuration Assistant. Using Configuration Assistant is much easier and faster. This guide shows how to use Configuration Assistant.
Note. I haven't found it in the documentation or at MOS, but on my system Configuration Assistant freezes at "Executing: opmnctl startall" step. Log file shows libnuma.so.1 related error (error while loading shared libraries: libnuma.so.1: cannot open shared object file). This error could be solved by installing numactl package.
Before running Configuration Assistant Node manager and AdminServer should be started. If not, process will freeze at Starting Managed Server: biserver1 step.
The rest is pretty obvious.
Change directory to $ORACLEHOME/bin. Run config.sh and follow the wizard.



Select Upgrade BI Domain option and fill in required fields.





Note. It's possible you'll need to interrupt the process because of this or that (numactl error or anything else). After starting Configuration Assistant, you may stuck at the third step (AdminServer credentials) without any error. Just nothing happens. Step 5 of this document will help you Troubleshooting.
Now it's time to start your system.

Everythyng is ok for me.

Version is 11.1.1.9.0.

The last thing left to be done. Go to Administration page and select Scan and Update Catalog Objects That Require Updates option.

Select Update Catalog Objects

Wait for a few seconds...

Start exploring OBIEE 11.1.1.9.0 new features.


Have a nice day!
I'm doing my best to provide as detailed and simple guide as I can. But sometimes I can fail. So, don't hesitate to leave a comment, ask a question, say if everything is understandable or not. No registration is required for commenting.