Scott Stocker shares the best practices you can follow while upgrading your Sitecore environment to its latest version. He also shares handy solutions for common challenges you may face.
2. Let's talk!
• Quick Intro
• Why should you upgrade?
• Upgrade basics
• Research and planning
• Recommended approach
• Tips for a smooth upgrade
3. Sitecore expert with 12 years
of CMS experience and over
10 years of experience on the
Sitecore platform. He loves
building personalized web
experiences using Sitecore's
experience platformand
helping clients understand
Sitecore's capabilities. Scott
has architectedmany large
Sitecore applications including
sites serving 200+ million page
views annually.
Hi. I’m Scott.
Scott Stocker
scott.stocker@edynamic.net
@sestocker
4. An award winning
global digital
marketing and
technology agency
focused on customer
experience
5. Exceptional Sitecore Expertise
Sitecore Practice
Sitecore partnership since
2003
Over 200 solutions
delivered
Large global resource pool
> 80 certified Sitecore
resources
Center of Excellence
Best practice development
3 MVPs on staff
Ongoing internal training
program run by MVPs
Creation of industry
acceleratorsand reusable
frameworks such as content
accelerators,customdata
connectors
Creation of reusable
Sitecore connectors:
Eloqua, Pardot, Marketo,
CRMs
7. • Identify reasons to keep Sitecore on
a current version
• Identify parts of the upgrade process
• Identify areas for research and
planning
• Review the recommended approach
• Get everyone more comfortable with
the upgrade process
Goals Today
17. • Database
• Configuration
• New Sitecore Files
• DLL’s
• /sitecoredirectory
• Code Updates
• New Server Roles
Components of a Sitecore Upgrade
18. • Have to run steps separately as documented by
Sitecore
• Downloadthe.updatefiles
• UsuallyUpdateInstallation Wizard
• Sometimesdatabasescripts
• Upgrades the content database and files on disk
• Get needed files from Sitecore
• SDNforversionsofSitecorebefore8
• Devfor8.0andabove
Running the Sitecore Upgrade
21. • Usually only required for major versions
• Forexample,ContentSearchAPIfrom6.6to7.0
• Analytics APIchangeswithxDBintroduction
• IntroductionofSPEAK
• Start with new Sitecore DLL’s
• Addtoyoursolutioninsourcecontrol
• Lookforcompilationerrors
• Testlocally
• If making several leaps, wait until the final version to
make code changes
• Forexample,ifgoingfrom6.6to8.1,don’tstopat7.0tomake
ContentSearchchanges
Code Changes
22. • If you are upgrading from < 7.5:
• MongoDB
• Processingserver
• Other options
• xManagementmode
• xDBCloudfromSitecore
New Server Roles
31. • On a developer workstation or sandbox environment
• PracticeUpgradeSteps
• WorkwithSitecoreSupportonanyerrors
• UsevanillaCMinstances
• Remove customizations – especially pipelines
• UpgrademodulesalongwithSitecoreversions
• Documentstepsandproblems
• Upgraded database can now be used for developer
changes
• Re-enablecustomizationsandtest
• Makenecessarycodechanges
Local Upgrade
32. • Server where final upgrade will be run
• PracticeUpgradeSteps
• UsevanillaCMinstances
• Remove customizations – especially pipelines
• Makeiteasytoreplicaterunningtheupgrade
• Should be able to run the upgrade steps easily
• Practice at least once before the final upgrade of
content
• Have your CM and CD ready ahead of time
• Code/Configwillbedeployedviayourbuildprocess
• Rememberthatcustomconfigchangeswillbepatchedin
Upgrade Environment
33. • Upgrade the databases using out-of-the-boxSitecore
instances
• Sitecore files and configuration should come from the
Sitecore installer
• Customconfigshouldbepatchedin!
• Don’ttrytofollowthepagesofconfigchanges
• Remember to remove Sitecoresupport files you might
have
• Typically thesearehotfixesforaparticularknownissue
• Test both content management and content delivery
• Don’t forget to review log files,both during the upgrade
and after
Recommendations
34. 33
Features
Easy to install on your Sitecore instance - just
select the current and target versions and start
an upgrade
Pre-configured with automated testing
capabilities powered by Selenium
Full support for multiple languages
Can handle any number of websites or
microsites
Tool tracks all upgrade events in Sitecore log
file so you can see success/failure at any time
Full support for user interface resolutions post
upgrade
Full support for any on-premise or cloud
deployment
Comes with 2 weeks of free, warranty support
Benefits
Upgrade from any old Sitecore version to a
higher versions within days
Sitecore Automatic Version
Upgrader
35. edynamic‘s Auto vUpgrader for Sitecore
Tool detects the
current version by
itself. User needs to
select the next version
Confirmation message
displayed once the upgrade is
complete
Automated test case can be
run subsequently with the tool
Test results are displayed
36. Upgrade of 13 sites from Sitecore
6.6 to 8.1 within 1.2 weeks
Georgia-Pacific LLC is one of the world's
leading manufacturers & distributors of pulp,
paper, tissue, toilet and paper towel dispensers
and related chemicals.
They were struggling for over past 4 months to
upgrade multiple sites from Sitecore 6.6 to the
latest version
Background
Solution & Benefits
• edynamic was hired by G-P to rescue its upgrade project
undergoing delays for months by incumbent vendor
• With its upgrade utility tool edynamic upgraded 13 sites
from Sitecore 6.6 to Sitecore 8.1 within a record time of
1.2 weeks
• Test results showed minimal errors and were easily fixed
after the upgrade
39. • Upgrade Sitecore regularly
• Irecommendatleastonceevery12-18months
• Planning is key for success
• Engage a partner for help
• Sitecorepartnersdoupgradesallthetime!
• Practice helps – often based on content freeze and
time it takes to upgrade, you will need to do the
process several times
• Engage SitecoreSupport for issues you can’t google
• Note:onlySitecorecertifieddeveloperscanengagesupport
• Don’t use IE to run the upgrade
• Modify the web.config/sitecore.configto increase
timeouts
Tips
To give you in simple words- edynamic is a digital mrkt tech agency. We focus on bringing technology and marketing experience together and help you provide superior customer experience to your clients
Deeply committed to Sitecore, our relationship dates back to … delivered hundered… what differentiates us is COE… connectors at marketplace.. Allows to deliver great results .. Awards..
The upgrade process is unique for every solution. Each customer may have different levels of customization, different tolerances for content freezes and different preferences regarding testing and release management.
Note that simple upgrades – such as moving from 8.1 Update-2 to 8.1 Update-3 – will typically require less analysis and testing than upgrades that traverse major versions.
Mainstream support has already ended for versions 6.6 and under
7.0 and 7.1 mainstream is about to end
Without mainstream support, assistance for errors and product defects will cost additional money
Current browsers work better with the latest versions of Sitecore
If you are not on 7.2 or 8.x I suspect you might see some issues today
8.2 drops the dependency on Silverlight
6.6 doesn’t have support for > Windows 8
Microsoft Mainstream support has already ended for Server 2008
Old software = bad
Want to run SQL 2014? Need to be on the latest version.
Mongo 2.6 has been end of life. You need to get on 3.x
New user friendly UI in Sitecore 8
Vastly improved Experience Editor
Planning is probably the key for success
The upgrade needs to be rolled out to all of your environments
Current version needs maintained while during the upgrade process
CMS upgrade process is pretty straight-forward
Modules are more complicated
Don’t forget the code changes that might be necessary based on new module versions
If all sites can be done at once, that is the simplest approach
CM + CD
Not just prod
CM + CD
Not just prod
CM + CD
Not just prod
Now you know the components and what to plan for – but how do execute the upgrade? What does the process look like?