Ibm connect 2014_presentation - cust109

CUST109: Continental –
Planning and Upgrading to
IBM Connections 4.5
Successfully
Carsten Frede, Continental AG
Martin Schmidt, Beck et al. Services GmbH
© 2014 IBM Corporation

Agenda
 Continental AG & Beck et al. Services GmbH
 Background and Project Management
 Successful Migration
 Key Success Factors
 Questions & Answers
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& Beck et al. Services GmbH
Continental AG

Beck et al. Services GmbH
Beck et al. Services is an international IT service provider with more than 14
years of experience. We focus on delivering business value to our customers in
a quick, flexible and service-oriented way.
Our team of about 90 people is located in Munich, Hanover, Zurich, Cluj & Florianópolis.
Follow us on the web: www.bea-services.de | @beaservices1
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Social Business Collaboration Mobile
Cloud Analytics & Monitoring

Agenda
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Background and
Project Management
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IBM Connections as the Social Media Platform for
Continental
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Project History
March 2012
 Continental started the rollout of IBM Connections with version 3
 The rollout was done as a module by module approach
December 2012
 The final module went live
 At this time IBM Connections 4.0 was already in the market
 Decision was made to wait for IBM Connections 4.5
March 2013
 IBM Connections 4.5 upgrade project started
 Goal: Finishing the project mid October
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Continental’s Internal Project Team
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Corporate Communications (CC) Human Resource (HR)
• Usability, style guide and user experience
• Internal communication mix / matrix
• Social media guideline
• Project marketing
In ConNext, we bring it all
together
Information
Technology (IT)
Quality
Knowledge Management (KM)
• Continental target culture (openness, trust, ..)
• Alignment of program with legal aspects
• Coordination with works councils
• Organizational change management
• employee escalation coordination
• value of contributors
• Definition of content type classes & attributes
• Information life cycle
• Establishing knowledge based navigation
• Relevance and value of information
• Taxonomy and tagging regulations and terms
• Information architecture
• Tec. environment setup, development and operation
• Alignment with information security
• KPI reporting of platform
• Migration of existing solutions & content

IBM Connections Upgrade
Project Phases with Work Packages
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Design Plan Build Operate
 Evaluate Use Cases [All]
 Benefit Collection -> to sell
update [HR]
 Evaluation of Wiki/ContiPedia
and Community requirements
[KM]
 Identification of KM relevant
documentations [KM]
 Collect Use Cases [IT]
 Testing Procedures [IT]
 Test Cases [IT]
 Information for workers
council [IT]
 Demand of UFG process
[IT]
 Identify impact on lifecycle
recommendations [KM]
 Collection and prioritization
of Wiki/Contipedia and
Community requirements
[KM]
 Go-Live Service Desk [ IT BeaS]
 Create new set of GUIDE tasks
[HR]
 Update GUIDE network [HR]
 Information about enhancements
to Community moderators [KM]
 Modification of existing KM
relevant documentations [KM]
 Content Migration [IT]
 Technical Migration [IT][BeaS]
 Upgrade Customization [IT]
 Layout [CC]
 3rd party application integration
[IT]
 Build prototype and reference
system Connections 4.5 [BeaS]
 UFG TN/Network [CC]
 Update communication
materials [CC]
 Define test use cases [IT] [CC]
 Update training materials [CC]
 CSS [HR]
 Testing new enviornement [HR]
 Service transition [IT]
 Train support organisation [IT]
 UFG process [CC]

IBM Connections Upgrade
Milestones & Timeline
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2013-07-15
Prototype
1st User Feedback
Group (UFG)
Techn. Preparation
Customizations
2nd User Feedback
Group (UFG)
04/13 12/11 05/13 02/12 06/13 04/12 07/13 12/11 08/13 02/12 09/13 04/12 10/13
Milestones
2013-05-31
2013-04-22
2013-08-31
2013-08-16
2013-09-15
2013-10-13

The Objective: Complete the Upgrade
On time
In quality
On budget

Agenda
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Initial Situation & Challenges
 Upgrade from IBM Connections 3.0 to target version 4.5 for the development, quality, and
productive instances
 Large deployment of IBM Connections with 2 http servers, 4 node servers, 56 WebSphere
Application Servers and one database cluster for the productive instance
 Numerous customizations to be adapted to the new release
 High-availability infrastructure used by 80.000 users all over the world > reduce downtimes
 About 80.000 Profiles, 48.000 Activity documents, 28.000 Blog entries, 6.500 Bookmarks,
9.000 Communities, 11.00 Files, 12.000 Forum entries, 19.000 Wiki pages, a content store
of 40GB and a database of 25GB to be migrated > ensure data consistency
 Fixed deadline > no option for failure
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Migrating IBM Connections is like building a house.
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1st
possible way of doing it.

Migrating IBM Connections is like building a house.
2nd
possible way of doing it.
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Design of Infrastructure
Production Layer
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Load Balancer
Http Server
Node Server
Database Server
Before During After

Side-by-Side Migration Procedure
1. Installation
2. Test Data Migration
3. Configuration Migration
4. Customization Migration
5. 2nd Test Data Migration
6. Final Data Migration
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1. Installation
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Step 1: Installation
Goals
You know that the new instance works
You know how to test the functions and features
Procedure
Use an empty database, a freshly installed WebSphere Application Server, and install IBM
Connections out of the box (follow e.g. Zero to Social Hero or IBM Documentation)
– Start writing checklists including every step you do
– Start writing your test script
Tips & Tricks
Test the basic installation and its new features and fix identified defects
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1. Out of the Box Installation
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Step 2: Test Data Migration
Goals
You know that your new instance works fine with your productive data
You know how to transport your data
Procedure
The data migration effectively consists of two separate migrations:
A) Migrate your database content
B) Migrate your shared file storage content
Tips & Tricks
Make sure all your content is migrated and can be read:
We built a tool that uses the search API to download all content before and after the migration
and then compares the content
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Step 2a: Database Migration
Options to move your database content from one database to the other:
Way 1 (DB expert available)
– Use backup and restore operation
– Use content migration tools of your database
Way 2 (No DB expert available or way 1 does not work)
– Move between incompatible databases
e.g. DB2 Windows to DB2 Linux, Oracle to DB2
– Use IBM Tool (dbt.jar)
– Use 3rd party tool
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Tips & Tricks
Check database schema
– Create a reference database you can use as a baseline (destination version)
– Compare before you start the transport (old <-> new)
– Compare after you disabled and enabled constraints for predbxfer40.sql and
postdbxfer40.sql (old <-> new)
– Compare after you updated your schema (new <-> reference)
We use DB Solo (www.dbsolo.com)
– Offers better compare mechanism as Oracle SQL Developer
– Can compare Oracle and DB2 databases
– Can be scripted
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 Disable notification settings
 Copy the content during times when only few users are accessing the instance
Pitfalls
 Search indexing: number of activity nodes per crawl > increase setting
 Content migration Java applications fail:
com.ibm.lconn.news.migration.next45.NewsMigrationFrom40To45
 GUID of internal wasuser (IBM Connections super user)
XXXMemberService.syncMemberExtIdByLogin("wasusr" ,
{ "allowInactivate" : "false" } )
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 View validation: after re-enabling constraints, some views are marked as “Operative: false”,
are not operational, and are not seen by DB Solo
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 Error in data copy tool (dbt.jar)
Increase your transaction log space
– db2 get db cfg for DBNAME show detail | grep -i LOG
– db2 update db cfg for DBNAME using logfilsiz 20000
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Step 2b: Content Store Migration
 All relevant folders are documented
– Copy only the folders that contain files
– Do not copy search indexes
– Do not copy configuration data
 Test the out-of-the-box installation together with productive data.
Tips & Tricks
 Use a data comparison tool to check if the data itself is still correct after the migration:
– If documents are missing
– If additional documents exist
– If they differ in terms of content
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Pitfalls
Activities files download
New function that activity files can be downloaded through HTTP Server (like files and wikis)
– Problematic are file names with special characters; these characters get interpreted by
the HTTP Server
– Solution: Rename files on disk and update filename in Database
ACTIVITIES.OA_CONTENTREF - column STOREURI
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 Content store name has changed in Version 4.5 default configuration
Activities Shared storage name changed in configuration.
oa-config.xml – <objectStore> – <store> – <id>
old: filesystem
new: filestore – change it to file system or create 2nd store named file system.
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Step 3: Configuration Migration
Goal
Your new instance is working according to your needs
Procedure
Previously we used the migration tool of IBM:
migration.sh lc-export
migration.sh lc-import
– Known issue that activity entries are not showing up in the ActivityStream after migrating
from 4.0 to 4.5: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21642886
For the latest migrations we copied the configuration manually to check what was really
configured (e.g. use diff or kdiff3) and updated my documentation simultaneously
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Step 4: Customization Migration
Goal
You know that all your configurations and customizations work with the migrated data
Procedure
Use a versioning system to record your customizations
Implement the customizations one by one, adapted to the new Connections release
Test the customizations and fix identified defects
Adjust your test script where necessary
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Step 4: Customization Migration
Example: Ideation Blog disclaimer – regression test even when implementing an iFix !!!
The disclaimer hooks into the add feature to community action; this action changed completely
between V 3.0 and V 4.5 so that a complete redesign was required
Tips & Tricks
Good time for a “pre-acceptance test” to gain feedback from business owners
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Step 5: 2nd Test Data Migration
Goals
You know that all your configurations and customizations work with the migrated data
You know how long the migration will take
You know the exact procedure you need to execute to get it done
Procedure
Can you estimate the duration of the data migration?
Are you confident that everybody knows what to do?
If you still have doubts because you got lost in all your errors and correction mechanisms, do a
second test data migration before the final migration! It will be much easier for you to fix
defects in a non-productive environment. If you are confident, this step can be skipped.
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Step 5: 2nd Test Data Migration
Tips & Tricks
Work as it would be your final migration; follow your checklists and adjust them wherever
necessary, it’s your last chance to correct them
Define the detailed schedule for the final migration
In case database migration takes longer than desired, consider to temporarily upgrade the
RAM of your database server to speed up the process
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Step 6: Final Data Migration
Goal
The productive infrastructure is upgraded to the new Connections version including all
customizations and old content and is available to end users
Procedure
Use your checklists, that’s why you have written them
Have somebody to execute your test script; at best not the person who did the migration
Let business owners perform a final acceptance test and confirm that the upgraded instance
can replace the old one
As soon as the go-ahead is given, the access for end users can be switched to the new
instance
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Step 6: Final Data Migration
Tips & Tricks
Plan all tasks and create a schedule; stick to it!
All involved parties should know what to do and when to be available as well as have their
contact data exchanged; include business owners as decision makers as well!
Change your notification settings to the desired values (you changed them in Step 2)
Have the business owners do an acceptance test and get their confirmation to go live
Have a backout plan
– Have the old infrastructure ready to switch back; maybe a little bit downsized but
operational
– Restore from backup can go wrong as well as too many components are involved
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Agenda
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Key Success Factors
 Ensure that all involved parties are jointly aligned to the project goals
 Calculate buffer times considering vacation and unavailability as well as the risk that
something always goes wrong
 Have the experts, but know the topics yourself
 Prepare your tools
 Do feedback loops with business owners and end users to ensure they get what they want
 Go single, small steps and test iteratively to quickly find and isolate errors
 Ensure repeatability of all activities by writing checklists
 Use each test migration as training for the final migration; errors are errors in your checklists
which are to be corrected
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 Access Connect Online to complete your session surveys using any:
– Web or mobile browser
– Connect Online kiosk onsite
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Acknowledgements and Disclaimers
Availability. References in this presentation to IBM products, programs, or services do not imply that they will be available in all countries in which IBM operates.
The workshops, sessions and materials have been prepared by IBM or the session speakers and reflect their own views. They are provided for informational purposes only, and are neither
intended to, nor shall have the effect of being, legal or other guidance or advice to any participant. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information
contained in this presentation, it is provided AS-IS without warranty of any kind, express or implied. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise
related to, this presentation or any other materials. Nothing contained in this presentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM or
its suppliers or licensors, or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software.
All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and
performance characteristics may vary by customer. Nothing contained in these materials is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, stating or implying that any activities undertaken by you
will result in any specific sales, revenue growth or other results.
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2014. All rights reserved.
 U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp.
 IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, IBM DB2 and IBM Connections are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other
countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S.
registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A
current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
 Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
 DB Solo is a trademark of DB Solo, LLC
Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
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