CA Workload Automation AE (Autosys) Pre-Upgrade Review Call Questions

Products

• Autosys Workload Automation
• CA Workload Automation AE - Business Agents (AutoSys)
• CA Workload Automation AE - Scheduler (AutoSys)
• CA Workload Automation AE - System Agent (AutoSys)
• CA Workload Automation iXP

Issue/Introduction

As an Autosys Workload Automation customer, planning on upgrading Autosys.  What are the best practices in order to have a successful upgrade? 

A couple weeks ahead of an upgrade, please open a case with Support.  You'll be asked for an upgrade plan and this article can be used as a basis for your upgrade plan.  This is based on upgrade plans Support has seen in the past that have the most success.  An upgrade plan is typically a couple of pages long, but sometimes can be detailed down to the smallest detail so that nothing is missed and Support knows what's happening if something goes wrong and troubleshooting is needed. 

1) Please reference our Before You Begin and  Upgrading Autosys Workload Automation 12.x documentation that contains information about how to plan your AutoSys Workload Automation, AutoSys Web UI, and Common Components upgrade. 

2) Contact your account management team or simply open a case requesting a Hot Site for your upgrade event and fill out the Autosys Workload Automation Upgrade / Hot Site Pre-Event Questionnaire

The Autosys Workload Automation Technical Documentation landing site provides other very useful links that cover Release Notes, Installing, Upgrading, Securing, Maintaining and Administering Autosys.

Also, please take a look at the Resolution section of this article below where you will see a list of best practice questions to help guide you further develop an upgrade plan that Support can review with you as well.

Resolution

Pre-work:

Testing:

• Did you test this in non-production first?
• Is production the exact same as non-production?  If not, what is difference between the two?
• Did you run into problems with the non-prod upgrade?  If so, what sorts of problems did you run into?  The workarounds/solutions should be noted.

Backup plan:

• What will you be backing up prior to upgrade?
• When will you take the backup?

Backout/rollback plan:

• When will you make the decision to back out in case something goes wrong?
• What steps will be taken to back out of the upgrade?
• Do you have a workaround in the meantime?

Timeline should include:

• When does the installation or upgrade begin (date and time)?
• What date/time will you stop components that need to be stopped?
• For each component:
  • What date/time will do you plan on updating each component?  
  • How long will these take?  
  • When do you expect to be finished with each component?  
  • How long will testing take to be sure it upgraded correctly?
• When will you make the decision to back out in case something goes wrong?
• When do you plan on having the upgrade end (date and time)?

Technical:

• Components:
  • What components are being upgraded?
    • Core components
    • Agents
      • Are you upgrading agents?  From what version/service pack to what version/service pack?
    • other
      • Are there any 3rd party components being upgrade?  Examples:
        • Java (from, to versions?)
        • Database (from, to type and versions?)
        • OS patches (from, to flavor and versions?)
        • OS in general (from, to flavor and versions?)
  • What steps/commands are you using to upgrade each component?
  • Are you copying a database?  
    • If so, is there enough space on the target server?
  • Is this an upgrade of a current system?  
  • Are you migrating data from one system to another?
  • Is there any pre-work to be done on the system before stopping to upgrade?  (for example are you stopping clients or queues?)
  • In what order will you be stopping running components?
  • In what order will you be starting components back up?
    • What commands will you use to start them up?
    • What user and environment settings are normally used to bring up the processes?  What will be used during and after the upgrade?

If something goes wrong:

• What is an acceptable situation/workaround if something does go wrong?  How long can it stay like that?
• What is your backout plan for each component?
• Who from your team needs to be available for troubleshooting?
• Do you have the support number to call in case something goes wrong?  Severity 1 cases cannot be raised from the website.  Use a new case when running into a new issue.