Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
Database Essentials

Migrating OpenEdge releases

Migrating to a new release of OpenEdge can be as easy as running a conversion utility or as complex as a dump and load of your databases. In most cases, minor release upgrades can be made without running a conversion utility. It is important to test even minor release upgrades and service packs or patches in your test environment prior to promoting the code to production.

When making a major release upgrade, you need to do additional analysis prior to making any changes. Major releases also require that you test the conversion process for performance and reliability prior to applying the new release to your production environment. In almost all cases, even major upgrades go very smoothly, but you never want to become complacent.

When you have everything in your database set up properly, you are ready to run the conversion utility. Generally, the actual conversion of the database will only take a few minutes, so it is not a major undertaking to convert the test environment and verify that conversion. After the verification has been done on the test database, you can decide how to proceed with the production application and databases. If you are unhappy with your setup for any reason, it might be wise to do a more complex conversion.

One possible motivation for considering a complex conversion might be that you have a significant amount of record fragmentation in the database. A complex conversion might start with a simple conversion to take advantage of new features in the new release. Then you would do a dump and reload of your tables to establish a new database structure. By using a multi-phase approach, you can minimize your risk by providing a fallback position if there are problems during the migration. It is imperative to have good, tested backups before applying a new release of OpenEdge or application code to the system. The same is true even when applying minor releases and patches to the system.