Upgrading Ontolica is as easy as 1, 2, 3, or to be more precise as clicking Next, Next, Next… This best-practice description will guide you through the most important issues to keep in mind.

Preserving customizations

Every Ontolica upgrade replaces default files such as .NET assemblies, Ontolica web parts, Ontolica configuration settings, Ontolica Features, Ontolica Search Center site templates and uncustomized XSLT templates.

It is possible to export custom Ontolica configuration settings before the upgrade. The settings can be imported afterwards if they would not be preserved for some reason (in normal conditions they are). The export can be done at different levels:
- Farm level, in Central Administration > Operations > Manage Ontolica Modules > Export Search Configuration.
- Web Application level, in Central Administration > Application Management > Manage Ontolica Modules > Export Search Configuration.
- Site collection level, backup files stored in each <root_site_collection>/OntolicaConfig library.

It is recommended to backup all code files, i.e. XSLT templates and JavaScript files, which were customized and kept under the same name as originals. These files are overwritten during upgrade/repair process. Custom files with modified names are kept.

Prerequisites

Upgrade must be performed by the farm administrator. Furthermore, it is recommended that the upgrade is executed on the machine that hosts the SharePoint Central Administration.

When upgrading from Ontolica version 3.x to 4.x or 2010 (5.x) on a production/development system, please make sure that you have a new license file ready to be applied. License formats are different between the versions, and it is not possible to use a 3.x license file after the upgrade to 4.x or 2010 (5.x). 4.x licenses are compatible with 2010 (5.x), if the license allows upgrading, i.e. contains entry: "Upgrade Eligibility=All versions".

If you are upgrading specifically from Ontolica version 3.2.4, please contact SurfRay support before proceeding as the upgrade requires some additional steps.

During and after the upgrade

To perform the upgrade run the Ontolica installation program and choose the Upgrade option. If the installer detects that some of the prerequisites are not met, please fulfill them and run the installer again.

In the majority of cases, installation completes smoothly without any problems. However, if you happen to encounter an error, you might try to run the installer again after few minutes. Installation on farms with multiple servers can take a bit longer than on a single server system. Sometimes the process may timeout. In such case, please make sure that all Web Front-end servers are operational and if necessary restart their IIS servers.

In some cases it helps to uninstall the previously installed version of Ontolica, using the old installer, and then to perform a clean install using the new installer.

Important: After upgrading to a new version, it is required to deactivate and activate Ontolica features at the site collection level, in order for new configuration files to take effect. Failure to do so may result in inability to save configurations on Ontolica administration pages.

An upgrade (or repair) deactivates Ontolica Search Box feature, so you will need to activate it again by going to Central Administration > Application Management > Manage Web application features. It may happen that your normal license will require enabling as well. You can do that on Central Administration > Operations > Manage Ontolica licenses page.

Troubleshooting occasional issues

It may happen on seldom occasions that Ontolica resource files are not properly deployed within the MOSS environment, even if the installation completes successfully. The issue is related to how MOSS handles deployment of applications, and can happen more often on farms with multiple Web Front-end servers. In such cases, you would most likely see error messages on web pages where Ontolica web parts (e.g. search box, search dialogs, search results) are placed. The messages would indicate that certain objects were not found in resource files.

The simple solution that works for majority of such cases is to run the installation program again and choose the Repair option and to restart the IIS after the installation. Should the Repair option not correct the issue, there is a manual procedure you can follow:

Copy all Ontolica *.resx files from C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\resources to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\App_GlobalResources.

If you encounter any issues, please create a ticket at www.surfray.com/support and our support staff will provide you with assistance as soon as possible.