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Version: 7.9

Upgrading Ignition

tip

Upgrading from 7.6 or earlier?

Please read the v7.7 Upgrade Guide below before you begin.

Choose your operating system for detailed instructions on upgrading Ignition.

Before you upgrade Ignition...

You should backup your Gateway, see Gateway Backups.

​

Inductive University

Upgrading Ignition on Windows

Watch the video

The Ignition installer also doubles as an upgrader, thus upgrading Ignition is very similar to downloading a new version and installing from scratch. You can see your current Ignition version by looking in the Status page of the Gateway.

To Upgrade Ignition on Windows​

  1. Simply download the Windows executable installer from our website, and double-click on the executable installer.

    A window is displayed asking you Continue with upgrade?

    note

    Make sure you download the 32-bit installer for a 32-bit Windows installation, and the 64-bit installer for a 64-bit Windows installation. If you attempt to upgrade a 32-bit installation with a 64-bit installer, or vice versa, you will get an error message.

  2. Click Yes to start the upgrade process.

  3. Accept the license agreement. The Upgrade Mode window is displayed.

  4. You choose either:
    No, just upgrade currently installed modules
    The Ignition base installation and the existing modules are upgraded.

    Or you can choose:
    Yes, let me choose which modules to add or remove
    The Select Components window is displayed and you can then add a module that was not part of the original installation or uninstall/remove a currently installed module. You can view a brief description of each module by clicking on the module name. Selecting the check box next to a module installs the module as part of the upgrade.Clearing the check box next to a module uninstalls the module during the upgrade.

  5. Click Next. The Ready to Install window is displayed.
    Ignition is ready to be upgraded. At this point, you may click Back to change your selections.

  6. Click Next to finish the upgrade. Once the upgrade process starts, it may take a few minutes to finish. At the end of the upgrade process, the Setup window is displayed letting you know that Setup has finished installing Ignition on your computer.

  7. Select the check box for Start Ignition now and click Finish.

A splash screen displays informing you that the Ignition service is starting. Once the Ignition Gateway starts up, your web browser opens and brings you to the Gateway Homepage.

You can go back and check the Status page of the Gateway to see that a new version of Ignition is now installed.

Automated Upgrading​

You can silently upgrade Ignition from a command shell without showing any user prompts. Remember to make a Gateway backup before performing any type of upgrade. Also, the installer cannot automatically start the Gateway after a silent upgrade.

Use the net start ignition command as shown below.

Command line example
gwcmd -b C:\backups\mybackup.gwbk

Ignition-7.x.x-windows-x64-installer.exe --mode unattended --unattendedmodeui none --autoupgrade true

net start ignition

Flags​

  • -- mode unattended (ensures that no prompts appear during installation)
  • -- unattendedmodeui none | minimal (the none flag does not display any sort of graphic during installation; the minimal flag displays a small progress bar and nothing else)
  • -- autoupgrade true (disables any Are you sure? prompts when running the upgrader so that a user can run an automated upgrade without any user interaction)

v7.7 Upgrade Guide (Upgrading from 7.6 or Earlier)​

note

The following applies specifically when upgrading a legacy system from Ignition 7.6 or earlier to 7.7. It was originally published as a standalone tip sheet and is preserved here for reference.

Thinking of upgrading your existing Ignition system to version 7.7? Can't wait to get your hands on all those new features? Great! But first, read this short upgrade guide to be prepared.

1. Make a Backup First​

Before any major upgrade, it is important to make a backup of your existing system, and write down what version you were using. That way, if you encounter any unexpected turbulence, you can revert back quickly.

2. Report Issues​

If you find anything out of place, let us know! Visit the Ignition 7.7 forum to report any anomalies you find.

3. Call Your Sales Rep​

Ignition 7.7 is a major upgrade to the Ignition platform and all of its modules. When you upgrade, all of your modules will revert back to trial mode until you update your license.

  • If you have Ignition Total Care Upgrade Protection, you don't need to pay anything additional to upgrade your license key, but you will need to update the license that is installed on your server(s). If you have internet access on your Gateway, this is as easy as clicking the Update License link on the license page of the Gateway's configuration web interface. If you don't have internet access, you'll need to do an offline activation.
  • If you don't have Total Care Upgrade Protection, you'll need to contact your sales rep and arrange to purchase the upgrade.

4. Upgrade Java​

Ignition 7.7 requires Java SE 8 for the Gateway. Clients and Designers still support Java 6, 7, and 8.

5. Custom Tomcat Settings​

If you added items like MIME types to the tomcat/conf/web.xml folder by hand, you'll need to apply those changes to webserver/webdefault.xml after upgrading.

6. Scripting Changes​

Ignition 7.7 has a number of new scripting features. If you're a heavy script user, you should be aware of what these changes mean.

  • Going forward, app.* is being replaced by project.*. However, if you upgrade an existing installation with app.* scripts, they will remain indefinitely. Whether you move them over to the project.* space is up to you.
  • New scripting locations use new scoping rules. Ignition's scripting semantics have changed somewhat for new scripts. We now correctly use Python's module scoping rules. This has two major effects:

    • Variables are now directly accessible from within functions. For example:

      Old Scoping
      x = 5
      def myFunction(x = x):
          print x
      New Scoping
      x = 5
      def myFunction():
          print x

    • The global keyword now works differently. Instead of making the variable truly "global", it declares it global within the scope of the current module. See the Python Programming FAQ for more details. In order to make new scripts compatible with older scripts that used global variables, there is a new function, system.util.getGlobals(), which provides access to the old global space.

Last updated on by ia-bau