University at Buffalo (UB)
Transforming UB’s digital communications.
AEM 6.1 Upgrade
Updated October 25, 2016 This content is archived.
Version 6.1 of our UBCMS is scheduled to go live Wed. Nov. 9 at 8 am.
Why Are We Upgrading?
Like any application, regular updates are critical to keeping the software operational, increases stability and reliability and running at peak efficiency.
We are going to plan yearly upgrades going forward to ensure we are in position to leverage the latest features of the product.
What Has Changed and What Is in It for Me?
We are changing the way we go about upgrading with the goal of maturing an approach to upgrade that will allow us to upgrade more frequently.
This approach we are taking is more in alignment to industry standards, while keeping our DCT approach of trying to:
- Minimize downtime
- Minimize impact on units
- Maximize performance
In the past we had the following outages for upgrades
- Author: unavailable for 1 day
- Publisher: unable to activate pages for 2 days
Our new method for upgrade does not require ANY outage and is in alignment with commercial practices.
In order to accomplish this, we will have a 6 working day window where any changes made by units will have to be manually reentered into the newly upgraded system.
This allows units to address unexpected needs to modify and update pages as needed during the upgrade window.
How Will This Affect My Unit?
- We are suggesting that each unit minimize page modifications during the freeze period (see timetable below).
- As the freeze window ends, any modifications will need to be copied into the new system before the old system is taken offline. To help facilitate, there will be a ONE DAY window where BOTH servers are online.
- There will not be any site launches during the upgrade period.
Upgrade timeline.
* UPGRADE PERIOD *
- During this period, backend changes are occurring to prepare the new system.
- You may continue making changes in the old Author environment,
- (use existing login: https://ubcms-author.buffalo.edu)
- BUT your changes will NOT be automatically transfered into the new system!
- Changes activated in the old Author environment will be visible in your public website,
- (use existing login: https://ubcms-author.buffalo.edu)
- BUT these changes will disappear after Nov. 8!
We are asking all site owners and manager to plan thoughtfully how they want to handle page updates during the upgrade period and request that units not work on large scale overhauls during this window.
That means routine site updates, adding news articles, changes to pages, updates to the home page are just fine to do. Planning to do a major overhaul your site during that time period, not so much.
Keep in mind any changes you make in Author or Publisher will need to be manually entered into the new system by your unit once it launches. This allows you to address critical business (e.g. launching a news article or fixing a problem) if necessary. Units can choose to avoid this by not updating their sites or making changes to author during this period.
To summarize:
o Any new updates made during this window in will NOT be included in the upgraded 6.1 system unless manually entered by your unit after Nov. 8 when the new system is operational.
o We recommend you minimize site activity as appropriate.
o Units who need to update their pages are responsible for keeping track of any updates made in the old system as these will need to be re-entered in the new system after Nov. 8 when the new system is operational.
o During this period we are scheduling no site launches and recommend not planning any large scale page activations.
* TRANSITIONAL PERIOD *
- BOTH the old and new systems will be accessible.
- You may continue making changes in the old Author environment,
- (use existing login: https://ubcms-author.buffalo.edu)
- BUT your changes will NOT be automatically transferred into the new system.
- Published modifications in the old system WILL be displayed on your live site.
- (use existing login: https://ubcms-author.buffalo.edu)
- BUT these changes will disappear after Nov. 8.
- Modifications can be made in the new upgraded 6.1 system and will be saved.
- (use temporary new login: https://ubcms-author61.buffalo.edu)
- Modifications can be published in the new system,
- (use temporary new login: https://ubcms-author61.buffalo.edu)
- BUT these will only be visible on your public website AFTER 8 am on Nov. 9 (and you won’t be able to check them until then)
* UPGRADE ENDS / NEW 6.1 SERVER LAUNCHES *
- Our old system will no longer be available.
- Modifications can now routinely be made in the new system, and will be displayed on your live site.
- (login same as existing login: https://ubcms-author.buffalo.edu)
* TRAINING SERVER UPGRADED *
- The Training Server will now be upgraded.
- During this time, the Demo Playground, Self-Paced Training sites, and Sandbox areas will not be available.
Thank you in advance for making this upgrade go as smoothly as possible.
If you have any questions, please contact us.