Preparing for a successful HelpMaster v10 upgrade
Jul20Written by:
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
A new major release of HelpMaster is on the horizon. Here's a few things to keep in mind that will assist in a successful upgrade.
HelpMaster v10 is on the horizon. We're just finishing off the helpfile, the website and other documentation before it is officially lauched and ready to go.
If you are planning to upgrade, now is a good time to review the upgrade procedure and start planning your upgrade.
Review the upgrade instructions
The basic process of upgrading HelpMaster has not changed. In a nutshell...
- Uninstall all existing versions of HelpMaster
- Install the new v10 HelpMaster. (Install each module on the appropriate machine - i.e. Desktop on each workstation, Web on the webserver/IIS machine, Email Manager, Priority Manager, Active Directory on your HelpMaster server/machine)
- Run the Database and Reports Wizard to upgrade your database
- If installed, configure the services (Email Manager, Priority Manager, Active Directory) with the service account credentials and start them
- Run the Desktop edition, log-in and explore the new features!
For a more detailed view at the installation and upgrade procedure, please refer to the helpfile.
Set a time
Pick a date when you'll do the upgrade. Let everyone know and do it!
Check the system dependencies
HelpMaster v10 requires the Microsoft .NET 3.5 sp1 framework in order to work. Please ensure that all machines that will be running HelpMaster have the .NET 3.5 framework installed. The .NET 3.5 framework can be downloaded from Microsoft here.
HelpMaster v10 requires the database to be hosted on a SQL Server 2005, 2008, or 2008 R2 database platform. Express versions of each of these variants is supported.
Make a backup of your database first!
Use SQL Server to perform a full backup of your database before attempting your upgrade.
Test first!
Do a test on a development / testing environment first. Upgrade your database, install v10 and check to see if everything looks OK. It it all works OK, repeat the upgrade steps on your live environment.
Let the experts do it for you!
PRD Software will do your upgrade for you! See http://www.helpmasterpro.com/Services/Remote-installation-and-update-service.aspx for details.
Got questions?
If you have any upgrade questions, please post here, on the discussion forum, or by contacting PRD Software directly.