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OPC Router Upgrade to v4.25 or newer Best Practices

In addition to new features, add-ins, and more, there were major changes to the licensing and database backend of OPC Router starting with v4.25. This FAQ provides guidelines for upgrading and addresses some commonly asked questions at the bottom of this FAQ. If you are upgrading from any version older than 4.25, please review and consider these best practices for best results. 

Before you Start

Consider your company's change management practices and incorporate them into your planning for this upgrade to insure best results. The larger and more complex your system is, the longer amount of time you should allow for this major upgrade, and ideally you should have done testing on a test system first. We are happy to provide temporary licenses to users on active support & maintenance agreements for testing purposes prior to upgrade. 

Before you upgrade from v4.18 or older to the new version you MUST make sure consider the following:
  • Your OPC Router license must be on support to get access to version 4.25 or newer.  If on support the license will available in the new OPC Router Licensing Portal. We recommend logging into the portal and adding your license to ensure you have access to the current version. If you are not sure if your license is on support you can contact us to see if you qualify for the free upgrade or if you will need to renew Support & Maintenance first. 
  • You must make backup of your current OPC Router database (see step 1 below).
  • Review the Special Considerations section of this FAQ. For example, users of Dynamic Template Instances, an advanced feature, will need to do extra planning and preparation.
In Place Upgrade: This process will work for an in-place upgrade of an existing install or for moving your application to a new system running the new version.
 
If you are moving to a new system, realize that you will be installing the new version of OPC Router and your license on the new machine but not the existing one, and you will move your backup from step 1 to the new machine. You will also in Step 3 use the Manual Migration process.

1 - Backing up First

Before you start the upgrade process you must make a backup copy of the existing OPC Router database. This is particularly important with this version upgrade.
Making a backup will allow you to manually restore your project to your current version if something goes wrong with the upgrade. 
  1. To create a backup go to 'File -> Create backup'.
  2. Take note of the path to the backup and click 'Create'

2 - Installing the Upgrade

Now that you have a backup of your OPC Router project you can start the upgrade. You do not need to uninstall OPC Router first. Download current version here if you have not already.
  1. Stop the OPC Router Service.
  2. Start the Installer
  3. It will first install two prerequisites that are bundled into the installer package
    1. Visual C++ 2015-2019 Redistr (x64)
    2. .NET 5.0
  4. Last it will prompt you to install OPC Router.

3 - Migrating the Database

Once completed you will want to launch OPC Router and make sure your database gets migrated to the new version.  You will be prompted to Migrate your project forward and have choices on how you do that. 

Automatic Migration

  1. Click 'Yes, Automatic' and the Automatic Migration should complete shortly.

Manual Migration

  1. For Manual Migration, click 'Yes, user defined'.  
  2. If you have exported your OPC Router Project you can import here.
  3. Specify the path of your OPC Router database (default path is "C:\Program Files\inray\OPC-Router4\SQLLocalDB\Data").  You should have a group of *.ldf and *.mdf files.
  4. Click 'Continue'
  5. You will be presented with a Summary and can click 'Start migration'
At this point you should have successfully migrated your OPC Router project to the latest version.

4 - Activating your License

The final step in the upgrade is to Activate your license. Follow these steps to activate your OPC Router license.

5 - Testing and Backup Again

You must ALWAYS test after you go live with any upgrade. With a major upgrade like this, we recommend you budget sufficient time for post-upgrade testing and follow your company's procedures and processes for change management post rollout testing.

Once you are satisfied the system is working well, make another backup, label it clearly and store it somewhere other than the machine where OPC Router is running.

Special Considerations

Dynamic Templates

If you are using Dynamic Templates, you will need to specify an external Microsoft SQL Server database because OPC Router converts it's internal database to the NoSQL MongoDB when V4.25 is installed and removes the old SQL database instance. You need that new SQL instance to store the dynamic template instances information. SQL Express is an acceptable solution.

You MUST export your data for Dynamic Templates from your existing OPC Router internal database BEFORE you upgrade. Doing that requires expertise with SQL Management Studio, which your IT team should have and be able to assist you with. 

To configure OPC Router to point to your new SQL instance in Version 4.25, go to 'Extras -> Settings' and click on the Dynamic Instances API tab. Here, you can specify the database and check the connection to ensure it is working. Then you will import your existing dynamic template instance data.
 
Please contact our support team with any questions about using Dynamic Templates and migrating. 

FAQs:

Q: What is new in v4.25?
A: Click here to see what improvements were made.
 
Q: How long does the upgrade install process take?
A: The upgrade takes about 10-15 minutes. If the OPC Router Service is running during the installer it may request a reboot so factor that into your downtime equation. Allocate 30-60 minutes for this upgrade in a production environment for a moderately large system. Your upgrade time may vary. The larger and more complex your system is, the longer amount of time you should allow, and ideally you should have done testing on a test system first. We are happy to provide temporary licenses to users on active support & maintenance agreements for testing purposes prior to upgrade. 
 
Q: What happens if my database migration fails?
A: This is uncommon but the Automatic Migration could fail.  As long as you made the database backup from step 1 you will be able to restore.  If you do not have the backup but only an export (*.rpe file) then you can use that during step 2 of the Manual Migration.  If you are still having problems migrating your database, please contact our support team.
 
Q: Does the OPC Router Service need to be restarted after I activate my license?
A: No, starting in v4.25 the OPC Router license will be applied and no restart of the service is required.