OX6:Update to 6 22

From Open-Xchange

Open-Xchange Server v6.22 - Update and Installation

The new Open-Xchange Server v6.22 is the first step on the way to the next generation Open-Xchange App Suite. The update provides a new and improved Open-Xchange Server backend with enhancements for both generations.

Especially on the backend, Open-Xchange implemented various changes and improvements like a new and clear structure for the configuration files and packages, an improved exception framework, unified OSGi, etc.

On this page you can find an overview of the differences between the Open-Xchange 6.20.x and the Open-Xchange v.6.22 backend. There are new requirements, update guides, and multiple other changes.

Please read the different articles and manuals regarding the update. We encourage administrators of Open-Xchange 6 v6.20.x to install this update. The further feature development will be based on v6.22

Custom Packages: Unfortunately custom packages will not be ready with 6.22 release. If you have custom packages provided by Open-Xchange, please discuss with your Open-Xchange contact when these packages will be available for 6.22.

Custom Plugins: If you have custom plugins written by yourself which depend on Open-Xchange Server OSGI bundles please check the information about necessary code and packaging changes below.

Furthermore, Open-Xchange provides the complete v6.22 materials as a document which is available here: Software Repository.

Supported Update Path

Old version New version Update supported
v6.20.7 v6.22.0 Check.gif
v6.20.7 >= v6.22.1 Cross.gif
v6.20.x v6.22.x Cross.gif(1)
v6.18.x v6.22.x Cross.gif
Older Versions v6.22.x Cross.gif

(1) If you don't update to 6.20.7 before you start the 6.22 update, it is possible that some important scripts have not run on your system(s) and configuration options might be missing. If you have already updated to 6.22 from an v6.20 version earlier than 6.20.7 and you are experiencing problems, please contact Open-Xchange Support.

Rollback

Please note that after updating to 6.22 there is no way to get back to an earlier version of Open-Xchange. Please make sure that you have a full backup of your Open-Xchange installation(s).


Cluster setups

If you have several Open-Xchange systems in a cluster setup, you need to shut down all of them before attempting the upgrade. Parallel operation of v6.20 and v6.22 nodes in one cluster may lead to unforeseen errors and is not supported even for a short time.


Supported Server / Client Combinations

Client Support

Open-Xchange GUI / Clients Open-Xchange Server Supported
v6.22.x v6.22.x Check.gif
v6.20.x v6.22.x Cross.gif
v6.18.x v6.22.x Cross.gif
Older versions of Open-Xchange GUI v6.22.x Cross.gif
OXtender 2 for Microsoft Outlook v6.22.x Check.gif
OXtender for Business Mobility v6.22.x Check.gif
Open-Xchange Web Interface v1.2 v6.22.x Check.gif
OXtender for cPanel v6.22.x Check.gif
OXtender 1 for Microsoft Outlook Cross.gif
OXtender for SyncML Cross.gif
Parallels Operations Automation Cross.gif (Supported with upcoming 6.22.1, Q4 2012)


Improvements Overview of 6.20.x to 6.22 Backend

Open-Xchange provides an overview page regarding the main improvements of the new v6.22. Please have a look at Backend Improvements 6.22


Configuration Changes

Configuration file location

In v6.22 we simplified the directory tree containing all configuration files to not longer include the subdirectories admindaemon, common and groupware.

For more details see the packaging changes overview page.

If you have any configuration management or templating system for automatic deployment of OX instances in place, theses changes mean that you will have to adapt that system to the new configuration file tree.


Other configuration changes

  • push.properties has been renamed to push-udp.properties
  • the configuration of theme packages has changed. This is also described on the packaging changes overview page.
  • since there is no administration deamon running any more, all, provisioning and general logs are written to one singel logfile

RMI changes

With the consolidation of the admin process and the groupware process in 6.22 we also consolidated the former splitted RMI libraries. So the files /opt/open-xchange/lib/ox_admin_rmiclient.jar and /opt/open-xchange/lib/ox_admin_hosting_rmiclient.jar were combined into the file /opt/open-xchange/lib/com.openexchange.admin.rmi.jar. This means that you have to adjust your software to use the new library if you use the RMI interface.

Packages changes

With v6.22 we have significantly reduced the number of packages necessary to install Open-Xchange Server. We encourage administrators of Open-Xchange v6.20.x to read the article Package changes with 6.22 before updating to Open-Xchange v6.22. This article describes in detail which new packages correspond to which old ones.

The changes in the package structure should be completely transparent to the system administrator and are handled by standard package management tools during the upgrade.

If you have any custom system for automatic installation and deployment of OX instances in place, it is very likely that you need to adapt your system to the new package structure.


Dropped packages

The package open-xchange-upsell-generic has been dropped for this release. An update will replace the package with open-xchange-upsell-multiple which offers the same features. The configuration needs to be converted though:

In upsell.properties: 

com.openexchange.upsell.multiple.method=direct
com.openexchange.upsell.multiple.method.static.shop_redir_url=URL_TO_STATIC_HTML_DOCUMENT

The URL must point to an HTML document which holds the content previously defined in upsell.properties' modules/com.openexchange.upsell.generic/html.


Default languages

Starting with v6.22 the localization files for German, French and British English are no longer part of the core packages. This change was necessary to allow customers to uninstall these languages when they are not needed. If you want to offer German, French and/or British English to your customers as language option, you need to install the corresponding packages after the update. Please see the update guide for your distribution for details.


No separate admin daemon

Admin functionality will now be a part of the Groupware Process as optional bundle. This means the former, as root running, Admin daemon will no longer exist.

Admin functionality is only available when the corresponding packages are installed.

As a result of this change, there is now only one startup script which starts the Open-Xchange Server. The new unified process is called open-xchange.

Following are potential pitfalls :

  • ox-admin-scriptconf.sh is merged to /opt/open-xchange/etc/ox-scriptconf.sh, check NRFILES and Memory setting to fit the environment.
  • If /etc/security/limits.conf does set limits for the open-xchange user, those need to be adopted.
  • administrative tasks are now executed as user open-xchange (for example the filestore mount is no longer accessed as root).
  • The new, unified process is not able to open tcp sockets below 1024.
  • Separate monitoring for the admin process is no longer needed.
  • admindaemon used to limit its network usage to IPv4 which is not the case anymore. This means that proper network setup is needed to avoid DNS and routing issues caused by dual stack usage.

The changes of the configuration files for the administration daemon are described in Administration daemon configuration changes for 6.22.

Changes to programming APIs which might break custom plugins to the OX Server


Update Guide for Open-Xchange v6.22

Update Guide (supported packages)

To update the software to Open-Xchange v6.22, please use the following Update Guides. There you can also find information on how to start the groupware with / without admin part, on known issues and manual steps required.


Installation Guide for Open-Xchange v6.22.x

Quick Installation Guide (supported packages)

To download and install the software, please use the following Installation Guides.

Migration from OLOX1 to OLOX2

Migration Path

Open-Xchange will discontinue the support for OXtender 1 for Microsoft Outlook with the new release v6.22. Additional, at the new backend, the Open-Xchange WebDAV XML API will no longer be officially supported. Open-Xchange will provide an upgrade path to the OXtender 2 for Microsoft Outlook.

If the user installs the upcoming OLOX1 6.18.19 we will provide the following information to the user when trying to sync against the OX server >= 6.22. Open-Xchange provides via a pop-up window at the product the following migration possibilities:

  • User can use the OXUpdater to install the new version
  • User can directly start installing by clicking on a provided link

If the user closes the pop-up window, the OLOX 1 will be deactivated for the current session and profil. After installing OLOX2 and starting Outlook the user has to select the new OLOX2 profile and the migration is done.

A complete migration path is documented at http://oxpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=OLOX_Migration

Known Issues

  • After the start of the new OLOX 2 profile, contacts, appointments and tasks will be synchronized
  • Per default server configuration, mails, appointments and tasks older as one year won't be synchronized
  • Per default all serial appointments which was created older as one year won't be synchronized
  • /etc/init.d/open-xchange status / restart keeps issuing
 old 6.20 admin daemon still running, shutting down... done

or 

 old 6.20 groupware still running, shutting down...

In that case, remove the pidfile(s): 

 rm -f /var/run/open-xchange-admindaemon.pid; rm -f /var/run/open-xchange-groupware.pid
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