Upgrading the IBM App Connect Operator from an earlier to a later Continuous Delivery (CD) version

Use these instructions to upgrade the IBM App Connect Operator to the latest Continuous Delivery (CD) version. You can do so by using the Red Hat® OpenShift® web console.

These instructions apply if you are upgrading an independent installation of the IBM App Connect Operator to 11.0.0 or later.

Implications for using identity and access management (IAM) when upgrading to IBM App Connect Operator 11.0.0 or later:

In IBM App Connect Operator 11.0.0 or later, IAM is implemented by using Keycloak, and you can configure Keycloak only if the IBM App Connect Operator is part of an IBM Cloud Pak for Integration deployment. To upgrade to IBM App Connect Operator 11.0.0 or later in this scenario, see Upgrade considerations for identity and access management (IAM) on Red Hat OpenShift.

Before you begin

Note:

If you installed the IBM App Connect Operator from a product-specific App Connect catalog source, you might need to update the catalog source and images for the Operator before you start the upgrade process. For more information, see Updating the catalog sources and images for an IBM App Connect upgrade.

After you update the Operator channel, your cluster detects the new images and an upgrade occurs to match your approval strategy.

About this task

The way in which an upgrade occurs for the IBM App Connect Operator depends on the Operator version that you are upgrading from and the approval strategy that was set when the Operator was installed.

Upgrading from IBM App Connect Operator 11.5.1 or earlier to version 11.6.x

Procedure

To upgrade from your 11.5.1 or earlier version of the IBM App Connect Operator to the latest 11.6.x version, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to the OpenShift web console for your cluster.
  2. Ensure that you are in the Administrator perspective Administrator perspective of the web console.
  3. From the navigation, click Operators > Installed Operators to display all the installed Operators in the current namespace.
  4. If necessary, select a specific namespace (project) where your IBM App Connect Operator is installed.
    Starting version number for the Operator
  5. From the Installed Operators view, access the IBM App Connect subscription details:
    1. Locate IBM App Connect in the table. The Operator version should display as 11.5.1 or earlier.
    2. Click IBM App Connect in the table to open the Operator details view.
    3. Click the Subscription tab. The channel should be shown as v11.5 or an earlier v#.x value, and the approval might either be set to Automatic or Manual.
      Sample subscription details for the Operator
      • If Approval is set to Automatic, go to step 6.
      • If Approval is set to Manual, go to step 7.
  6. To complete an App Connect upgrade with Automatic approval, complete the following steps:
    1. Click the channel version to open the Change Subscription update channel window and then select v11.6 as the channel on which to receive updates.
      Change Subscription update channel window
    2. Click Save and wait while the Operator upgrades to the latest version that is available to the new channel.
      When the upgrade completes, the upgrade status changes from Upgrading to Up to date, and the installed version is updated to show the latest version.
      Operator upgrade in progress and complete

      If you return to the Installed Operators view (by using the breadcrumbs), the IBM App Connect entry in the table will display the latest version of the Operator; for example, 11.6.0. The Status column will also display a value of Up to date.

  7. To complete an App Connect upgrade with Manual approval, complete the following steps:
    1. Click the channel version to open the Change Subscription update channel window and then select v11.6 as the channel on which to receive updates.
    2. Click Save.

      The Upgrade status value switches to Upgrade available and to the right of this value, a link indicates that approval is required; for example, 1 requires approval.

      Link to initiate a Manual approval
    3. Click the link to open the InstallPlan details view and then click Preview Install Plan.
      Preview Install Plan button in the InstallPlan details view
    4. Review the plan as instructed and then click Approve.
      Approve button for an Install Plan

      The resources in the Install Plan are created, and the overall status is shown as Complete.

    5. Navigate back to Operators > Installed Operators. The IBM App Connect entry in the table will display the latest version of the Operator (for example, 11.6.0), and when the upgrade completes, the value in the Status column changes to Succeeded / Up to date.
  8. If the IBM Cloud Pak foundational services Operator 3.19.x or later 3.x.x is installed, delete this Operator if it is not needed by any other application in the single namespace or across all namespaces where it is installed in the cluster. You cannot use IBM Cloud Pak foundational services 3.19.x or later 3.x.x with version 11.0.0 or later of the IBM App Connect Operator and its supported custom resources (or instances).

    To manually uninstall the IBM Cloud Pak foundational services Operator 3.19.x or later 3.x.x, see Uninstalling foundational services in the IBM Cloud Pak foundational services documentation.

    You can automatically clean up any configuration for the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service if previously used to secure your App Connect Designer or App Connect Dashboard instances. To do so, you need to manually delete the associated OperandRequest instances as described in the uninstallation instructions. The name of an OperandRequest instance is crName-designer for a Designer instance and crName-dash for a Dashboard instance, where crName is the metadata.name value in the Designer or Dashboard CR.

What to do next

  1. Review Upgrade considerations for IBM App Connect instances to see whether you need to take any action before you upgrade existing instances of App Connect Dashboard, App Connect Designer, switch servers, integration servers, and integration runtimes.
  2. Upgrade as described in Upgrading your instances.

Upgrading from an earlier to a later 11.6.x version of the IBM App Connect Operator

Procedure

To upgrade from an earlier to a later 11.6.x version of the IBM App Connect Operator, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to the OpenShift web console for your cluster.
  2. Ensure that you are in the Administrator perspective Administrator perspective of the web console.
  3. From the navigation, click Operators > Installed Operators to display all the installed Operators in the current namespace.
  4. If necessary, select a specific namespace where your IBM App Connect Operator is installed.
  5. Choose the step that matches the approval strategy for the Operator:
    • If the Operator was installed with an Automatic approval strategy, no additional user intervention is required because OLM will automatically upgrade the Operator to the latest version when it detects a new version in the channel that receives updates. In the Installed Operators view, locate the IBM App Connect entry in the table. You should see the latest version of the Operator and the Status column should display a value of Up to date.
    • If the Operator was installed with a Manual approval strategy, approve the Install Plan that is created on your behalf when a new Operator version is detected in the channel:
      1. From the Installed Operators view, click IBM App Connect in the table to open the Operator details view.
      2. Click the Subscription tab. You should notice that Approval is set to Manual, and Upgrade Status is set to Upgrade available. You should also see a link indicating that approval is required; for example, 1 requires approval.
      3. Click the link to open the InstallPlan Details view and then click Preview Install Plan.
      4. Review the plan as instructed and then click Approve to create the resources in the Install Plan.
      5. Navigate back to Operators > Installed Operators. The IBM App Connect entry in the table should now display the latest version of the Operator.

What to do next

  1. Review Upgrade considerations for IBM App Connect instances to see whether you need to take any action before you upgrade existing instances of App Connect Dashboard, App Connect Designer, switch servers, integration servers, and integration runtimes.
  2. Upgrade as described in Upgrading your instances.