Watson Explorer Upgrade Options

A new installer was introduced with Watson Explorer version 11.0.0.1. Version 11.0.0.1 or later do not use Installation Manager to install Watson Explorer.

You will still need to use Installation Manager to uninstall previous versions. See Uninstalling Watson Explorer and Installation Manager for uninstall instructions.

IBM makes every possible effort to ensure that software upgrades are as easy as possible. However, seamless upgrades are not always possible when product names, installation requirements, and installation locations change.

Note: If you need to upgrade from a version of Watson Explorer earlier than 11.0.0 see Upgrading from Previous Releases.

If you have not yet installed any version of Watson Explorer: Do not install 11.0.0 first. Instead, follow these instructions (starting with Installing Watson Explorer) to install Watson Explorer 11.0.0.1 or later. See the Watson Explorer Version 11.0.0 System Requirements to confirm you meet the requirements for:

Operating Systems
Hardware
Prerequisite software
Supported software
Client Requirements

For a description of the modules included in Watson Explorer, see Overview of Watson Explorer Foundational Components.

There are two options for upgrading from 11.0.0 to 11.0.0.1 or later:

Install 11.0.0.1 (or later) in the same directory as 11.0.0 on the same machine:
Uninstall Watson Explorer 11.0.0 using Installation Manager, then install 11.0.0.1 (or later) in the same directory. In this scenario your search collection data and other modified files can remain in the same location.
Install 11.0.0.1 (or later) in a different directory than 11.0.0 on the same machine:
Uninstall Watson Explorer 11.0.0 using Installation Manager, then install 11.0.0.1 (or later) in a different directory on the same machine.

If you choose to install 11.0.0.1 (or later) in a different directory than 11.0.0, you will need to copy to the new installation directory:

Search collection data
Any modified files (files in your 11.0.0 installation that have been modified since they were installed by the Installation Manager)
All manually created files from your old installation directory
Any Application Builder and Results Module data. See Backing Up Application Builder and Upgrading from IO Pro for instructions.

Search collection data is stored in the directory listed below by default. (Changing the location of this directory is common. For information on how to change the location of a search collection directory, see Relocating Collections.):

<install_dir>/Engine/data/search-collections/

Most modified and manually created files will be stored in (but not limited to) the following directories:

<install_dir>/Engine/data/axl-pools/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/dictionaries/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/fonts/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/key-match/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/pears/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/reporting/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/repository-supplements/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/sessions/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/static/*

<install_dir>/Engine/data/su-tokens/*

These files may have been modified also:

<install_dir>/Engine/data/repository-internal.package

<install_dir>/Engine/data/ISYS-license

Note: <install_dir> = location of your Watson Explorer installation, by default:

Linux: /opt/ibm/WEX/
Windows: \Program Files\IBM\WEX\

Note: For uninstall instructions for Watson Explorer 11.0.0 or earlier, see Uninstalling Watson Explorer and Installation Manager.