Sitecore Upgrade Best Practices

Let's talk!• Quick Intro

• Why should you upgrade?

• Upgrade basics

• Research and planning

• Recommended approach

• Tips for a smooth upgrade

Sitecore expert with 12 years of CMS experience and over 10 years of experience on the Sitecore platform. He loves building personalized web experiences using Sitecore's experience platform and helping clients understand Sitecore's capabilities. Scott has architected many large Sitecore applications including sites serving 200+ million page views annually.

Hi. I’m Scott.

Scott Stockerscott.stocker@edynamic.net

@sestocker

An award winning global digital marketing and technology agency focused on customer experience

Exceptional Sitecore ExpertiseSitecore PracticeSitecore partnership

since 2003Over 200 solutions

deliveredLarge global resource

pool> 80 certified Sitecore

resources

Center of ExcellenceBest practice

development3 MVPs on staff Ongoing internal

training program run by MVPs

Creation of industry accelerators and reusable frameworks such as content accelerators, custom data connectors

Creation of reusable Sitecore connectors: Eloqua, Pardot, Marketo, CRMs

edynamic Sitecore integrations

• Identify reasons to keep Sitecore on a current version

• Identify parts of the upgrade process

• Identify areas for research and planning

• Review the recommended approach

• Get everyone more comfortable with the upgrade process

Goals Today

Why upgrade?

• Support from Sitecore• Browser Compatibility• Server/Database Support• New Features

Why Upgrade

Sitecore Support

Sitecore Support

Browser Support

Server/Workstation OS

Database Server

• Sitecore tagging /facets for improved search experiences

• Item Buckets for improved content architecture• Introduction of xDB• Introduction of xProfile• Integrated Tag Management• Sitecore ContentSearch• SPEAK UI improvements• Sitecore Items Web API• Support for MVC ASP.NET 5.1

New Features

The Basics

• Database• Configuration• New Sitecore Files

• DLL’s• /sitecore directory

• Code Updates• New Server Roles

Components of a Sitecore Upgrade

• Have to run steps separately as documented by Sitecore• Download the .update files• Usually Update Installation Wizard• Sometimes database scripts

• Upgrades the content database and files on disk

• Get needed files from Sitecore• SDN for versions of Sitecore before 8• Dev for 8.0 and above

Running the Sitecore Upgrade

Running the Sitecore Upgrade

Configuration Changes

• Usually only required for major versions• For example, ContentSearch API from 6.6 to 7.0• Analytics API changes with xDB introduction• Introduction of SPEAK

• Start with new Sitecore DLL’s• Add to your solution in source control• Look for compilation errors• Test locally

• If making several leaps, wait until the final version to make code changes• For example, if going from 6.6 to 8.1, don’t stop at 7.0 to make

ContentSearch changes

Code Changes

• If you are upgrading from < 7.5:• MongoDB• Processing server

• Other options• xManagement mode• xDB Cloud from Sitecore

New Server Roles

Planning

• Developer Workstations• Development Server• QA• UAT/Staging• Production CMS• Production CD

Sitecore Installations

• Sitecore Modules• WFFM

• Marketplace Modules• Are they compatible with the version you are upgrading to?

• Other third party components• Clay Tablet Upgrade• .NET framework (Microsoft Identity changes)

Sitecore “add-ons”

• “Big bang” upgrade?• Can all sites be upgraded at once?

• Don’t forget about Sitecore licensing• Per Sitecore instance• Temporary licensing available

Sites

• Baseline metrics• Response time for top pages• CPU• Memory

• Hardware requirements are different for Sitecore 8.x

Performance

• Document non-Sitecore web.config changes• Custom setting sections• WCF Endpoint definitions• Etc.

• Patch in Sitecore configuration changes• Ensure that the patching places your configuration where it

needs to be in the new version• /sitecore/admin/showconfig.aspx can help this process

Configuration

• Final Database Upgrade Timing• Content Freeze• Code/Config Deployment• Rollback

Go Live

Approach

• On a developer workstation or sandbox environment• Practice Upgrade Steps• Work with Sitecore Support on any errors• Use vanilla CM instances

• Remove customizations – especially pipelines• Upgrade modules along with Sitecore versions• Document steps and problems

• Upgraded database can now be used for developer changes• Re-enable customizations and test• Make necessary code changes

Local Upgrade

• Server where final upgrade will be run• Practice Upgrade Steps• Use vanilla CM instances

• Remove customizations – especially pipelines• Make it easy to replicate running the upgrade

• Should be able to run the upgrade steps easily

• Practice at least once before the final upgrade of content

• Have your CM and CD ready ahead of time• Code/Config will be deployed via your build process• Remember that custom config changes will be patched in

Upgrade Environment

• Upgrade the databases using out-of-the-box Sitecore instances

• Sitecore files and configuration should come from the Sitecore installer• Custom config should be patched in!• Don’t try to follow the pages of config changes

• Remember to remove Sitecore support files you might have• Typically these are hotfixes for a particular known issue

• Test both content management and content delivery

• Don’t forget to review log files, both during the upgrade and after

Recommendations

34

Features Easy to install on your Sitecore instance -

just select the current and target versions and start an upgrade

Pre-configured with automated testing capabilities powered by Selenium

Full support for multiple languages Can handle any number of websites or

microsites Tool tracks all upgrade events in Sitecore

log file so you can see success/failure at any time

Full support for user interface resolutions post upgrade

Full support for any on-premise or cloud deployment

Comes with 2 weeks of free, warranty support

Benefits Upgrade from any old Sitecore version to

a higher versions within days Low cost of overheads in upgrades All 3rd party integrations with Sitecore

instance maintained intact

Sitecore Automatic Version Upgrader

edynamic‘s Auto vUpgrader for Sitecore

Tool detects the current version by itself. User needs to select the next version

Confirmation message displayed once the upgrade is complete

Automated test case can be run subsequently with the tool

Test results are displayed

Upgrade of 13 sites from Sitecore 6.6 to 8.1 within 1.2 weeks

Georgia-Pacific LLC is one of the world's leading manufacturers & distributors of pulp, paper, tissue, toilet and paper towel dispensers and related chemicals.They were struggling for over past 4 months to upgrade multiple sites from Sitecore 6.6 to the latest version

Background

Solution & Benefits

• edynamic was hired by G-P to rescue its upgrade project undergoing delays for months by incumbent vendor

• With its upgrade utility tool edynamic upgraded 13 sites from Sitecore 6.6 to Sitecore 8.1 within a record time of 1.2 weeks

• Test results showed minimal errors and were easily fixed after the upgrade

• Migration – not an upgrade• You tell the tool what content to migrate

• Migrates:• Content items and media • All users, roles and security permissions • Assists with configuration migrations

Sitecore Express Migration Tool

Sitecore Express Migration Tool

• Upgrade Sitecore regularly• I recommend at least once every 12-18 months

• Planning is key for success• Engage a partner for help

• Sitecore partners do upgrades all the time!• Practice helps – often based on content freeze

and time it takes to upgrade, you will need to do the process several times

• Engage Sitecore Support for issues you can’t google• Note: only Sitecore certified developers can engage support

• Don’t use IE to run the upgrade• Modify the web.config/sitecore.config to

increase timeouts

Tips

Tips

• Email: scott.stocker@edynamic.net• Twitter: @sestocker• LinkedIn: https://

www.linkedin.com/in/scottstocker • Sitecore Stack Exchange: https

://sitecore.stackexchange.com/ • Awesome-Sitecore: https://

github.com/sestocker/awesome-sitecore

Contact Me

Questions?