How to Upgrade VP-UML (With Floating License) and Teamwork Server to New Version [Obsolete]

From time to time Visual Paradigm release new version to Visual Paradigm for UML (VP-UML) and Teamwork Server which cover bunch of new features and enhancements. Thanks to the maintenance contract system, you can upgrade to new version without extra cost as long as your license is covered by maintenance. This article will teach you how to upgrade your VP-UML in floating license as well as the Teamwork Server to new version.

Knowing which type of license you are using

If you are not sure you are running the single seat license, floating license or a subscription license, you can follow the article Find out the Type of Visual Paradigm License You Are Using to find out which type of license you are using.

If you are using VP-UML with single seat license, then please follow the procedures at How to Upgrade VP-UML (With Single Seat License) and Teamwork Server to New Version to perform the upgrade.

For the server, if you are not sure you are using Teamwork Server, VPository or other version servers, you can follow the article Find out the Type of Version Server You Are Using to find out which type of server you are using.

If you are using VPository then please follow the procedures at How to upgrade VP-UML (Floating License) and VPository to New Version to perform the upgrade.

Before we start

The upgrade process involves 5 steps, they are:

• Ready the files you needed for the upgrade
• Ask all user to commit their changes
• Backup the VP Server
• Upgrade VP Server to new version
• Upgrade VP-UML to new version

To avoid missing out any steps throughout the upgrade process, please download the following checklist and use it during your upgrade process.

Checklist for upgrade VP-UML in floating license and Teamwork Server (MS Word)

Checklist for upgrade VP-UML in floating license and Teamwork Server (PDF)

Now let’s start the upgrade by downloading the files you needed.

1. Ready the files you needed

The following files have to be ready before upgrading your VP-UML and Teamwork Server. They are:

• The Teamwork Server license key for the new version
• The floating license key for the new version
• The WebApp package of the new version VP Server

Download the new Teamwork Server and floating license key file

You can login to your Customer Service Center account to download the new Teamwork Server and floating license key file. Once you logged in to your Customer Service Center account, you can select both Teamwork Server and floating license of VP-UML, and press the Download button to download it.

Download new VP-UML floating license key and the new Teamwork Server license key.

The license keys will be packed as a zip. Please extract the keys form the zip to ready it for the upgrade.

Extract the license key from zip.

Download the WebApp package of the new version VP Server

Now switch to the Download tab in your Customer Service Center account. Select WebApp in the Installer combo box of Visual Paradigm Server, and press the Download button to download it.

Download WebApp package of the new VP Server

Next we have to ask all users commit their changes before proceed.

2. Ask all user to commit their changes

VP-UML will need to do project conversion every time when it open a project file which is in old version. To avoid user doing unnecessary project conversion, it is recommended that all users do a full commit on their project to the existing server before proceed to the upgrade. Having a full commit serves for two purposes: to make sure all the modifications done by user are committed to server so that everyone can start on the same page after upgrade, and to boots the performance of the teamwork operations as the latest revision of the projects on server are converted to new version during the upgrade.

Perform full commit on all local modifications to server.

Once all user had committed the changes we can than move on to backup the server.

3. Backup your existing server

To protect you from losing your valuable works, it is recommended to backup the server from time-to-time. Doing backup before upgrade is significantly important since it can create a clean snapshot of your projects as all users had committed their works. This is very helpful in case you need to rollback the environment after the upgrade. To backup your server:

1. First we have to login to the server as administrator. Open the browser and go to your VP Server.
   

   Access to VP Server via browser

2. Click on the Manage (or Administrator for VP Server prior to version 10.1) at the top right hand corner.
   

   Manage server

3. Login to the server as the administrator with login name “Admin“.
   

   Login to server as administrator

4. Once you logged in, select Teamwork Module.
   

   Select Teamwork Module

5. Go to the System.
   

   Go to System tab of Teamwork Server Module.

6. Check the Repository Path of your server. If you have configured the repository outside the VP Server installation directory then please copy the path into a text file. (we need to access this folder in the later step).
   

   Copy the repository path if your repository is configured outside VP Server installation directory/

7. Press on the Committing and Updating button to see is there any active commit and update action between your users and server.
   

   Check is there any active committing or updating activities on the server.

8. You are safe to shutdown the server when there are no users doing commit or update on it.
   

   No user is committing or updating on the server.

9. Now we go to shutdown the server. If you are installed the server as Windows system service, you can then go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Service, then locate the VPServer service to stop it. Note that you may need administrator permission on your Window in order to access to the Windows system service.
   

   Stop Windows system service.

   Alternatively you can executing the shutdown script inside the scripts folder of the server to shut it down.

   

   Shutdown server by script.

10. Now make a copy of the entire VP Server and the repository folder. By default the repository folder are configured inside the VP Server folder. So copying the VP Server folder already include making backup to the repository. But if you have configured to run the repository in other locations then please also make a copy of it. You can reference to the repository path recorded in step 6 to locate your repository folder.
    

    Backup the server by copying the VP Server installation directory.

11. Finally we have to backup the server database. If you are running the embedded database on VP Server, then backup the VP Server folder you did in previous step already include backing up of the database. But if your VP Server is running with external database (i.e. MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle and PostgreSQL), then please make a backup to the database used by VP Server. You can reference to your database server’s documentation on how to backup your server database.

Now we are ready to proceed to upgrade the server.

4. Upgrade your VP Server

Upgrade the VP server is extremely easy and can be done in few clicks.

1. Startup the server again. If your server is installed as system service you can then launch it by locate the VP Server service under Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Service. Again, you may need to have administrator permission for access the Windows system service.
   

   Start VP Server service.

   Alternatively you can run the startup script inside the scripts folder of VP Server to launch it.

   

   Startup VP Server by using script.

2. Login to the server as administrator again.
3. Once you are logged in, select the Update System from the top right hand corner of the admin portal.
   

   Update the server

4. Click the Browse button to locate the WebApp package you downloaded previously.
   

   Upload WebApp package to upgrade the server

5. Upon the upload is done, the server will list out the version and build number of your current running server, as well as the version and the build number you are going to update. The server will be out of service for about 10 – 15 seconds by pressing Yes button to proceed to the upgrade.
   

   The build number of the current running server and the target build which going to upgrade to

6. Once the upgrade is done the server will show up its new version and build number. Click Continue to go back to the login page.
   

   Server is upgraded to latest version

7. Login to server as administrator again.
8. Select the Teamwork Module, and you will be prompted you don’t have license for the new version. Click OK to close the dialog.
   

   No license key available for the new version server.

9. To import the new Teamwork Server license key, click on the Upload key.
   

   Select Upload Key.

10. Press the Browse button to open the file chooser and locate new version Teamwork Server license key you downloaded previously, and press the Upload button to proceed.
    

    Select the new version Teamwork Server license key downloaded previously.

11. Once the key is uploaded, the License Status of the Teamwork Server will be updated.
    

    License status being updated on server.

12. Go Back to Dashboard.
    

    Back to Dashboard.

13. Click the Configure under Floating License Module.
    

    Configure license server

14. You will see it is still with your existing floating license key. Press the Import License button, and then press the Browse button to locate the new floating license key you have downloaded.
    

    Import new floating license key

15. Press the Upload File button to proceed.
    

    Upload the license key to server

16. After that you will see the license on server is being upgraded.
    

    New version license is ready on your server

Now your server is ready and we can move on to upgrade the VP-UML.

5. Upgrade your VP-UML

Upgrade VP-UML to new version is pretty simple, and you can simply run the VP-UML Update to get it done.

1. The VP-UML Update can be launched from your Start menu (MS Windows) or from the bin folder of the installation directory (all platforms).
   

   Launch VP-UML Update

   Note that the upgrade process require write permission to the VP-UML installation directory. For Windows user it is recommend you run VP-UML Update as administrator in order to obtain the required permission.

   

   Run VP-UML Update as administrator

2. After launching the VP-UML Update, select Visual Paradigm update server as the update source, then press Check Update to proceed.
   

   Select the update source

3. VP-UML Update will show you there is a new version available. By selecting the new version you will be prompted that you don’t have the license for the new version. This is a normal behavior because VP-UML Update can only do checking for the the single seat licenses. Since you already upgraded the license on the server you can simply press Yes and Perform upgrade to proceed.
   

   It is normal that it prompt you don’t have the license since VP-UML Update only perform checking on single seat license

4. The VP-UML Update first upgrade and restart itself, and then the build number of the latest release will be shown. You can press the Perform upgrade button again to continue.
   

   Build number of the new version.

5. After that the VP-UML Update will download the upgrade from Internet to upgrade the software. Once the upgrade is finished your software will be ready to use in new version.
   

   Update finished.

Common Problems

VP-UML Update said it cannot connect to update server

Unable to connect to update server.

This is probably caused by a bad Internet connection, or your system need proxy server for accessing Internet. If you need to use proxy server for access Internet, you can then check the Use proxy server check box, and fill in the proxy host and port, as well as your login information (if needed).

Configure proxy server for VP-UML Update.

You can also press the Proxy Setting button at the bottom left corner of VP-UML Update to configure the proxy server before proceed to upgrade.

VP-UML Update didn’t show there is a new version available

For users who are using VP-UML prior to version 10.2 may need to run the VP-UML Update twice in order to do the complete upgrade. The first run will be update the software to latest build on the current running version, while the second run will upgrade to latest version.