We've been getting several questions about upgrade and migration from K2.net 2003 to K2 [blackpearl] so we've put this post together to help answer them. A major goal for K2 [blackpearl] is 100% backwards compatibility support for K2.net 2003 processes. Backwards compatibility is obtained at several different layers - process definitions (design time), running processes (run time), APIs (custom solutions) and web services. We will deliver on the functionality required for backwards compatibility in a post-RTM release. The following explains when each component will be upgradable.
Abbreviations in this blog:
2003 = K2.net 2003
BP = K2 [blackpearl]
Available Now in Beta
Send email to beta @ k2.com to participate in the backwards compatibiliyt and migration betas.
- Process Definition upgrade
- Ability to convert a single *.KPR process definition to the new *.KPRX format
- Ability to convert an *.KSN solution file to the new *.K2PROJ project which will update all process definitions in the solution at once.
- Manual Steps Needed
- If Working Hours were implemented, they will need to be manually updated before deploying the BP process definition
- K2.net 2003 Database upgrade
- Migration Utility will be used to perform the upgrade
- Install new/clean BP side-by-side on 2003 server (need to ensure same server name)
- K2.net 2003 must be upgraded to SP4
- K2.net 2003 must running on SQL Server 2005
- Will not support migration to a BP server with existing processes
- The Migration Utility will:
- Shut down both servers (2003 and BP)
- Database migrate of all instance data from 2003 to BP databases serializing the complete process into a single record in the BP databases
- Database migrate of all historical data
- Database migrate all log data
- Upon successful migration of all data
- Turn off 2003 server and prevent it from starting again
- BP is ready to start but will require manual start to allow for DB moves to another machine if desired.
- NOTE: all data is left untouched in 2003 databases for roll-back if needed
- The Migration Utility will be available in Beta shortly after RTM
- K2.net 2003 Web Services upgrade
- 2003 web services will remain untouched and simply start running against the new BP server after successful running of Migration Utility
- APIs (custom solutions) upgrade
- 2003 APIs (for example, K2ROM and K2Mng) are supported by BP server and will continue to function without any changes
Common Questions
Q. What features do I get after upgrade?
A. SmartObject representation of 2003 instance data - allows for reporting and ASP.NET forms (via ADO.NET provider) capabilities. Note: the service object will need to be refreshed and SmartObject wrappers created for each process that needs to be exposed to reporting and ADO.NET provider.
Q. Will BP Workspace provide all the reports that people used in K2.net 2003 Workspace reports?
A. All reports have been recreated as SQL Reporting Services compatible reports that are hosted in the BP Workspace.
Q. Will custom reports in K2.net 2003 Workspace continue to run?
A. Custom reports will not be upgraded/migrated. These reports can continue to run against the BP server through the backwards compatible APIs. However, they will need to be recreated to render in the new BP Workspace.
Q. Will Viewflow be available in reporting at RTM?
A. Yes.
Q. What will happen to K2.net 2003 destination queues? Will these be converted to roles automatically?
A. There is no conversion necessary. The queue data is exported at deployment time and at runtime it is passed to the user manager for resolving.
Q. Will K2.net 2003 String Tables be converted to Environment Library entries automatically?
A. Yes.
Q. What happens to code modules in K2.net 2003 solutions?
A. With process definition upgrade, code modules are added as class files into the context project for the upgraded process. They then become accessible by all the code items for that process.
With server migration utility, all exported code modules in 2003 databases will be migrated to BP databases.
Q. What happens to old InfoPath forms when the K2.net 2003 solution is opened in BP Studio? Is the _K2 node, data connections and task pane upgraded automatically ? Or must the BP InfoPath wizard be run again? The XML Field is still called K2InfoPathSchema in the new solution, but will the new process know this, since it is looking for an XML field with the same name as the template?
A. With process definition upgrade, old InfoPath documents are left as-is so the 2003 templates will continue to function correctly and understand the interaction with the InfoPath document. To use the new BP features you will have to delete the 2003 InfoPath templates and re-create the InfoPath integration using the new BP wizards. Although you can build hybrid processes (2003 templates and BP wizards in the same process definition), you cannot mix and match the 2003 templates and BP wizards for the same InfoPath document in the same process.
Q. Must K2.net 2003 Studio be installed prior to BP Studio installation? Or what happens with old event templates? Will they be included in the BP installer as an option? What happens if a solution is opened when the templates are not installed? Can the templates be installed after BP Studio is installed?
A. For a basic upgrades, you need to only install K2.net 2003 Studio. This installs the DLL’s necessary for the upgrade and contains all the wizard UI’s to run the templates in BP. If you want more than the default templates, or you have K2.net 2003 processes that make use of additional components, such as office, you’ll have to install those components too. This has to be done before you attempt the upgrade as the conversion of the process definition via studio will error out and not start if the 2003 components it needs are not available. It is highly recommended that all the necessary 2003 components be installed before BP. The K2 [blackpearl] Installation Manager will have the ability to enable the 2003 templates for BP. If 2003 is installed after BP, you will have to rerun the Installation Manager to enable the 2003 templates in BP studio.
Q. Will process definition upgrade take advantage of new BP features? For example, will InfoPath process definitions using InfoPath 2003 be converted to the BP InfoPath process wizards using InfoPath 2007?
A. No. All upgraded process definitions will continue to utilize the 2003 templates. If the 2003 process definition was built using InfoPath 2003 and SharePoint 2003, our "upgrade" will not change this requirement. We simply allow your 2003 process definition to run on a BP server. The 2003 templates will still point to 2003 SharePoint and 2003 InfoPath. If you used the 2003 templates against 2007 SharePoint using the K2.net 2003 Additional Components for MOSS 2007, you will still need those components installed after the upgrade. If you want the new features in the BP wizards, you will need to use those wizards and either delete the 2003 templates that were upgraded or simply start a new BP process definition and not upgrade.