The best practice for upgrading the WebSphere version of a
cell is to upgrade the deployment manager (dmgr) first.
For example, consider this hypothetical environment:
dmgr at version 5.1.0 and application server / node at version
5.1.0
It is desirable to upgrade the deployment manager first, so
hypothetically the environment is changed to:
dmgr now at version 5.1.1 and application server / node remains at
version 5.1.0
At this point, the deployment manager could be started up to test the
cell. This cell configuration is supported. However, it is not recommended
to run a cell in this "mixed version" configuration. So, it is desirable
to upgrade the application server / node next. The environment is updated
to this:
dmgr at version 5.1.1, and application server / node now at version
5.1.1
Restating the recommendations above in a different manner:
- When a fix pack, cumulative fix, or refresh pack is
applied to a cell, the update for the DeploymentManager should be applied
first.
- Operating a cell in which the deployment manager is at a
release level lower than the application servers it manages is NOT
supported.
- Operating a "mixed cell" in which the deployment manager
is a higher level than the application servers it manages is supported but
not recommended. It is recommended that the application servers / nodes be
upgraded to the same level as the deployment manager as soon as
possible.
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