Overview of migration, coexistence, and interoperability
Migrating to a new version of WebSphere® Application Server requires careful consideration of factors such as your product edition, profile types, server configuration, and application deployment. This overview introduces the concepts, terminology, tools, and strategies to help you successfully migrate the product.
Common migration terminology
- Version or release: An update to the product that includes significant new function.
- Edition: Within a version, product packaging that includes certain sets of features. For example, Network Deployment.
- Profile: A set of files that defines the runtime environment for an application server process, such as a deployment manager or an application server. Profiles contain the configuration for how the application server behaves and where applications are deployed.
- Source: The origin of the data and objects for the migration, such as source profile or source machine.
- Target: The destination of the data and objects for the migration, such as target profile or target machine.
- Node: A grouping of managed or unmanaged servers or server clusters. Each node that is managed by a cell can have a unique configuration.
- Cell: A group that contains a deployment manager that manages one or more nodes or configurations. Nodes in the cell are federated to the deployment manager. The cell-level configuration is common across all nodes.
- Mixed-cell environment: When the release of at least one federated node is older than the release of the deployment manager that manages the cell. Nodes cannot be more than three releases older than the deployment manager.
Basic migration concepts
Migrating a cell, which contains the deployment manager and federated nodes, requires special attention. Because the deployment manager controls the configuration in the cell, each node must be synchronized with the new deployment manager as it is migrated.
Mixed-cell environments
A cell can contain nodes from different WebSphere Application Server versions. A WebSphere Application Server Versão 9.0 mixed cell can contain nodes that support WebSphere Application Server Versão 9.0 and Versão 7.0 ou posterior. In a mixed-cell environment, if a member of a cell is older than Version 7.0, the tools cannot migrate the deployment manager. The administrator must either migrate the nodes to at least Version 7.0 or remove them from the cell.
- You perform incremental node migration of your existing system.
- You migrate the deployment manager to Versão 9.0. The deployment manager has to be at the level of the highest node version. If you have nodes of the previous version, then this migration of the deployment manager creates a mixed cell at the highest version of WebSphere Application Server.
- Then when you migrate one node at a time to this new highest version, the cell becomes a cell at
the highest version of WebSphere Application Server. Note: This cell cannot be at a higher version than the deployment manager.
- You migrate the deployment manager to Versão 9.0 and then
federate older version nodes to the new version deployment manager. This form of migration is
supported for only Versão 7.0 ou posterior nodes.
- First, you migrate the deployment manager to Versão 9.0. The deployment manager has to be at the level of the highest node version.
- You then can federate nodes from Versão 7.0 ou posterior to the new highest deployment manager version.
Evitar Problemas: This method of incremental migration leaves your system in a mixed cell environment with nodes administered by a Versão 9.0 deployment manager. Your migration planning should eventually include migrations of all nodes to the Versão 9.0 level to ensure consistent administration of the nodes.gotcha
Existing functions continue to work in a mixed-cell environment. You should be able to perform reasonable operations, such as run existing applications, perform management operations, such as addNode, create mixed cluster, configure the system, call Mbeans, and deploy applications. New function support in a mixed cell environment can be decided on a case by case basis - based on function, priority and available resources.

If any issues occur that prevent the client from communicating with the node agent, or that prevent the new port data being propagated between the cluster members and the node agent, request failures might occur on the client. In some cases, these failures are temporary. In other cases you need to restart one or more processes to resolve a failure.
To circumvent the client routing problems that might arise in these cases, you can configure static ports on the cluster members. With static ports, the port data does not change as a client process gets information about the cluster members. Even if the cluster members are restarted, or there are communication or data propagation issues between processes, the port data the client holds is still valid. This circumvention does not necessarily solve the underlying communication or data propagation issues, but removes the symptoms of unexpected or uneven client routing decisions.
gotchaIf you neither migrate nor coexist with an earlier version of WebSphere Application Server, you are choosing to ignore the previous installation and you can run only one version at a time because of conflicting default port assignments. It is possible for both versions to run at the same time without conflict if you use non-default ports in one version.
Frequently asked questions
Can I simply point to the new WebSphere Application Server for z/OS® Versão 9.0 datasets and restart my servers?
No. WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Versão 9.0 requires that you migrate your Versão 7.0 ou posterior configuration to the Versão 9.0 level.
Is migration a node-by-node activity?
Yes. The process of migrating the configuration involves running the supplied utilities against each node in your configuration.
Although a stand-alone application server only has one node, that node needs to be migrated. The steps are essentially the same as the steps for migrating any other node, except that you do not have to have a deployment manager running. Read Migrating a z/OS stand-alone application server: Checklist for a checklist of activities for migrating a stand-alone application server node.
What do the migration utilities do?
The migration utilities serve the following purposes:
Utility | Purpose |
BBOWMG1B (stand-alone
application server migrations) BBOWMG1F (federated node migrations) |
Enables all servers on
the node being migrated to be configured to start in Peer Restart
and Recovery (PRR) mode After this job completes, you must start all servers on the node being migrated and wait for them to stop. PRR processing mode resolves any outstanding transactions, clears the transaction logs, and stops the server. This job is not needed for a deployment manager migration, and it is optional for configurations that do not use distributed transaction (XA) connectors. This job is required only if you are using XA adapters and you need to migrate the XA logs. Check your resource providers in the Versão 7.0 ou posterior administrative console by going to Resources > JDBC providers and checking to see if you have chosen any XA providers such as DB2®, Apache Derby, and so on. |
BBOWMG2B
(stand-alone application server migrations) BBOWMG2F (federated node migrations) |
Disables
PRR mode and returns all servers to normal operating state You are not required to start all servers after this job completes. This job is not needed for a deployment manager migration, and it is optional for configurations that do not use XA connectors. This job is required only if you are using XA adapters and you need to migrate the XA logs. Check your resource providers in the Versão 7.0 ou posterior administrative console by going to Resources > JDBC providers and checking to see if you have chosen any XA providers such as DB2, Apache Derby, and so on. |
BBOMBHFS
or BBOMBZFS (stand-alone application server migrations) BBOMDHFS or BBOMDZFS (deployment manager migrations) BBOMMHFS or BBOMMZFS (federated node migrations) |
Optional: Creates a file system and mount point for the Versão 9.0 configuration root,
and mounts the file system If you want to use an existing file system to contain the Versão 9.0 configuration, you must manually create the mount point specified when you create the migration definition and verify that the file system is mounted rather than run this job. In either case, the configuration file system and mount point must be created and the file system must be mounted before proceeding with the migration. |
For stand-alone
application server migrations, the following utilities:
For deployment manager migrations, the following utilities:
For federated node migrations, the following utilities:
|
BBOWMG3x runs the complete migration of the node from Versão 7.0 ou posterior to Versão 9.0. BBOWxPRO just creates the WebSphere Application Server home and default profile. BBOWxPRE just runs the migration pre-upgrade process. BBOWxPOS just runs the migration post-upgrade and finish-up (change file permission) processes. |
BBOMBCP (stand-alone application
server migrations) BBOMDCP (deployment manager migrations) BBOMMCP (federated node migrations) |
Copies the generated Job
Control Language (JCL) procedures to start the servers to the specified
procedure library If you choose to have your Versão 9.0 configuration make use of different JCL start procedure names, this utility updates the new Versão 9.0 configuration, substituting your new JCL names for the names that existed in your original Versão 7.0 ou posterior configuration. |
Where should you run the migration jobs?
Run the jobs on the same system on which the node being migrated resides.
What happens when a node is migrated?
The migration utilities transform the contents of your present WebSphere Application Server Versão 7.0 ou posterior configuration file system and merge them into a new, separate Versão 9.0 configuration file system.
Are my existing configuration lost during migration?
During the migration, the original WebSphere Application Server Versão 7.0 ou posterior configuration tree is unaffected. If for some reason the migration fails before completing, your previous configuration still exists.
If my node has multiple application servers, are all of them migrated?
Yes. The utility detects all servers and migrate all, including the node agent. One invocation of the migration utilities against the node migrates all the servers in the node.
Must I stop the servers in a node to perform the migration?
Yes. In a multinode configuration it is possible to have the other nodes still running. But any node that you want to migrate must have its servers stopped.
When an application server node that is part of a WebSphere Application Server, Network Deployment configuration is being migrated, the previously migrated Versão 9.0 deployment manager for that cell must be running. This is because part of the migration involves the use of the wsadmin scripting function to synchronize the newly migrated application server node with the deployment manager. The deployment manager must be running in order to perform that synchronization.
Is it possible to have a cell operating with only some of the nodes migrated and others not?
Yes, that is possible. WebSphere Application Server Versão 7.0 ou posterior can coexist with Versão 9.0 in the same cell and on the same logical partition (LPAR).
Can my newly migrated WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Versão 9.0 deployment manager still communicate with the Versão 7.0 ou posterior nodes?
Is there a sequence to performing a multinode migration?
Is it possible to have cells at WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Versão 9.0 coexist with other cells at Versão 7.0 ou posterior?