Upgrading Helm deployment

This section describes how to update the configuration of an HCL Digital Experience (DX) Compose 9.5 CF224 or later deployment to Kubernetes or OpenShift installed using Helm.

Prerequisites

Make sure that you have completed the following steps:

• Prepare your cluster and your custom-values.yaml file. For more information, see Preparation before installing HCL DX Compose using Helm.
• Install your deployment. For more information, see Install commands to deploy.
• Ensure customizations made to your deployment are reflected in your custom-values.yaml file.
  • If an external database is used, make sure the values for the external database are correct in the custom-values.yaml and relevant Kubernetes secrets. For more information, see Configuring an external database and Using the external database and triggering the database transfer.
  • If LDAP is configured for the environment, make sure the values for the LDAP directory are correct in the custom-values.yaml file and relevant Kubernetes secrets. For more information, see Configuring LDAP
  • If WebEngine properties are updated, make sure the updated values are correct in the custom-values.yaml. For more information, see Updating DX Compose WebEngine properties using Helm values.
  • If the WebEngine administrator password is updated in the environment, make sure the Kubernetes secret is up-to-date and the correct values are in the custom-values.yaml file. For more information, see Updating the default administrator password.
  • If configuration changes are made to the deployment using configuration override files, make sure the values are correct in the custom-values.yaml file. For more information, see Configuration changes using overrides and Upgrading the Helm deployment.
  • If the WebEngine URL was changed from the default, make sure the values are correct in the custom-values.yaml file. For more information, see Changing the WebEngine URL and Upgrading the Helm deployment.
  • If custom PVCs are used in your deployment, make sure the values are correct in your custom-values.yaml file. For more information, see PersistentVolumeClaims.

Recommended actions before a CF upgrade

In a Helm-based deployment, moving from one cumulative fix (CF) to another one is also handled through Helm upgrade. The following actions are recommended when applying cumulative fixes:

• Back up the file system of the persistent volumes associated with the namespace. Also, take a matching backup of the database associated with the WebEngine pod.
• If you are running a 24/7 environment, it is recommended to set up a blue/green deployment before applying a CF to ensure high availability. While DX WebEngine stays available with multiple pods, Digital Asset Management (DAM) is not highly available during CF application. See the topic Difference and Similarities Between Traditional and Kubernetes DX Deployments that shows how a DX Compose solution could be deployed for high availability and blue/green deployments in a single Kubernetes cluster.
• Before upgrading, temporarily set the DAM staging interval to 1440 (24 hours) using the dxclient manage-dam-staging trigger-staging command or adjust the cycleLength to 1440 using the DAM REST API StagingController.updateSubscriberData. Alternatively, you can disable DAM Staging while the publisher (source) and the subscriber (target) are not yet on the same CF version but note that reestablishing staging restages all assets.
• (Optional) Consider disabling Web Content Manager (WCM) Syndication from and to the current environment.

Helm Upgrade configuration command

After making the needed changes to your custom-values.yaml file, run the following command:

# Helm upgrade command
helm upgrade -n your-namespace -f path/to/your/custom-values.yaml your-release-name path/to/hcl-dx-deployment-vX.X.X_XXXXXXXX-XXXX.tar.gz

• The your-namespace is the namespace in which your HCL DX Compose 9.5 deployment is installed and your-release-name is the Helm release name you used when installing.
• The -f path/to/your/custom-values.yaml parameter must point to the custom-values.yaml you have updated.
• The path/to/hcl-dx-deployment-vX.X.X\_XXXXXXXX-XXXX.tar.gz is the HCL DX Compose Helm Chart that you extracted in Preparation before installing HCL DX Compose using Helm.