About Updating and Migrating

Overview

Warning: Please keep in mind that this information pertains to the version that you are upgrading to, NOT to the version that you are upgrading from. As such, make sure that you read the correct details before proceeding.

You can directly update Orchestrator to 2021.10 if you currently use any of the following versions:

• 2021.x
• 2020.x
• 2019.x

• 2018.4

  Important:

  If you use a version lower than 2018.4, you need to upgrade to v2018.4 or v2019.x or 2020.x, and then jump to 2021.10.

  We recommend using 2019.10 as an intermediate version.

To see the latest available versions, please check the Release Notes page.

Preinstallation Checklist

Before proceeding with an Orchestrator upgrade/installation, carefully review the following task list:

Description	Details
Review the system requirements	Ensure that you meet the prerequisites, hardware and software requirements for the version you want to install. Hardware Requirements Software Requirements Prerequisites
Learn about changes introduced by the new deployment	A new Orchestrator deployment brings about changes that you should be aware of. Some of the items must be taken care of before an upgrade/installation. Some are notes on the biggest changes and recommendations on how to get the best of the new version. Changed the runtime from .NET Framework to .NET Core Made several changes to the configuration files Updated the SignalR protocol. Revamped the NuGet infrastructure. Updated the Swagger library. API changes
Run the Platform Configuration Tool	The Platform Configuration Tool is a PowerShell script used to assist you in the successful installation/upgrade of Orchestrator. It helps you check the sanity and readiness of your environment before an upgrade, and assists you in performing several operations post-installation. Platform Configuration Tool documentation and download.
Stop Orchestrator	Upgrades of your Orchestrator must be made with the application stopped. Performing any updates while the application is running can result in errors and is not supported.

Directly Updating Orchestrator

Installation artifacts are provided when you first purchase Orchestrator or they can be provided by your customer success manager or our support team. There are a few ways to directly update:

Using the Windows Installer

UiPathOrchestrator.msi performs an in-place update that copies all your settings and creates a backup folder for the old version. It is suitable for both one node and multi-node architecture. Some web.config settings are not copied if the version you are upgrading from was installed using the deprecated scripts. The repair functionality of the Windows Installer is not supported.

If the Orchestrator you want to update was installed using the now deprecated UiPathPlatformInstaller.exe, use the Windows installer to update to this version.

Learn how to update using the Windows installer.

Using the Azure Script

A complex update of Orchestrator and its components on one or multiple nodes, in the Azure Portal.

Learn how to update using the Azure script.

Using the UiPathPlatform Installer

An executable that enables you to update Orchestrator, Robot, and Studio. It is suitable for one-node architectures. The processes are the same as those you would go through using the Windows installers, UiPathStudio.msi and UiPathOrchestrator.msi.

Unlike UiPathStudio.msi and UiPathOrchestrator.msi, UiPathPlatformInstaller.exe does not accept command line arguments.

Update Considerations

Encryption

During an Orchestrator update, the installer cannot read an encrypted SecureAppSettings section within web.config . In order to read the EncryptionKey from Orchestrator's web.config and then migrate it into Identity Server's appsettings.Production.json, the key must be plain text. You need to manually decrypt the section before updating Orchestrator. After the Orchestrator update process was finalized, remember to re-encrypt the SecureAppSettings section in web.config.

Certificates

Note the new certificate requirements. If your existing certificate doesn't meet them, here is how to get a valid certificate and how to replace it in the existing Orchestrator instance, before upgrading.

For security reasons, for the certificate used to sign the access tokens generated by the Identity Server, make sure to use a public key on 2048 bits. The certificate's location has to be set within appsettings.Production.json's Signing Credential section.

Database

Regardless of how you choose to update, if the database you point to does not exist, it is automatically created while running the update. If you point to an existing database, it is updated during the same process. The Orchestrator SQL database is automatically set to be case-insensitive (“OrchDB” = “orchdb”) at installation.

External Providers

While performing the update, if you have any external providers enabled in web.config, you are prompted about the manual changes you need to perform on your preexistent external providers.

Known Issues

Database timeout errors while upgrading to 2023.10+

Having more than 100,000 groups in Orchestrator may cause a timeout error while upgrading to 2023.10+.

To overcome this, run the following script directly in your database, then retry the upgrade:

-- 1. Delete group subscriptions

DECLARE @rowCount BIGINT = 1
DECLARE @batchSize BIGINT = 4000
DECLARE @pivotDate DATETIME = GETUTCDATE()
WHILE (@rowCount > 0)
BEGIN
    DECLARE @subscriptionsToDeleteIds TABLE(
        [Id] UNIQUEIDENTIFIER NOT NULL
    )
    INSERT INTO @subscriptionsToDeleteIds
    SELECT TOP(@batchSize) [ns].[Id]
    FROM [dbo].[NotificationSubscriptions] [ns]
    JOIN [dbo].[Users] [u] ON [u].[Id] = [ns].[UserId]
    WHERE [u].[Type] = 3 AND -- Group
        [u].[CreationTime] <= @pivotDate AND
        [u].[IsDeleted] = 0
    DELETE FROM [dbo].[NotificationSubscriptions]
    WHERE [Id] IN (
        SELECT [Id] FROM @subscriptionsToDeleteIds
    )
    OPTION (MAXDOP 1)
    SET @rowCount = @@ROWCOUNT
    WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:00.1'
END

-- 2. Create index on UserNotifications

IF NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.indexes WHERE OBJECT_ID = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[UserNotifications]') AND NAME = N'IX_UserId_CreationTime')
   CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_UserId_CreationTime] ON [dbo].[UserNotifications]
   (
       [UserId] ASC,
       [CreationTime] ASC
   ) INCLUDE ([TenantNotificationId]) WITH (ONLINE = ON);

Antivirus software issues

Some antivirus software can prevent Data Migration scripts from functioning correctly during an upgrade.

Login attempts issues

After updating your Orchestrator from 2019.10 or older, the Profile page won't display login attempts previous to that update.

Updating Your License After Installation

After you upgrade or migrate Orchestrator, we recommend that you update your license information from the Licenses page using either online or offline activation. For instructions, see Activating Your License.

Important: If you are upgrading or migrating from a version that is older than 2019.10, you must update your license information, otherwise you do not benefit from the grace period at license expiration, which can cause service disruption.

Package Migration

In v2020.10+, Legacy is no longer a supported NuGet repository type. Packages previously residing in a Legacy repository are migrated to a Composite repository. For composite repositories, package location is configured using the Storage.Type and Storage.Location parameters in UiPath.Orchestrator.dll.config. After the upgrade, all Legacy-related app settings become deprecated and no longer have an effect:

• NuGet.Packages.Path
• NuGet.Activities.Path
• Nuget.EnableRedisNodeCoordination
• Nuget.EnableNugetServerLogging
• NuGet.EnableFileSystemMonitoring
• NuGet.Repository.Type

The new package location depends on how you configured the NuGet.Packages.Path and NuGet.Activities.Path parameters in web.config for the previous Orchestrator version.

Default Location

If you stored the packages in the default locations (~/NuGetPackages and ~/NuGetPackages/Activities), the new package location becomes RootPath=.\Storage.

Pre 2020.10 Key Defaults - web.config	2020.10+ Key Defaults - UiPath.Orchestrator.dll.config
<add key="NuGet.Packages.Path" value="~/NuGetPackages" /> <add key="NuGet.Activities.Path" value="~/NuGetPackages/Activities" />	<add key="Storage.Type" value="FileSystem" /> <add key="Storage.Location" value="RootPath=.\Storage" />

Custom Location

If you stored the packages in a custom location, during the installation you are asked for a new storage location. For silent installs, the STORAGE_TYPE and STORAGE_LOCATION parameters become mandatory, unless you specifically add them in web.config (Storage.Type and Storage.Location) prior to the upgrade.

Packages Migration Matrix

The matrix below describes when the STORAGE_TYPE and STORAGE_LOCATION parameters are requested or ignored during an upgrade. The matrix takes into consideration the version you are upgrading from, as well as the package location customization in both the previous version and in 2020.10 and later.

For example, based on this feature combination, the matrix shows that the two parameters are requested (flagged with a check mark) in Silent Mode in the following cases:

• For an upgrade from version 2018.4, if the package was stored in a custom location

• For an upgrade from version 2019.4+, if the package was stored in a custom location, but its new storage location is a default one

  Upgrade From	Previous Legacy Location	New Composite Location	Parameters Requested in the Storage Window	Parameters Requested in Silent Mode	Parameters Ignored from CMD
  2018.4	Default
  2018.4	Custom
  2019.4+	Default	Default
  2019.4+	Default	Custom
  2019.4+	Custom	Default
  2019.4+	Custom	Custom

Migration Errors

If, for any reason, package migration fails, you are presented with the following options:

• Retry - Package migration is restarted. Packages that have already been migrated are skipped.
• Abort - The installation is restarted. During the migration step, packages that have already been migrated are not skipped and are migrated again. For this reason, you may find duplicate files in different containers. This only happens when migrating from versions older than 2019.4.
• Continue - The migration is being carried on with.

Upgrades from 2019.10

Migration as part of an upgrade from 2019.10 can sometimes cause package names to change, thus becoming unavailable in Orchestrator. If this happens, we recommend that you manually upload any affected package.