Upgrading Sakai CLE from 2.6+ to 2.9 without going insane

#apereo13
Stanford just upgraded from Sakai CLE 2.6 to 2.9. We also migrated hundreds of local customizations including new features, locally built tools, UX improvements and tweaks, and SIS integrations. We'll discuss our experiences and pain points. Hopefully it will be an opportunity for all to learn how to do an upgrade while managing a massive number of local customizations.

Transcript

1. Upgrading Sakai CLE from 2.6+ to 2.9 without going insane Lydia Li, Stanford University Aaron Zeckoski, Robert Long, Charles Hasegawa, Unicon Inc.
2. Agenda 1. The process 2. Lessons Learned 3. Discussion and Q&A
3. What did we need to do? • Apply large # of local customizations to kernel, core and indie tools • Integrate with campus SIS, LDAP, official photos...etc • Add 4 Sakai contrib tools: ◦ signups, kaltura, iclicker, irubric • Add Stanford specific tools and quartz jobs: • Review and consolidate DB conversion scripts • Review and recommend additional customizations new in 2.9. • Implement new skin, on-line help and documentation. • QA (functional and performance)
4. Preparation • Identified 364 JIRAs that needed to be re-applied to Sakai OOTB 2.9. • Hired Unicon to do 180 of them. • Reviewed and consolidated all 13 DB conversion scripts from 2.6.0 – 2.9.1. • Ran conversion script on snapshot of our production database for use in development and QA. • Jenkins CI and nightly build
5. Development • Initial svn export from branches/sakai-2.9.x-all • Added contrib tools: signup, kaltura, iclicker, and iRubric • Added homegrown tools and quartz jobs • Homepage, Syllabus...etc • Unpublish sites, feeds to/from other apps. • Applied local customizations: • one tool at a time, starting from the oldest checkin in 2.6 svn. • Updated our code with 2.9.x (2.9.1+) and all the poms • Did this multiple times *At the same time we worked on 2.6 in parallel* p.
6. Development (2) • New customizations in 2.9. • Added 'Add a new site' in Membership tool. (Instructor can't find where to add a new site') • Removed tool icons in pull down and left nav. • Customize My Workspace tools. • Will drop everyone's My Workspace on day of deployment. p.
7. Development (3) • Unicon patching strategy • Group Stanford JIRAs by Sakai sub-project • Group patches and code changes from Stanford JIRAs • Order patches within each subproject by date (oldest first) • Apply the patches from JIRAs in order and test • Mark each as completed • Update the Stanford JIRA p.
8. Development (4) • Provided Unicon access to Stanford SVN, JIRA, DB and nightly build instance. • Communicated frequently. • Quick turnaround for questions. p.
9. Code change management • Made a copy of 2.9.x in Stanford SVN ◦ updated with 2.9.x changes • Stats (start to current): ◦ Commits (revisions): 520 ◦ Files changed/added: 4212 ▪ lines inserted = 418,014 ▪ lines removed = 25,977 p.
10. User Experience and Support • Student contest for visual design of 2.9. • Revamping UI this summer. ◦ Temporary skin for June release. • Review Sakai documentations. • Update On-line help and articles ◦ Browser compatibility ◦ New features
11. 2.9 Neo-portal Skin
12. 2.9 Skin in sakai.properties # 2.9 Skin neo-portal iconNames.count=4 iconNames.1=*default* iconNames.2=business iconNames.3=law iconNames.4=medicine iconUrls.count=4 iconUrls.1= iconUrls.2=/library/icon/business.png iconUrls.3=/library/icon/law.png iconUrls.4=/library/icon/medicine.png iconSkins.count=4 iconSkins.1= iconSkins.2= iconSkins.3= iconSkins.4= # 2.6 Skin iconNames.count=4 iconNames.1=*default* iconNames.2=business iconNames.3=law iconNames.4=medicine iconUrls.count=4 iconUrls.1=/library/icon/default.gif iconUrls.2=/library/icon/business.gif iconUrls.3=/library/icon/law.gif iconUrls.4=/library/icon/med.gif iconSkins.count=4 iconSkins.1=default iconSkins.2=business iconSkins.3=law iconSkins.4=med
13. QA • Started QA on 2.9 in late Feb. 2013. • All 364 JIRAS must be verified. User Support team stepped in to help with functional QA. • Need to do more load testing. • Working with Unicon QA. p.
14. Contributions back to the community In Trunk or In Community Review: • Resources: • SAK-23304 : Ability to hide/show multiple items at a time in Materials • SAK-23305 : Set all Materials as hidden when using Import from Site > Re-use Content feature in Site Info • SAK-23367: Improve 'Show Other Sites' feature in Resources • Forums: • MSGCNTR-241: Provide ability to move a thread to a different topic. • MSGCNTR-620: Provide ability to rank author based on number of posts made, or by roles in course. • MSGCNTR-789: Improve Usability of Searching for Posts by User • MSGCNTR-794: Consolidate new message indicators • MSGCNTR-796: Reveal forum topic actions on hover • MSGCNTR-153: Redesign choosing recipients p.
15. Contributions back to the community (2) • Announcements: • SAK-23315: Redundant email header for individual announcements. • SAK-23316: Announcement synoptic view includes messages from hidden and unpublished sites • Samigo: • SAM-2091, SAM-2099, SAM-2095, SAM-2096, SAM- 1719, SAM-2097 • Site Info: • SAK-23306: Add easy method for adding non-lecture section rosters to site • DropBox: • SAK-23350: Improve instructions in the UI p.
16. Aug. 2012 svn export of 2.9.x-all. Stanford started work. Dec. 2012 Apr. 2013 Jun. 2013 2.9 deployment Last release of 2.6.x Unicon joined in 2.6 2.9 Feb. 2013 2.9 QA started
17. Lessons Learned • Contribute back as much as possible so there are less patches to apply later ◦ Others can benefit as well • Stop development on the older version sooner. ◦ Focus on the new (upgrade) • Read previous release notes. • Better process working with external QA.
18. Discussion What are others experiences?
19. Questions?