ArcGIS Enterprise Does anyone fully script their upgrades?

Question

Good afternoon. We are currently planning an upgrade of ArcGIS Enterprise Portal, Server, Data store, and Web Adapter 10.6.1 to 10.9.1. It is all on a single standalone Windows Server VM. I am wondering if anyone has successfully completed an upgrade to 10.9.1 using only the command line tools with silent install parameters. The last time I performed this upgrade, I needed to handhold the installers throughout each process. I'd love to not dedicate one of my weekend days watching Portal upgrade for almost two hours, followed by all of the other installers. So, back to my main question, is it possible to script this upgrade? Or is it more of a pipe dream? Thanks.

MiguelParedes · Answer

Greetings,
There is an article on how to do this on Linux, Walkthrough on silently upgrading ArcGIS Enterprise that you could use as a guide.  I would definitely follow the advice on the previous postings and also, would create a snapshot of the VM so you can go back to the initial state in case things do not go according to plan.

I hope the above advice is of help.

Brian_Wilson · Answer

After you script it, and take a week testing the scripts in a sandbox, would you seriously walk away from the upgrade on the production machine? Testing is not the same as production. I'd still be sitting there watching my scripts. I script virtually EVERYTHING but would not spend the time doing it for a one time upgrade.

My approach currently is setting up testing and monitoring for EVERYTHING so that I can fix the things that break every time someone republishes services. I think that will be what I rely on when I do the next upgrade: when it's "all done" I will run the tests and know on Saturday whether I will be working Sunday bringing services back online instead of on Monday when I get reports from my users.

Maybe you already reached that spot? Some things are hard to test, like, oh, say, aerial photos not showing up in print services when they are fine on the map.

Aled Wyn Jones · Answer

It is possible, although I would advise caution when creating the necessary script as there are so many parameters required (i.e. license files).

Test your script in a development environment with snapshots in place. It will take longer than a weekend to get the script in place and fully tested - it may be worth doing as every installer follows the same parameter pattern (with some exceptions) so will set you up for the future.

As a fellow automater on cmd, top tip is to run the script file as admin to avoid UAC warnings to completely avoid 'hand holding' the installation.