Google Search Appliance Upgrade and Migration Handbook March 2013 © Google 1
Upgrade and Migration Handbook This handbook provides an overview of various considerations involved in upgrading or migrating a Google Search Appliance (GSA). About this document The recommendations and information in this document were gathered through our work with a variety of clients and environments in the field. We thank our customers and partners for sharing their experiences and insights.
Contents About this document Chapter 1 Understanding GSA releases Overview What is a GSA release? Types of GSA releases Version numbering What is contained in a GSA software release? Where do I find GSA release information? Release schedule Chapter 2 Upgrading a GSA Overview Preparing to upgrade a GSA Understand your upgrade path Chapter 3 Upgrading a Connector Chapter 4 Migration Planning Overview Migration methods Migration scenarios Summary Appendix Further Information Determining the model of
Chapter 1 Understanding GSA releases Overview This chapter provides a definition of a Google Search Appliance release and provides information useful for understanding the content and structure of GSA releases. What is a GSA release? The Google Search Appliance has two major components that are subject to change: software and hardware. Each new release of the GSA refers to a new software update that Google has released and has been made available to all customers.
Patch releases Patch releases primarily provide fixes to outstanding GSA issues, and do not generally contain any major changes to GSA features or functionality. A list of changes contained within each patch release is provided via the Update Instructions of each release. Patch releases are signified by a change in the “build version” number. That is, v7.0.14.G.114 represents an incremental patch after the original version (v7.0.14.G84). Prior to v7.0, patches were also signified by a “patch number” (eg.
Where do I find GSA release information? GSA releases are available from within the Google Enterprise Support Portal, under the Resources > Google Search Appliance Software Updates page.
Chapter 2 Upgrading a GSA Overview There are various considerations to be taken into account when upgrading GSA software, many of which are dependent on the characteristics of the GSA installation environment and the scope of changes introduced by the new version of the GSA. As such, no two GSA upgrade projects are alike, and each upgrade to the GSA should be prefaced by an level appropriate of analysis and planning.
Analyze impact and changes required for the upgrade Once the scope of the upgrade has been defined, an impact analysis should be performed to determine the changes that will be needed to be made to the GSA environment to accommodate for the upgrade. Common considerations when performing a GSA upgrade include: Reindexing content ● A complete reindex may be a requirement of upgrading to the new GSA software version. The GSA software update instructions typically provide detail on this requirement.
Upgrading multiple environments This section applies to deployment architectures involving multiple environments with various purposes, such as development, testing, and production. Once a version upgrade or patch release is applied to the GSA, it cannot be reverted to a previous version. Additionally, changes/additions to GSA functionality might occasionally impact the existing functionality of a search solution, for example one where the GSA has been tightly integrated within other applications.
Indexing considerations When upgrading a search appliance that uses connectors or feeds to index documents, theconnector or feeds must be stopped or paused for the duration of the update process, as the GSA will not process feeds during the course of an upgrade.
Performing the upgrade The actual process of upgrading a GSA generally includes the following steps, which are always provided in detail in the Update Instructions for the GSA release: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Preparing for the upgrade: Specific tasks to perform in preparation for the upgrade, such as backing up GSA configurations and verifying that the Google Search Appliance can access the location to which upgrade files are downloaded. Updating the system software: An update to the GSA operating system.
Chapter 3 Upgrading a Connector Overview GSA connector releases generally follow an independent update cycle to GSA software releases. The overall release schedule of the GSA connector suite is marked by the incremental releases of the Google Connector Installer (GCI), which contains an installer for every supported GSA connector. The list of versions of the GSA Connectors can be found via the Google Enterprise Support Portal under Resources > Google Search Appliance Connectors Software Updates.
Upgrade Considerations Common considerations that should be taken into account when upgrading GSA connectors include: Changes to the connector ● Some connector upgrades include major changes to connector design, and may impact the configuration of the overall GSA environment. For example, the GSA Connector for Lotus Notes 3.0 introduced earlybinding and if used, requires the correct security mechanisms to be configured for authentication in order for secure search to function correctly.
Chapter 4 Migration Planning Overview The following sections provide guidance in migrating Google Search Appliances in various deployment scenarios.
Approach The following steps describe the approach of migrating a search appliance by mirroring: 1. Examine the GSA version of the “target” GSA and check release notes of this version and of any later patches, for issues that may affect the deployment environment. Upgrade the target GSA to the appropriate patch if necessary. 2. Ensure both GSAs are on the same software version, have the same document license count and are of compatible search appliance models (see mirroring link below).
Disadvantages of this migration method: ● More timeintensive than mirroring, as all content needs to be recrawled or refed by connectors and feeds ● Additional connectors or feed clients may need to be set up on new hosts, since existing connectors and feeds may need to continue to send to the production GSA (for content freshness and/or authorization) ● Creates additional load to target content servers during recrawl Requirements ● Configuration file migration is generally recommended only between app
● ● Replacing a failed production search appliance Moving a search appliance to another location Renewing search appliances The most common scenario for migrating a GSA is during the renewal of a GSA license. Since new and more powerful hardware is provided with each renewal, migration planning is a critical component of the renewal process. With every renewal of appliances, a decision must be made on how to migrate from existing to new appliances.
Singlenode to Multinode When an architecture changes from a single GSA to multiple GSAs (eg. over 100M documents, requiring two G500 appliances instead of one), Distributed Crawl and Serve will need to be configured. As a result, the search index will either need to be reindexed on the new architecture, or migrated. In this scenario, when Distributed Crawl and Serve is enabled, the Master GSA node will distribute the index evenly across the GSAs configured in the multinode GSA network.
Migrating with a distributed GSA architecture In both Distributed Crawl and Serve, as well as Unification architectures, GSA Mirroring can be used to expedite migration from one set of appliances to a new set of hardware (eg. in renewal), per one of the above methods. In this scenario, it is critical that the node assignment and configuration remains the same for each appliance in the target architecture.
● GSA mirroring When changing the IP addresses of GSAs, it's best to disable mirroring prior to relocation, then reconfigure the GSA^n setup once the move has been completed, the network has been properly provisioned and service has been resumed on the primary GSA. ● Network configuration changes For versions older than GSA v7.
Summary This guide provides detailed guidance on the preparation and execution of upgrading and migrating a Google Search Appliance, activities that are critical components of maintaining a GSA deployment environment. Various scenarios have been discussed to cater to different possibilities of upgrading and migration, but because no two deployment environments are the same, there may be certain scenarios that have not been addressed in this guide.
Appendix Further Information Determining the model of your search appliance The following table describes how to determine the hardware model of a Google Search Appliance, based on Appliance ID.
