• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
TSB Alfresco Cobrand White tagline

Technology Services Group

  • Home
  • Products
    • Alfresco Enterprise Viewer
    • OpenContent Search
    • OpenContent Case
    • OpenContent Forms
    • OpenMigrate
    • OpenContent Web Services
    • OpenCapture
    • OpenOverlay
  • Solutions
    • Alfresco Content Accelerator for Claims Management
      • Claims Demo Series
    • Alfresco Content Accelerator for Policy & Procedure Management
      • Compliance Demo Series
    • OpenContent Accounts Payable
    • OpenContent Contract Management
    • OpenContent Batch Records
    • OpenContent Government
    • OpenContent Corporate Forms
    • OpenContent Construction Management
    • OpenContent Digital Archive
    • OpenContent Human Resources
    • OpenContent Patient Records
  • Platforms
    • Alfresco Consulting
      • Alfresco Case Study – Canadian Museum of Human Rights
      • Alfresco Case Study – New York Philharmonic
      • Alfresco Case Study – New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association
      • Alfresco Case Study – American Society for Clinical Pathology
      • Alfresco Case Study – American Association of Insurance Services
      • Alfresco Case Study – United Cerebral Palsy
    • HBase
    • DynamoDB
    • OpenText & Documentum Consulting
      • Upgrades – A Well Documented Approach
      • Life Science Solutions
        • Life Sciences Project Sampling
    • Veeva Consulting
    • Ephesoft
    • Workshare
  • Case Studies
    • White Papers
    • 11 Billion Document Migration
    • Learning Zone
    • Digital Asset Collection – Canadian Museum of Human Rights
    • Digital Archive and Retrieval – ASCP
    • Digital Archives – New York Philharmonic
    • Insurance Claim Processing – New York Property Insurance
    • Policy Forms Management with Machine Learning – AAIS
    • Liferay and Alfresco Portal – United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Chicago
  • About
    • Contact Us
  • Blog

Documentum Upgrade – Understanding all the Pieces

You are here: Home / Documentum / D6 / Documentum Upgrade – Understanding all the Pieces

March 2, 2010

As mentioned in previous posts, many clients are struggling with the upgrade to Documentum 6.5.  Typically, the upgrade of the Documentum components are only one piece of what can be a difficult puzzle.  Upgrading servers, operating systems, databases, and document manipulation services all add a level of complexity and coordination.  This post will highlight typical components/functions and TSG’s thoughts and recommendations.  Thanks to the clients (you know who you are) that contributed so much of the content to this post.

Database/Docbase/Operating System

Most clients determine to upgrade all other server components during the upgrade.  Some general guidelines:

  • Consult the Product Information System on Powerlink.
  • Don’t look to the absolute latest version of your database (Oracle, SQL Server) as Documentum support is typically added later.
  • Avoid the “small boat” or limited user base.  Examples include AIX and HP-UX Operating System, and Sybase or DB2 Databases.  Our clients have struggled with support or other issues that are unique to these platforms.  When in doubt, we recommend Linux, Sun Solaris, or Windows for server operating system, Oracle or SQL Server for Database and Tomcat or potentially WebLogic for the application server.   Some results from a quick production environment poll Documentum conducted for 460 customers who had acquired D6 or D6.5
    • 54% use Oracle, 32% SQL Server, 14%, Other (DB2 or Sybase)
    • 50% use Tomcat, 23% Weblogic, 14% Websphere, 13% Other (Oracle or Sun)

Server Hardware

In the old days, the cost of the servers (we saw a lot of Sun) was a huge component of the infrastructure.  With clients moving to Linux/Windows more and more, it is easier and less costly to upgrade the server hardware.  As mentioned in a previous post, upgrading to new servers simplifies the upgrade process as it provides more flexibility in regards to fall-back and timing.  From a cost perspective, we have been recommending Linux both for internal as well as cloud options.  One caveat in regards to Linux and HP-UX Itanium, make sure the content server supports eSignature manifestation if that is one of your requirements.  As of this post, Documentum, leveraging PDF Fusion, does not support eSignatures on these platforms.  We are working with a client to substitute OpenOverlay for their environment.

High Availability

Closely tied to server architecture is high availability.  Many clients are looking at clustering given the price of new servers/OS (particularly in the Linux world), as well as just better practices, particularly virtual machines.  Clustering, Load Balancing, Oracle RAC and other options should be thought through during the upgrade process.   Work with your infrastructure teams to build HA into your architecture as you build the new system.

Webtop 6.5

Moving from Webtop 5.2.5 or 5.3 to Webtop 6.5 typically has the most impact of the architecture components.  Issues with the Webtop upgrade include:

  • Upgrading Customizations – depending on level of customization, this can be a major undertaking.
  • Upgrading Add-on components – as mentioned later in this post, 3rd party Webtop components such as annotation tools, PDF Overlay and other WDK add-ons will mostly likely need to be upgraded to support the target Webtop version.

We typically recommend clients move to the latest Service Pack 1 version or above (ex:  Webtop 6.5 SP1, SP2 or beyond) as the initial releases can be tricky as we learned with 5.3.

Annotation

For many clients, this can be a complicated decision.  Factors include:

  1. Existing Annotations – if the migration/upgrade requires access to existing annotations, the new system will have to be able to read them.  Some annotation tools store the annotation format in their own proprietary format and can’t be read by other tools.
  2. Documentum PDF Annotation Services – as part of the upgrade, many clients would like to move to annotation services from Documentum.
  3. Other Tools – Clients disappointed with current tools can look at PDF Annotation  services or a variety of other tools (Snowbound, Brava) however be sure to check Webtop version support as not all annotation tools support the latest version of Webtop and service packs.
  4. Cost – Tools aren’t cheap and typically require a license per user.
  5. Support – Many tools require a client side add-on which can be difficult to deploy and maintain across a diverse client base (and potentially different browsers).

We have worked with clients to upgrade annotation tools as well as release a free viewer/annotation tool with OpenAnnotate (coming soon) to give clients additional flexibility.

Lastly, TSG recommends looking at how annotations are used.  Many times the requirements don’t call for annotations but more general rejection comments.  We typically do not recommend that clients leverage annotation tools for an editorial (grammar and wording) review.  A better approach is to use Word “Track Changes” within a review cycle that doesn’t require annotations but more of a check-in/check-out of the Word document.

PDF Overlays

In a controlled document system, metadata from Documentum (document number, release date, document title…) must appear correctly on the header/footer of released documents.  Clients that have committed to PDFaqua are going to face the conversion to PDF Stamping Services in Webtop 6.5 due to our understanding (as of the date of this post) that PDFaqua will not be supported in Webtop 6.5.

Similar to annotations, TSG does offer a free overlay tool, OpenOverlay, that has been very successful in replacing PDFaqua leveraging iText.

Full-Text Search

While Full-Text search comes free with Documentum, clients need to remember that server (potentially new servers) infrastructure is required with FAST or the upcoming Documentum Search Services.    We typically recommend proof of concept activities to determine how to manage the index server when it comes to typical index maintenance (index rebuild) as it will affect the upgrade process.

WDK or DFC Applications

As we pointed out in a previous post, WDK applications will need to be migrated/rewritten depending on the level of customization and complexity.  Applications written on the DFC have proven to be easily upgradable.  Be sure to verify how many external systems are pulling or pushing content from your content server.  Are they using DFC to communicate?

Check your Licenses

As most users are aware, Documentum’s price list is pretty large and can be somewhat confusing.  Software licensed under an old model (user, named user, CPU) is not currently supported by Documentum and can leave you vunerable to an software audit. Use an upgrade as a chance to review your license structure and usage.  If you move to virtual/cluster/etc, does your licensing allow for this type of support?

Browser and Java Support

Double check the release notes in regards to client, browser and Java support.  For most of our clients, Documentum has supported the major browsers and recent Java versions.  One issue some clients have in regards to external users (extranet) is that the client browser doesn’t always meet Documentum specifications.  We’ve had some clients’ plan their 6.5 upgrade but forget to upgrade their JRE to 1.5 or 1.6, causing problems.

Rendering

Users should check on their Document and XML rendering engines – are they yet 6.5 certified? (Our understanding is Liquent is far behind and was recently purchased (again).  Documentum products (ADTS, DTS) are probably not so much an issue.

Eclipse – Don’t leave the developers out

Documentum 6.x uses Eclipse as the foundation for development (rather than DAB).  If you’re not an Eclipse shop, or if you’re not already standardized on it, look to get everyone standardized and trained now, and look into Eclipse plug-ins for your common development tools (source code tools, analyzers, etc).

Performance Analysis

One of the new features with Webtop 6.5 is the ability to leverage web performance analysis tools.   Look into if your architecture group has standards for those tools, and look to leverage them into your implementation plan to performance/load test your new 6.x environment.

Filed Under: D6, D6.5, Documentum, OpenOverlay, Upgrades

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. D MuraliKrishna says

    February 26, 2011 at 11:00 am

    i want to know java documentum 6.x licence price.

    Reply
  2. George Steimer says

    March 2, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    D – you’ll have to contact EMC (http://www.emc.com/domains/documentum/index.htm) to inquire about Documentum Licensing. Please let us know if you need any assistance with deploying or using Documentum in your organization.

    Reply
  3. Prasan says

    March 28, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Hey George , great article.
    Quick question to you relating High Availabilty of content servers.
    Is there any significant difference between load balancing of content servers in Windows and Solaris platforms. i am assuming HA can only be achieved by creating multiple instances of the Content server pointing to the same docbase.

    Reply
  4. George Steimer says

    March 29, 2011 at 9:32 am

    Prasan,

    We’ve seen clients achieve Load Balancing and High Availability using the following architecture:

    1) A network tool such as F5 BIG-IP, Cisco Catalyst, or others load balancing multiple web servers (let’s call them A and B) running Documentum client tools (Webtop/DA/xCP/whatever)
    2) Two content servers (let’s call them X and Y), one docbase repository
    3) In the dfc.properties (or dmcl.ini for 5.3), web server A points to content server X as the primary, and content server Y as the secondary. Web server B points to content server Y as the primary, and content server X as the secondary.

    In the above setup, there shouldn’t be any difference between Windows, Unix, or Linux. I’ve never seen a setup where the load balancing happens at the content server level. If that’s possible, then there could be differences based on OS.

    Hope this helps,

    George

    Reply
  5. Predrag says

    August 12, 2013 at 6:06 am

    Hello,

    I’m wondering if OpenMigrate can be used to migrate data from an existing repository on Documentum 6.5 SP1 version, to a new repository on Documentum 7.0 version?
    The main concern is to migrate objects (folders and documents, while preserving r_object_id), users and groups, ACLs, running workflows…

    Any thoughts, ideas, whitepapers, etc. on the matter would be appreciated.

    Best regards,
    Predrag

    Reply
    • Nickie Mc says

      August 15, 2013 at 9:00 am

      Hi Predrag,

      Though we have not explicitly tested a migration to D7 yet, OpenMigrate shouldn’t have a problem connecting between a 6.5SP1 repository and a 7 repository. That being said, OpenMigrate does not support preserving r_object_ids. If this is a critical requirement, I would recommend either an in place upgrade or cloning the database to the new environment and then upgrading.

      If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me at openmigrate [at] tsgrp [dot] com.

      Nickie

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Documentum WebPublisher Custom Navigation Tool « TSG Blog says:
    April 13, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    […] on the D6.5 platform.  There are many benefits of Documentum’s D6 platform which can be reviewed here.  New features in D6 such as right click menus and modal pop-ups where incorporated into the […]

    Reply
  2. Documentum – Top 12 Tips « TSG Blog says:
    June 28, 2010 at 4:04 am

    […] 12)   Upgrade to 6.5 – We  thought everyone needed one more reminder.  While most readers are already aware, it goes without saying that getting long-term support from Documentum is a good thing.  While we still have many 5.3 Customers, most view 2010 and 2011 as the time when they will finally do the upgrade. […]

    Reply
  3. Documentum Migrations – Interview with OpenMigrate Product Manager « TSG Blog says:
    September 21, 2011 at 7:16 am

    […] To understand all the pieces – related blog post here. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

Related Posts

  • TSG Open Source Product Plans
  • Documentum Upgrades – Handling eSignatures in Documentum 6.6+
  • Documentum 6.7 Upgrades and Hardware Changes
  • Documentum Workflow Manager, BPM, and Licensing
  • Documentum 6.5 Upgrade – Character Encoding Issues
  • Documentum Implementations – "Over Customized" or "Over Sold"
  • Documentum and Momentum EMC World 2010 Recap
  • Documentum Full Text Search with Lucene – Honoring ACL Security
  • Documentum – What’s Next Updated for 2010
  • PDF Annotation Tools That Work Beyond Documentum 5.3

Recent Posts

  • Alfresco Content Accelerator and Alfresco Enterprise Viewer – Improving User Collaboration Efficiency
  • Alfresco Content Accelerator – Document Notification Distribution Lists
  • Alfresco Webinar – Productivity Anywhere: How modern claim and policy document processing can help the new work-from-home normal succeed
  • Alfresco – Viewing Annotations on Versions
  • Alfresco Content Accelerator – Collaboration Enhancements
stacks-of-paper

11 BILLION DOCUMENT
BENCHMARK
OVERVIEW

Learn how TSG was able to leverage DynamoDB, S3, ElasticSearch & AWS to successfully migrate 11 Billion documents.

Download White Paper

Footer

Search

Contact

22 West Washington St
5th Floor
Chicago, IL 60602

inquiry@tsgrp.com

312.372.7777

Copyright © 2023 · Technology Services Group, Inc. · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Please accept this site's cookies, but you can opt-out if you wish. Privacy Policy ACCEPT | Cookie settings
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT