After moving SALTO Space to a new server, with no guide for our setup and two days of troubleshooting, the version upgrade was a nice change. SALTO has an official guide for it, Update versions, and this time it covered everything.
We went from 6.12.2.3 to 6.14.3. Here's how it went, for anyone about to do the same.
Check for a newer version, even if you already downloaded one
I'd downloaded 6.14.2.3 during the migration. Some time passed between the migration and the upgrade, so before starting I signed in to the SALTO software area to make sure it was still the latest. It wasn't: 6.14.3 was out, so I downloaded that instead.
The official guide says to do this too. If the installer has been sitting in a folder for a few weeks, check again before you use it.
Back up the database
The SALTO guide points to Space's built-in database backup tool. Our database runs on a full SQL Server instance and I'm comfortable in SQL Server Management Studio, so I made the backup there instead, while the installer downloaded. Microsoft's backup quickstart covers the steps.
If you prefer a query, a copy-only backup won't interfere with your regular backup schedule:
-- Replace the database name and path with your own
BACKUP DATABASE [YourSpaceDatabase]
TO DISK = N'D:\Backups\SpaceDB_pre-upgrade.bak'
WITH COPY_ONLY, CHECKSUM, COMPRESSION, STATS = 10;If you're not familiar with SSMS, use SALTO's backup tool. What matters is having a backup you know you can restore before the installer touches the database.
Unblock the download
Windows marks files downloaded from the internet, and that mark carries over to everything you extract from a zip. Clear it on the zip before extracting: right-click the file, choose Properties, check Unblock at the bottom of the General tab and click OK.
In PowerShell:
Unblock-File -Path "C:\Installers\SALTO_Space_6.14.3.zip"This time the zip held a single installer, so unblocking it afterward would have worked too. With zips that contain many files, unblocking first saves trouble.
Run the installer
I signed in to the Space server as our service account, copied the installer over and checked again that it was unblocked. Then, as the guide says, I right-clicked it and chose Run as administrator.
After the license agreement (read in full, of course), I pointed it at our existing install folder. Two prompts are worth knowing about ahead of time:
- Use existing setup or configure a new one. It detects the current install. Choose use existing.
- Use the current license or activate a new one. It detects the active license. Choose use the existing license. I'm not sure why it asks, but nothing changed when I kept the current one.
A few minutes later the installer showed a green check mark, "Well done!", and a message that ProAccess Space was up and running. The image in the middle of that screen opens the web interface. I signed in with known-good credentials and checked that doors, controllers and the encoders all looked the way they should.
That was it. No error icons, no port problems, nothing to take apart.
What changed in 6.14.3
What I noticed after signing in:
- New colors and some theming changes
- Some menus are rearranged slightly
- A new version of the Local IO Bridge, 2.2.0.0
The Local IO Bridge runs on the workstations that use encoders and readers through the browser, so plan to update it on those PCs too. Expect the first person who opens Space after the upgrade to ask why everything is a different color.
Pre-upgrade checklist
- Check the software area for the latest version, even if you already downloaded one
- Read the release notes and system requirements for the new version
- Back up the Space database and confirm the backup finished
- Unblock the download before extracting
- Run the installer as administrator, signed in as the account Space runs under
- Choose the existing setup and the existing license
- Sign in and check doors, controllers and encoders
- Update the Local IO Bridge on encoder workstations
- Give the team a heads-up about the new look
Not everything needs to be an adventure. When the documentation covers your situation and the upgrade does what it says, that's a good day.