Following on from the recent HotFix 12 blog, now seems like a good time to throw in some pointers about Deltek Cobra 5 installs and updates. And this time round, I’d like to talk a little about n-Tier environments. The arrival of a new version is when having n-Tier deployments makes life much easier for the IT folks. Here’s how it works.
n-Tier Deployment Update Process
For an n-Tier deployment, an update is easy to deploy to your Deltek Cobra user base. Rather than running all over updating people’s workstations around the premises, the application tier handles things automatically. To briefly describe the process; the update happens in three steps. Firstly, you (the keeper of the application tier server) simply run the DeltekCobra51.exe file for the HotFix update on the application server. The install wizard walks you through the process and you’re generally done in a couple of minutes.
Next step, restart the application server after the upgrade installation is completed. It’s not usually required, but I see it as a good opportunity to clean the cobwebs out and make sure all the registry items and database changes have a chance to announce themselves to the system. I also want to be sure that a restart doesn’t cause any problems should I have to do this in the future. Best to check it all while the users are off line.
Once that’s done, the final step is handled by the Deltek Cobra 5 users. They will see the following prompt when next they attempt to login:
All the users need to do is click the Yes button and the system promptly updates their local Deltek Cobra 5 Workstation to align with the server. The process is quick and simple thanks to the install wizard and no one needs to lose an otherwise productive afternoon wearing out their favorite sneakers.
To pull this trick off, all you [the IT guru] needs to do is maintain the ‘share’ for the Workstation folder on the application server and a mapped drive to it on the workstations. Put there and shared by the install wizard during the initial installation (nice touch by the way), this shared Workstation directory always contains the workstation installation image used to deploy the updates to the user community.
Anyway, all this is well documented in the Deltek Cobra 5 Installation Instructions section at the end of the DeltekCobra51HotFix##ReadMe.pdf file, provided with each new release of a HotFix.
To read more Deltek Cobra articles click here