Moving from Winchill 8 to 9

[kdmgooner]

Has anyone else experienced the pain of trying to update a production installation from Windchill PDM Link 8 to version 9?


Having seen version 9 I am keen to do this as it has all the things that PTC removed from Intralink 3.x when they created version 8. I also want to do this myself and keep their grubby hands off our bank ballance.


I cannot find any instructions on how to move from version 8 to version 9 anywhere. it was never like this in the Intralink days when they gave you step by step instructions on how to move up a version. With this crap all you get is a solution installer disk which is great for moving up datecodes within version 9 but is no use whatsoever if you want to move up from version 8.


Not to be outdone I thought ok then while I wait an age for PTC to answer my questions or give me any straight answers I will have a go at installing version 9 from scratch only to find that you no longer get Oracle bundled with your PTC software. Version 9 requyires Oracle 10g so you now have to go to Oracle for this and so invoking Oracle license costs. Have PTC reduced the cost of Windchill accordingly? Have the hell as like.


Any help would be appreciated

 

[bryan puch]

DISCLAIMER: I AM NO EXPERT, BUT NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT TOO!

I am facing the same questions, my stack of cd's from PTC includes the Oracle CD, but it looks like it is a purchased option.

Also looks like the disk to start with is the PTC Solution Installer, docs seem to indicate there is an upgrade current install options.


Edited by: bryan puch

 

[kdmgooner]

Yes everything revolves around the solution installer disk but the upgrade current installation option refers to a current installation of Windchill 9 and is greyed out if all you have is version 8.
Did you purchase the oracle cd yourselves? there is no option to order one on th eptc site.
I downloaded oracle from their website and had a go at installing 9 from scratch but it has failed. I dont think it likes it at all if you have a previous version (ie version 8) on the server. I think you have to export/backup your version 8 database, aphelion etc and then wipe everything off and install from scratch but this is my point, none of this is written down anywhere, we are just left to flounder.

 

[looslib]

And to top it off, pTC always recommends that you do it on a trial machine first. So now with Windchill-based solutions, you need two servers not one. Actually three is better as they recommend that Oracle sit on its own server.

 

[rjessen]

I work for a PTC reseller and have done several trial upgrades which were successfull. There is a complete manual available, which does included step-by-step instructions. Since there are a variety of configurations possible, it does require some ability to extrapolate on the part of the implementer. As far as the requirement for multiple servers is concerned, I would strongly suggest you investigate VMWare. We use it extensively to set up virtual environments to replicate our customers configurations in order to conduct trial migrations, etc...