Specifications

VMware and BEA WebLogic Solutions Deployment Guide

7.0 Upgrading BEA WebLogic Application Server

Environments on Virtual Machines

There are 2 distinct VMware Infrastructure 3 features that can simplify the upgrade (or patching) of BEA

WebLogic Application Server environments.

1. Snapshots: Create a snapshot prior to upgrade. If the upgrade or patching fails, you can revert

back to snapshot instantly. This provides for quick problem resolution in case of challenges during

patching or upgrades.

2. VM cloning: Clone the BEA WLS VM node(s) that needs to be upgraded and make sure to

configure it on another virtual NIC network. Make sure this network is private or on a different

network from the production environment. You can create the cloned VM on the same ESX Server

host or on another ESX Server host and configure it to be on a separate network while retaining all

the configurations deployed in production. This will ensure that the cloned VM and the original VM

are not talking to each other. Now you can perform the upgrade in isolation and test it. While you

are performing the upgrade, the production VMs are not impacted and continue to run. Once the

upgrade is successful and tested, you can just enable this cloned VM to be the production BEA

WLS node(s) and shutdown or delete the original VM.

We will look at the steps involved in using “Snapshots” or “VM cloning” to successfully upgrade our BEA

domain.

For the purpose of demonstrating “Upgrade”, we installed 8.1 SP6 domain environment showcasing

a similar configuration as our 9.2 setup (BEAVM1 as Admin Server, BEAVM2 and BEAVM3 as the

managed servers on the 8.1 cluster) and used the same sample application to verify functionality

before and after upgrade.

7.1 Snapshots in BEA WebLogic Server Virtual Machine Environment

A snapshot captures the entire state of the virtual machine at the time you take the snapshot. This includes

the memory state, disk state and the VM settings. When you revert to a snapshot, you return all these items

to the state they were in at the time you took that snapshot.

Snapshots are useful when you need to revert repeatedly to the same state but you don’t want to create

multiple virtual machines. With snapshots, you create backup and restore positions in a linear process.

Snapshots can be used as restoration points during a linear or iterative process, such as installing update

packages, or during a branching process, such as installing and testing different versions of a program or

patches. You can take a snapshot while a virtual machine is powered on, powered off, or suspended.

Snapshots can bring unique value to a BEA WebLogic environment. You can use snapshot for the following:

1. Create point in time copies for recovery from problems.

2. Use snapshots during upgrades and patching. If there are problems during change management

processes, you can instantly revert back to the original image.

3. Snapshots can be useful during application failures to revert back to stable image of the application

environment.