Frequently Asked Questions about the Evergreen 2.1 Upgrade
The GPLS/PINES staff has been receiving many questions about the way the upgrade will go and we thought it would be useful to have an FAQ page about it. We have made a schedule of events available:
Schedule
Now until Thursday, January 12 (or until Monday, January 9 for printers and SIP products):
PINES Testers continue testing circulation, cataloging, local administration and SIP devices at new.gapines.org and report any problems to the GPLS Forums ( http://forums.georgialibraries.org/index.php?board=56.0 ).
By Friday, January 6:
GPLS/PINES staff provides a link for the PINES-specific Evergreen 2.1 staff client download.
Monday, January 9, close of business:
Deadline for reporting problems from testing SIP connection problems or printer issues.
Monday, January 9 - Wednesday, January 11:
Evergreen 2.1 trainings - see http://georgialibraries.webex.com for registration information
Monday, January 9 - Thursday, January 12:
Local system administrators install the PINES-specific Evergreen 2.1 staff client alongside the existing Evergreen 1.6 staff client. GPLS/PINES staff will provide detailed instructions for installation. ***PLEASE NOTE***: the new server will not be active until after the upgrade, so please have your staff continue working on the 1.6 staff client until Thursday evening.
Thursday, January 12, 6:00 p.m.:
PINES goes offline for upgrade. Library staff will begin using the Evergreen 2.1 staff client for standalone and continue using it until receiving the "all clear" email from GPLS/PINES staff.
Monday, January 16, 6:00 a.m.:
Target for going online. OPAC functions will be available for patrons to begin using.
Tuesday, January 17:
LibraryManagers and LocalAdmins create new workstations on the new server (GPLS/PINES staff will provide detailed instructions for doing so in advance). Library staff begin work using the live server. Report any problems via http://help.georgialibraries.org/.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Will the OPAC or SIP connections be available during the upgrade?
No. All PINES services will be down. We have added a message to the OPAC alerting patrons of this. PC management software will have to be used with guest passes.
If we upgrade our staff client now can we begin using Evergreen 2.1 early? OR Do we have to upgrade all of our staff clients before we can start using Evergreen 2.1?
The data that is on "new.gapines.org" is test data NOT live. It is a snapshot of PINES live server from December 2, 2011. It is not at all connected or related to the live production server so any changes you make on one will not be transferred to the other. Before the upgrade, the 2.1 staff client will not work with "gapines.org" (our live server). After the upgrade, the Evergreen 1.6.1.8 client will not work with "gapines.org" our new server. So *no* please don't upgrade yet for actual workstations and *yes* you will have to upgrade any station you will need for work once the server upgrade is complete.
Why will PINES be down for over three days?
The database upgrade process has taken over 60 hours in test runs we have built in enough time so that if anything in that process goes wrong, we will hopefully have time to re-do that step within the planned service outage. We do not expect that this will not be a typical timeframe for future upgrades.