For those of you out there getting ready to play with the new toys, if you are upgrading in an environment where you still have 10.1.400.x db’s in your admin console, don’t try to install components for those on your first go around. Just do the import option ONLY for the DB you plan to upgrade. I suspect (though i’d like others to confirm) that the AC gets weird about the version if you install components for other DB’s to manage them at their current version in the 3.1.500 console. Install those components after you successfully upgrade the DB to 500. Let me know if you experienced the same thing.
Also if you have other Epicor instances using SSRS you’ll get this error, unless you stop the Report Service and Delete the Files First (CLSEpicor.dll and EpiNum2Words.dll
Deficiencies especially around farm management (Pilot, Test, Live) heard loud and clear. First step was getting the new CLI (Command Line Interface) scripting support in. Once you can drive everything through that a new set of options is possible.
Does this mean you will be volunteering for a beta test in the future?
And PLEASE send this feedback in through official channels
absolutely, i love the bleeding edge… i’ve found some other oddities… it hung up on WCF Activation Enabled in the SetupEnvironment.exe, after an hour of waiting patiently i killed it. After that it wouldnt advance beyond validating deployment data and it never called that exe. i uninstalled admin console and reinstalled, blew away all the folders in (x86) common files and program data, nothing. Finally, i smashed it with a hammer called Revo uninstaller, then i DID NOT install the 10.1.500.7 admin console updater and deployed a base and that finally worked…1200mg of motrin later i have a working app server. That tool can really try a guys patience lol, and ive installed a lot of app servers, it’s seriously flaky…
The only issue with admin console that ever really drives me bonkers is the xml file hidden behind the executables in program files. I end up having to remove the file / remove the app server and reconfiguring. Of course that’s usually because I am flipping between a dozen different versions most nightly drops.
Send in the steps and feedback!
Also there was one issue where if you have windows updates that required windows to restart the WCF Activation being enabled would hang because of DISM that we call in the background.
So ensure you patch first and don’t have pending updates or enable that feature first.
Also you can manage .400 and lower versions via the same admin console now.
One item in there I definitely emphasize… The Service Activations in Services in Windows. Pay attention to what is required and that they are auto or auto delayed. Windows Process Activation, possibly the net.tcp listener and port sharing as well.
Too many IT admins just think about the IIS based web apps and think the internet is only http pages
Hey Jose,
I’m using Visual Studio to edit my reports and I get this error when I try and deploy my RDLs to the CustomReports folder. Do you think I’m having the same issue as you listed in this post?
If so I’m not sure where the files are that are to be deleted?
Thanks! That did the trick!
Hi Bart,
I’m interested in testing out the admin CLI support you’re talking about, but the only reference to the command line I can find is for data model regeneration mentioned in the System Administration Technical Reference. Could you point me in the right direction for the documentation?
Thanks!
They are all self documenting (foo.exe /Help).
I believe they were in preview in 500 but released in 600. I’ll confirm with my docs folks on what they have to get a link or I’ll put another novel together on the topic.
We have been working with our SaaS folks on them and productized for all to use and so far, so good. There is a standard signature to them so all the tools look the same from an operation standpoint - for good and bad.
FYI -
The Command line API docs will be in 600.
- DataModel Generation
- DB Migration
- App Server Standup
- License Management
- App Server Config
- Task Agent Config
Awesome, looking forward to it! Hopefully we’ll be able to put together fully scripted installs and updates now.
We are already on to phase two of this. I met with the documentation team yesterday a few hours to start defining ‘scenarios’ or ‘workflows’ instead of the current technical references.
In other words the current docs read like a dictionary and we want to have a encyclopedia?
Feedback links at the bottom of the help docs are well monitored so abuse with comments please
Hi Bart,
Has this documentation made it out into the wild yet? I’ve been checking our EpicWeb and haven’t been able to find anything. In the meantime, I’ve been brute forcing my way through on 10.1.600.10 and made it through DB setup, but now I’m stuck on app server setup.
I’ve done a search for all EXEs and it seems like SetupEnvironment.exe is the most likely candidate. However, running this with no arguments actually brings up a UI. Running it with any other argument results in an ArgumentException, including /help and /generateconfigtemplate. I was wondering if I’m looking at the correct program or if somehow I’ve missed it.
I’ve jumped ahead to look at what I presume is the license management tool (Ice.Tool.AdminLicense.exe). Running this with /generateconfigtemplate just crashes with ‘Argument “ConfigFile” not found’. Seems like it is erroneously expecting a config even when the command is just to generate one.
Also, here’s some general feedback below. I’ll try to get all this through the correct channels too, but I’m in the Asia region so it’s often hard to get to the right person, especially with something I’m guessing very few people are using.
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The EXEs should have some proper exit codes, at the very least just something to differentiate between success and failure.
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There is a step to extract DB SQL scripts from various zip files for which there is no command line tool. It’s not difficult but I’m assuming the specific zip files change from release to release so it’s probably safer if there was also an EXE for that.
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It would be helpful if there was also a way to query the state of the admin console from the command line, something that returns a list of servers and properties.
I am checking when the ‘Command Line Tools Guide’ made it into docs. That’s the subject to search on in the help.
Setup Environment (SetupEnvironmentUI.exe) is the command line tool that will do Application Server Setup.
There is a bug where some of the command line tools need a space between switch assignments
foo.exe /Gen = bar
not
foo.exe /Gen=bar
Check if that is causing your issue - hoping that one got fixed - I need to check.
Exit Codes SHOULD be 0 and 1 as old command line junkies know and love. I know we missed a few though so bugs were in the queue.
Can you expand on the db script zip extraction? I can only remember one db feature needing and using a zip. There should be no need as you state so feedback please
The admin console has no 'state. It’s just pinging the admin services - AdminLicense, AdminCompany, AdminSession… You should be able to ping those or curl them if using REST…
Awesome, looks like I was using the wrong program for app server setup, and the spaces fixed the issue with the admin license tool. I owe you one, Bart (as I’m sure a lot of others do!). I had assumed SetupEnvironment.exe would be the command line version and SetupEnvironmentUI.exe would be used by the UI, but I guess it’s true what they say about assumptions.
I ran across a few of the tools that always returned the same thing regardless of result (I think it was one of the DB ones always returning 1). I’ll go back and make a list of these and file a bug report.
The DB scripts I’m talking about are the SQL scripts used to create the entire database. When ERP10 is first installed, they are contained in the zip files below. When installing through the UI, they get unzipped the first time you try to add a database server. When installing from the command line, you need to pass the path to the unzipped directory in the <folder> element in the config for Epicor.MigrationConfigurator.exe.
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Epicor Software\Database Manager Extensions\3.1.600\DB Migration\DB Scripts.zip
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Epicor Software\Database Manager Extensions\3.1.600\DB Migration\DB Scripts700.zip
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Epicor Software\Database Manager Extensions\3.1.600\DB Migration\UpdateDBScripts.zip
As for the admin console state, I assume what you mean is the app server state is queried from the app server directly? I’m more referring to the state of the admin console itself, which is basically a list of the servers that have been added to that particular console instance for management.