Upgrading to Board 14 release from Board 10 or Board 11

Moving from Board 10.x or 11.x versions to Board 14.1 version involves the architecture change that was introduced in Board 12.0, meaning that this should be considered a migration process that requires mandatory actions to be performed. Therefore, both the Board 12 architecture upgrade instructions and the Board 14.1 upgrade notes should be considered for these updates.  

Note that, to move from older versions like Board 10.x or 11.x to Board 14.1, it is not necessary to upgrade to Board 12 first.

This article aims to explain the steps to upgrade from 10.x and 11.x Data models and Capsules to Board 14.1 and to describe the specific features that need to be adjusted to keep working as expected.

Steps for upgrading to Board 14

Migrating Data models

Every Data model created in a Board version prior to the Board 12.0 (2021 Spring) release will have to be cleared after you upgrade your solution, so Cubes must be extracted before the process and then reloaded in the new Board 14 release environment.

This applies both to Data models created in Board version 10.x and to Data models created in Board version 11.x.

Prepare a new environment with the current version.
Prepare a development environment with the same version of Board currently in use. Board Cloud Customers can utilize a Sandbox instance for this purpose whereas on-premises customers must ensure a suitable environment is made available
In your current version, run a Procedure that performs an “Extract all Cubes” step and then, in the Cubes section, select all Cubes and clear them all 
Only the first version of each Cube (also called Structure) is extracted during this process.
- By default (using the "Extract all cubes" Procedure step), the extraction path used by Board is C:\BOARD\dataset\database_name
- Cloud Customers must extract such data in the Z:\ storage area, therefore, a dedicated "Extract all Cubes" Procedure must be configured
Uninstall your current version of Board (on-premise customers only)
Install Board 14 release
- For Cloud customers, the upgrade process can be initiated by raising a ticket through the Board Support Portal. The ticket must contain your Platform name (e.g. customer1-s1.board.com). The Board Cloud Operations team will then handle your request
- On-premises customers can download the necessary installer files from the download page
Access your Data models. A popup window will appear, asking you to migrate your Data model: click "YES" to continue
The system will automatically try to clear all existing Cube's data, search for previously extracted Cubes in the default directory, and reload them onto Board 14 release
This process may take minutes or hours, depending on the amount of data you're upgrading.
For large Data models and complex Data models, we suggest not to rely on the automatic extract and reload process described in step 6, but to manually execute the extraction and clear actions as described in step 2. Then, manually reload the Cubes by launching the "Reload all cubes" Procedure.

Migrate Capsules

Next, you must migrate your Capsules and may have to refactor your Time functions. 

After upgrading, your Capsules must migrate from the old version to the new version.

To migrate Capsules, proceed as follows:

Go to the Capsule page
Identify the "old version" Capsules. They are in greyscale and surrounded by a grey dotted border
Right click anywhere on the Capsule tile
Select "Migrate Capsule" from the top of the options menu. Now, your Capsule has migrated and you are ready to interact with your Capsule

After all these steps are completed and your Data models are upgraded and fully populated with your previous data, you can actively use your new Board 14 release environments.

Data models upgraded from versions 11.0, 11.2, 11.3 will lose Cube versioning. Cube versions will need to be manually recreated in Board 14.1.

Installing Board 14 release will update the chat feature to the new version and all previous chat sessions will no longer be available (only from versions older than 12.4).

In Board 12.3 (2022 Spring), the @Selection_Ex substitution formula has been updated, please refer to the release notes here if this functionality is relevant for your application.

In Board 12.5 (2023 Spring), the evaluation of multiple dynamic selections applied to Time Entities has been changed, please refer to the release notes here if this functionality is relevant for your application.

In Board 12.6 (2023 Summer), to enhance security, the option to connect data sources to Board using “localhost”, “127.0.01”, or all the access requests that are resolved internally to the server are not supported anymore. This is true for all types of Data readers, including SAP and ASCII readers. Please refer to the release notes here if this functionality is relevant for your application.

Detailed changes introduced

Board 14.1 does not introduce any critical changes compared to the Board 10.x versions, so no specific action is required to complete the upgrade. The only changes to be aware of are the following:

Data Model - Dynamic Saving Policy: the new Dynamic Engine released with Board 14.1 will simplify and automatically manage what data is kept in memory rather than on disk. This will ensure optimal resource usage, data model scalability, and better responsiveness under high concurrency usage. To learn more about the Dynamic Engine, please refer to the Dynamic Engine article. For this reason, the “dynamic” saving policy is now the only saving policy configuration available in Board 14.1. If your environment uses one of the previously existing policies, it will automatically change to the dynamic one during the upgrade (the existing configuration will be ignored). No action is required to manage this change.
Procedure step - Save Data model to disk: the function executed via this Procedure step is now directly managed by the Dynamic Engine. Therefore, if executed, this step will not perform any action. In complex environments or Data models, this step was typically used to save all pending changes to disk before performing backup actions. This type of backup architecture is no longer necessary and can be simplified by simply leveraging the backup Procedure step.
Procedure step – Backup/Restore Data model: thanks to the Dynamic Engine, the execution of backup/restore Data models has been completely optimized, by making these actions faster and more suitable even for complex environments and large Data models (as already explained for the Save Data model to disk action).
For on-premise customers, to benefit from the new backup/restore performance, you must enable the shadow copy mechanism (in Windows features). If it is not active, Board will execute the old backup/restore mechanism
Data Model - InRam Flag for Cubes: this feature has now been deprecated. Existing setups other than the default ones are ignored after the upgrade. No action is required to manage this change.
Data model – Fast track section: this feature has been deprecated. For any question on this item and product roadmap, please refer to the Product Management Team.
Cognitive Space area: this feature has been deprecated. For any question on this item and product roadmap, please refer to the Product Management Team.

For on-premises customers only

HTTP protocol is no longer supported: to increase the security of our applications, it is now mandatory to use a certificate (HTTPS protocols) to access the Web Board platform. The only exception is for installations that use “localhost” access.
Web API Server folder structure has now changed (relevant for IIS deployments): the new framework used for our new User Interface requires a different web server folder structure which will therefore affect the on-premise installation of Board deployed via IIS. Please refer to the following article to learn more about the new IIS deployment steps for Board 14 and any relevant differences with the previous structure.

However, if you are upgrading from Board 10.x or 11.x versions, some changes have been introduced over time and must be considered for this upgrade.

Changes which need to be managed and tested when upgrading from Board 10.x or Board 11.x to Board 14.1 can be divided into 3 main areas: