Before Upgrading or Downgrading

Upgrading

The Aspera Enterprise Server installer automatically checks for an older version of the product on your system. If an older version is found, the installer automatically removes it before installing the new version.
Although the installer performs your upgrade automatically, Aspera highly recommends completing the tasks below before upgrading. If you do not follow these steps, you risk installation errors or losing your former configuration settings.
You cannot upgrade directly between different Aspera transfer products (such as from Point-to-Point to Desktop Client, or from Point-to-Point to Enterprise Server). To upgrade, you need to back up the configuration, uninstall the product, and perform a fresh install of the new version of the product.

Downgrading

Older installers do not check for newer versions of the application. You must prepare your machine as described below then uninstall the newer version before continuing with your downgrade.

Newer versions of the Redis database are not compatible with older versions of the application. Your downgrade process depends on whether a backup of the older Redis DB is available, either as a separate backup file or as part of your backup of the var directory from the older version.

With a backup: Follow the steps below to prepare your machine. Uninstall the application (for instructions, see Uninstalling). Copy the older Redis DB file into the var directory before installing the older (downgrade) version.
/opt/aspera/var/
Without a backup: Follow the steps below to prepare your machine. Uninstall the application (for instructions, see Uninstalling) and delete the var and etc directories from your machine. Then do a fresh installation of the older version. The configuration files in the etc directory may be compatible with older versions, but not all configurations may be read.
/opt/aspera/var/

/opt/aspera/etc/

Preparing for an Upgrade or Downgrade

Verify the version of your existing product.
The steps required to prepare for an upgrade may differ depending on your current product version. To view the current product and version, run the following command:
```
# ascp -A
```
Review product release notes.
Review the release notes for the versions that were released since your current version. In particular, the Breaking Changes section highlights changes that may require you to adjust your workflow, configuration, or usage.
If you were using the Aspera Watch Service or Watchfolders, set a docroot for the user running those services, if it is not already set.
For more information on setting docroots for users, see Updating the Docroot of a Running asperawatchfolderd Service. Ensure that the filepath being watched, or the source_dir configured for the watch folder, is included in the docroot of the user.
Stop or allow to complete any FASP transfers that were initiated by the computer that you are upgrading.
FASP transfers cannot proceed during your Aspera product upgrade.
- Close the application GUI.
- Stop (and resume after upgrade) or allow to complete any ascp, A4, or Sync transfers in the command line.
If your node is used by IBM Aspera Files, back up the entire Redis database to migrate your Files data.
Stop the Aspera NodeD service and create the backup file by running the following commands:
```
# /etc/init.d/asperanoded stop
# /opt/aspera/bin/asredis -p 31415 BGREWRITEAOF
```
The backup is stored as appendonly.aof in the following location:
```
/opt/aspera/var/appendonly.aof
```
Back up configuration and settings files.
These files are found in the etc and var folders.
- /opt/aspera/etc/ (contains server configuration, web configuration, user settings, license info)
- /opt/aspera/var/ (contains Pre- and Post-Processing scripts, Connect Server)
Back up the Redis database.
The Redis database is backed up as part of backing up the var directory, but Aspera recommends backing it up separately as well, particularly if it is stored on a different machine.
```
# sudo /opt/aspera/bin/asnodeadmin -b /filepath/database.backup
```