How to Upgrade Open Admin for Schools

Installation for OA 5.25 - January 2011

There have not been any large changes to the installation process in this release. The usual process is:

1. Move the old version out of the way and insert the new version. I would suggest the excellent file management tool called 'Midnight Commander' (mc), based on a much earlier piece of software called 'Norton Commander'. You can mark files with the 'insert' key and move/copy files with F6/F5 keys between alternate panes of files.
   • Move/Rename the old version to, for example, andrews.old.

   • Create a new directory of the same name and copy the new folders of OA 5.25 school into this andrews folder. ( normally /opt/openadmin/andrews ) Directly below this we should have the admin and cgi directories (ie. /opt/openadmin/andrews/html, /opt/openadmin/andrews/cgi ), etc.

   • Change the ownership of the new andrews folder so that it matches that of the UID/GID that the web server is running as. This is 'www-data' for both user and group in Debian.

2. Copy the configuration files from the old etc folder into the new etc folder. Before doing so, copy the admin.conf and rename it to admin.conf.525. Edit them both and add any new values at the top of the 5.25 admin.conf to the older admin.conf from your existing installation.

   Copy the studentnumber file (which contains the next available student number), the term file (which contains the current term) and the receiptnumber file (if present),(which contains the next receipt number for the fees system).

   Copy the repcard.conf file (report card system) to the new etc folder from the old etc folder if changed, while renaming the new ones with a .525 ending. Do the same for any other .conf files that have been changed in previous install. (Look at file dates)

3. Edit the (old) admin.conf and the admin.conf.525. Copy the changes at the top of the new 5.25 file and make any other necessary changes in file locations, etc. Do the same with the repcard.conf and the new repcard.conf.525 and update changes at the top of the file.

4. Copy the previous 2 school logo files (logo.gif and logotn.gif) in admin/images into their new location. Do the same for the admin.css file which contains the color information you may have modified previously (in /admin).

5. Backup your data using your backup tool of choice. Mysqldump works well too, creating a portable .sql if it's output is captured into a backup file.

6. Update the database table structure using the provided update scripts ( in the utility/sql/475to525 folder of the download). The sql files should be used for earlier versions of OA first, if updating from a much earlier version.

   Now update the meta data by using the metadata update script on the eoy (end of year) page. It is the Update Metadata button. You could also empty the meta table and use the meta475.sql script also. However, I would suggest the the button method, with minimal changes.

7. If you would like to use the iep (special education) application, please read the installation notes. It is a separate website with it's own html and cgi folders. It would normally be installed into /opt/openadmin/iep. Use the install script to automate this process.

8. TaDa. Sit down and gloat. Gloating is Important. Tell your Spouse or Significant Other how wonderfully talented you are, etc.