Upgrading a JACE

You must use the Commissioning Wizard to upgrade NiagaraAX software in a JACE. This means either an “update” upgrade (say from build 3.7.44 to 3.7.106), or a full “minor” release upgrade, for example build 3.7.106 to build 3.8.31.

When updating a multi-station system for the first time to an update release (e.g. AX-3.7u1) or AX-3.8, it is recommended to upgrade a Supervisor before its subordinate JACEs. For related details, see the “Upgrade considerations” section in the NiagaraAX 2013 Security Updates document.

Any JACE to be upgraded from one minor version to another, say from 3.6.nn to 3.8.nn, requires a JACE license upgrade, purchased before starting the upgrade. Otherwise, the Commissioning Wizard in Workbench will not perform the upgrade. This prevents the scenario where an upgraded JACE cannot start its station, due to a licensing error.

With a platform connection to any NiagaraAX JACE, access the Commissioning Wizard by simply right-clicking on that platform and selecting it from the menu (Figure 25).

Figure 25. Commissioning Wizard is right-click option of opened platform

If a JACE upgrade, in the wizard’s opening “selection of steps” you typically deselect most items that were previously run at the JACE’s initial commissioning time—for example to set the module content filter level, set date and time, install lexicons, and so on. See Figure 26.

Figure 26. Typical upgrade selections for existing NiagaraAX JACE (already running a station)

To upgrade a NiagaraAX JACE, you do select:

In the case where the upgrade requires an updated license installed:

“Request or install software licenses”
In the case where a station install also requires commissioning the JACE (i.e. upgrade):

“Install station from the local computer”
And always:

“Install/upgrade core software from distribution files”

When you proceed in this manner, the wizard automatically finds and selects all core distributions needed for the JACE. Then, in the pre-selected “Install/Upgrade modules” step, the wizard provides the option to also upgrade all out-of-date software modules. A final summary step allows you to review the upgrade before the wizard executes and performs its operations. For further details, refer to the section “About the Commissioning Wizard” in the JACE NiagaraAX Install & Startup Guide.

Platform tools prior to Workbench AX-3.5 skipped license checks before JACE upgrades. However, following an upgrade without an adequate license, a license error could keep the JACE’s station from starting.Other platform views in Workbench were updated to prevent inappropriate upgrades—checking first that the necessary license is installed. This affects behavior of not only the Commissioning Wizard and Distribution File Installer, but also other platform views where “inadvertent” upgrades may have previously occurred, such as when using the Station Copier or Software Manager views.