Small FME Server upgrade issue

While Safe Software regularly publishes new Betas from FME 2019, in recent months we have upgraded many customers to FME Server 2018.1. In practice, we advise customers to upgrade to a .1 release on server for production purposes. Performing regular maintenance updates on a production environment is often less desirable for business-critical applications.

We have run into an upgrade issue a number of times that I would like to deal with here.

Most of the installations that we find are the result of an Express install of the installation wizard. This wizard delivers the desired configuration in nine out of ten cases.

https://docs.safe.com/fme/2018.0/html/FME_Server_Documentation/Content/AdminGuide/Run_the_Installer_Express_Windows.htm

In older versions of FME, the engines were usually marked "[computer name] _Engine #". In the 2018 release, the structure of more complex, fail-over resistant and multi-host installations has been greatly simplified. This ultimately results in the default engine name in the Express installation becoming 'localhost_Engine #'.

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/74845/introducing-the-new-20181-fault-tolerant-architect.html

Still, an upgrade of FME server usually comes down to uninstalling the current installation and then fully reinstalling this package. This is also the reason why regular maintenance updates in a production environment are considered extremely stressful.

With an upgrade, a backup of the previous version will be restored after the reinstallation. In addition to the workspaces and any data, this backup also contains much of the server configuration data.

http://docs.safe.com/fme/2018.1/html/FME_Server_Documentation/Content/AdminGuide/Upgrade-in-Place-Same-Machine.htm

We have come across several instances in which, after restoring a backup, the 'old' engine names were still referred to in various places. For example, it may happen that a previously defined queue now only refers to engines that no longer exist. Jobs that are shot into this queue will remain there forever. The simple editing of the queue in question resolves this. You just have to pay attention.

http://docs.safe.com/fme/2018.1/html/FME_Server_Documentation/Content/WebUI/Job-Queues.htm

In only one case did I have to remove a few lines from the application database, in the public.fme_tags table. This goes against the official Safe guideline, and is also not documented on the website (Safe.com). If you need this type of help and are eligible for support from Tensing, please contact us. (And go ahead and install pgAdmin on the FME Server, because we will need it together.)

https://www.pgadmin.org/download/