Author Topic: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility  (Read 5041 times)

Norbert Novotny

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CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« on: November 26, 2018, 07:02:21 AM »
Hi guys,

I just would like to share my findings in compatibility of ODWEK between CMOD Server 9.5 and 10.1.

https://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21392275

The ODWEK (the old "core") api used for search and retrieve of documents works as  expected. However,  using the ODWEK XMLparse method of ODServer, could give you a grief.

Since this is not a true Java API method, but rather masking with system call of arsxml utility, you will get incompatibility between server and client.
Basically the ODServer.XMLparse() method is not compatible in ANY of the combinations.

ODWEK 9.5 does not work with CMOD v10.1
nor
ODWEK 10.1 does not work with CMOD v9.5

Not sure if this is a bug or just an undocumented feature :)

Hope this helps to someone.
N.


Norbert Novotny
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Justin Derrick

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2018, 09:11:58 AM »
Hey Norbert.

This is why IBM always recommends that the ODWEK and CMOD Server components are *always* the same version.  I've seen some rather frightening combinations in production that I never thought would work, but managed to work just well enough for management to ignore the problem a little longer.  :)

-JD.
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jsquizz

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2018, 10:45:06 AM »
Hey Norbert.

This is why IBM always recommends that the ODWEK and CMOD Server components are *always* the same version.  I've seen some rather frightening combinations in production that I never thought would work, but managed to work just well enough for management to ignore the problem a little longer.  :)

-JD.

I second this. I mixed 8.5.0.5 ODWEK with 8.5.0.6 ARSSOCKD once and it was an absolute nightmare. Instability, random crashes, slowness, explainable issues.

I always tell my clients to keep ODWEK/CMOD SERVER the SAME EXACT VERSION down to the patch.
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Norbert Novotny

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2018, 01:13:19 AM »
Yah, we are trying to keep the ODWEK and SRV as close as possible, but what would you do in a case when you have a custom app which needs to serve two (in my case four) different instances of CMOD a kind of federation tool? However, the upgrade path of the servers is not possible to execute all at once (in one weekend). They are not very far of each other mostly just minor version, but in case to step up from 9.5 to 10.1 here you have major version change.

Anyway, I will post the solution if/when we get one ...  :)

Cheers,
 N.
Norbert Novotny
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Justin Derrick

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2018, 04:05:22 AM »
Hey Norbert.

One of my customers writes "microservices" so that all of their internal apps have the same CMIS-style API to their repositories.  In your case, you could almost have the same 'microservice' with four different instances, each using it's own version of ODWEK.  I don't know all the finer details of this approach, but it's been quite successful for them as they migrate away from solutions like ICI and Xenos and replace them with Free/Open Source Software solutions instead.

-JD.
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jsquizz

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2018, 07:16:10 AM »
migrate away from solutions like ICI and Xenos and replace them with Free/Open Source Software solutions instead.

-JD.

Hey Justin, can you PM me these Open Source Solutions. I am curious.

Thanks
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Justin Derrick

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2018, 11:09:20 AM »
I'm not on that team, but they're doing stuff like packaging (.zip) / reformatting (TIFF -> PNG for web presentment) / and I think they're working with some Java PDF libraries to bundle multiple PDFs into a single PDF so customers can download all their statements (by year, by search, etc.) as a single file. 

They're doing the federation piece themselves, but making it a little smarter by having lookup tables, so they have a better idea of where to search for particular documents.  The single biggest issue they were facing with ICI/Xenos was that every query was turning into dozens of queries on hundreds of millions of rows in each repository...  And they wondered why they had trouble keeping the systems up during tax season...  ;)

-JD.
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Alessandro Perucchi

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Re: CMOD 10.1 ODWEK compatibility
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2018, 07:12:20 AM »
Well to add some insight on ODWEK and CMOD Server.

What Norbert is talking about is only 1-2 method in the WHOLE ODWEK Java APIs, the xmlparse() method.
And yes, this one needs to be ODWEK Version = CMOD Version

Maybe the new API to archive documents in CMOD (which appeared in V9.5) ODServer.*load*(), then maybe, you need like the same version of the APIs

But for the "client" part of the ODWEK Java API, which is basically the 99% of the APIs, the advice is ODWEK Version >= CMOD Server.
I had never any problems with any of my past customers... It was mainly, searching, retrieving. That's it. And if that's the case, then you should not have any problems.
The only problem, which is NOT a real problem is when you want to use old ODWEK with a new server, then the new functionality are not available.
But that's exactly the same as the Windows Client. If it is older than the server version, you can still access it, but not all functionality will be available.

And depending on your setup, and migration path, it might be a must to have for a few days/weeks/month (I hope not years), that ODWEK Version < CMOD Server Version OR ODWEK Version > CMOD Server Version.
The advice I had from the IBM Labs (ODWEK main developer) was to always use the latest ODWEK Java API to develop and reach the CMOD Server even if the version was 1 main version difference.
That advice was several years ago, before V10.1.
Maybe today with the integration with some of the functionality of the server part, then it might not all be always true for all part of the API (like save documents or xml work).

Alessandro Perucchi

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