article How to manually upgrade the bundled Qlik Sense PostgreSQL version in Official Support Articles

How to manually upgrade the bundled Qlik Sense PostgreSQL version

Bastien_Laugiero — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 13:18:38 GMT

Upgrading Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows does not automatically upgrade the bundled PostgreSQL version. New versions of PostgreSQL are only deployed during a new install. This means upgrading to, for example, Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows May 2021, PostgreSQL will remain on 9.6.

For many organizations, running on the latest supported PostgreSQL version is a security requirement. To achieve this:

Move Qlik Sense database to standalone PostgresSQL database in which case you will have control of which PostgreSQL version is deployed as long as it is supported by the system requirements
Continue to use the bundled PostgreSQL with version 12.5 (May 2021 to May 2023) or 14.8 (August 2023 and later). Instructions below.

Content:

The information in this article is provided as-is and to be used at your own discretion. Depending on the tool(s) used, customization(s), and/or other factors ongoing support on the solution below may not be provided by Qlik Support.

This process requires a full reinstallation of the product. Despite the fact that a backup is being taken as part of the process, it is highly recommended to have a second backup plan in place such as a Virtual Machine snapshot and/or a Server Backup.

It is highly recommended to test this process in a test environment to get familiar with it.

Step 1: Upgrading your Qlik Sense site

The first step is to upgrade your environment to Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows. This article was originally written for May 2021, but can be applied to any version. Follow the required steps and recommendations for an upgrade for your version. Example: August 2023.

Once the upgrade is done make sure your Qlik Sense site is completely operational.

Step 2: Backing up your Qlik Sense site

At this point, you have an operational Qlik Sense site running on your new version of Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows. However, the bundled PostgreSQL is still on version 9.6 or 12.5, depending on the originally installed version.

The next step will be to backup your entire Qlik Sense site following these instructions (including the certificates) . The backup is essential as it will need to be restored later on.

Step 3: Uninstall Qlik Sense on the central node

You will now need to uninstall Qlik Sense from the central node following these instructions.

During the uninstall:

Have all rim nodes stopped.
Don't check the box Remove Qlik Sense demo apps, certificates, and data folders.
After uninstall and before reinstall rename C:\programdata\qlik to C:\programdata\qlik.old and rename C:\program files\qlik to C:\program files\qlik.old (if you changed it on another drive adjust accordingly)

Step 4: Install an identical version of Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows on the central node

Now that Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows is uninstalled on the central node, you will reinstall it as a result will deploy either a bundled PostgreSQL 14.8 (August 2023 and later) or a bundled PostgreSQL 12.5 (May 2021 to May 2023). Instructions available here (choose your version).

select the same host name and database settings as before
The file share can point at a temporary one since you will take the original one again after restoring the QSR database in step 5.

Do not check the box Start theQlik Senseservices when the setup is complete at the end of the installer.

Step 5: Restoring your Qlik Sense site

You now have a clean Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows deployed on your central node with PostgreSQL 14.8 or 12.5. You now need to restore your environment to retrieve all your configurations and apps.

Please follow the Restoring a Qlik Sense site (including the certificates).

Note: While restoring the database backup you will most likely receive the following error which can be ignored. This error is caused by the version discrepancies between the pg_dump that made the dump file and the pg_restore that's restoring it - in example files coming from PostgreSQL version 9.6 vs files coming from PostgreSQL version 12.5. QSR backup taken and restored with the same version of PostgreSQL will not produce that error.

pg_restore: while PROCESSING TOC:
pg_restore: from TOC entry 3; 2615 2200 SCHEMA public postgres
pg_restore: error: could not execute query: ERROR: schema "public" already exists
Command was: CREATE SCHEMA public;

pg_restore: warning: errors ignored on restore: 1

Once the environment is restored, you should be able to start your central node and rim nodes successfully.

Environment

Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows May 2021 and later

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

RaviGinqo — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 18:01:49 GMT

HI Bastien,

Thanks for the article, Couple of questions though, Do RIM nodes needs to be re-installed after Central node installation in Step 4&5 ? Are there any issues if PostgreSQL is not upgraded to latest version and kept to 9.6 ?

Any other known issue with May 2021 release or article (maintaining those issue) I can watch out for?

Thanks & Regards
Ravi

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 10:30:49 GMT

Hello @RaviGinqo

As you've already upgraded your system in the first step, there is no need to re-install the rim nodes later on. They will already be on the version you need.
No issues would be expected. But 9.6 is an older version. You can review PostgreSQL version differences/security fixes applies in the PostgreSQL specific release notes: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/release/
For this one I'd like to refer you to the Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows Release Notes for May 2021: https://community.qlik.com/t5/Release-Notes/Qlik-Sense-Enterprise-on-Windows-May-2021/ta-p/1806894

-Sonja

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

RaviGinqo — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 21:25:14 GMT

Thank you @Sonja_Bauernfeind

I will give this steps a try and reach out in case if help needed.

Ravi

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

pablodelcerro — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 15:17:02 GMT

Hi There,

We have a QS cluster with a standalone Postgresql and will like to get it back to the bundle version so that we dont have to worry about Postgresql updates, and also to get it to Postgresql 12.5 version.

Will a clean new install and a restore DB procedure work or we need to worry about anything else?

What about rim nodes? Need to do anything there?

Thanks!

Pablo

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 07:26:12 GMT

Hello @pablodelcerro

Before we get into details on the procedure: Standalone gives you more flexibility as you can control which version of Postgres is deployed (as long as it is a supported version in Qlik Sense). This is especially relevant for security-related defects in Postgres.

If you still want to go ahead with the migration though, then we can recommend these two steps:

Clean new install and a restore DB (on the same version of Postgres)
Upgrade to PG 12.5 following this article

A backup is of course needed so that you can revert back if needed.

For the Rim nodes: You shouldn't have to take any actions if you restore the certificate as part of the central node re-install.

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

pablodelcerro — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 13:18:11 GMT

Hi Sonja

Due to your comments, we have upgraded postgresql to 12.8 and have left it
as an standalone db.

But then we found out some post regarding problems with centralized logging
and postgresql 12.

Should we disable it? Something else we should do?

Before the db upgrade we have done qs upgrade to may 2021

Thanks for your help
Pablo

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:28:04 GMT

Hello @pablodelcerro

Apologies for the delay!

Disabling Centralised Logging if you do not plan to use it is a good idea. We are also deprecating this feature: Deprecation of Centralized Logging in Qlik Sense Enterprise on Windows.

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

pablodelcerro — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 11:34:11 GMT

Thanks! We will do so!

Quick question... shall we remove the Qlik Logging Service then? How?

In the meanwhile, we can disable it right?

Thanks!
Pablo

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 12:23:25 GMT

Hello @pablodelcerro

This should help: How To Enable/Disable Centralized Logging Mode.

And then you can just disable the service. No need to uninstall it.

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

pablodelcerro — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 12:29:11 GMT

Thanks Sonja!

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

AlexOmetis — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 15:01:10 GMT

Hi,

I just ran through this with an upgrade from May 2021 Patch 1 to August 2021 Patch 2. When I did it the first time I was still left with Postgres 9.6. I then uninstalled again, removed the remnants of C:\Program Files\Qlik\Sense and restarted the server. This time it worked and I got Postgres 12.5.

I don't know if it was because it was the second attempt, the restart or the removal of files that led to this but at least it's working now. When I tried for the first time to re-install Patch 2 after the main August 2021 install I got a message saying that the patch had been previously installed and I needed to reboot. I wonder if the registry of installed software hadn't updated or something. My advice would be to reboot after the uninstall and clear out the folder anyway!

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

mjht — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:22:42 GMT

Will Qlik Sense require an upgrade to PostgreSQL version 12.5 at some point? We are still planning to use version 9.6 unless required to upgrade.

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 14:37:00 GMT

Hello @mjht

There are eventual plans to do so, yes. But the Release Notes for the versions will always tell you what version of PostGre is supported.

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

santhoshkumar — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 12:59:54 GMT

any articles for RDS upgrade?

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

jaisoni_trp — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 15:53:02 GMT

With "Step 5: Restoring your Qlik Sense site",

a) do we delete certificates which were installed as new installation and restore old certificates?
b) do we restore other databases like QSMQ, Licenses, SenseServices?

I am getting below error after restore:

132 20220104T101940.477-0500 ERROR ServerName System.Repository.Repository.QRSMain 6 f5111462-ea37-4522-aea7-6bdf13b54cba Domain\userid Fatal exception during startup Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Repository.Core.Bootstrap.AbstractBootstrapper.<>c__DisplayClass13_1.<InstallSslBindings>b__0()↵↓ at Repository.Core.Logging.RepositoryLogExtensions.LogConsole(IQSLog log, QSLogLevel level, Func`1 message)↵↓ at Repository.Core.Bootstrap.AbstractBootstrapper.InstallSslBindings(IEnumerable`1 httpsPorts, IDotNetCert cert)↵↓ at Repository.Core.Bootstrap.ProxyBootstrapper.Install(BootstrapState bootstrapState)↵↓ at Repository.Core.Bootstrap.BootstrapHandler.Install(BootstrapState bootstrapState)↵↓ at Repository.Core.Bootstrap.BootstrapHandler.Bootstrap(BootstrapState bootstrapState)↵↓ at Repository.Core.Core.Setup_Node()↵↓ at Repository.Core.Core.Setup()↵↓ at Repository.Core.Core.Inner(ManualResetEvent shutdownRequestedEvent)↵↓ at Repository.QRSMain.<Main>b__40_2(ICore core)↵↓ at Qlik.Sense.Common.Ioc.WorkScope.Work[T](Action`1 action)↵↓ at Repository.QRSMain.Main()↵↓ at Repository.QRSMain.Run(String[] args, Action`1 terminate) f5111462-ea37-4522-aea7-6bdf13b54cba

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

TusharDev_Qlik — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 06:14:20 GMT

@Bastien_Laugiero @Sonja_Bauernfeind

We are upgrading from QS Nov 2020 SR9 to QS Nov 2021 SR5.

So are these steps applicable to Nov 2021 as well for upgrading Postgres database to 12.5?

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

TusharDev_Qlik — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 05:21:35 GMT

@Sonja_Bauernfeind @Bastien_Laugiero

We followed all above steps after our Nov 2021 SR5 upgrade but the RIM nodes were offline after restoring the QlikSense site. RIM nodes also contain Postgres 9.6 folder under "C:\Program Files" and "C"\Program Data".

Do we need to again reinstall RIM nodes?

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

TusharDev_Qlik — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 07:43:47 GMT

@Bastien_Laugiero @Sonja_Bauernfeind

during the fresh reinstallation we got below warning .

The port 80 required to run the Qlik Sense Services is in use by another process.

How to resolve this issue?

Re: Qlik Sense May 2021 - Upgrade bundled PostgreSQL to 12.5 version

Sonja_Bauernfeind — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 08:51:05 GMT

Hello @TusharDev_Qlik

This indicates that another process (a different program/software) is currently using port 80. You will need to identify this process and uninstall/deactivate this program. An example of how to do that can be found here. But note that this is only an example and you may need to get in touch with your local IT for assistance.

All the best,
Sonja