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Upgrading
Web Crossing from 3.1 to 4.0
Checking
Your Current Version
Obtaining the Latest Version
Creating a Temporary New Server
Moving the New Pieces to
Your Old Server's
Folder
Troubleshooting
Resources
Web
Crossing is constantly being improved. New features are added
at a regular pace, and existing features are always
being improved
upon. Web Crossing 4.0 adds a multitude of new
features and services not available in Web
Crossing 3.1, including
individual mail accounts (Webmail, POP3, IMAP), a
flexible, integrated
mailing list server and much more. And you can expect
Web Crossing
4.0 to be upgraded in response to user needs on a
regular basis.
Checking
your Current Version
Before
proceeding with an upgrade, you should be aware of the current
version of Web Crossing running on your system. The easiest way
to determine this is by logging in as sysop and
entering the Control
Panel. The current version is displayed near the top, as
shown in figure 1.
Figure
1 - the current version and build date
Web Crossing
numbers versions by both version number and
build date.
In figure 1, the version is 3.1 and the
build date
is January 12, 2000. This particular server is running
RedHat 6 Linux, so Unix is also shown as the
platform.
About
your license. Please read!
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CAUTION:
Upgrading from Web Crossing 3.1 to 4.0 requires
a 4.0 license.
To avoid access problems after upgrading, install
your 4.0 license on your existing 3.1 server
before upgrading
to version 4.0.
Your 4.0 license will also run on 3.1.
You
may already have a 4.0 license installed! All
recent purchases
included a 4.0 license, rather than a 3.1 license. Look
at the license (certificate) received by email from Web
Crossing Sales. The beginning of your license
number shows
the version:
Example:
WebXHarbor#v4p50e@@FD314159217281728
For
upgrade information, visit http://webcrossing.com/40/html/upgrades.html
To
upgrade versions prior to Web Crossing 3.1 please contact
Support.
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Obtaining
Web Crossing 4.0
You can
download the latest version of Web Crossing for your platform
(Unix, Windows or Mac) at http://webcrossing.com/40/html/download.html.
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Warning:
Be sure to download the Web Crossing server binary into
a temporary folder or directory. For example, if you are
using Unix, you should not download it into the
same directory
in which your already-installed webx
directory exists.
Just make a completely separate folder or directory and
download it there to be on the safe side. The same goes
for Mac OS and Windows servers.
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Creating
a Temporary New Server
Basically,
what you are going to do is install the new Web Crossing server
- but instead of running the new server, you are just going to
pick out the pieces you need for the upgrade and move them to
your current server's folder/directory.
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Warning:
It is traditional at this point to advise
sysops to backup
their current servers, just in case. What you are about
to do is very safe if done as directed. But if
you accidentally
start up the new server by mistake and then get confused
about where you want to move things, it is
possible do something
like move a new, empty webx.db database
file on top
of your old webx.db and wipe it out.
Completely.
So,
before proceeding with any upgrade, take a few
minutes and
protect yourself with the following simple
steps:
- Shut
down your Web Crossing server application.
- Copy
the enter Web Crossing folder/directory (the
webx
directory) to someplace else. For Mac or Windows, just
copy the Web Crossing folder to another
partition or folder.
For Unix, use the Unix tar command to create a
tar archive and save the archive someplace
safe.
- Restart
your Web Crossing server application after the upgrade
is complete.
You
will then have a complete backup of not only
your webx.db
database, but a full installation that you can move
anywhere and use.
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For
Unix servers:
Uncompress and expand the archive inside your temporary folder.
See the Unix
installation section
if you need to be reminded about how to uncompress
(uncompress
or gunzip) the download file and expand the
archive (tar).
Don't run the install program. All you have to do is uncompress
and expand the archive before proceeding.
For
Mac and Windows servers: Run the installation
program (refer
to the Mac
Installation or Windows
Installation sections for details) and install the server
in direct web
service mode. Choose
your temporary folder as your destination folder.
Do
not install in your current server's folder!
Don't bother
connecting to the new server and setting it up. You
won't be using
this server except to take updated pieces from to move to your
current server.
Moving
the New Pieces to Your Old Server's Folder
Follow
the steps below to move the new components from your downloaded
Web Crossing 4.0 expanded archive to your current webx
folder/directory.
Platform
dependent part (this section depends on whether
you are running
Unix, Mac OS or Windows)
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If
your current Web Crossing server has not already
been stopped,
do this now. You can stop your server from inside
the Control
Panel.
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For
Unix servers: move the following files from the new
server directory to your current webx
directory: webx-cgi,
webx-go, webx-run. For example, if
your current
webx directory's full path is /home/webx, you can go into
the expanded archive and issue the command
mv webx-cgi webx-go webx-run /home/webx
For Mac servers: move the new Web
Crossing application
to your current WebX folder.
For Windows servers: move the new
Webxsrvc.exe,
webxserv.exe and Wxconfig.exe
applications to your
current WebX folder.
Platform
independent part (this section is basically the
same for all
platforms)
Move
the following files and directories from the new server to your
webx directory/folder:
- standard.tpl
- webxextn.tpl
- stopwords.default
- webx.dictionary
- htmlLinks
- standard.js
- useful.tpl
- webx.dictionary
- webxButtons.cfg
- webxChat.tpl
- webxcalendar.tpl
- wordlist
- webxoff.htm
This
next part you should be careful with. It is very easy, but you
don't want to accidently overwrite any customized graphics you
might have in your current Images directory.
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Warning:
If you are already using the new multi-folder
(multi-button-set)
format for Web Crossing (introduced in Web Crossing 3.1)
and you have a folder with customized buttons in
it, backup your entire current Images
folder before
proceeding. You can always take customized
button sub-folders
out from your backup and place them back in the current
Images folder after the upgrade is
complete.
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Now,
go into the new Images folder. Notice that Images
contains many different sub-folders. This is because
you can choose
different button and icon sets through the Quick
Change feature in the Control Panel.
Move the contents of the Images folder
(not
the Images folder itself) into your current
Images
folder. Your current Images folder is inside
your current
html folder (if you are running in Direct Web
Service mode)
or it is in your Web Server's root directory (if you
are running
in CGI Mode).
For
Mac OS or Windows users, just drag the contents of the
new Images folder to inside your
current Images
folder (remember - don't replace the Images folder itself). For
Unix users, you can use the following command
(assuming your current
webx directory is /home/webx and you are running
in Direct Web Service mode):
cd
Images
mv
* /home/webx/html/Images
Finally,
restart your Web Crossing server application.
At
this point you should login as sysop and make sure all
your buttons and graphics are visible. If you do not
see any buttons,
you can go directly to the Control Panel
using URL command code 59, as in
http://yourdomain.com/WebX?59@@.
Once inside the Control Panel, you can visit the
General Settings
panel to adjust your Images directory. You can also
run Quick
Change to change buttons, colors and icons among
various different
sets and colors.
Also,
be sure to read about the New Features
in Web Crossing 4.0.
And
you should go through each Control Panel
to familiarize yourself with all the new features and settings,
to turn on Email services and make other changes to your newly
upgraded server.
If you
have created custom templates, you will have to modify them to
utilize the new features. If you're using the new
/Images directory
with subdirectories within it for icons and buttons, be sure to
modify your custom templates to utilize the new %% siteIcons %%
directory (Icons are no longer inside %% siteImages
%%). See Buttons
for more information.
Troubleshooting
Well, I
really did it this time. Despite trying to follow your
brilliantly
clear upgrade instructions, I accidently moved something to the
wrong place and wiped out my old Web Crossing contents.
What shall
I do?
- You
can always restore the contents of your backup into
your original
Web Crossing folder. That is a complete
system and should
work exactly as it did before you started doing the
upgrade.
I successfully
upgraded my Web Crossing server. You are right. It was easy! I
can see the new build date and everything looks like
it is running
just fine, but.... I can't get some of the new
features to appear.
- Try
turning off your templates and see if it works now. If so, it
means you have a customized template that is overriding the
new behavior. You will have to compare the template
references
in standard.tpl with your own templates in
webx.tpl
and make changes to your templates that incorporate the new
features.
Resources
Web Crossing
FAQ:
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