Evening readers,

For today’s topic, we are going to cover how to update the Runtime Component. It won’t be a complicated topic, I promise. Runtime updating is actually quite simple and pretty easy to do. There is little gotchas that you have to watch out for and that’s really where we will be discussing when it comes to the details. As I walk through the updating, I will point out commonly overlooked aspects and gotchas.

Before we do anything, there is a couple of questions you all have to ask yourselves. And those questions are:

1. How many runtimes do you have?
2. Where is the runtime(s) installed?
3. What version are they?

Once you can answer those questions, then you are ready to go. For my example, I am using a Version 12 Patch 22 (aka: 2020R2) machine server. I picked a slightly older machine so that the runtime was out of date and we can update it. So, how do you answer these questions. Well, first things first, were going to head over to the application server and launch the SAFE console. I am not really going to go into detail on the SAFE console. We can save that for another day. We just have to find it, launch it, and sign in. Once it is loads, you’re going to click on Solutions from the left list then Process servers tab button at the top.

Here, you can see all the runtimes associate to the is installations. The highlighted area in the screenshot shows how many runtimes are in use. In my screenshot, you can see one. This means I am using one runtime. This is the first gotchas. When updating runtime, you must update all the runtimes at the same time. And what I mean by that is, all the runtimes you are using must be the same version. Sometimes people forget and they just update the main runtime. Main runtime is the first runtime installed. It is part of the Application installation and is always defaulted to main application server during initial installation of Sage X3. You can always reinstall the main runtime to a new location but its not an easy task.

Anyways, lucky for me I only have one runtime. Therefore, I only have to do one update. So that answers question one. Also, if you look at the same screenshot, you can see the install path of the runtime. On my machine server the runtime path is: “D:\Sage\X3ERPV12\Runtime” and the server is “x3erpv12vm”.  This answered question two. And lastly, there is a technical version in the same screen. This tells us the version of runtime installed. In my environment I have runtime version R092.002.00088. This translates out to R92.2.88 (we just drop all the zeros). And that’s the last question. To go over the questions and fill them in. In my example environment I have:

1. How many runtimes do you have?
   1. I have 1 runtime.
2. Where is the runtime(s) installed?
   1. It is installed on server “x3erpv12vm”
   2. In path: “D:\Sage\X3ERPV12\Runtime”
3. What version are they?
   92. The runtime version is 92.2.88.

Now we are ready to start the download for the new runtime. Now that we know the version, it is time to head out to the knowledgebase and download the latest runtime for our version. Note that the versions for your environment may not be the same as in my example. I am using Version 12 and the runtime versioning may be different if you are on a different architecture platform. You can access the knowledgebase from the link HERE.

It should take you to this place. You are going to want to sign in first. The Download Portal is gated and requires an account for access. Once you’re logged in use the Download Portal KBA (Knowledge Base Article) to locate the runtime you need. As mentioned above, your specific version may not be the same as what I am about to install. This is to just get you in the right area to locate downloads. It will be up to you to figure out the version of runtime you want to install. Which also brings me to the second gotcha. A lot of people think that components update the same way the application patches work. You have to install them incrementally. That is actually not true. You can do a jump from the lowest version of runtime up to the latest version. Which leads right into another gotcha. You can only install runtimes that pertain to your platform version (main version). So, what I mean is, you cannot install 93.x.xx version, which is from version 12 platform, on a version 11 machine. It will not work.

Anywho, the version I am going to download, and install is 93.1.19, which is quite a few versions higher than my 92.2.88. If you want the KBA# for it, it is KBID # 106381.  That goes to the runtime version 93.1.19. A side tip, on the knowledgebase; you can search for KBID# by just typing in the number itself like 106381 right in the search-bar and you will get the exact KBA I just listed. Note: All KBAs associated to a download, update, or patch will require an account, they are all gated KBAs.

Now that its downloaded, we need to do one last thing before we install the update. We need to check what user was used for the original install. If you do not know, that is ok. We are going to check. On the machine where runtime is installed, we are going to go to the search function on the start bar in windows. Then search for services like my screenshot below and launch it.

If you do not have this (because you are on an old version of windows…) then go to control panel, administrative services and launch services function.

Now you want to look for your runtime service. It should be the same name as the name of the runtime when you initially installed it. Here is my example. In my example the user assigned to the service is x3run.

If you do not have access to this user, you may want to wait to do the install. Typically, it shouldn’t change during an update but its always safe to have it handy in case you have to put it back.

Now we get to the fun part of installing it. Before you install, always follow standard IT protocols, and have all the proper user profile information, backups, users off the system, etc… ready to go.

Here, I have the installer I downloaded from the KBA. You’re going to want to right click on the download and go to properties. Then check to see if you have this security message.

If you do, you are going to have to check the checkbox and click ok. Its good to check this because it may mess up the extraction of the exe file. Next, right click again and select run as administrator. We always want to make sure we are extracting / launching all component installs as the administrator.

If you are using 7zip, like I am, you will get a similar looking dialog box asking for a location to extract to.

If not, its okay, just make sure you extract to somewhere you know. Its always frustrating when you extract something and then cannot remember where it went.

Now, you should have a new folder in the area you extracted to. It should have several files like mine. We are only interested in the .jar file. It will typically be the biggest file size so if you organize by size, it should be right at the top.

Just as a note, I am not going to go into Java, azul, jdk, and whatever is associate with jar applications. I am assuming that since you have runtime and other components installed that you have at least a usable variation of java jdk installed somewhere.

So go ahead and double click the jar file and launch the installer. You’re going to want to click next, accept and get to this screen:

This part you have to select Modify installation and select the runtime you want to update. This part is super important. If you skip this part, the installer with try to install a brand-new version of runtime instead of updating the existing one. Click next to continue.

Then click Next, keep defaults, click next again, keep defaults again, and then let the installer run. When it finishes click next again.

As you can tell, it is a bunch of “nexts” and some waiting. Once you click that next after the install is finish laying the files. You will get to the processing screen. This is where the installer reconfigures and checks for component requirements like VC++. Here is another gotcha.

If you come across this error, there is 2 reasons. 1 you already have Visual C++ 2010 installed and it cannot reinstall it... or two, you are not an administrator user (or a user in an admin group with local admin rights to install stuff to the window directories). Most likely its already installed and the installer is not smart enough to know to check first before running. So, it fails. We are just going to click yes and continue anyways. Because, like my machine, VC++ 2010 is already installed. Once it finished, click Next then Done. And you are done installing.

Now we need to double check it installed. Go back to the start bar search tool and look for Programs and Features.

Look for the runtime listing under the programs and features tool

As you see in my screenshot the runtime updated to the R93.1.19.

Now, you might think we are done, but we have one more step. This is the step most people forget about. We need to back to the SAFE console where were started this blog at. We have to reconfigure the SAFE console to notify it we have updated the runtime and it will update its records with the correct versioning. We are going to go back to the same place as before. So once you log in we select Solutions from the left list then Process servers from the top tabs. If your seeing an orange-yellow highlighted runtime then we are doing good.

You’re going to want to click on it like so. It should show you some additional information on the runtime.

This tells us that the SAFE Console has recognized that Runtime has changed and needs to be reconfigured. So now we are going to click on the configuration button on the middle bar.

Make sure to click yes to the pop-up.

If everything goes well, you should get a configuration completed pop-up

If there are any errors, you will want to look at the TRACE tab and see what errors you have. Majority of the issues will be around permissions. That could directory or user profile.

Go ahead and click OK and then Close on the log. Now the Runtime in the SAFE Console should show the correct, updated version.

And that is all there is to it. I told you it would not be super complicated.

Thank you, readers, for sticking around….

                                               ……Until next month (when I have to post more).

P.S. I almost forgot to mention; don’t forget to check out our official Sage US Support YouTube channel. Next Month (in February) I will be demonstrating this blog post as a video. This way you all can see it in a more real time fashion.

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UPDATE!!:  The Video to go with the Blog Post is up!! 

Woot Woot! come check it out HERE

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