Forum Discussion

Lewis_Beard's avatar
Lewis_Beard
Icon for Expert rankExpert
3 months ago

How risky are PropertySource updates?

I have a user request that I think I can do, but I have some property sources I want to update in order to better accomplish it. I might not have to, but I want to work through updating some and handling the impact. I was looking at Microsoft_SQLServer_Connections, we have version 1.7.0 but latest is 1.25.0.

So I grabbed the script source code for the new version, made my own new datasource with AppliesTo being false but with that script code, the 1.25.0, and saved it. Then I could go into edit mode without saving it and change the appliesTo back to match the 1.7.0 installed version we have, so that I could run tests against a bunch of our servers to see the differences.

In most cases, I get exactly the same results and properties back, auto.mssqlserver.mssql_url and auto.sql_server_instances. But the new version code in my FAKE unsaved property source also gives back auto.mssql_edition and auto.mssql_version. Which would be fine, a couple of more properties seems fine, and in the dozen or so I checked, the ones the old and new have in common gave me the same results.

But I found a couple of servers where the 1.7.0 set a property auto.sql_browser_running, but the new version I'm testing does NOT. This makes me a little nervous because there are a TON of LogicModules, and some of them rely on the Microsoft_SQLServer_Connections PropertySource. So I'm concerned that by doing the update, I could lose some auto property that some other LogicModule may need.

I've avoided keeping lots of Property and Data Sources updated because were were already behind when I inherited portal admin, and because under the hood "updates" are really delete/replace.

So I guess my HIGH level TL;DR question is, how RISKY or DISASTROUS (heh) have you found it to be, when updating Property Sources?

Thanks.

propertysource
  • Mike_Moniz's avatar
    Mike_Moniz
    Icon for Professor rankProfessor
    3 months ago

    I haven't found updating PropertySources all that risky in general. From my understanding PropertySources can't remove any existing properties so even if it stops adding some that are needed after upgrading it, it would only affect new devices. In general, we check new devices are working as expected so if that did occur we would likely catch if that happens. But I haven't done too many PropertySource upgrades recently. Generally other checks mostly just look at system.categories rather then auto properties also.

    Now Sysoid, that I worry more about since you can't really check what will happen before updating it :)

    • Anonymous's avatar
      Anonymous
      3 months ago

      PropertySources can remove properties they set. If a new version of a propertysource runs successfully and doesn't output the same properties as before, the properties from before get replaced with the existing ones. The only exception to this is system categories. If a propertysource sets a system category, it won't remove it, no matter what.