
Upgrade Page
If you're a registered user of SMART, you
can retrieve and apply upgrades from this page
(so you might want to bookmark it and check
back from time to time). If you are not a
registered user but would like to see SMART in
action, ask for a guided tour.
Download the current Smart 4 build by
clicking
here.
Download the current Smart 3 build by
clicking
here. (Please note that support for Smart 3
has now been discontinued.)
Other builds, and a detailed
list of changes in each build, are available
here.
If this is your first visit here our you are
not familiar with the upgrade procedure we
recommend you read the notes below first.
What's new in this upgrade?
Changes are listed on the support
page.
Backups
Before installing any new version of Smart,
be sure to take a backup
of your database. If you
haven't upgraded for some time, it's also a
good idea to do some acceptance testing to
familiarise yourself with changes.
Interim versions
Currently, you may apply any upgrade version
to any version of Smart from 3.200 without
applying the upgrades in between. (To see which
version you are using, select \Help \About from
the main Smart menu.)
Enabling code policy change
As of 1 October 2007 you will not be able to
apply a Smart 4 upgrade unless your maintenance
and support payments are up to date.
- If you rent Smart and your rental
payments are up to date, no special
arrangements are required.
- If you have purchased Smart you
will require a new enabling code before
you run the upgrade. Please contact us
by
email or phone to obtain
the code.
Automated upgrades
There is now a facility which will enable
your Smart workstations to upgrade themselves
(so don't have to manually upgrade each
workstation). It's explained here.
Release
numbering
Release numbers which end in 00 (e.g. 4.200
or 4.300) usually represent a big step forward
in functionality and may require some degree of
operator retraining for normal use.
Release numbers which don't end in 00 (e.g.
4.205 or 4.301) represent small changes and/or
bug fixes. Although new features may be
introduced which you can use if desired they
won't affect existing use of the system..
Because we pride ourselves on our quick
response to customer needs, we frequently issue
new builds which include new features, changes,
or fixes. Before approving these builds as
suitable for general use we require that they
have trouble free use for a period ranging from
days to months (depending on the nature of the
change). The links above are to builds
which have met this requirement.
You are welcome to try interim builds - they
give you a chance to view forthcoming changes
and offer your input into them. Your feedback
at this stage is likely to be quickly adopted.
Interim builds may be found on the support
page.
Backing up your
database
You must take a backup of your database
immediately before running your Smart upgrade.
Although problems are unlikely to occur, this
is cheap insurance!
Because Microsoft SQL files are constantly
in use (even when there is no user activity
they are performing various housekeeping tasks)
they cannot be backed up by simply copying the
files using Windows Explorer, or using most
backup programs. They must be backed up using
their own built in utilities. These utilities
can be operated from SMART (go to \Maintenance
\Smart Setup \Backups), either manually or
automatically. They can also be operated by
using the tools that come with SQL Server, or
many third party programs.
SMART versions from 4.300 have a popup
window which notifies the operator if a backup
has not been performed for a specified period
(24 hours, by default).
Once you have installed build 4161 (Nov
2007) on your workstations they can be set to
upgrade themselves automatically.
Instead of running the Smart upgrade on each
workstation you simply upgrade a shared folder
on your server. The next time Smart is
started on each workstation the operator will
be asked if they want to upgrade. You can also
'downgrade' them to a previous version if you
wish.
The steps to setup are as follows:1.
Ensure that workstations have build 4.161 or
later installed. (To see which version is
installed, go to \Help \About on the Smart Main
Menu.) If not, install it by following the
instructions above and download it from this
page.
2. Create a Smart upgrade folder
on your server, and share it so that all users
can see it. To share a folder, right click on
the folder and choose 'Sharing' or 'Sharing and
Security'. For maximum security, configure the
folder so that users can read from it but not
update it.
3. To test that sharing is
configured correctly, go to a workstation and
use Windows Explorer or the \Start \Run box to
find the folder. The address of the folder will
be something like \\Servername\SmartUpgrade,
where ServerName is the network name of your
server, and SmartUpgrade is the name you gave
the shared folder.
4. In Smart (on the server or any
workstation) select \Maintenance \Smart Setup
\General Configuration, and go to the System
tab.
5. In the Automated Upgrade box at
the bottom of the window, tick Enable Auto
Update and enter the name of the shared
folder or use the lookup [...] button to find
it.
To perform an upgrade.
Before upgrading the workstations you should
install and run the upgrade on the server and
carry out acceptance
testing to ensure there are no unexpected
problems (see also If the upgrade fails,
below).
If your Windows logins allow your operators
to run a program on the server, simply copy the
Smart installer (e.g. Smart4100.exe) to the
shared directory. You do not need to delete
previous upgrades, the latest one will always
be used by the upgrade process.
If your Windows logins do not permit
operators to run a program, install Smart into
the shared directory (select that directory
when running the upgrade on the server). The
necessary files will be simply copied across to
the workstation. This method will almost always
work but occasionally we add functionality
which requires the installer to be run on each
workstation. If so this page will instruct you
to run the upgrade manually on each
workstation.
If the upgrade fails
If for some reason the upgrade is not
successful you can return to an earlier
version of Smart.
- Remove any installers (filenames
starting with Sm and including numbers,
e.g. Smart41.exe, sm4161.02.exe) from
the shared directory
- Install your selected version into
that directory.
Operators will be prompted to downgrade to
the previous version.
|