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Blackboard 7.1 Release Notes

1. Privilege Reader Configuration Privilege Privilege number configured on the Transaction System for purchases The tender number defined above points to this privilege Reader Address of reader as defined in the Transaction System Install Optiserv on a UNIX Server If the Blackboard Community System is running on a UNIX operating system Follow these steps to install the OptiServ server software 1 Stop Optiserv usr local Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController sh services stop 2 Rename the usr local Optipserv directory to usr local Optipserv orig 3 Download the Optiserv installer to the Blackboard Community System Web application server Make sure that the bin file includes the same version number as the Blackboard Community System it should also match the operating system For example bb_optiserv_linux_X_X_XXX_X bin where X_X_XXX_X represents the version number 4 Launch the installer a Follow the on screen prompts to enter the information that the installer needs to complete All of the values that must be provided are listed above in the Optiserv Settings table Enter the Destination Location Use usr local optiserv as the location Enter the Lantronix server IP Port and Key Enter the Blackboard Transaction System Tender information Oe o0 N o Enter the Privilege Reader configuration 10 Once the installation is finished start the OptiServ service and test the system Afte
2. More information is provided in the API specification ASSESSMENTS AND GRADEBOOK Multiple Attempts Assessments may now be set to allow unlimited attempts or a specific number of attempts The Gradebook displays all of the attempts The Gradebook item is scored based on grading option last attempt first attempt highest score lowest score or average of scores Additionally an Override field has been included so that the instructor can override the score independent of any attempts Now that all attempts are visible in the Gradebook the clearing options have been enhanced as well The instructor may choose to clear or delete the last attempt first attempt highest attempt lowest attempt or all attempts within a specified date range This action may be performed by item for all students at once or by user for a specific user Self Assessment Options The deployment of tests has been enhanced to permit Self Assessment in two forms allow the instructor and student to view the grade or only allow the student to view the grade In each case the grade is not included in the final score for the student When deploying a test in a course the instructor should uncheck the option called Include this test in Gradebook score calculations to allow students to take the test without affecting their overall score Both the instructor and the student will still be able to review the results of the test This option was previously only avail
3. e Blackboard Community System Release 7 0 or higher e S SL Enabled on the Blackboard Community System e The version of Enviserv or Optiserv that matches the version of the Blackboard Community System For example if the Blackboard Community System is build 7 0 298 use Enviserv 7 0 298 or Optiserv 7 0 298 e Installing Optiserv on the Blackboard Transaction System UNIX Edition also requires a dedicated Lantronix device to enable communication via IP NoreE For SSL to work with the MyAccounts module it must be enabled for all parts of the Blackboard Academic Suite If SSL Choice is used the MyAccounts module will not be secured under SSL Also it is not possible to make purchases in the eMarketplace without an SSL certificate Information on installing the Blackboard Academic Suite can be found in the Blackboard Academic Suite Setup Guide Information on configuring SSL can be found in the Server Administration Guide Please consult the Blackboard Transaction System documentation for information on installing the Blackboard Transaction System ENVISERV INSTALLATION The EnviServ server enables communication between the Blackboard Community System and the Blackboard Transaction System wUniversal Edition or the Blackboard Transaction System Windows Edition The EnviServ middleware is installed on the Blackboard Transaction System server Instructions for installing EnviServ appear below NorE The EnviServ version m
4. Blackboard Blackboard Academic Suite Release Notes Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 Blackboard Learning System Blackboard Community System Blackboard Learning System Basic Edition Blackboard Content System Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 Release Notes 171020en_US Publication Date April 2006 WORLDWIDE HEADQUARTERS INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS Blackboard Inc Blackboard International B V 1899 L Street NW 5th Floor Keizersgracht 62 64 Washington DC 20036 3861 USA 1015 CS Amsterdam The Netherlands 800 424 9299 toll free US amp Canada 1 202 463 4860 telephone 31 20 5206884 NL telephone 1 202 463 4863 facsimile 31 20 5206885 NL facsimile www blackboard com global blackboard com Blackboard the Blackboard logo Blackboard Academic Suite Blackboard Learning System Blackboard Learning System ML Blackboard Community System Blackboard Transaction System Building Blocks and Bringing Education Online are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Blackboard Inc in the United States and or other countries Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other countries Sun Solaris UltraSPARC and Java are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc in the United States and or other countries Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle
5. Click Next to continue 4 The first Updater page asks where the blackboard is found and where the blackboard content directory is found Click Next to accept the defaults or enter new values and then click Next Load Balanced users should use the mapped UNC path 5 The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Uninstall Blackboard Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Type 1 and hit ENTER to select Update 6 A message will appear that displays the changes that will be made when the Updater is run Hit ENTER to start the update If the Updater was launched from the command line do not close the command line window or any of the other windows that pop up during the update Troubleshooting the Updater The Updater logs are an important source of information when troubleshooting issues that arise during an update The Updater writes the following logs blackboard logs bb7 installer log txt If the installer log file does not identify the problem the update tool log most likely contains the cause of any installation errors blackboard logs update tools update tool log txt Also check blackboard logs install blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bbadmin txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bbadmin txt Microsoft NET Building Blocks on loa
6. Roles Administrator Panel gt Gateway Options Administrators control whether or not the Catalog is accessible from the Gateway page or if it is redirected to a different URL from the Gateway page Administrator Panel gt Courses or Organizations Administrators specify the categories for multiple courses or organizations Administrator Panel gt Courses gt Manage Course gt Categorize Course Administrator Panel gt Organizations gt Manage Organization gt Categorize Organization Administrators specify the categories for a specific course or organization Catalog Views Configuration Different Catalog Views based on Institution Role is only available if the Blackboard Community System is licensed Implementing multiple catalog views requires significant planning based upon the organizational structure and business rules of an institution Consider the following changes in existing catalog functionality e In order to clearly present multiple views category hierarchies are presented on the Catalog page not in the Catalog module Clicking on a category in the module goes directly to that category on the Catalog page Multiple levels are not shown in the module e Access to the Course Catalog from the Gateway page is independent from access to the Course Catalog in the module so that they can be managed separately e Access to Courses and Organizations from the Catalogs is determined by whether the Course or Organization is guest
7. databases and users e BB_BB60 e BB_BB60_STATS e BBADMIN e All users and databases with the prefix CMS if the Blackboard Content System is installed e Any database data files supporting additional licensed Virtual Installations To find all available Oracle tablespaces and associated data files run the following command in SQL PLUS Select tablespace name file name from dba data files To add space or data files follow the steps below Blackboard recommends that files be uniform in size and 2GB to 8GB allocations 1 Login to Oracle as sys user 2 Using SQL Plus execute the following command alter database datafile path to file filename resize Xm where X is the new size of the data file in MB Follow these steps to add a data file to the tablespace 1 Login to Oracle as sys user 2 Using SQL Plus execute the following command alter tablespace TS NAME add datafile path to file filename size Xm where X is the new size of the data file in MB Remember to add sufficient space for all of the database datafiles associated with the Blackboard Academic Suite Confirm Database Transaction Space The database needs to keep both old and new data in the archive log Since the database server needs to keep both old and new data during the update the UNDO tablespace should be about three times the largest amount of data in the any column that will be converted to Unicode plus 15 percent over
8. the Pre Update Change Report before running the Updater Run the Updater on a Load Balanced System The Updater must be run on each Web app server and the Collaboration server on a load balanced system The method is similar to the Installer the Updater is run on each Web App server in sequential order and then run on the Collaboration server if the Collaboration server resides on a separate server After running the Updater the first time choose the Update an App Server for all other Web app servers and the Collaboration server This option will update the application files without making any of the database changes If NET Building Blocks are used in the system please see the troubleshooting section below for an important step to ensure that NET Building Blocks function correctly in a load balanced system Run the Updater on Windows Follow these steps to run the Updater on Windows 1 Click on the Updater file to launch it or open a command line prompt and navigate to the directory that holds the Updater 2 Run the following command to launch the Updater C bb_updater gt java jar lt updater file gt To launch the Updater and use the command line interface run the following command the following steps assume that the GUI Updater is used C bb updater gt java jar lt updater file gt text 3 A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating
9. Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Type 1 and hit ENTER to select Update Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 6 A message will appear that displays the changes that will be made when the Updater is run Hit ENTER to start the update If the Updater was launched from the command line do not close the command line window or any of the other windows that pop up during the update Troubleshooting the Updater The Updater logs are an important source of information when troubleshooting issues that arise during an update The Updater writes the following logs blackboard logs bb7 installer log txt If the installer log file does not identify the problem the update tool log most likely contains the cause of any installation errors blackboard logs update tools update tool log txt Also check blackboard logs install blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bbadmin txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bbadmin txt 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 42 of 78 UPDATE WINDOWS FILE SHARING FROM DFS To UNC Overview Release 7 1 supports UNC mapping to setup a file server to store content files Since Release 6 supported DFS shares current Release 6 users must update their file sharing if a separate file server is used to store content files In particular clients r
10. Blackboard for more information Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS Overview Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 introduces a number of new features and enhancements to the existing features in response to user feedback This section reviews the new features in Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 explains their default availability upon installation and specifies Blackboard license requirements New features and enhancements fall into the following categories Discussion Board Domain Management Flexible Roles and Privileges Course and Organization Catalogs by Role Visual Text Box Editor Assessments and Gradebook SIF Schools Interoperability Framework Blackboard Academic Suite Changes including the Blackboard Learning System the Blackboard Community System and the Blackboard Content System 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 5 of 78 DISCUSSION BOARD Forum and Thread Grading Several new features have been added to the Discussion Board expanding it beyond its primary use as a communication medium and transforming it into a comprehensive and interactive teaching tool that fosters academic exchange and debate Grading settings are now available when creating or modifying a forum in a Course or Organization When grading is enabled for a forum Instructors Teaching Assistants and users with the Grader or Manager forum
11. Drop public rollback segment RS NAME repeat of each rollback segment alter system set undo management auto scope spfile alter system set undo tablespace undotbs 01 scope both If you use pfile instead of spfile add the following parameters to the pfile undo management auto undo_tablespace undotbs_01 Run the Pre Update Change Report Again Run the Pre Update Change Report again Make sure that it reports that the database is ready for updating 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 62 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 UPDATE THE ORACLE CHARACTER SET TO AL16UTF16 BLACKBOARD CONTENT SYSTEM Overview The Oracle character set must be changed from UTF8 to AL16UTF16 before running the Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Updater Warning Clients that are licensing the Blackboard Content System must go through some additional steps to protect the Blackboard Content System database from corruption during the conversion Follow the specific instructions for changing the character set when the Blackboard Content Sysiem is installed Confirm AL16UTF16 Character Set The default national character set value for Oracle 9i and 10g is AL16UTF16 also referred to as UTF16 Administrators using Oracle should confirm that the character set is AL16UTF16 before installing the Blackboard Academic Suite The National Character Set value can be determined by querying the v table using the following SQL co
12. Editor for all users each user can enable the Visual Text Box Editor individually by using the Visual Text Box Editor setting found in Personal Information WebEQ and MathML The WebEQ and MathML tools on the Visual Text Box Editor have been enhanced When a WebEQ equation is inserted using the new Visual Text Box Editor a place holder will appear in the body of the editor Clicking Preview will display the equation and the equation will render in Display View including equations that contain left angle brackets lt The spacing around the equation has been enlarged and the text size has been decreased so that the entire equation is clearly visible by default The equation may be modified by selecting the place holder and clicking the WebEQ icon on the Visual Text Box Editor Users may receive a pop up box when launching WebEQ that asks the user to trust an applet provided by Design Science the maker of WebEQ If users click Always the pop up will no longer appear on that computer when launching WebEQ MathML may now include whitespace in the editor without affecting the equation Building Blocks Compatibility The new Visual Text Box Editor may be included on pages created by Building Blocks developers using the publicly available Beta versions of the following APIs lt bbUI textbox gt WysiwygText FileLocation interface FileLocationImpl Plus several FileLocation implementations Such as ContentFileLocation and TempFileLocation
13. Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Learning Unit Shell No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Offline Content No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Syllabus Builder No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Tool Select Tool Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Virtual Classroom Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes CS Workflow Instructions No No n a 3 Yes No CS Workflow Comments No No n a 3 Yes No CS Workflow Response No No n a 3 Yes No Discussion Board Forum Community No No 2 3 Yes Yes VISUAL TEXT Box EDITOR VTBE VTBE File Rows Rows Upload Upload Displayed Displayed Content Possible Files from without with System URL without Desktop Content Content Links Links Area VTBE via VIBE System System Row 3 Row 3 Discussion Board Forum Course Org No No 2 3 Yes Yes Discussion Board Forum Group No No 2 3 Yes Yes Discussion Board Message Community Yes Yes Ee 3 Yes Yes Discussion Board Message Course Org Yes Yes att 3 Yes Yes Discussion Board Message Group Yes Yes 3 3 Yes Yes eMarketplace Category No No 2 3 Yes No Yes eMarketplace images Product only No 2 3 Yes No eMarketplace Settings No No 2 3 Yes No Group Description No No 2 3 Yes No Messages Yes No 2 3 Yes No Modules ALL gt Description No No 2 2 No No Modules HTML Module Type No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Modules Multi Section Module Type No No 2 3 Yes Yes Modules Guest Deposit Type No No 2 3 Yes Yes Mo
14. appropriate character set and have enough available space to handle the larger database Preparing a Microsoft SQL Server Database Complete the following tasks to prepare a SQL Server database before updating to Release 7 1 STEP DESCRIPTION Plan downtime Backup the database Change the Recovery Mode to SIMPLE Run the Pre Update Change Report Add disk space for the data file Add enough transaction space for the update Run the Pre Update Change Report again The update process will require several hours Backup the database and test the restore procedure to ensure that the Release 6 3 database can be restored without errors If the database conversion fails the database may be left in an unusable state This step is Critical The Recovery mode must be set to SIMPLE This will speed up the Update process by disabling the need for a large transaction history Run the Updater and use the Pre Update Change Report option This will check the database and report how much disk space and transaction space is required The data file must be allowed to grow enough to handle the changes to the database The update requires a large transaction space to convert single byte data to multibyte Run the Pre Update Change Report again to make sure that the appropriate changes were made and the database is ready for the conversion Plan Downtime Please see the Planning the Conversion and Conversion Worksheet for m
15. data integrity on Oracle Less then 1 percent of all Blackboard deployments are greater than 100GB of database storage Most deployments greater then 93 percent based on client sampling fall in the 5 to 25GB range subsequently requiring less then a day of operational downtime Plan for the time above and factor in additional time for system maintenance and testing in accordance with operational best practices at the institution Conversion Logging The database column conversion is logged in multiple locations The first location is in the blackboard logs install directory The second location is in the bb7 installer log txt file These two log files are useful for administrators to review for troubleshooting and to keep as an archive of the upgrade The database column conversion is also stored in the database schema The conversion portion of the Updater is stored in the database in case something happens to the Updater and it does not complete If the Updater does not complete review the bb7 installer log txt for information on why the Updater did not complete The Updater is designed so that it can be restarted and will resume from the point where it encountered an error Planning for the Unexpected The Updater has been designed to handle failures and pick up where it last left off As an administrator always plan for the unexpected The best way to plan for the unexpected is to plan for the conversion Develop a Project Plan Start b
16. database and report how much disk space and transaction space is required The data file must be allowed to grow enough to handle the changes to the database The update requires a large UNDO space to convert single byte data to multibyte Run the Pre Update Change Report again to make sure that the appropriate changes were made and the database is ready for the conversion Please see the Planning the Conversion and Conversion Worksheet for more information Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 Backup the Database Clients should already have a good process for backing up and restoring the database in place If not please use the Blackboard Academic Suite Operations Workbook and the Oracle documentation to develop and execute a backup and recovery plan Make sure that a complete backup is done and the restore tested before running the Updater Configure AL16UTF16 Character Set The Oracle character set must be changed from UTF8 to AL16UTF16 before running the Release 6 3 to Release 7 Updater Since the Blackboard Learning System Release 6 3 does not have UTF8 data the national character set can be changed to AL16UTF16 safely with a few SQL commands Warning Clients that are licensing the Blackboard Content System must go through some additional steps to protect the Blackboard Content System database from corruption during the conversion Follow the specific instructions for changing the character set when the Blackboard C
17. e Oracle 10g 9 2 0 x e Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5 0 9 2 0 x Apache HTTP Server Version 1 3 33 Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5 0 Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 Release 1 Apache HTTP Server Version 1 3 33 Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5 0 Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 RED HAT LINUX Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 3 0 e Oracle 9i version 9 2 0 x e Apache HTTP Server Version 1 3 33 e Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5 0 e Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 e Non English applications both operating systems and databases such as a Chinese language version of Oracle are considered compatible with Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 These systems have not undergone official Blackboard Product Development testing e The Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 products ship with Apache HTTP Server Version 1 3 33 UNIX operating systems only e The Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 products ship with Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 Oracle patch 3006854 must be installed before installing Oracle 9i on Red Hat Linux ES 3 0 The patch is available from Oracle END USER CONFIGURATION MATRIX End User Configuration Guidelines End users must use a certified or compatible operating system and browser configuration with the Blackboard Academic Suite WINDOWS OPERATING Mac OPERATING SYSTEMS SYSTEMS MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPL
18. errors log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bbadmin txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bbadmin txt Language Pack Changes To ensure consistency across releases the Blackboard Academic Suite Updater will compare the existing en_US language pack against the version that is being installed The differences are noted and output in a file called bundle_diff txt This file is added to the blackboard backups lt updater_time_stamp gt directory Use this file to review the text differences between releases and make updates to any custom Language Packs 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 48 of 78 UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNIX FROM 6 3 TO 7 1 Overview Topics The Release 7 1 Updater has been completely redesigned for easy and reliable updates from Release 7 forward The Release 7 1 update requires a database conversion to work with multibyte characters This conversation will require the process to take more downtime than most updates Please read through database conversion and Updater instructions carefully before planning and executing the process Topic Note The Updater must be run against Release 6 3 1 424 or higher Please install the latest 6 3 service packs before attempting to update DESCRIPTION Database Changes from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Planning the Conversion Best Practices C
19. framework A SIF implementation is a distributed networking system that consists of a Zone Integration Server ZIS and one or more SIF integration agents that communicate with the ZIS all organized into a zone The Blackboard SIF Agent The Backboard SIF Agent registers with a ZIS and indicates the data the Blackboard system can receive ZIS tracks the data that the Blackboard SIF Agent can receive and forwards a message to the Blackboard SIF Agent if another agent has posted an applicable data change to the ZIS The Blackboard SIF Agent conforms to SIF standards for receiving updates to user information data from the ZIS It subscribes to data changes but does not publish data changes SIF communication is automated Once the Blackboard SIF Agent is configured it automatically updates information when notification of a data change is received from the ZIS The frequency of updates is configurable The Blackboard SIF Agent is not available with the Blackboard Learning System Basic Edition BLACKBOARD ACADEMIC SUITE CHANGES Changes to the Blackboard Learning System e New Language Packs Two new Language Packs are included in this release Traditional Chinese and Arabic The Arabic Language Pack does not include right to left display e Admin Panel as Module Tab The areas on the Administrator Panel are now modules as seen on other module tabs Administrators can modify the page layout and collapse modules e Enhanced Administrator Page
20. installation is finished start the OptiServ service and test the system After validation remove the backup directory C Optipserv orig Optiserv Config File and Command Line Tools After installing Optiserv the properties file that stores user defined settings is stored at C Optipserv blackboard config bb config properties This file is useful when making updates to Optiserv Keep a backup copy to easily reapply settings after an update Keep in mind that the Optiserv version must be kept consistent with the Blackboard Community System version Update Optiserv every time the Blackboard Community System is updated To start and stop Optiserv services use the following tool C Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat To start services C Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services start 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 75 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 To stop services C Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services stop 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 76 of 78 REFERENCE MATERIALS About Reference Materials A full suite of reference materials is available with the Academic Suite All materials are located in the Reference Center at http behind blackboard com These materials include MANUAL NAME DESCRIPTION Blackboard Academic Suite Hardware Software Guide Har
21. roles will be able to access the Grade Forum Users page Instructors may choose to grade the forum or to enable thread grading within the forum If thread grading is enabled for the forum Instructors have the option to turn grading on or off for each new thread Grading Discussion Board forums and threads is not available with the Blackboard Learning System Basic Edition Discussion Board Statistics Discussion Board statistics are now a part of the Performance Dashboard The total number of forums in which the user has participated is displayed for each user in this column Clicking on the number in this column directs the instructor to a user detail page that displays links to all forums in which the user has participated and usage statistics for the user in each forum Statistics displayed include Total Posts Date of Last Post Average Post Length Minimum and Maximum Post Lengths Average Post Position Additionally the instructor can grade discussion board participation from this page Discussion Board statistics is not available with the Blackboard Learning System Basic Edition Forum Moderation and User Management By default Discussion Board users are given forum roles based on their course organization or system role Instructors and Leaders are given the Manager role by default Managers control user privileges within the Discussion Board through the use of roles For example the Manager may delegate responsibility fo
22. stop The next steps disable IIS 5 0 Isolation mode Right click on My Computer and select Manage Expand Services and Applications Then expand Internet Information Services Expand Web Sites Right click on Default Web Site and select Stop Right click on Web sites and select Properties The Web Sites Properties window will appear Select the Service tab O ON OD oO FF WwW Click Run WWW service in IIS 5 0 isolation mode The box should now be unchecked This will disable IIS 5 0 Isolation Mode 10 Click OK A prompt will appear to restart IIS so the changes will take effect 11 Edit the L blackboard config bb config properties file Change the following properties to read as shown bbconfig basedir C Apps blackboard bbconfig base shared dir FILESERVER bb content bbconfig basedir win C Apps blackboard Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 bbconfig base shared dir win FILESERVER bb_ content If the Blackboard Content System is installed change these values as well bbconfig cs external data courses FILESERVER bb content storage courses bbconfig cs external data inst FILESERVER bb content storage inst bbconfig cs external data library FILESERVER bb content storage library bbconfig cs external data orgs FILESERVER bb content storage orgs bbconfig cs external data users FILESERVER bb content storage users Delete the bb_docs_vi DFS link Open Start gt P
23. 3 46 47 49 50 52 54 56 57 58 63 67 69 70 72 74 77 INTRODUCTION About the Release Notes The Release Notes provide Administrators with the information needed for a successful installation This includes information on running the Updater product and browser compatibility new feature descriptions and fixed and known issues It also includes changes to existing functionality that may impact the way the system is currently used What is in the Release Notes The Release Notes contain the following sections New Features and Enhancements Describes new features in this release as well as additional important enhancements that have been made to the system This section also includes information about how to enable or disable these features Compatibility Matrixes Explains dependencies between the new application and existing Blackboard applications in the field Also includes information on which server configurations are supported with this release and which end user browsers and operating systems are supported Blackboard Academic Suite Updater instructions Describes general information about the Blackboard Academic Suite Updater and explains steps for running the Updater Reference materials Lists and describes reference manuals available for this release Resolved Issues from previous releases and Known Issues in the current release can be found in separate reports Please check Behind the
24. 5 0 compatibility mode and must be run as IIS 6 0 After running the Updater change the IIS compatibility mode before making Release 7 available to users The steps below are intended for institutions running on one or two servers Instructions for disabling IIS Compatibility Mode for load balanced systems are included as part of the instructions for changing from DFS shares to UNC shares Change Compatibility Mode Follow these steps to disable IIS 5 0 Compatibility Mode 1 Oo N OO oO FP WO ND Login to the Web app server as the domain user used to start and stop Blackboard services Right click on My Computer and select Manage Expand Services and Applications Then expand Internet Information Services Expand Web Sites Right click on Default Web Site and select Stop Right click on Web sites and select Properties The Web Sites Properties window will appear Select the Service tab Click Run WWW service in IIS 5 0 isolation mode The box should now be unchecked This will disable IIS 5 0 Isolation Mode Click OK A prompt will appear to restart IIS so the changes will take effect UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS FOR UNIX FROM 7 0 To 7 1 Overview Before running the updater please backup the system and make sure it can be restored Remember to run the Pre Update Change Report before running the Updater Run the Updater on a Load Balanced System The Updater must be run on each Web app server and the Collaboration server on a load
25. Change Report reviews the currently installed system to ensure that it meets the requirements for the update It then reports its findings and a list of all the file changes that will occur when the Updater is run Running the Pre Update Change Report is an important step before running the Updater Run the Pre Update Change Report UNIX Follow these steps to run the Pre Update Change Report 1 Navigate to the directory that holds the Updater 2 Run the following command to launch the Updater usr local bbupdater java jar lt updater file gt 3 A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating Click Next to continue 4 The first Updater page asks where the Blackboard Installation Directory is found Click Next to accept the defaults or enter new values and then click Next If The Blackboard Academic Suite is not found in the directory provided the Updater will attempt to install at the given location 5 The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Pre Update Change Report Uninstall Blackboard Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Select Pre Update Change Report and click Next 6 The update report log file will appear in the Updater directory This file includes important information on what changes will occur when the Updater is run Overview PREPARING THE DATABASE FOR UPDATE ORACLE Clients m
26. Corporation in the United States and or other countries Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat Inc in the United States and or other countries Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and or other countries Apache is a trademark of The Apache Software Foundation in the United States and or other countries Macromedia Authorware and Shockwave are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia Inc in the United States and or other countries Real Player and Real Audio Movie are trademarks of RealNetworks in the United States and or other countries Adobe and Acrobat Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and or other countries Macintosh and QuickTime are registered trademarks of Apple Computer Inc in the United States and or other countries WebEQ is a trademark of Design Science Inc in the United States and or other countries JSpell is a trademark of The Solution Caf in the United States and or other countries Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners U S Patent No 6 988 138 Patents pending 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc All rights reserved Made and printed in the USA No part of the contents of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher Blackboard Inc 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Propri
27. Create a script to recreate the existing Blackboard Content System tablespaces SQL gt spool recreate tablespaces sql SQL gt select create tablespace tablespace name datafile extent management local segment space management auto from dba tablespaces where tablespace name like CMS SQL gt spool off 4 Create a script to recreate existing Blackboard Content System database users SQL gt spool recreate _users sql SQL gt select create user username identified by values password default tablespace default tablespace temporary tablespace temporary tablespace quota unlimited on default tablespace from dba users where username like CMS SQL gt spool off 5 Create a script to grant the existing roles to the Blackboard Content System database users SQL gt spool regrant role privs sql SQL gt select grant granted role to grantee from dba role privs where grantee in select username from dba _users where username like CMS SQL gt spool off 6 Create a script to grant the existing system privileges to the Blackboard Content System database users SQL gt spool regrant sys privs sql SQL gt select grant privilege to grantee from dba _ sys privs where grantee in select username from dba users where username like CMS SQL gt spool off 7 Create a script to drop the users SQL gt spool drop _users sql SQ
28. Enhancements of Existing Features The following enhancements improve the user experience in the Discussion Board Instructors can copy Discussion Board forums to the same Discussion Board or to another Discussion Board in the course Users can save posts as drafts allowing them to work on a post over more than one Blackboard session until the post is ready for publishing Instructors now have an availability option for all forums on the Add Modify Forum page The availability option replaces the functionality of archiving forums Forums that were archived before an update to 7 0 Application pack 1 will become Unavailable after the update process The Discussion Board uses Adaptive Release rules and other availability rules such as Date set on any tool links to the Discussion Board Searches can be limited or expanded to include current forum current thread or all forums in the course Users can group posts into Collections Collections can be sorted and filtered to customize the Collection for easy viewing and printing Instructors can now lock a forum to prevent additional posts but allow users to read existing threads This feature replaces archive forum DOMAIN MANAGEMENT Domain Domain Domain Collections Domains offer a customizable flexible and secure system administration model Domains gather courses users tabs modules and organizations into defined sets called Collections Each Domain can have one
29. L USE AL16UTF16 SQL gt select value from nls database parameters where parameter NLS NCHAR CHARACTERSET 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 65 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 14 15 16 17 AL16UTF16 The Oracle import utility will attempt to import data into the same tablespaces from which they were exported Before the data can be imported the tablespaces have to be created Previously a spool file with the create tablespace statement for each of the tablespaces that existed in the Oracle 9i database was created This file was saved as recreate_tablespaces sql Before the tablespaces can be created db_create_file_dest parameter must be set This parameter tells Oracle where to create the data files If you want to put the data files under usr local oracle bbdata directory log into Oracle as sysdba and execute the following command sqlplus as sysdba SQL gt alter system set db create file dest usr local oracle bbdata scope both SQL gt exit Create tablespaces The database must be running sqlplus as sysdba SQL Plus Release XX X X X X Production on XX XXX XX XX XX XX XXXX Copyright 1982 2004 Oracle Corporation All rights reserved SQL gt recreate tablespaces sql After the tablespaces are created all previous Blackboard Oracle users can be recreated by using the script created in the previous step Step 1 SQL gt recreate users sql Grant pre
30. L gt select drop user where username like CMS SQL gt spool off username cascade from dba _ users 8 Create a script to drop the tablespaces SQL gt spool drop tablespaces sql SQL gt select drop tablespace tablespace name including contents from dba _ tablespaces where tablespace name like CMS 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 64 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 10 11 12 13 SQL gt spool off After creating all the scripts the SQL gt spool lines must be removed from the script files Open each script file in an editor and remove the lines in the file that begin with SQL gt For example SQL gt speel _drop_tablespaces sql SQL gt _select_drep name like CMS Li drop tablespace cms_data including contents drop tablespace cms_indx including contents Run the following commands again this is a repeat of Step 2 These commands are necessary to ensure that the scripts do not include any non SQL statements SQL gt set echo off SQL gt set feedback off SQL gt set heading off SQL gt set linesize 200 To export the data use the Oracle exp command Use the system account to connect to the database This is the only account that will be able to connect to the database since it is running in restricted mode If the database is less than or equal to 2 GB in size use the command below to export the data exp syst
31. ND PRIVILEGES Creating New and Customizing Existing System Roles System Administrators can create an unlimited number of System Roles and selectively assign hundreds of Administrator Panel and Control Panel privileges to each role Privileges E NoTE The update may result in changes to privileges that are already assigned Verify all privileges before making the system available to users The User Privileges page on the Administrator Panel has been replaced by the combination of the following pages Administrator Panel gt System Roles The System Administrator can add new System Roles modify the names and descriptions of System Roles and manage the privileges assigned to System Roles Hundreds of privileges can be selectively assigned to System Roles Administrator Panel gt Course Organization Roles The System Administrator can modify the names and descriptions of Course Organization Roles and manage the privileges assigned to Course Organization Roles Administrator Panel gt Privileges The System Administrator can see an overview of which System Roles and Course Organization Roles have specific privileges They can also make some privileges available or unavailable system wide or redirect that action to a URL outside the system The new Privileges page includes searching capabilities and has the option to go directly to the role page where the privileges can be managed for a specific role Note that due to this redesign priv
32. ORER WEB BROWSERS NETSCAPE AND MOZILLA WEB BROWSERS APPLE SAFARI WEB BROWSERS KEY Vv Certified fully tested and supported c Compatible key application areas tested N A Not tested specified Browser is not supported for the Operating System P Provisional will test on Beta versions of new platforms and browsers Certification is dependant on release by 30 parties TBD To Be Determined not enough information is known at this time to determine appropriate designation All configurations marked as Compatible and have undergone a limited engineering analysis to test areas of the Blackboard Academic Suite that may have browser issues Additional information on known browser issues may be found in the Knowledge Base Microsoft Windows 2000 supported configurations are considered compatible when run on Windows 95 Windows 98 and Windows ME Gecko is the shared rendering engine at the heart of the Firefox 1 0 Netscape 7 1 and Mozilla 1 5 browsers which are all considered compatible browsers Only Firefox has undergone testing that qualifies it as Certified The Safari Web browser and the Gecko browsers for Mac do not currently fully support the Live Connect technology used by some features in the Blackboard Learning System The Equation Editor Collaboration tool and SCORM Content type may experience issues when these browsers are used See the Knowledge Base
33. Objects Catalog Extra Credit When creating a test questions may now be marked as extra credit only This means that the points possible for the entire test will not include the points possible for that question If the question is answered correctly the question points will be added to the points correct but if the question is answered incorrectly there is no score penalty Customized Feedback Feedback options were previously organized into four groups score only score detailed results all of the above correct answers and all of the above detailed results all of the above feedback These options have been ungrouped so that users may select any combination of the score submitted answers correct answers and feedback to be displayed to the student at the end of an assessment Enhanced Submission Reports The submission report for assessments now includes the following user information First Name Last Name Course Name Username Course ID name of the Assessment and date time of submission This may be used as verification by the student that they have indeed submitted the assessment Some instructors may require students to print this as a permanent record of the activity SIF AGENT Exchanging and Synchronizing Data The School Interoperability Framework SIF is an industry initiative to develop a scalable solution for data exchange synchronizing data entered in one system with the data in other systems within the SIF
34. abase and matched to the file name that the user entered when uploading the file PLANNING THE CONVERSION Sizing the Conversion The conversion modifies 22 percent of all available columns in the Blackboard schema Many of these columns store the bulk of the data in the Blackboard schema It is recommended that clients allocate up to 2 times the amount of database data and index file storage than the present state of the data before the conversion The Updater tool will stop if the calculated space expectations noted in the undate log txt file are not available Databases configured for auto extension must be configured with the appropriate amount of allocated space The Updater will also require temporary space Not all of this space will be used but should be made available As part of the conversion the Blackboard Updater performs a database data file size check to ensure accurate storage needs are available prior to executing NorE Please note that the Updater requires database storage to be allocated before running Databases configured for auto extension will need to accommodate fixed available and free storage in advance Most of the conversion takes place at the database layer Some file system changes take place but for the most part file system storage needs for the application and file system content will remain consistent Nonetheless clients should anticipate a minor change in the size of the file system Planning for Opera
35. abasepropertyex cms files inst recovery Select databasepropertyex cms files library recovery 4 If the recovered values are not SIMPLE run the following command to change the Recovery mode Again include the Blackboard Content System databases if the Blackboard Content System is installed Also remember to include the databases for any additional licensed Virtual Installations Use Master go alter database bb bb60 set recovery SIMPLE alter database BB BB60 STATS set recovery SIMPLE alter database bbadmin set recovery SIMPLE go Blackboard Content System databases Use Master go alter database cms set recovery SIMPLE alter database cms files users set recovery SIMPLE alter database cms files courses set recovery SIMPLE alter database cms files orgs set recovery SIMPLE alter database cms files inst set recovery SIMPLE alter database cms files library set recovery SIMPLE go 5 After the Updater has run completely backup the databases and then change the Recovery mode back to FULL 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 39 of 78 Run the Pre Update Change Report The Pre Update Change Report will test the current release to see if it is ready for conversion The check will verify the database storage space and transaction space Confirm Database Storage Space The Pre Conversion Check will verify the available disk storage space to ensure it is adequate to support the new database If the spa
36. able through the Gradebook but is now also available in the course content area when deploying a test The second self assessment option called Hide the score of this test from the Gradebook will allow the student to take the test without displaying the results to the instructor Test and Survey Import Export The Test and Survey Managers have been enhanced to allow for importing and exporting much like the Pool Manager in Release 6 Users can export the test or survey package to their local computers and if Content Collection integration is on can also select to export to their Content Collection in the Blackboard Content System The ability to export and import tests and surveys assists with content reuse and collaboration When a test or survey is created creation settings are determined questions and answers are developed and metadata is associated Now all of that information can be reused simply by exporting the entire test to the local computer or to the Content Collection and then importing it into another course s Test or Survey Manager Once the test or survey has been imported any modifications may be made to customize it for the other course Additionally users can export to Content Collection further facilitating collaboration Storing the Test or Survey package in the Content Collection allows the user to share the package with others or make the package discoverable in both the Content Collection Search and the Learning
37. accessible Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 Norte Prior functionality also checked to see if the user was an administrator or enrolled in the course but these checks are no longer done due to performance constraints Therefore some users who had access to courses from the Catalog may no longer have access using the Catalog if they have a role in the course but the course is not guest accessible These users should use the Courses modules instead e Because the Catalogs can be accessed from any tab and because their navigation is self contained they do not have a breadcrumb 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 12 of 78 VISUAL TEXT Box EDITOR Cross Browser Cross Platform Support The Visual Text Box Editor is now available to users running any supported browser The Visual Text Box Editor is compatible with the following browsers on Windows Operating Systems e Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 0 e Mozilla Firefox 1 0 e Netscape 8 0 The Visual Text Box Editor will not work with older versions of these browsers Instead the standard options for entering text will appear The Visual Text Box Editor is compatible with the following browsers on Macintosh Operating Systems e Safari 2 0 e Mozilla Firefox 1 0 When run on Safari the Visual Text Box Editor Lite Version appears The Lite Version does not include the button controls for several features because Safari does not yet suppo
38. articles 181 2429 181 2428 181 2431 181 2432 for detailed information The preview version of Mozilla Firefox version 0 10 0 is not supported Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 SUPPORTED PATHS FOR IMPORTING AND RESTORING COURSES Supported Paths for Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 The table below identifies the supported paths for importing or restoring a course that was exported or archived from an earlier version Certified paths are fully tested and supported by Blackboard Compatible paths are not fully tested but should function correctly based on past performance SOURCE SUPPORT Academic Suite Release 7 Certified Academic Suite Release 6 Certified Blackboard ML Certified Blackboard 5 5 Certified Blackboard 5 0 Compatible Courselnfo 4 Not Supported Paths for Importing and Restoring courses are not backward compatible Courses may be Imported or Restored to a newer version but courses from a newer version may not be Imported or Restored to an earlier version Blackboard 5 and Blackboard 5 5 did not include an Archive and Restore function Courses from these releases may be imported but courses cannot be restored with user data and interactions intact 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 28 of 78 UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS FOR WINDOWS FROM 7 0 TO 7 1 Overview Before running the updater please backup the system and make sure it can be restored Remember to run
39. ases for any additional licensed Virtual Installations Run the Pre Update Change Report Again Run the Pre Update Change Report again Make sure that it reports that the database is ready for updating RUN THE RELEASE 6 3 TO RELEASE 7 1 UPDATER Overview Make sure that the database preparation steps have been completed before running the Updater After the Updater has converted the database it will install the application updates If the Updater is stopped or fails after the database has been converted the database cannot be returned to its original state It is critical that a full backup be completed and the restore process confirmed before preparing the database and running the Updater Please remember to run the Pre Update Change Report before running the Updater Note The Updater must be run against Release 6 3 1 424 or higher Please install the latest 6 3 service packs before attempting to update Run the Updater on a Load Balanced System The Updater must be run on each Web app server and the Collaboration server on a load balanced system The method is similar to the Installer the Updater is run on each Web App server in sequential order and then run on the Collaboration server if the Collaboration server resides on a separate server After running the Updater the first time choose the Update an App Server for all other Web app servers and the Collaboration server This option will update the application files without making an
40. balanced system The method is similar to the Installer the Updater is run on each Web App server in sequential order and then run on the Collaboration server if the Collaboration server resides on a separate server After running the Updater the first time choose the Update an App Server for all other Web app servers and the Collaboration server This option will update the application files without making any of the database changes Run the Updater on UNIX Follow these steps to run the Updater on UNIX 1 Open a command line prompt and navigate to the directory that holds the Updater 2 Run the following command to launch the Updater usr local bbupdater java jar lt updater file gt If Xwindows or a similar GUI is running and the DISPLAY variable is properly configured the Updater will launch in GUI mode remember that the following steps assume that the command line Updater is used A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating Hit ENTER to continue 3 Instructions will appear for navigating through the Updater prompts The Updater in most cases will provide a default value in brackets Hit ENTER to accept the default and continue or enter a different value Hit ENTER to continue after entering a new value 4 The first Updater prompt asks for the directory where Blackboard will be found Hit ENTER to accept the default or enter a new valu
41. ce allotted is not enough the Pre Conversion Check will display the amount of space required To add space for the database follow these steps 1 a Ff WO N Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager Right click on the database bb_bb60 Select Data Files Enter the new value in the Space Allocated MB field Repeat the process for the BB_BB60_STATS and bbadmin directories If the Blackboard Content System is installed repeat the process for the CMS database Also remember to increase the space allocated to databases for any additional licensed Virtual Installations Confirm Database Transaction Space The Pre Conversion Check will verify the available transaction log space for each database to ensure it can support both the old and new data in the transaction log Since the database server needs to keep both old and new data during the update the conversion requires substantial transaction space If the space allotted is not enough the Pre Conversion Check will display the amount of space required To add transaction log space follow these steps 1 2 3 4 5 Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager Right click on the database bb_bb60 Select Transaction Logs Enter the new value in the Space Allocated MB field Repeat the process for the BB_BB60_STATS and bbadmin directories If the Blackboard Content System is installed repeat the process for the CMS database Also remember to increase the transaction space allocated to datab
42. ckboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 21 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 COMPATIBILITY MATRIXES Overview This section of the document includes information on the following e Server Compatibility Matrix Explains which server configurations are supported with this release For example the required versions of databases and operating systems are included here e End User Compatibility Matrix Reviews which end user browsers and operating systems are supported with this release 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 22 of 78 SERVER COMPATIBILITY MATRIX Server Compatibility Server software must meet certain requirements before installing the Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack 1 Release 7 1 The following are important to keep in mind when setting up the server software e The database is run on a separate server when using two or more servers Thus appropriate client tools for the database must be installed on the Web Application server or servers when using a configuration with two or more servers e Certified configurations are fully tested and supported e Compatible configurations are partially tested but should function properly e When installing the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition J2SE make sure that both the JDK and the JRE components are installed Also ensure that there are no spaces in the path name to the J2SE NoTE Clients r
43. conversion requires careful planning and time management Ensure that the data on the system is backed up and easy to restore The Conversion Worksheet is a helpful planning tool during the database conversion process The Pre Update Change Report details the changes that will be made during the update It also verifies that the system is ready to accept the update Several steps must be completed to prep the database prior to running the Updater Instructions for running the Updater Be sure to prepare the database before running the Updater Release 7 and above supports UNC shares for accessing content files stored on a separate server The file sharing must be changed to UNC before using Release 7 1 Release 6 3 required that IIS 6 0 be run in IIS 5 0 Compatibility Mode Release 7 and above requires IIS 6 0 and does not support IIS 5 0 Compatibility Mode DATABASE CHANGES FROM RELEASE 6 3 TO RELEASE 7 1 Overview The Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 supports multibyte characters so that users can work in any language and administrators can create Language Packs to support any language As a result databases undergo architectural changes to support multibyte characters These architectural changes make up the database conversion Change the Datatype of Database Columns The Release 7 1 Updater changes the datatype of any database column that may need to store multibyte characters Typically these are columns that sto
44. d balanced configurations After running the update an error message may appear in the system when attempting to launch a Building Block built using Microsoft NET The system reports a Parser Error Message To resolve the problem copy the Wepapp directory for any Building Blocks created using Microsoft NET to each application server so that the directories may be accessed locally Here is an example of the Webapp directory for a Building Block NET directory on the UNC share UNC_server name bb content vi bb bb60 plugins name of building block webapp After copying the Building Blocks directories to each application server follow these steps to remap the virtual directory in IIS on each application directory to point to the local directory 1 Open Start Select Programs Select Administrative Tools Select Microsoft NET Framework 1 1 Configuration Expand Runtime Security Policy Select Machine Select Code Groups Select All_Code Right click All_Code Select New Create a code group name for example dotNETB2 and then choose Next Set condition type to URL In the URL field enter Oar wh file local_server_ name sharename for example file bb app server 01 bb content vi 7 Restart IIS Language Pack Changes To ensure consistency across releases the Blackboard Academic Suite Updater will compare the existing en_US language pack against the version that is being installed The differences are
45. d testing in accordance with operational best practices at the institution Conversion Logging The database column conversion is logged in multiple locations The first location is in the blackboard logs install directory The second location is in the bb7 installer log txt file These two log files are useful for administrators to review for troubleshooting and to keep as an archive of the upgrade The database column conversion is also stored in the database schema The conversion portion of the Updater is stored in the database in case something happens to the Updater and it does not complete If the Updater does not complete review the bb7 installer log txt for information on why the Updater did not complete The Updater is designed so that it can be restarted and will resume from the point where it encountered an error Planning for the Unexpected The Updater has been designed to handle failures and pick up where it last left off As an administrator always plan for the unexpected The best way to plan for the unexpected is to plan for the conversion Develop a Project Plan Start by developing a project plan tasked out with major milestones and expected dates of execution and completion Try to factor in some extra time and resources as preventative management Create a Back Up and Recovery Plan Develop a back up and recovery plan in case you need to return back to your last working Blackboard configuration Back up the database conte
46. data verify that a back up exists Also be aware that this will reset the Course Statistics reporting to 0 High Performance Conversions As noted above some UNIX conversions can take longer then Windows conversions due to a few extra operations that execute behind the scenes In order to reduce the additional operational downtime that a UNIX client might experience the Updater includes a special feature to handle parallel conversions of database columns By default the Updater will invoke two processes to convert individual columns simultaneously These processes are configurable up to 8 In order to take advantage of parallel processing an environmental variable conversion_thread_count must be set in the environmental shell of the UNIX user launching the Updater The setting is case sensitive Ex export conversion_thread_count 4 Blackboard recommends that this setting be used for larger UNIX installations only as it can have a negative impact on run time execution on a poorly configured environment If used the setting should not exceed the count of processors available on the database server available to the Blackboard Oracle SID Additionally this setting should only be used by administrators knowledgeable about configuring a database server and storage environment capable of handling large volumes of synchronous writes If as an administrator you are not confident that you fit this profile consider running the conversion without these se
47. dules Transaction Account Module Type No No 2 3 Yes Yes Portfolios Administrator Template Creation No No 2 3 Yes Yes Portfolios Comments No No n a 3 Yes No Portfolios User Add Item Blank or Template No No n a 3 Yes Yes Staff Information Folder No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Tabs Manage Hot Link Content gt Add External Link No No 2 3 Yes Yes VISUAL TEXT Box EDITOR VTBE VTBE File Rows Rows Upload Upload Displayed Displayed Content Possible Files from without with System URL without Desktop Content Content Links Links Area VTBE via VIBE System System Row 3 Row 3 Task Course Org No No 2 3 Yes No Task Personal No No 2 3 Yes No 1 row displayed 2nd row is collapsed by default but can be expanded 1 row displayed 2nd and 3rd rows are collapsed by default but can be expanded _ 3 row allows file upload from desktop only if that option has been enabled applies to DB and Messages only Opt In Setting for the Visual Text Box Editor Administrators can allow users to opt in to the Visual Text Box Editor instead of opting out Enabling the Visual Text Box Editor for the system is still accomplished through the Administrator Panel under Text Box Editor A checkbox for requiring users to opt in now appears on the page If this is checked enabling the Visual Text Box Editor for the system does not automatically turn on the Visual Text Box
48. dware Sizing Guide Helps Administrators plan their hardware needs for running the Blackboard Academic Suite Blackboard Academic Suite Installation Guide Setup Guide Installing the Blackboard Academic Suite Blackboard Academic Suite Administrator Guides and Manuals System Administrator Manual Reference manual detailing the tools and functions available through the Administrator Panel This manual covers the entire Blackboard Academic Suite Server Administrator Background information specific instructions and resources covering different types of end user authentication application architecture Virtual Installations and SSL Advanced Integration and Data Background information on integration and Management Manual instructions for using integration tools included in the Blackboard Academic Suite Blackboard Academic Suite API Specifications and Building Blocks Introduction to the Building Blocks APIs Reference material about the Building Block APIs and Runtime and Runtime for developers creating Building Blocks System Extension Developers Guide An overview of the Building Block framework and a quick start reference to begin creating Building Blocks Module Developers Guide A quick start reference to create Building Block modules Building Block API Specifications The Building Block API JavaDoc this serves as the authoritative reference for developers creating Building Blocks for the Blackboard Learning System and the Blackb
49. e Release 7 1 SETTING VALUE Privilege Reader Configuration Privilege Privilege number configured on the Transaction System for purchases The tender number defined above points to this privilege Reader Address of reader as defined in the Transaction System Install Optiserv on a Windows Server If the Blackboard Community System is running on a Windows operating system follow these steps to install the OptiServ middleware 1 Stop Optiserv C Optiserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController sh services stop 2 Remove the NT service c enviserv blackboard tools admin RemoveServices bat 3 Rename the c Optipserv directory to C Optipserv orig 4 Download the Optiserv installer to the Blackboard Community System Web application server The Optiserv installer should be named bb_optiserv_windows_X_X_XXX_X exe where X_X_XXX_X is the version number Make sure that the version number of the Optiserv installer matches the version number of the Blackboard Community System Launch the installer Follow the on screen prompts to enter the information that the installer needs to complete All of the values that must be provided are listed above in the Optiserv Settings table 7 Enter the Destination Location Use cC optiserv as the location 8 Enter the Lantronix server IP Port and Key 9 Enter the Blackboard Transaction System Tender information 10 Enter the Privilege Reader configuration 11 Once the
50. e Updater tool will stop if the calculated space expectations noted in the undate log txt file are not available Databases configured for auto extension must be configured with the appropriate amount of allocated space The Updater will also require temporary space Rollback space Oracle is not supported by the Updater Oracle environments must be configured to use UNDO tablespace Not all of this space will be used but should be made available As part of the conversion the Blackboard Updater performs a database data file size check to ensure accurate storage needs are available prior to executing NOTE Please note that the Updater requires database storage to be allocated before running Databases configured for auto extension will need to accommodate fixed available and free storage in advance Most of the conversion takes place at the database layer Some file system changes take place but for the most part file system storage needs for the application and file system content will remain consistent Nonetheless clients should anticipate a minor change in the size of the file system Planning for Operational Downtime It is important to understand that the conversion process will require operational downtime or time when the application is unavailable to users This downtime varies based on how much data is contained within the database and whether the bulk of the data exists in the columns to be converted The sections below include sugg
51. e and then hit ENTER If The Blackboard Academic Suite is not found in the directory provided the Updater will attempt to install at the given location 5 The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Uninstall Blackboard Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Type 1 and hit ENTER to select Update 6 A message will appear that displays the changes that will be made when the Updater is run Hit ENTER to start the update Do not close the command line window or any of the other windows that pop up during the update 7 After running the update stop the Blackboard services and then stop the shutdown the Oracle database Restart in the reverse order Start the Oracle database first and then start the Blackboard services Shutting down and restarting the Blackboard services and the Oracle database will prevent any potential problems with database caching after running the update Troubleshooting the Updater The Updater logs are an important source of information when troubleshooting issues that arise during an update The Updater writes the following logs Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 blackboard logs bb7 installer log txt If the installer log file does not identify the problem the update tool log most likely contains the cause of any installation errors blackboard logs update tools update tool log txt Also check blackboard logs install blackboard logs install db install
52. e steps to disable the Archive Log Mode 1 Open a SQL prompt and run the following query to determine the Archive Log Mode Select log mode from v database 2 Ifthe log mode is ARCHIVELOG run the following commands to change it to NOARCHIVELOG SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE STARTUP MOUNT EXCLUSIVE ALTER DATABASE NOARCHIVELOG ALTER DATABASE OPEN 3 After the Updater has run completely backup the databases and then change the Recovery mode back to ARCHIVELOG Set BLANK_TRIMMING Variable Add the following command to the oracle init file alter system set blank trimming TRUE SCOPE spfile If the database does not use an SPFILE But instead uses an init ora file shutdown the database add the following setting to the init ora file and then restart the database blank trimming TRUE Run the Pre Update Change Report The Pre Update Change Report will test the current release to see if it is ready for conversion The report will verify the database storage space and transaction space Confirm Database Storage Space The Updater will check the available database data files to ensure they are adequate to support the new database It will report how much space is need in bytes Plan for the database to double in size and require another 15 percent increase in size for overhead If the space allotted is not enough the Updater will display an alert and quit so that more space can be allocated Remember to check the size of the following
53. em password file blackboard data dmp log blackboard data log owner CMS CMS FILES ORGS CMS FILES LIBRARY CMS FILES COURSES CMS FILES INST CMS FILES USERS buffer 1000000 If the database is greater than 2 GB in size divide the size of the database by two to determine the number of database export files that will be needed to store the data For example if the database is 6 GB then three export files would be required Use the command below to export the data specifying the filenames that will be used for data storage exp system password file blackboard datal dmp blackboard data2 dmp filesize 2G log blackboard data log owner userl CMS CMS FILES ORGS CMS FILES LIBRARY CMS FILES COURSES CMS FILES INST CMS FILES USERS buffer 1000000 If enough filenames to store all of the data are not specified Oracle will prompt for additional file names The ilesize option for the Oracle exp command is available in Oracle versions 8 1 5 and greater Execute the drop SQL gt drop users sql SQL gt drop tablespaces sql Change the national character set Login to SQL PLUS as sysdba and execute the following commands sqlplus as sysdba SQL gt SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE SQL gt STARTUP MOUNT EXCLUSIVE SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM ENABLE RESTRICTED SESSION SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB QUEUE PROCESSES 0 SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM SET AQ TM PROCESSES 0 SQL gt ALTER DATABASE OPEN SQL gt ALTER DATABASE NATIONAL CHARACTER SET INTERNA
54. ers As an administrator know that the file names on the file server are may not appear with the same file name that appears to users in the user interface The file names are read by the database and matched to the file name that the user entered when uploading the file 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 50 of 78 Invalid Characters The Oracle database will be scanned during the update for characters that are not valid in the current database character set In most cases the invalid characters are recognized and corrected automatically Some characters may not be converted correctly In particular those few characters in the MacRoman character set that do not have a corresponding value in the Microsoft CP 1252 character set may not be converted exactly In these cases the characters will be matched as closely as possible to a valid character Characters that cannot be matched will appear as question marks in the system following the conversion Oracle users must change the national character set from UTF 8 to AL16UTF16 before running the update PLANNING THE CONVERSION Sizing the Conversion The conversion modifies 22 percent of all available columns in the Blackboard schema Many of these columns store the bulk of the data in the Blackboard schema It is recommended that clients allocate up to two times the amount of database data and index file storage than the present state of the data before the conversion Th
55. estions for reducing the overall amount of operational downtime Many of these suggestions involve minimizing the size of the database by removing unnecessary data and or archiving data using Blackboard s internal tool sets Below is a short summary of how much downtime should be expected given the size of database content The expected down times for the deployment of Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle are provided The overall size column refers to both Data and Index space Transaction rollback or undo space is not included The estimates in the table below are based on Blackboard internal testing and testing by our Beta partners Overall Size Expected Down time Windows Expected Down Time UNIX Less then 5 GB Under 1 Hour Under 1 Hour 5GB to 10GB Under 2 Hours Under 5 Hours 10GB to 25GB Under 10 Hours Under 15 Hours 25 to 50GB 24 Hours 36 Hours 50 to 150GB 36 to 60 Hours 48 to 72 Hours The difference in time between a Windows conversion for a Unix conversion is due to extra operations tied to data validation that are built into SQL Server but are required for data integrity on Oracle Less then 1 percent of all Blackboard deployments are greater than 100GB of database storage Most deployments greater then 93 percent based on client sampling fall in the 5 to 25GB range subsequently requiring less then a day of operational downtime Plan for the time above and factor in additional time for system maintenance an
56. etary and Confidential Page 2 of 78 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction New Features and Enhancements Discussion Board Domain Management Flexible Roles and Privileges Course and Organization Catalogs by Role Visual Text Box Editor Assessments and Gradebook SIF Agent Blackboard Academic Suite Changes Compatibility Matrixes Server Compatibility Matrix End User Configuration Matrix Supported Paths for Importing and Restoring Courses Update Instructions for Windows From 7 0 to 7 1 Update Instructions for Windows From 6 3 to 7 1 Database Changes from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Best Practices Conversion Worksheet Pre Update Change Report Preparing the Database for Update SQL Server Run the Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Updater Update Windows File Sharing from DFS to UNC IIS 5 0 Compatibility Mode No Longer Supported Update Instructions for UNIX From 7 0 to 7 1 Update Instructions for UNIX From 6 3 to 7 1 Database Changes from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Planning the Conversion Best Practices Conversion Worksheet Pre Update Change Report Preparing the Database for Update Oracle Update the Oracle Character Set to AL16UTF16 Blackboard Content System Run the Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Updater Update eCommerce EnviServ Installation OptiServ Installation for UNIX OptiServ Installation for Windows Reference Materials o o 11 13 17 19 20 22 23 26 28 29 31 32 35 36 37 38 41 4
57. fully Successfully going through the back up and recovery process a few times will assist with capacity planning and unexpected failures for any reason Blackboard recommends shutting down or disabling any automated processes so that they do not conflict with the conversion effort Archive Remove Convert then Restore The more data stored in the system the more conversion time required This conversion might be an opportunity to clean up the data on the system There is a good chance that much of the data within the application is unused or outdated Work with the appropriate people at your institution to determine a plan that includes archiving data removing it and then running the conversion against important data only After the conversion is successful and before making the system available restore any relevant archived data while the system is running As always before removing the data verify that a back up exists Purge the Activity Accumulator The statistics maintained in the ACTIVITY ACCUMULATOR table grows at an astounding rate based on instrumentation programmed by professors into their courses and content items as well as statically defined within the Blackboard code for key transactional operations Many Blackboard deployments use the data in this table for reporting purposes While the data is valuable it is often perceived as disposable The conversion of this data can be time consuming and in many cases offers an opport
58. head Do not use rollback segments If the space allotted is not enough the Updater will quit and display an alert asking for more transaction space 1 Run the following query to determine the amount of space in the UNDO tablespace Select sum b bytes from dba tablespaces a join dba data files b using tablespace name where contents UNDO 2 Find the name of the data files that belong to the UNDO tablespace by running the following query Select tablespace name b file name from dba tablespaces a join dba data files b using tablespace name where contents UNDO 3 If an UNDO tablespace does not exist execute the following commands to create one The example below shows a data file that can grow to 200MB Consider raising this value if the Release 6 3 database is particularly large Remember if this is not enough space the Updater will quit to allow you to add more space as needed Create UNDO TABLESPACE undotbs 01 DATAFILE path to file filename SIZE 200M REUSE AUTOEXTEND ON 4 Run the following command to resize the data file where path_to_file filename is the name of the data file including the path as return by the query above and X is the required size in MBs alter database datafile path_ to file filename resize Xm 5 Finally take all rollback segments offline and drop them where RS_NAME is the name of the rollback segment Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 Alter rollback segment RS NAME offline
59. ileges cannot be changed for multiple roles on the same page Multiple System Roles per User Users can have multiple System Roles When a user has more than one System Role the privileges assigned to the System Roles are additive If one System Role allows an action but another System Role does not allow the same action the user will still be able to perform the action Multiple System Roles per user is only available if the Blackboard Community System is licensed Enhancements and Changes to Existing Features In order to facilitate flexible roles and privileges some aspects of privilege management and where privileges apply were changed e When administrators create courses they no longer have the option to add an instructor to the course on the same page because this involved overlap of course creation user creation and enrollment creation privileges e When administrators manage users there are separate privileges for managing enrollments which are managed under Courses and Organizations If the administrator has the necessary privileges to manage enrollments there is a convenient link that allows the administrator to go directly from managing Users to managing Course or Organization enrollments e The organization of pages for managing Courses Organizations Users Enrollments and Catalogs in the new Administrator Panel is significantly different from prior releases Wherever possible the privileges that had been set for S
60. ing a new value 5 The first Updater prompt asks for the directory where Blackboard will be found Hit ENTER to accept the default or enter a new value and then hit ENTER If The Blackboard Academic Suite is not found in the directory provided the Updater will attempt to install at the given location 6 The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Uninstall Blackboard Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Type 1 and hit ENTER to select Update 7 A message will appear that displays the changes that will be made when the Updater is run Hit ENTER to start the update Do not close the command line window or any of the other windows that pop up during the update 8 After running the update stop the Blackboard services and then stop the shutdown the Oracle database Restart in the reverse order Start the Oracle database first and then start the Blackboard services Shutting down and restarting the Blackboard services and the Oracle database will prevent any potential problems with database caching after running the update 9 After the Updater has finished backup the databases and then change the Recovery mode back to ARCHIVELOG Troubleshooting the Updater The Updater logs are an important source of information when troubleshooting issues that arise during an update The Updater writes the following logs blackboard logs bb7 installer log txt If the installer log file does not identify the p
61. ion Change the Datatype of Database Columns The Release 7 1 Updater changes the datatype of any database column that may need to store multibyte characters Typically these are columns that store labels text and other information entered by the user The Updater does not change the datatype of any column that does not need to be changed Changing only those database columns that may store multi byte characters ensures that the database growth associated with supporting multi byte characters is as limited as possible It is still prudent to expect the Release 7 1 database to require twice as much space as the Release 6 3 database Change the National Character Set Release 7 1 requires that Microsoft SQL Server use the UCS 2 character set and that Oracle use the AL16UTF16 database for the national character sets Oracle users must change the national character set from UTF 8 to AL16UTF16 before running the update Primary Conversion Formats Oracle CLOB gt NCLOB CLOB gt BLOB CLOB gt NVARCHAR2 VARCHAR2 gt NCLOB VARCHAR2 gt NVARCHAR2 Multibyte Passwords Release 7 includes support for encrypting multibyte passwords File Storage Multibyte file names may be too long to be handled by the server operating system The database will store the file name as it is entered by the user The file name will be converted to work with the operating system and stored on the file server Within the interface this will be invisible to us
62. kboard config bb config properties This file is useful when making updates to Enviserv Keep a backup copy to easily reapply settings after an update Keep in mind that the Enviserv version must be kept consistent with the Blackboard Community System version Update Enviserv every time the Blackboard Community System is updated To start and stop Enviserv services use the following tool c enviserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat To start services Cc enviserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services start To stop services C enviserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services stop As part of the uninstallation process the service must be removed from the server Use the following tool to remove the NT service c enviserv blackboard tools admin RemoveServices bat 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 71 of 78 OPTISERV INSTALLATION FOR UNIX The OptiServ middleware enables c Blackboard Transaction System U ommunication between the Blackboard Community System and the NIX Edition The OptiServ middleware is installed on the Blackboard Community System Web application server Instructions for installing OptiServ on both Windows and UNIX operating systems are below Note The OptiServ version must match the version of the Blackboard Community System The following settings are required when installing Optiserv Gather the values for each setting before running the i
63. llows bbconfig appserver service account win DOMAIN USER bbconfig appserver service password win PASSWORD bbconfig appserver service starttype win DEMAND START bbconfig collabserver service account win DOMAIN USER bbconfig collabserver service password win PASSWORD bbconfig collabserver service starttype win DEMAND START Make sure that the IIS DefaultAppPool identity is the domain user Set the identity to the domain user under IIS Manager gt Application Pools gt DefaultAppPool gt Properties gt Identity The domain user is an account created in the operating system to administer services related to the Blackboard Academic Suite Please see the Blackboard Academic Suite Setup Guide for more information about creating a domain user Blackboard Content System File Shares 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 44 of 78 In most cases the Blackboard Content System files are stored under the Blackboard Academic Suite content directory If these files were stored on a separate file server and not under the blackboard content directory make sure to remove the DFS shares and setup the drive mapping using the same process described above The locations of the Blackboard Content System directories are stored at the bottom of the bbconfig properties file IIS 5 0 COMPATIBILITY MODE No LONGER SUPPORTED Overview Release 6 required that IIS 6 0 run in IIS 5 0 compatibility mode Release 7 1 no longer requires IIS
64. mmand sqlplus as sysdba SQL gt Select parameter value 2 from v nls_ parameters 3 where parameter NLS NCHAR CHARACTERSET PARAMETER Value NLS NCHAR CHARACTERSET UTF8 Changing the Character Set Including the Blackboard Content System Before updating the Character Set the Blackboard Content System data must be exported and then imported after changing the National Character Set Follow these steps to change the National Character Set when the Blackboard Content System is installed 1 Stop the database and restart it in restricted mode sqlplus as sysdba SQL Plus Release x x x x x Production on XX XXX XX XX XX XX XXXX Copyright 1982 XXXX Oracle Corporation All rights reserved Connected to an idle instance SQL gt startup restrict ORACLE instance started Total System Global Area XXXXXXXXX bytes Fixed Size XXXXXXXXX bytes Variable Size XXXXXXXXX bytes Database Buffers XXXXXXXXX bytes 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 63 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 Redo Buffers XXXXXXXXX bytes Database mounted Database opened SQL gt The startup restrict command will prevent most users from logging into the database server 2 Run the following commands These commands are necessary to ensure that the scripts do not include any non SQL statements SQL gt set echo off SQL gt set feedback off SQL gt set heading off SQL gt set linesize 200 3
65. n System Database Enter the user name as envision Enter a password for the user Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 Install Enviserv on a Windows Server Follow these steps to install the EnviServ server software 1 Stop Enviserv C enviserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services stop 2 Remove the NT service Cc enviserv blackboard tools admin RemoveServices bat 3 Rename the c enviserv directory to C enviserv orig 4 Download bb_enviserv_windows_X_X_X_XXX Where the X s are the version number to the Blackboard Transaction System server Make sure that the Enviserv version number matches the version number of the Blackboard Community System 5 Run the installer Confirm the license agreement and click Next Complete the fields in the installer using Next and Back to navigate between pages Descriptions of the data that must be provided are included above in the Enviserv Settings table Click Finish after completing the installer Once the installation is finished start the Bb Enviserv service through the Windows operating system 10 After installation is complete and the Bb Enviserv service is running test the system 11 After verifying that Enviserv is operating properly remove the C Enviserv orig backup directory Enviserv Config File and Command Line Tools After installing Enviserv the properties file that stores user defined settings is stored at C enviserv blac
66. noted and output in a file called bundle_diff txt This file is added to the blackboard backups lt updater_time_stamp gt directory Use this file to review the text differences between releases and make updates to any custom Language Packs UPDATE INSTRUCTIONS FOR WINDOWS FROM 6 3 TO 7 1 Overview Topics The Release 7 1 Updater has been completely redesigned for easy and reliable updates from Release 7 forward The Release 7 1 update requires a database conversion to work with multibyte characters This conversation will require the process to take more downtime than most updates Please read through database conversion and Updater instructions carefully before planning and executing the process Note The Updater must be run against Release 6 3 1 424 or higher Please install the latest 6 3 service packs before attempting to update This section on updating the Blackboard Academic Suite on a Windows platform includes the following topics TOPIC DESCRIPTION Database Changes from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Planning the Conversion Best Practices Conversion Worksheet Pre Update Change Report Preparing the Database for Update SQL Server Run the Release 6 3 to Release 7 Updater Update Windows File Sharing from DFS to UNC IIS 5 0 Compatibility Mode No Longer Supported The Update from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 includes a major update to the database to support multibyte characters The database
67. nstaller This data can be found in the properties file usr local Optipserv blackboard config bb config properties Optiserv Settings SETTING VALUE Optiserv Directory J2SE Directory Optiserv Server Configuration Host Name Port Secret Key Lantronix Server Configuration Host Name Port Key Tender Configuration Flag Number Category The directory where Optiserv will be installed The default value is usr local Optiserv The location of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Make sure that the full SDK is available on the server and matches the version required for the Blackboard Community System Enter the IP Address or DNS name for the server hosting Optiserv Enter the port number that Optiserv will use to listen for requests from the Blackboard Community System This value must match port number that will be configured in the Optiserv settings section of Transaction system settings on the Community System normally 6784 The Key must be 16 characters long and can be any combination of alohanumeric characters The same key will later be entered into the Blackboard Community System The IP Address of the Lantronix Server 3001 This value must be 3001 32 bit hexadecimal encryption key Must match 32 bit hex key configured on the Lantronix server 00 Tender number configured on the Transaction system for purchases 02 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 SETTING VALUE
68. nt installation files and license files It is always a good idea to have the installer on hand if you need to reinstall and restore your content and database files It is a good idea to practice the back up and recovery operations on a test server Practice restoring the back up of the 6 3 environment before running the conversion update Test the Conversion in Advance Although the hardware in the development test environment may be different from the production environment it is a good idea to practice the conversion as much as possible Test the conversion more than once to ensure that everything is working as expected Use this time to estimate how much downtime will be needed when the production system needs to be updated Blackboard recommends testing the conversion on a copy of the production database BEST PRACTICES Back Up and Recovery Creating a back up is always a recommended best practice before manipulating data Before running a conversion test or production make a full back up of the database and file system content and verify that the system can be restored successfully Successfully going through the back up and recovery process a few times will assist with capacity planning and unexpected failures for any reason Blackboard recommends shutting down or disabling any automated processes so that they do not conflict with the conversion effort Archive Remove Convert then Restore The more data stored in the system
69. oard Community System Administrative API Specifications The Snapshot API JavaDoc this serves as the authoritative reference for Administrators using the snapshot tool Blackboard Academic Suite End User Manuals MANUAL NAME DESCRIPTION User Manual Reference manual detailing the tools and functions included in the platform from the general user perspective This manual includes information on the Blackboard Learning System and the Blackboard Community System Instructor Manual Reference manual providing detailed information about building and managing courses and organizations This manual includes information on the Blackboard Learning System and the Blackboard Community System Blackboard Content System API Specifications and Building Blocks Blackboard Content System Building Blocks The Building Block API JavaDoc for the Blackboard API Specifications Content System this serves as the authoritative reference for developers creating Building Blocks for the Blackboard Content System Blackboard Content System End User Manuals User Manual Reference manual detailing the tools and functions included in the system for all end users This manual includes information on the Blackboard Content System
70. ontent System is installed The default national character set value for Oracle 9i and 10g is AL16UTF16 also referred to as UTF16 Confirm that the character set is AL16UTF16 before installing the Blackboard Academic Suite The National Character Set value can be determined by querying the v table using the following SQL command sqlplus as sysdba SQL gt Select parameter value 2 from v nls_ parameters 3 where parameter NLS NCHAR CHARACTERSET PARAMETER Value NLS NCHAR CHARACTERSET UTF8 Use these instructions if the Blackboard Content System is not licensed Follow these steps to change the national character set from UTF8 to AL16UTF16 1 Shutdown the database 2 Perform a cold backup services are turned off of the database 3 Login as sysdba and execute the following commands sqlplus as sysdba SQL gt SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE SQL gt STARTUP MOUNT EXCLUSIVE SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM ENABLE RESTRICTED SESSION SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB QUEUE PROCESSES 0 SQL gt ALTER SYSTEM SET AQ TM PROCESSES 0 SQL gt ALTER DATABASE OPEN SQL gt ALTER DATABASE NATIONAL CHARACTER SET INTERNAL USE AL16UTF16 SQL gt SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE SQL gt STARTUP Disable Archive Log Mode 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 59 of 78 Most clients will be using the Archive Log Mode This mode creates a full transaction history that would grow to unmanageable size during the update Follow thes
71. onversion Worksheet Pre Update Change Report Preparing the Database for Update Oracle Update the Oracle Character Set to AL16UTF16 Blackboard Content System Run the Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 Updater The Update from Release 6 3 to Release 7 1 includes a major update to the database to support multibyte characters The database conversion requires careful planning and time management Ensure that the data on the system is backed up and easy to restore The Conversion Worksheet is a helpful planning tool during the database conversion process The Pre Update Change Report details the changes that will be made during the update It also verifies that the system is ready to accept the update Several steps must be completed to prep the database prior to running the Updater The Blackboard Content System databases when running on Oracle require some additional preparation before running the Updater Instructions for running the Updater Be sure to prepare the database before running the Updater Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 DATABASE CHANGES FROM RELEASE 6 3 TO RELEASE 7 1 Overview The Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 supports multibyte characters so that users can work in any language and administrators can create Language Packs to support any language As a result databases undergo architectural changes to support multibyte characters These architectural changes make up the database convers
72. or many collections Once established administration of a Domain is controlled by assigning System Roles to users who will manage the items in the Domain System Administrators have the ability to create Domains that represent different parts of their institution In the context of the Blackboard Academic Suite a Domain can include Collections of users courses organizations modules and tabs defined according to multiple specific criteria Administration Administration of domains is set up by assigning users System Roles within the Domain Each Domain administrator can be assigned any number of System Roles The privileges provided by these roles are additive so they can be combined to create several different models of Domain administrators The same user can be an administrator in multiple Domains Once the Domains are defined all users who have administrator privileges within those Domains will have a tailored way of using the Administrator Panel functions Their view of the Administrator Panel will be specific to their Domain s and the privileges of their System Role s Configuration Domains are only available if the Blackboard Community System is licensed Configuring Domains is a process that requires detailed planning based upon the policy rules and organizational structure of the institution Ask your Blackboard Account Manager for information about service offerings to help with planning for this capability FLEXIBLE ROLES A
73. ore information Backup the Database Clients should already have a good process for backing up and restoring the database in place If not please use the Blackboard Academic Suite Operations Workbook and Microsoft s SQL Server documentation to develop and execute a backup and recovery plan Make sure that a complete backup is done and the restore tested before running the Updater Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 Change the Recovery Mode Most clients will be using the FULL Recovery mode This mode creates a full transaction history that would grow to unmanageable size during the update Follow these steps to check the Recovery mode and change it to SIMPLE 1 Open the SQL Server Enterprise Manager 2 Select Tools gt SQL Query Analyzer 3 Run the following query to check the Recovery mode for each database Remember to include the Blackboard Content System databases if the Blackboard Content System is installed Also remember to include the databases for any additional licensed Virtual Installations Select databasepropertyex bb bb60 recovery Select databasepropertyex BB BB60 STATS recovery Select databasepropertyex bbadmin recovery Blackboard Content System databases Select databasepropertyex cms recovery Select databasepropertyex cms files users recovery Select databasepropertyex cms files courses recovery Select databasepropertyex cms files orgs recovery Select dat
74. pdate 4 Schedule Operational Downtime for production conversion 5 Develop a Back Up and Recovery Plan if none exists 6 Practice Back Up and Recovery against a test server 7 Identify data for archival purposes 8 Back up production data 9 Archive and Remove data 10 Purge Activity Accumulator Data 11 Run the 7 1 Updater Reporting Tool Option 2 of the Updater 12 Notify all users and related parties about downtime 13 Disable access to the application 14 Disable database back up processes and automated tasks 15 Change the database character set 16 Add database and or file system storage if needed 17 Run the conversion using Option 1 of the Updater 18 Follow along with the conversion from the installation console or the log file s 19 After the conversion completes verify the application starts and all configuration settings remain the same 20 Check the log files for any issues 21 Check the state of the database and file system to ensure enough storage is available once the system is enabled 22 Restore archived data if needed 23 Run through any functional or technical tests before deployments 24 Verify all automated processes and or any other administrative operational responsibilities are enabled and working such as back ups and maintenance tasks 25 Enable Blackboard and notify users 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 56 of 78 PRE UPDATE CHANGE REPORT Overview The Pre Update
75. r reviewing posts to a Moderator When creating a forum or modifying a forum s settings instructors have the option of forcing moderation If moderation is enabled when a user other than a Moderator or Manager submits a post the post is saved to the Moderation Queue New posts are displayed in the queue for review and publication If a post is returned a return message can be attached to the post allowing the Moderator to inform the user why the post was not accepted for publication By default Discussion Board users that are assigned to a group are allowed to create threads in the Group Discussion Board forum This means that group users can now beginning using the Discussion Board immediately and do not have to wait for the instructor to create a forum and begin a thread Rate Posting Post rating allows users to rate posts in the forum on a scale of one to five stars When enabled post rating is a simple yet effective tool for peer review Thread Subscriptions The Subscribe to Thread notifies users each time a new post is added to the thread The notification is enabled by the user and sent to the email address stored in the user s Personal Information Users will not be able to enter a different email address to which notifications will be sent to prevent spam from being generated from the Discussion Board This feature is available to all users with a forum role other than blocked if the feature is enabled for the forum
76. r the values for each setting before running the installer This data can be found in the properties file C optiserv blackboard config bb config properties Optiserv Settings SETTING VALUE Optiserv Directory J2SE Directory Optiserv Server Configuration Host Name Port Secret Key Lantronix Server Configuration Host Name Port Key Tender Configuration Flag Number Category The directory where Optiserv will be installed The default value is C Optiserv The location of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Make sure that the full SDK is available on the server and matches the version required for the Blackboard Community System Enter the IP Address or DNS name for the server hosting Optiserv Enter the port number that Optiserv will use to listen for requests from the Blackboard Community System This value must match port number that will be configured in the Optiserv settings section of Transaction system settings on the Community System normally 6784 The Key must be 16 characters long and can be any combination of alphanumeric characters The same key will later be entered into the Blackboard Community System The IP Address of the Lantronix Server 3001 This value must be 3001 32 bit hexadecimal encryption key Must match 32 bit hex key configured on the Lantronix server 00 Tender number configured on the Transaction system for purchases 02 Blackboard Academic Suit
77. r validation remove the backup directory usr local Optipserv orig Optiserv Config File and Command Line Tools After installing Optiserv the properties file that stores user defined settings is stored at usr local Optipserv blackboard config bb config properties This file is useful when making updates to Optiserv Keep a backup copy to easily reapply settings after an update Keep in mind that the Optiserv version must be kept consistent with the Blackboard Community System version Update Optiserv every time the Blackboard Community System is updated To start and stop Optiserv services use the following tool usr local Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController sh To start services usr local Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController sh services start To stop services usr local Optipserv blackboard tools admin ServiceController sh services stop 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 73 of 78 OPTISERV INSTALLATION FOR WINDOWS The OptiServ middleware enables communication between the Blackboard Community System and the Blackboard Transaction System UNIX Edition The OptiServ middleware is installed on the Blackboard Community System Web application server Instructions for installing OptiServ on Windows operating systems are below Note The OptiServ version must match the version of the Blackboard Community System The following settings are required when installing Optiserv Gathe
78. re labels text and other information entered by the user The Updater does not change the datatype of any column that does not need to be changed Changing only those database columns that may store multi byte characters ensures that the database growth associated with supporting multi byte characters is as limited as possible It is still prudent to expect the Release 7 1 database to require twice as much space as the Release 6 3 database National Character Set Release 7 1 requires that Microsoft SQL Server use the UCS 2 character set and that Oracle use the AL16UTF16 database for the national character sets UCS 2 is the standard national character set for Microsoft SQL Server so those systems running on Windows do not need to update the national character set Oracle users must change the national character set from UTF 8 to AL16UTF16 before running the update Multibyte Passwords Release 7 1 includes support for encrypting multibyte passwords File Storage Multibyte file names may be too long to be handled by the server operating system The database will store the file name as it is entered by the user The file name will be converted to work with the operating system and stored on the file server Within the interface this will be invisible to users As an administrator know that the file names on the file server are may not appear with the same file name that appears to users in the user interface The file names are read by the dat
79. roblem the update tool log most likely contains the cause of any installation errors blackboard logs update tools update tool log txt Also check blackboard logs install blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install errors log bb bbadmin txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bb60 txt blackboard logs install db install info log bb bbadmin txt Some testers reported that the Updater failed with the following errors ORA 01401 inserted value too large for column exception The error occurs when an attempting to change a column format to support multibyte characters The issue is not related to the data in the column Rather the issue is caused by an incompatibility in the Dictionary space on systems that have been restored by replacing datafiles and control files To resolve the issue attempt to run the Updater again If the issue persists repeat the steps for changing the character set to AL16UTF16 EXP 00056 ORACLE error 904 This error appears in the export log when exporting converting and importing the Content System databases This error only occurs if the CATEXP sq file is not run during initial database setup particularly when migrating to Oracle 9 2 0 7 To resolve the issue start the database in migration mode and run the CATEXP sq file from the ORACLE_HOME rdbms admin directory UPDATE ECOMMERCE Installation Process The Enviserv or Optiserv middle
80. rograms gt Administrative Tools gt Distributed File System Open SERVER Apps and right click on blackboard docs vi and select Delete Link Run the PushConfigUpdates bat tool L blackboard tools admin PushConfigUpdates bat This will change the base directory in IIS to point to the new base directory location at C Apps blackboard Any SSL certificate installed with the original Web site will need to be reinstalled The next steps remove the DFS share Log on to the first Web app server and open Start gt Programs gt Administrative Tools gt Distributed File System Expand the Distributed File System Right click SERVER Apps and select Delete Root Disconnect the L drive Disable the Server Apps share Edit the C WINDOWS system32 autoexnt bat file and remove the L drive mapping statement rem net start Distributed File System rem net start use DELETE L rem net use L FILESERVER Apps PERSISTENT NO USER DOMAIN USER PASSWORD Reboot the server and repeat the process for each Web app server Once this process is complete the Web app servers will use UNC to map to the content directory The other two directories that were a part of the Distributed File System in Release 6 are no longer needed The vi directory is moved under the content directory and the system directory is no longer used Final notes Make sure that the Blackboard services are configured to run as the domain user in bb config properties as fo
81. rt those rich text editing features Some features that are not accessible from a button in the Lite Version may still be activated using keyboard shortcuts For example the cut copy and paste functions may still be used through the keyboard shortcuts Macintosh users may also download and use the free Mozilla Firefox 1 0 or higher Web Browser to use all the features of the Text Box Editor Firefox users on all operating systems must perform an extra step to enable the cut copy and paste functions This is a function of the Firefox browser and not Blackboard applications The first time an attempt is made to cut copy or paste text in the Visual Text Box Editor a message from Firefox will appear explaining that the action is not allowed A link is provided for information on how to enable the cut copy and paste functions by editing a Firefox configuration file The link currently points to http www mozilla org editor midasdemo securityprefs html Please check with Firefox for the most up to date information on using rich text tools for cut copy and paste Macintosh users may find that this does not fully resolve the problem particularly because Fireflox does not permit pasting text from Microsoft Office files on Mac To accomplish this task paste the text into a basic text editor such as TextEdit or Notepad and then paste the text into the Visual Text Box Editor Additional Locations for the Visual Text Box editor The Visual Text Bo
82. s Follow these steps to run the Pre Update Change Report 1 Click on the Updater file to launch it or open a command line prompt and navigate to the directory that holds the Updater Run the following command to launch the Updater C bb_ updater gt java jar lt updater file gt To launch the Updater and use the command line interface run the following command the following steps assume that the GUI Updater is used C bb updater gt java jar lt updater file gt text A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating Click Next to continue The first Updater page asks where the Blackboard Installation Directory is found Click Next to accept the defaults or enter new values and then click Next If The Blackboard Academic Suite is not found in the directory provided the Updater will attempt to install at the given location The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Pre Update Change Report Uninstall Blackboard Academic Suite and Uninstall appserver Select Pre Update Change Report and click Next The update report log file will appear in the Updater directory This file includes important information on what changes will occur when the Updater is run PREPARING THE DATABASE FOR UPDATE SQL SERVER Overview Clients must prepare the database before running the Updater The database must use the
83. s ability to save posts as drafts general user interface and usability improvements greater control over forum availability improved search functionality and improved collection of posts and threads e Administrator Panel The Administrator Panel now includes customization options for module themes e Module Descriptions The Descriptions field now includes a Visual Text Box Editor to improve administrator use of the Modify Content page e Manage Tabs and Manage Modules Improved administrator management of tabs and modules through additional description fields to help administrators manage modules or tabs with the same name Changes to the Blackboard Content System e Assessment Import Export The Test and Survey Managers have been enhanced to allow for importing and exporting much like the Pool Manager in Release 6 Tests and surveys can be imported exported to the local computer or to the Content Collection in the Blackboard Content System e Folder View The Folder View of the Content System menu will by default only display the contents of the first content area such as My Content Other areas of the menu will be collapsed and the user can click the name of the area to expand it This enhancement dramatically improves performance for any area that Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 contains a large amount of data because the directory structure is not loaded until the user elects to expand that view 2005 2006 Bla
84. s for Course Organization and User Management The Courses Organizations and Users pages have enhanced sorting and paging as well as powerful searching capabilities Many functions have been streamlined and unnecessary receipt pages eliminated e Spell Check Spell Check is now present in all places where email is used in the application plus other key areas where proper spelling is essential such as the Glossary tool and Assignment comments to from instructors Changes to the Blackboard Community System e e Commerce Variable Price Products When enabled for a product users determine the price of the product at the time the order is placed This new product setting supports payment of parking tickets library fines donations and more e e Commerce Sales History Product Movement Total Sales and My Accounts Reports e Marketplace reports are available for product sales including total taxes paid product movement and or total sales per vendor in the system A My Accounts report details the total deposits and convenience fees paid for each account in the specified date range All reports can be sorted and filtered by vendor and or date range with the option to print or export results e e Commerce Fraud Rule Support Fraud rule checking prevents a credit card transaction from successfully completing if the transaction triggers a Fraud Rule in the Payment Gateway e System Discussion Boards Forum moderation post rating thread subscription
85. s similar to the Installer the Updater is run on each Web App server in sequential order and then run on the Collaboration server if the Collaboration server resides on a separate server After running the Updater the first time choose the Update an App Server for all other Web app servers and the Collaboration server This option will update the application files without making any of the database changes Run the Updater on UNIX Follow these steps to run the Updater on UNIX 1 Before running the Updater open the bb config properties file and check the bbconfig smtpserver hostname value A valid SMTP server must appear for the Updater to run correctly 2 Open a command line prompt and navigate to the directory that holds the Updater 3 Run the following command to launch the Updater usr local bbupdater java jar lt updater file gt If Xwindows or a similar GUI is running and the DISPLAY variable is properly configured the Updater will launch in GUI mode remember that the following steps assume that the command line Updater is used A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating Hit ENTER to continue 4 Instructions will appear for navigating through the Updater prompts The Updater in most cases will provide a default value in brackets Hit ENTER to accept the default and continue or enter a different value Hit ENTER to continue after enter
86. t Change User s Role in Course Organization Control Panel gt Course Organization Copy gt Copy Course Organization with Users Exact Copy Control Panel gt Course Organization Copy gt Copy Materials into a New Course Organization Control Panel gt Course Organization Copy gt Copy Materials into an Existing Course Organization Administrator Panel Community System Management gt Tabs Administrator Panel Community System Management gt Modules COURSE AND ORGANIZATION CATALOGS BY ROLE Customize Catalog Views by Institutional Role Each category in a Course or Organization Catalog can be made available to one or more Institution Roles so that views of the catalogs are customized to the categories that are appropriate for those roles For example a Law School student could see a different set of categories and courses than a Business School student yet still be accessing the same catalog Catalog Availability The Course and Organization Catalogs can be made available to users from any Tab using the Course Catalog or Organization Catalog modules The Catalogs are also available from the Course Search box on the Courses tab and the Organization Search box on the Community tab Catalog Management Management of the catalogs and options are on the following pages Administrator Panel gt Course Catalog or Organization Catalog Administrators manage the Catalog and its categories including associating categories with Institution
87. the more conversion time required This conversion might be an opportunity to clean up the data on the system There is a good chance that much of the data within the application is unused or outdated Work with the appropriate people at your institution to determine a plan that includes archiving data removing it and then running the conversion against important data only After the conversion is successful and before making the system available restore any relevant archived data while the system is running As always before removing the data verify that a back up exists Purge the Activity Accumulator The statistics maintained in the ACTIVITY ACCUMULATOR table grows at an astounding rate based on instrumentation programmed by professors into their courses and content items as well as statically defined within the Blackboard code for key transactional operations Many Blackboard deployments use the data in this table for reporting purposes While the data is valuable it is often perceived as disposable The conversion of this data can be time consuming and in many cases offers an opportunity to speed up the conversion effort by eliminating it via a delete operation There are two representations of this table for the Blackboard Learning System implementations found in the BB_BB60 schema and the BB_BB60_STATS schema Both can be deleted using a simple truncate table ACTIVITY_ACCUMULATOR statement in the database As always before you remove the
88. tion 2 of the Updater 12 Notify all users and related parties about downtime 13 Disable access to the application 14 Disable database back up processes and automated tasks 15 Change the database character set 16 Add database and or file system storage if needed 17 Run the conversion using Option 1 of the Updater 18 Follow along with the conversion from the installation console or the log file s 19 After the conversion completes verify the application starts and all configuration settings remain the same 20 Check the log files for any issues 21 Check the state of the database and file system to ensure enough storage is available once the system is enabled 22 Restore archived data if needed 23 Run through any functional or technical tests before deployments 24 Verify all automated processes and or any other administrative operational responsibilities are enabled and working such as back ups and maintenance tasks 25 Enable Blackboard and notify users 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 36 of 78 PRE UPDATE CHANGE REPORT Overview The Pre Update Change Report reviews the currently installed system to ensure that it meets the requirements for the update It then reports its findings and a list of all the file changes that will occur when the Updater is run Running the Pre Update Change Report is an important step before running the Updater Run the Pre Update Change Report Window
89. tional Downtime It is important to understand that the conversion process will require operational downtime or time when the application is unavailable to users This downtime varies based on how much data is contained within the database and whether the bulk of the data exists in the columns to be converted The sections below include suggestions for reducing the overall amount of operational downtime Many of these suggestions involve minimizing the size of the database by removing unnecessary data and or archiving data using Blackboard s internal tool sets Below is a short summary of how much downtime should be expected given the size of database content The expected down times for the deployment of Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle are provided The overall size column refers to both Data and Index space Transaction rollback or undo space is not included The estimates in the table below are based on Blackboard internal testing and testing by our Beta partners Overall Size Expected Down time Windows Expected Down Time UNIX Less then 5 GB Under 1 Hour Under 1 Hour 5GB to 10GB Under 2 Hours Under 5 Hours 10GB to 25GB Under 10 Hours Under 15 Hours 25 to 50GB 24 Hours 36 Hours 50 to 150GB 36 to 60 Hours 48 to 72 Hours The difference in time between a Windows conversion and a UNIX conversion is due to extra operations tied to data validation that are built into SQL Server but are required for
90. ttings Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 The following Oracle initialization parameters below were used in order to support synchronous write performance The parameters were changed back to their original values after the Updater completed cpu_count Insert the number of logical CPUs available to the Blackboard Oracle SID disk _asynch io FALSE db writer processes Set this to cpu count or cpu count 1 log buffer Set this to 1 MB or 2 MB The Oracle changes above can improve the performance of the conversion However the greatest performance improvement will come from a high performance disk sub system that the Oracle data files reside Ensure that the disk configuration is capable and optimized to handle synchronous writes 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 55 of 78 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 CONVERSION WORKSHEET Below is a sample conversion worksheet that steps through the planning testing and execution process of the 7 1 upgrade This is not a comprehensive list but rather a list of activities that should occur before making the upgraded Blackboard product available to users Conversion Task Important Notes Dependencies Dates Download and read the Release Notes for Upgrading from 6 3 to 7 1 2 Request the Blackboard 7 1 Updater Binary and License File 3 Plan for 7 1 U
91. unity to speed up the conversion effort by eliminating it via a delete operation There are two representations of this table for the Blackboard Learning System implementations found in the BB_BB60 schema and the BB_BB60_STATS schema Both can be deleted using a simple truncate table ACTIVITY_ACCUMULATOR statement in the database As always before you remove the data verify that a back up exists Also be aware that this will reset the Organization Statistics reporting to 0 Blackboard Academic Suite Release 7 1 CONVERSION WORKSHEET Below is a sample conversion worksheet that steps through the planning testing and execution process of the 7 upgrade This is not a comprehensive list but rather a list of activities that should occur before making the upgraded Blackboard product available to users Step Conversion Task Owner Important Notes Dependencies Dates 1 Download and read the Release Notes for Upgrading from 6 3 to 7 1 2 Request the Blackboard 1 Updater Binary and License File 3 Plan for 7 1 Update 4 Schedule Operational Downtime for production conversion 5 Develop a Back Up and Recovery Plan if none exists 6 Practice Back Up and Recovery against a test server 7 Identify data for archival purposes 8 Back up production data 9 Archive and Remove data 10 Purge Activity Accumulator Data 11 Run the 7 1 Updater Reporting Tool Op
92. unning on a Windows load balanced configuration will need to make this change UNC mapping is much simpler than DFS and this change will result in a system that is easier to manage and scale The Blackboard Academic Suite now accepts the storage of content files in a separate location than the application files as part of the initial installation Another change is the number of shared directories Release 7 1 stores all content under the blackboard content directory In Release 6 content was split across the blackboard content directory the blackboard docs vi directory and prior to Application Pack 3 the blackboard server directory The Updater will copy the contents of the blackboard docs vi directory to the contents vi directory Install Service Pack 1 for Windows 2003 After Update Service Pack 1 for Windows 2003 is required with Release 7 1 In earlier releases Service Pack 1 for Windows 2003 was not supported with load balanced environments because Service Pack 1 is not compatible with DFS After changing from DFS to UNC please install Service Pack 1 for Windows 2003 Change from DFS to UNC Follow these steps to change the file sharing from DFS to UNC 1 Run the Release 7 1 Updater on all Web app servers Please remember to run the Updater using the mapped DFS drive usually L blackboard as the location of the blackboard directory 2 Stop Services on the Web app servers L blackboard tools admin ServiceController bat services
93. unning the Blackboard Academic Suite on a Windows Operating System must install the NET framework if they plan on using NET Building Blocks Certified Server Configurations WINDOWS SUN SOLARIS RED HAT LINUX Microsoft Windows 2003 Sun Solaris 10 Red Hat Linux Server SP1 Advanced Server 3 0 e Microsoft SQL e Oracle 10g e Oracle 10g Server 2000 Release 1 Release 1 Enterprise Edition e Apache HTTP Server e Apache HTTP Server SP4 or Microsoft Version 1 3 33 Version 1 3 33 SQL Server 2000 i f Standard Edition e Java 2 Plat orm e Java 2 Plat orm SP4 Standard Edition 5 0 Standard Edition 5 0 o Mecsio mena e Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex e Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 2 3 1 Information Server IIS 6 not included with Blackboard e Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Version 5 0 e Perl 5 6 1 Perl Ex 2 3 1 Please see the Setup Guide for information on setting up Red Hat Linux Advanced Server 3 0 with the Blackboard Academic Suite Blackboard Academic Suite Application Pack1 Note UNIX systems running Blackboard Learning System Basic must use Small Scale Oracle 9i version 9 2 0 4 Small Scale Oracle is supplied by Blackboard 2005 2006 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 24 of 78 Compatible Server Configurations SUN SOLARIS SUN SOLARIS SUN SOLARIS Sun Solaris 10 Sun Solaris 9 Sun Solaris 9 e Oracle 9i version e Oracle 9i version
94. ust match the version of the Blackboard Community System Enviserv Settings The following settings are required when installing Enviserv Gather the values for each setting before running the installer This data can be found in the properties file C enviserv blackboard config bb config properties SETTING VALUE Enviserv Directory J2SE Directory Enviserv Server Configuration Host Name Port Secret Key Windows Service Name The directory where Enviserv will be installed The default value is C Enviserv The location of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition Make sure that the full SDK is available on the server and matches the version required for the Blackboard Community System Enter the IP Address or DNS name for the server hosting Enviserv Enter the port number that Enviserv will use to listen for requests from the Blackboard Community System The default is Port 3784 The port must match transaction system settings configuration of the Community System The Key must be 16 characters long and can be any combination of alohanumeric characters The same key will later be entered into the Blackboard Community System Enviserv runs as Bb Enviserv within the Windows operating system Transaction System Configuration Host Name Enter the IP Address or DNS name for the server hosting the Transaction System Database Port SID User Password 1521 Enter the Database SID used with Transactio
95. ust prepare the database before running the Updater The database must use the appropriate character set and have enough available space to handle the larger database Preparing an Oracle Database Complete the following tasks to prepare an Oracle database before updating to Release 7 1 STEP DESCRIPTION Plan downtime Backup the database Change the character set to AL16UTF16 Disable Archive Log Mode Set BLANK_TRIMMING to TRUE Run the Pre Update Change Report Confirm enough disk space for the data file Confirm enough UNDO space for the update Run the Pre Update Change Report again Plan Downtime The update process will require several hours Backup the database and test the restore procedure to ensure that the Release 6 3 database can be restored without errors If the database conversion fails the database may be left in an unusable state This step is Critical Release 6 3 used the UTF 8 character set a subset of AL16UTF16 that does not support multibyte characters Release 7 requires the AL16UTF16 character set The Archive Log mode will write a tremendous amount of information during the update Disabling this log ensures that the update will run as smoothly as possible The BLANK_TRIMMING variable must be set to true to ensure that multiple threads are able to handle large amounts of data during the conversion Run the Updater and use the Pre Update Change Report option This will check the
96. vious users them the same privileges that they had before the conversion SQL gt regrant role privs sql SQL gt regrant sys privs sql Use the Oracle import utility to import the previously created dump file blackboard _data dmp into the database Must be run from the command line as Oracle imp system password file blackboard data dmp full y buffer 2000000 After the data is imported into the database the conversion of Oracle is complete A cold backup should be taken of the new database installation 2005 Blackboard Inc Proprietary and Confidential Page 66 of 78 RUN THE RELEASE 6 3 TO RELEASE 7 1 UPDATER Overview Make sure that the database preparation steps have been completed before running the Updater After the Updater has converted the database it will install the application updates If the Updater is stopped or fails after the database has been converted the database cannot be returned to its original state It is critical that a full backup be completed and the restore process confirmed before preparing the database and running the Updater Please remember to run the Pre Update Change Report before running the Updater Note The Updater must be run against Release 6 3 1 424 or higher Please install the latest 6 3 service packs before attempting to update Run the Updater on a Load Balanced System The Updater must be run on each Web app server and the Collaboration server on a load balanced system The method i
97. ware must be updated along with the Blackboard Community System if the eCommerce features are enabled Enviserv and Optiserv are additional software that allow communication between the Blackboard Transaction System and the Blackboard Community System Updating the Enviserv or Optiserv software requires the uninstallation of the old version and installation of the new version Before doing so make a backup of the existing installation so the system can be restored to its current state The process for connecting the Community System to the Transaction System depends upon the licensed version of the Transaction System Use the table below to determine which process to follow TRANSACTION SYSTEM VERSION PLEASE SEE Blackboard Transaction System wUniversal Edition Install Envision Blackboard Transaction System Windows Edition Install Envision Blackboard Transaction System UNIX Edition Install Optiserv on a UNIX Server if the Blackboard Community System is running on a UNIX server Install Optiserv on a Windows Server if the Blackboard Community System is running on a Windows server e Commerce Prerequisites The following prerequisites must be met before connecting the Blackboard Community System to the Blackboard Transaction System e Blackboard Transaction System Universal Edition Blackboard Transaction System Windows Edition package 212 or higher or Blackboard Transaction System Unix Edition Release 9 0 or higher
98. x Editor has been added to many pages in the application The following table lists all locations VISUAL TEXT Box EDITOR VTBE VTBE File Rows Rows Upload Upload Displayed Displayed Content Possible Files from without with System URE without Desktop Content Content Links Links Area VTBE via VIBE System System Row 3 Row 3 Announcement Course Org No No 2 3 Yes Yes Announcement System No No 2 3 Yes Yes VISUAL TEXT Box EDITOR VTBE VTBE File Rows Rows Upload Upload Displayed Displayed Content Possible Files from without with System URE without Desktop Content Content Links Links Area VTBE via VIBE System System Row 3 Row 3 Assessment Add Modify Test Question Yes No 1 1 Yes No Assessment Pool Description and Instructions No No 1 1e Yes No Assessment Survey Description and Instructions No No 1 ae Yes No Assessment Test Description and Instructions No No 1 1 Yes No Assignment Instructions Yes Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Calendar Event Course Org No No 2 3 Yes No Calendar Event Personal No No 2 3 Yes No Calendar Event System No No 2 3 Yes No Content Chat Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Course Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content DB Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content External Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Folder No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Group Link No Yes 3 3 Yes Yes Content Item Yes
99. y developing a project plan tasked out with major milestones and expected dates of execution and completion Try to factor in some extra time and resources as preventative management Create a Back Up and Recovery Plan Develop a back up and recovery plan in case you need to return back to your last working Blackboard configuration Back up the database content installation files and license files It is always a good idea to have the installer on hand if you need to reinstall and restore your content and database files It is a good idea to practice the back up and recovery operations on a test server Practice restoring the back up of the 6 3 environment before running the conversion update Test the Conversion in Advance Although the hardware in the development test environment may be different from the production environment it is a good idea to practice the conversion as much as possible Test the conversion more than once to ensure that everything is working as expected Use this time to estimate how much downtime will be needed when the production system needs to be updated Blackboard recommends testing the conversion on a copy of the production database BEST PRACTICES Back Up and Recovery Creating a back up is always a recommended best practice before manipulating data Before running a conversion test or production make a full back up of the database and file system content and verify that the system can be restored success
100. y of the database changes When running the Updater on a Windows Load Balanced environment run the Updater against the mapped DFS drive usually L blackboard Do not run the Updater against the actual location usually C Apps blackboard Run the Updater on Windows Follow these steps to run the Updater on Windows 1 Click on the Updater file to launch it or open a command line prompt and navigate to the directory that holds the Updater 2 Run the following command to launch the Updater C bb_updater gt java jar lt updater file gt To launch the Updater and use the command line interface run the following command the following steps assume that the GUI Updater is used C bb updater gt java jar lt updater file gt text 3 A welcome message will appear with a reminder to read the release notes and the installations instructions completely before updating Click Next to continue 4 The first Updater page asks where the blackboard is found and where the blackboard content directory is found Click Next to accept the defaults or enter new values and then click Next Load Balanced users should use the mapped DFS drive usually L blackboard as the location of the blackboard directory If The Blackboard Academic Suite is not found in the directory provided the Updater will attempt to install at the given location 5 The next prompt presents several options The options are Update Provide new License file Uninstall Blackboard
101. ystem Roles in prior releases has been reconstructed In some cases an identical mapping of privileges to roles was not possible The new Privileges page provides a clear reference for which roles have which privileges in 7 1 ee Tip Document any User Privileges customizations on the system prior to the update to compare to the new System Role privileges after the update e Changing the privileges for the System Role of Guest and the Course or Organization Role of Guest is no longer an option e Changing the privileges for the System Role of System Administrator is no longer an option so that there is always a role that can perform all functions If it is desirable to limit the privileges of the System Administrator a similar role can be created and modified in 7 1 NorE All privileges will be assigned to the System Administrator role after the update even if customizations had been made to system prior to the update e There is now a page under Manage User for administrators to manage Organization enrollments In 7 0 the Admin gt User Privileges page allowed privileges to be made unavailable or redirected to a URL outside the system Some of these privileges were not designed to function in this way Therefore these privileges do not have a Modify button and cannot be made unavailable or redirected in 7 1 on the new Admin gt Privileges page These privileges are Control Panel gt List Modify Users gt Modify User Properties g

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