---
title: Upgrading the engine
description: Use the PingAccess Upgrade Utility to upgrade the engine.
component: pingaccess
version: 9.0
page_id: pingaccess:pingaccess_zero_downtime_upgrade:pa_upgrading_the_engine
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingaccess/9.0/pingaccess_zero_downtime_upgrade/pa_upgrading_the_engine.html
revdate: February 6, 2023
section_ids:
  before-you-begin: Before you begin
  about-this-task: About this task
  steps: Steps
  example: Example:
  choose-from: Choose from:
  example-2: Example:
  next-steps: Next steps
---

# Upgrading the engine

Use the PingAccess Upgrade Utility to upgrade the engine.

## Before you begin

For more information on upgrading PingAccess, see [Upgrade PingAccess](../upgrading_pingaccess/pa_upgrading_pa_landing_topic.html). The following flowchart displays an example engine upgrade.

![Flowchart showing a deployment as the engine is upgraded.](_images/pgc1564006859458.png)

In this flowchart:

1. A user with a WebSession Cookie sends a request to the load balancer.

2. The load balancer directs the request to one of the un-upgraded engine nodes. The first engine node is using the target version of PingAccess, while the other engine nodes are still using the source version of PingAccess.

3. The administrative node is using the target version of PingAccess.

Before beginning the upgrade process, make sure you have:

* Ensured the PingAccess engine is running

* Downloaded the PingAccess [distribution](https://www.pingidentity.com/en/resources/downloads/pingaccess.html) `.zip` file or the incremental update bundle and extracted it.

* The PingAccess license

## About this task

Any warnings or errors encountered are recorded in `log/upgrade.log`, as well as on the screen while the utility is running. The upgrade uses an exit code of `0` to indicate a successful upgrade and an exit code of `1` to indicate failure.

## Steps

1. If you are using the upgrade utility, change to the new version's `/upgrade/bin` directory on the command line.

   ### Example:

   ```
   cd /pingaccess-6.1.0/upgrade/bin
   ```

2. Upgrade the system:

   ### Choose from:

   * If you are using the upgrade utility on a Windows system, use this command: `upgrade.bat <admin_port>] <directory>] <jvm_memory_options_file>] <newPingAccessLicense>] [-s \| --silent] <sourcePingAccessRootDir>`.

     For example:

     ```
     upgrade.bat ../pingaccess-5.3.0
     ```

   * If you are using the upgrade utility on a Linux system, use this command: `./upgrade.sh <admin_port>] <directory>] <jvm_memory_options_file>] <newPingAccessLicense>] [-s \| --silent] <sourcePingAccessRootDir>`.

     For example:

     ```
     ./upgrade.sh ../pingaccess-5.3.0
     ```

   * If you are using the incremental update package, open the `ReadMeFirst.txt` file and make the file changes specified in the readme.

     The command-line parameters are the same regardless of the platform, and are defined as follows:

     **Parameter definitions**

     | Parameter                         | Value description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
     | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
     | -p <*admin\_port*>                | Optional port to be used by the temporary PingAccess instance run during the upgrade. The default is `9001`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
     | -i <*directory*>                  | An optional directory containing additional library JAR files (for example, plugins, JDBC drivers) to be copied into the target installation.Beginning in version 6.0, JAR files are stored in the `<PA_HOME>/deploy` folder.During an upgrade from versions earlier than 6.0, third-party JAR files are migrated from the `lib` folder to the `deploy` folder if no directory is specified.During an upgrade from version 6.0 or later, the contents of the `deploy` folder are migrated to the new `<PA_HOME>/deploy` folder if no directory is specified. |
     | <*sourcePingAccessRootDir*>       | The PA\_HOME for the source PingAccess version.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
     | -l <*newPingAccessLicense*>       | An optional path to the PingAccess license file to use for the target version. If not specified, the existing license is reused.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
     | -j <*jvm\_memory\_options\_file*> | An optional path to a file with Java Virtual Machine (JVM) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">&#xA;\<p>A virtual machine that allows a computer to run Java programs and programs that are compiled to Java bytecode.\</p>&#xA;\</div>)* memory options to use for the new PingAccess instance during the upgrade.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
     | -s \| --silent                    | Run the upgrade with no user input required. To use this option, specify the source version's credentials using environment variables.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |

     **Environment Variables**

     You can specify the username and password for the source version using these environment variables:

     | Environment variable     | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
     | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
     | `PA_SOURCE_API_USERNAME` | The username for the source version's Admin application programming interface (API) *(tooltip: \<div class="paragraph">&#xA;\<p>A specification of interactions available for building software to access an application or service.\</p>&#xA;\</div>)*. This should be set to Administrator. |
     | `PA_SOURCE_API_PASSWORD` | The basic authorization password for the Administrator in the source version's Admin API.                                                                                                                                                                                                     |

     **JVM Memory options**

     These options can be included in the JVM memory options file. Memory amounts use `m` or `g` to specify the unit.

     | Memory option             | Description                                                   |
     | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
     | `-Xms<amount>`            | Minimum heap size.                                            |
     | `-Xmx<amount>`            | Maximum heap size.                                            |
     | `-XX:NewSize=<amount>`    | Minimum size for the Young Gen space.                         |
     | `-XX:MaxNewSize=<amount>` | Maximum size for the Young Gen space.                         |
     | `-XX:+UseParallelGC`      | Specifies that the parallel garbage collector should be used. |

     ### Example:

     ```
     #Sample JVM Memory options file
     -Xms512m
     -Xmx1g
     -XX:NewSize=256m
     -XX:MaxNewSize=512m
     -XX:+UseParallelGC
     ```

     You can copy the existing `PA_HOME/conf/jvm-memory.options` file to create a JVM memory options file for the upgrade.

3. Stop the existing PingAccess instance. Do not start the new instance.

## Next steps

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| - | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | If PingAccess is running as a service and you upgraded using the upgrade utility:- In Linux, update `PA_HOME` in `/etc/systemd/system/pingaccess.service` to point to the new installation.

- In Windows, remove the existing PingAccess service (`<OLD_PA_HOME>\sbin\Windows\uninstall-service.bat`) and add the new service (`<NEW_PA_HOME>\sbin\Windows\install-service.bat`). |
