Upgrade to CDS for Apps - time for each step?

[bbtestA0]

I've been trying to upgrade my CDS for 2 days. Step 1 - create test database have been "active" for 36 hours (I've not received an error message yet so I suppose it still working). We only have a few entities and apps (5), no flows. 

Where or how can I check if my process is working?

[JJ_in_atlanta]

@JimDaly-MSFT  I would say that the messaging around the need for upgrading the CDS database has been incomplete.  I don't think we have any apps using CDS database in our environment (none were listed after step 1) - but this thread is the first place I've seen any reference to that list after step 1 and what it means.  Two or three weeks ago I opened a ticket about a failure on step 1, and while I had them on the phone I specifically asked if there was a way of getting a list of Flow and PowerApps that used the CDS database and was told that there was no way of finding out other than the emails that were supposed to be sent out after step 1 completes.

A different call to support last week, on a different PowerApps issue, and the tech told me that if we didn't have any P1 or P2 licenses, that we wouldn't be using the CDS database (which I was beginning to suspect).  Too late to cry over spilled milk now.

I started the step 3 of upgrade Friday evening - Saturday evening it still showed as in progress.  Sunday evening, and it shows "There were errors initiating the database upgrade".  I've started it again and hoping it will complete this time. I'm still not positive that we have anything in there - but i'm afraid to just delete the database since I have no real visibility into its use. 

Thank you for your assistance through this thread - it's the best information I've found.

[JimDaly-MSFT]

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@JJ_in_atlanta wrote:

@JimDaly-MSFT  I would say that the messaging around the need for upgrading the CDS database has been incomplete.  I don't think we have any apps using CDS database in our environment (none were listed after step 1) - but this thread is the first place I've seen any reference to that list after step 1 and what it means.  Two or three weeks ago I opened a ticket about a failure on step 1, and while I had them on the phone I specifically asked if there was a way of getting a list of Flow and PowerApps that used the CDS database and was told that there was no way of finding out other than the emails that were supposed to be sent out after step 1 completes.

A different call to support last week, on a different PowerApps issue, and the tech told me that if we didn't have any P1 or P2 licenses, that we wouldn't be using the CDS database (which I was beginning to suspect).  Too late to cry over spilled milk now.

I started the step 3 of upgrade Friday evening - Saturday evening it still showed as in progress.  Sunday evening, and it shows "There were errors initiating the database upgrade".  I've started it again and hoping it will complete this time. I'm still not positive that we have anything in there - but i'm afraid to just delete the database since I have no real visibility into its use. 

Thank you for your assistance through this thread - it's the best information I've found.

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I am currently updating the docs and preparing a new announcement to send next week. I've learned a lot from the feedback in this thread and will try to incorporate it into the docs and other comms.
We are extending the period for people to complete their upgrades so that should take a little pressure off.

[NilangS]

Hi, 

I am completely agree with you,  messaging and documentation around CDS upgrade process is incomplete and confusing at best. I was planning to start the upgrade process soon, but after reading this thread I am not so sure. 

It will be nice if we MS provide the utility, which can just tell organisation any app use CDS database, which can make migration way easier and can save so many man hours. 

About extending the period for upgrades, I am bit confused. as It seems like we still need to start step 1 before March-15 otherwise there is no extension. So I do not see any real extension there.  As after reading this whole thread, it seems like upgrade utility is still work-in-progress as of yesterday, and MS is still expect us to use work-in-progress utility to finish the upgrade and spent hours troubleshooting with MS support ? 

Thank You,

Nilang Shah 

[JimDaly-MSFT]

@NilangS  I appreciate your feedback.
The service that the upgrade provides is designed to keep any apps and flows running while swapping out the underlying database. It is a fairly complex objective that is difficult to fully test. Although we did pre-release testing, each day we are finding new things. The complex orchestration between multiple services is challenging. We aren't seeing the level of reliability we would like. We got off to a rough start but we are seeing improvements every day and we are upgrading people every day.

Because it is a complex process, there is a lot of documentation because there are a lot of things administrators need to understand to manage this process. That is a challenge. We have tried to anticipate the needs people would have, but like any version 1.0 sofware projects, we have found a lot of gaps.

Unlike most version 1.0 software projects, this one (the upgrade tooling) will never have a version 2.0. This is by design. There will be rough edges until the very end, so please set your expectations accordingly. We will focus on issues that block people from successfully upgrading, and issues that are mostly cosmetic may never be addressed.

The additional month we are providing for people to complete their upgrades is a significant extension. The first step simply starts the process. If you try it, you will find it will tell you which apps and flows use your database, and it will kick off a process to inform your app and flow owners (if any)

Or you can contact support and they can run a query on your behalf to let you know before even starting step 1. If we can find a better way to enable self-service to get this information, we will push it out. 

Step 2 is where you need to do most of the work to coordinate updates to apps and flow that use the database. The earlier you start Step 1, the more time you will have to finish.