Net2 Upgrade

[Jobos]

Running Net2 Pro 6.00.7408.5056 that we would like to upgrade to 6.09.15225.3956. This was downloaded from Paxton last June and as it's been a while since I did anything like this I just wanted to check it is an over the top upgrade. The system was installed professionally some years ago but there is no record of the licence key and now I'm told the company that fitted it has ceased trading.

 

So, do I need the licence key to upgrade the software and is the licence key stored in the registry?

 

Thanks.

 

[3s-gtech]

As far as I remember, you don’t need a license key to upgrade - it should go over the top.

 

Do a backup of the configuration first though, from the utility!

 

Get the latest install possible - is that one June 2025 or 2024?

[Jobos]

8 minutes ago, 3s-gtech said:

As far as I remember, you don’t need a license key to upgrade - it should go over the top.

 

Do a backup of the configuration first though, from the utility!

 

Get the latest install possible - is that one June 2025 or 2024?

 

June 2025

[bhartleyy]

When I have upgraded my server before, it never asked for the key again. I have also re imported the backup fine too

[bknaggs]

The license key is stored in the database. I've moved our installation to a new server before and once the database was restored the license was active.

[36Degrees]

I think the key is stored somewhere in the config so is included in the backup. I had a similar worry when moving Net2 to a different machine but I have now done this twice in the time I have been here without any issues.

[36Degrees]

3 minutes ago, bknaggs said:

The license key is stored in the database. I've moved our installation to a new server before and once the database was restored the license was active.

@bknaggs beat me to it!

[andy_b]

Obligatory warning -  if there is a firmware update to the ACU the associated door will be locked until firmware update is concluded.

[speakercon]

27 minutes ago, andy_b said:

Obligatory warning -  if there is a firmware update to the ACU the associated door will be locked until firmware update is concluded.

And the ACU's reinstating after...

[akidosaint]

Glad i came across this thread. I'm planning on doing a migration and update. Re Firmware upgrade is this controlled ie will only one ACU  happen at a time aka i don't fancy breaking emergency release on all the doors. 

[andy_b]

19 minutes ago, akidosaint said:

Glad i came across this thread. I'm planning on doing a migration and update. Re Firmware upgrade is this controlled ie will only one ACU  happen at a time aka i don't fancy breaking emergency release on all the doors. 

To keep things under control (and as advised by Paxton ages ago), I untick all the ACU in the Net2 Server Configuration Utility, run the upgrade then add the ACU back one at a time (after each one has completed the update).

 

This might be excessive / no longer best practise - I have no idea, but having doors randomly locked while the updates were finishing caused me problems once.

[akidosaint]

Cheer Andy_b

 

[Chris_Cook]

2 hours ago, andy_b said:

To keep things under control (and as advised by Paxton ages ago), I untick all the ACU in the Net2 Server Configuration Utility, run the upgrade then add the ACU back one at a time (after each one has completed the update).

 

This might be excessive / no longer best practise - I have no idea, but having doors randomly locked while the updates were finishing caused me problems once.

This was recommended to me last year when we did the same upgrade. Paxton said we should contact them/an installer before doing the upgrade. They are very helpful.

 

If you have chains of ACUs then these can take 10 mins each. A chain of 6 would take an hour for example.

 

I would also recommend patience with the upgrade. It might look like its not doing anything, but it could be in the background. With that jump in server versions, there will almost certainly be a firmware update.

 

I'd also recommend ensuring you have access to all the doors.

.

There is a TCP reset procedure in one of the old manuals if the ACUs stop responding and an ACU reboot doesn't fix it.  To do this, you turn the ACU off, Insert a link wire between the Amber LED terminal and the Media Detect (or Mauve) terminal on the Reader 2 port of the ACU, and then turn it back on. You can disconnect the link wire when its beeped 3 times. I'd not recommend doing this unless you are able to re-wire the ACU. I'd take a photo before hand in-case any wires fall out. This will also reset the unit to DHCP, so you might need to reset the IP address of it, or give it a reservation.

 

I've also had ours trigger the alarms when I did the upgrade out of hours. I never worked out if it was a co-incidence, or if the mag lock releasing was enough for the alarm sensor. Some of our doors spring open when released.

[Jobos]

@Chris_Cook thanks for taking the time to include all the info. I plan to run the upgrade tomorrow but think it would be wise to check with Paxton first to make sure I have the latest upgrade. 

 

And speaking of upgrades I see version 7 is being released next year but it’s not compatible with Net2 Classic ACUs so unless you replace the classic ACUs you can’t upgrade. 

[Jobos]

So the upgrade is complete but to help others Paxton said to upgrade to 6.07 first then upgrade to 6.09 as the difference from 6.00 to 6.09 is too much and SQL may fail the upgrade.

[k-strider]

there is a post here about the upgrade... i will be counting our net2 classics in the morning 😕

https://www.paxton-access.com/systems/net2/net2-switchover/

[ScottyMiddleton]

I can confirm I have completed a few of these upgrades. I literally just upgraded from Version 6.08 to 6.09 on our VM as an in-place upgrade without any issues and it DID NOT require any firmware updates to the doors. (But I manually set the doors to 'always open' first before carrying out the upgrade as a precaution)

 

I can also confirm it has never asked me for the licence key in all the years we have had the system (I joined in 2013!)