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This tool updates the configuration according to the settings in the bb-config.properties file.

Running this command restarts the services and redeploys all of the properties files. If any customizations have been made to the properties files, they will be lost.

The first operation replaces the existing template files and copies the original template files to a time-stamped sub-directory of blackboard_home/backups/templates/time_stamped. You can use these files to retrieve and re-apply any local customizations.

The second operation is Tomcat-specific and requires that Custom Authentication Types be disabled. The .jar files from apps/tomcat/server/lib/directories will be loaded instead of from blackboard_home/systemlib/. Be aware that any .jar file found in the directory will be loaded at Tomcat startup. This operation is controlled by the .classpath files located in config/tomcat/classpath. Any changes to the Tomcat configuration files or startup scripts must be made to the templates in config/tomcat/. In particular this applies to additional MIME types added to the web.xml file. Touch points are files such as web.xml, server.xml, startup scripts, and configuration files used in clustered Tomcat environments.

Tomcat Clustering is deprecated for Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 6, and has been removed from Blackboard Learn 9.1 Service Pack 8. For alternative solutions, see Performance Optimization.

The third operation updates the BBLEARN.SYSTEM_REGISTRY& (legacy: BB_BB60.SYSTEM_REGISTRY) database table with the configuration changes. The current performance parameters for the application server are recorded in the BBLEARN_ADMIN.CONFIG.REGISTRY (legacy: BBADMIN.CONFIG.REGISTRY) database table. It automatically pushes any changes to the database hostname and port, instance name, and externally visible Web server hostname to the database

The final operation configures content management, which includes verifying the license, updating connection information, and then pushing the new information to the database. It then check the version of each database schema and updates if necessary.

Example: UNIX

blackboard_home/tools/admin/PushConfigUpdates.sh

Example: Windows

blackboard_home\tools\admin\PushConfigUpdates.bat

When using the PushConfigUpdates tool in Windows, it is very important to run the tool from the command line instead of opening the file from Windows Explorer. The command line executes the tool in verbose mode, displaying important messages.

The Blackboard services BBLEARN-Tomcat, and if installed BBLEARN-Collab, must be configured to run with permissions of the 'domain user' on each application server to properly access shared resources. This is done using the Windows Services Administration Tool. These settings must be reapplied on service restarts such as when PushConfigUpdates is run unless configured in bb-config.properties.

If services are not correctly associated to a domain user, it is possible that the service or services will not start when the server is started.

When PushConfigUpdates is run to modify configuration parameters, the domain user permissions on the Blackboard services will need to be re-applied. To avoid this extra step, add the domain user and password to the Blackboard configuration file, bb-config.properties. Learn more, see bb-config.properties File.

The following parameters can be configured with the username (account) and password of the domain user. These are found in the windows - platform configuration section of bb-config.properties:

  • bbconfig.appserver.service.account.win
  • bbconfig.appserver.service.password.win
  • bbconfig.Collaborationserver.service.account.win
  • bbconfig.Collaborationserver.service.password.win

The user (account) name must be specified in the form {domainname}\\{username}, or if the account belongs to the local computer, specify the name in the form.\\{username}. Alternatively, it can be specified as {username}@{fqdn}.