How to upgrade Websense Enterprise

Installation and Upgrades

Be aware of the following general details before you upgrade Websense components:

• Before upgrading, make sure your system meets the system requirements listed in the Deployment Guide for Websense Enterprise or Websense Web Security Suite.
• Upgrade of Websense software using a remote control utility such as Terminal Services is not supported.
• Check chapter three, of your specific Websense installation guide, for allowed direct upgrades. Earlier version of Websense may require an intermediate upgrade.
• Log on to the installation machine with domain and local administrator privileges.
• Close all applications and stop any antivirus software.
• Websense services must be running when the upgrade process begins.
  • If you have set the Recovery properties of any of your Websense services to restart the service on failure, you must change this setting to Take No Action before upgrading.
• If Websense Enterprise components are distributed, you must run the Websense installer on all machines where you have a current Websense component installed.
  • Always run the installer on the Policy Server machine first. The Policy Server must be successfully upgraded and running before you upgrade or install other Websense components in your network.
• The installer automatically detects the integration.
• If the installer detects any currently installed Websense component, it puts the upgraded component in the same location.
• The installer detects and uses the port numbers set for the existing Websense installation.
• You must use the same language and character set for the upgrade as you did for the existing Websense installation.
• If you want to install or upgrade Websense Reporting Tools, you must use the same installer you use to upgrade Websense components. All installed Websense components must be the same version to work.
• Beginning in version 6.3, Websense upgrades Filtering and Reporting together. Earlier versions of Websense require running the upgrade a second time to upgrade Websense Reporter.
• After installation is complete, reboot the machine.

Upgrade from Websense version 5.x and higher

When you upgrade Websense components, be aware of the following configuration details:

• Your current Websense Subscription Key remains the same.
• Your Websense Enterprise Manager password remains the same.
• Any custom URLs you have added remain as you defined them.
• Any policy settings you made in the previous version remain the same.
• If the upgraded version of Websense includes new default policies or settings, the upgrade process excludes these. This allows you to keep your pre-existing policies and settings intact.