What is new in 2023

The major difference between version 2023 and all previous versions of LigoLab is that the new version requires Java 17 or newer. This poses a significant challenge for existing installations that use Java 8 requiring a new java version runtime to be installed on every single workstation that uses LigoLab.

Reasons for Java upgrade

  1. Security. Another major reason to upgrade to the newer Java version is security. As discussed in the previous point Java 8 commercial support has stopped in April 2019 and the quarterly updates for Java 8 have been released under a paid commercial license only. In order to stay up to date with security patches we are upgrading to Java 17. More information about java release lifecycles can be found here.
  2. Requirement for integration with 3rd party software vendors. The LigoLab platform is dependent on numerous 3rd party vendors to provide various features ranging from UI to background services and everything in between. As our 3rd party vendors upgrade their development stacks to newer Java versions we too are forced to do so in order to keep using their products.

  3. Licensing. Here a bit of background information is needed. The Oracle corporation is the major driving force behind the Java platform and has been responsible for developing and maintaining all Java products since it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010. Between Jan 2010 and April 2019 Java products were released under a general public license for all users. In April 2019 the license model was changed to require licensing Java products from Oracle for commercial use. This is why LigoLab 2022 and earlier versions running in Java 8 cannot upgrade past version 8u201. Starting with version 2023 and going forward the LigoLab system is switching to OpenJDK (the open source version of Java).
    Information about the end of public updates for Java 8 can be found here.
    Information about Java licensing in general can be found here.

The Upgrade Process

  1. Once a decision has been made to upgrade LigoLab to version 2023.1 or later a request to upgrade the TRAIN environment should be made to LigoLab support team. During this step LigoLab team will install/upgrade the necessary software (including Java 17) on the application server, and the TRAIN environment will be upgraded to the requested version.

  2. At the same time customer IT team should start on upgrading Java runtime on the workstations where testing will take place. It is not necessary but recommended that all workstations in the lab be upgraded at this point. Please follow OpenWebStart Installation instructions.
  3. The next step in the process is validation.
    1. Please follow the standard Upgrade and Validation Procedure instructions.
    2. During this upgrade close attention should be paid to workflows that involve peripheral hardware devices such as paper printers, cassette printers, label printers, paper scanners, barcode scanners, web cameras, microscope cameras, and any pieces of hardware that directly interacts with the LigoLab application.
    3. All issues/concerns found during testing should be promptly reported to the LigoLab support team. 
  4. Once validation is completed a go-live date should be agreed upon by both parties. If there are any workstations that have not been upgraded in step 2, now would be the time to complete that work.
  5. Past this point there are no extra steps required and the process will proceed like any previous LigoLab upgrades.