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New Relic Update to 8.5.0 for Self Hosted Clients

Date Published: Aug 31,2023


CategoryProduct:Learn; Version:Learn
Article No.: 000077907

Product:  
Blackboard Learn

Information:

Synopsis

With the release of 3900.74, it is recommended that Self Hosted clients that use New Relic install the new version (8.5.0) in their environments.

This topic is only for Self Hosting. For SaaS and Manage Hosted clients, Anthology will take care of updating it. 

About the Issues

An issue was reported to the company with Building Blocks with unprecompiled JSP files. This is not a recommended way of deploying JSP files but it is very common. Investigation found that this issue was not reproducible except if older versions of New Relic are installed. While New Relic is not included with the Learn product for Self Hosting, clients might have it installed because: 
 
  1. The client installed New Relic under their own license. In this scenario, the client has access to New Relic dashboards and tools.
  2. During the investigation of a Self-hosted performance issue, Blackboard Support Staff instructed the client to install New Relic using the company's own license. In this scenario the client will not have access to New Relic dashboards and tools.

Determining if New Relic is installed and the New Relic version

First locate the New Relic JAR. If you followed instructions provided by Anthology Inc, or Blackboard staff the jar should be installed in BB_HOME\apps\tomcat. On windows BB_HOME is typically c:\blackboard, and on UNIX it is typically /usr/local/blackboard but neither is required.

Locating the JAR

If you do not know the location of the New Relic JAR then:
  • UNIX: use the find command, for example find /usr/local/blackboard -type f -name "newrelic.jar"
  • WINDOWS:  Use explorer to search for "newrelic.jar" or use the "where" command. For example: where /r c:\blackboard newrelic.jar
  • There might slight naming variations such as newrelic-agent.jar, so look for those too if not found.

However the JAR may be installed in some other location or may have a strange name. Search the file BB_HOME/config/tomcat/conf/wrapper.conf for a line referring to "-javaagent" and observe if path to a New Relic JAR is present.


Find the version by Executing the  '-version' command

Once you have found the jar you can determine the version by executing the jar with the option "-version." Open a terminal if required and CD to the directory in which the New Relic jar was found and execute:
 
⚠️On Windows, If you double click on the JAR an installer wizard may begin. Use the terminal.
$ java -jar newrelic.jar -version
8.5.0
The version will be printed, here it is 8.5.0 which is not affected by this issue.  
ℹ️On Windows and certain UNIX configurations you may need to specify the full path to "java.exe" or "java" For example if you have java installed in "c:\jdk\jdk11" and this is not in your path you may need to type "c:\jdk\jdk11\bin\java.exe." 

If the New Relic JAR is outdated

  1. Download the latest New Relic JAR. https://download.newrelic.com/newrelic/java-agent/newrelic-agent/current/newrelic-java.zip
  2. Stop Learn services
  3. Copy the old JAR.
  4. Replace it with the new JAR. The file name and path must be exactly the same.
  5. Start Learn

 





The information contained in the Knowledge Base was written and/or verified by Blackboard Support. It is approved for client use. Nothing in the Knowledge Base shall be deemed to modify your license in any way to any Blackboard product. If you have comments, questions, or concerns, please send an email to kb@blackboard.com. © 2024 Blackboard Inc. All rights reserved