DocumentationAEM 6.5 LTSUser Guide

Upgrade Steps for Application Server Installations (Tomcat - Inplace upgrade) upgrade-steps-for-application-server-installations-tomcat-inplace

Last update: Mon Feb 09 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
  • Applies to:
  • Experience Manager 6.5 LTS

CREATED FOR:

  • Admin
NOTE
This page outlines the upgrade procedure (Inplace upgrade) from AEM 6.5 LTS to AEM 6.5 LTS Servicepack on Tomcat. For upgrading from AEM 6.5 to 6.5 LTS, refer here.

Pre-Upgrade Steps pre-upgrade-steps

Before executing your upgrade, there are several steps that must be completed. See Pre-Upgrade Maintenance Tasks for more information. Additionally, make sure that your system meets the requirements for AEM 6.5 LTS Servicepack and see upgrade planning considerations.

Migration Prerequisites migration-prerequisites

  • Minimum Required Java version: Make sure you have installed Oracle® JRE 17/21 on your Tomcat server.
  • Tomcat server: The supported versions of the Tomcat server for AEM 6.5 LTS and its ServicePacks are 10.0.x and 10.1.x.

Performing the Upgrade performing-the-upgrade

All the examples in this procedure use Tomcat as the Application Server and imply that you have a working version of AEM 6.5 LTS already deployed. The procedure is meant to document upgrades performed from AEM version 6.5 LTS to 6.5 LTS Servicepack.

  1. If AEM 6.5 LTS is already deployed, check that the bundles are functioning correctly by accessing: https://<serveraddress:port>/system/console/bundles

  2. Next, stop AEM 6.5 LTS. This can be done from the Tomcat App Manager at: https://<serveraddress:port>/manager/html

  3. Make sure that you have completed the pre-upgrade activities like backup of AEM 6.5 LTS server before performing any upgrade activity

  4. Stop the AEM 6.5 LTS Tomcat server. In most situations, you can do this by running the ./catalina.sh script, by running this command from the terminal:

    code language-none 
    $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh stop

  5. Remove the files and folders that are no longer necessary. The items you need to specifically remove are:

    • The cq-quickstart-65.war file and the cq-quickstart-65 folder from webapps folder typically located at <path-to-aem-server>/webapps

    • The launchpad/startup folder. You can delete it by running the following command in the terminal assuming you are in the server folder:

      code language-shell 
      rm -rf <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad/startup

    • The base.jar file. You can do this by running the following commands:

      code language-shell 
      find <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad -type f -name "org.apache.sling.launchpad.base.jar*" -exec rm -f {} \;

    • The BootstrapCommandFile_timestamp.txt file:

      code language-shell 
      rm -f <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad/felix/bundle0/BootstrapCommandFile_timestamp.txt

    • Remove the sling.options file by running:

      code language-shell 
      find <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad -type f -name "sling.options.file" -exec rm -rf {} \;

    • Remove the sling.bootstrap.txt file:

      code language-shell 
      rm -rf <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad/sling_bootstrap.txt

  6. Make a backup of the sling.properties file (usually present in <path-to-aem-server>/bin/crx-quickstart/launchpad/) and delete it

  7. Copy the AEM 6.5 LTS Servicepack war file into <path-to-aem-server>/webapps folder

  8. Start the AEM 6.5 LTS Tomcat server by running:

    code language-none 
    $CATALINA_HOME/bin/catalina.sh start

  9. Monitor the error logs while AEM starts up to check that there are no errors and AEM is running smoothly

  10. Once AEM 6.5 LTS has started, check that the bundles are functioning correctly by accessing: https://<serveraddress:port>/cq/system/console/bundles

Perform Post-Upgrade-Checks-And-Troubleshooting perform-post-upgrade-checks-and-troubleshooting

See Post Upgrade Checks and Troubleshooting for more information.

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