KB482920: How to Change JRE to OpenJDK for Windows and Linux

Starting with the release of Strategy ONE (March 2024), dossiers are also known as dashboards.
The following instructions detail how to change JRE to OpenJDK on both Windows and Linux.

Windows On-Prem Environments: Changing JRE to OpenJDK

Overwrite the default JRE:

• Download 32 and 64 bit OpenJDK 8
  

• Extract the zip files locally, anywhere on the server.
• Stop all Strategy processes that use Java.
• Replace JREs of OpenJDK with the Strategy shipped JRE for both 32 and 64 bit, respectively. The JREs for OpenJDK are located in <localDirectory>\jdk8u202-b08\jre.
  

• Copy tools.jar from OpenJDK\lib and place it in the following locations:
  32 bit: <installPath>\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win32\lib
  64 bit: <installPath>\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win64\lib
  

• You need to modify the registry keys to refer to the correct path. Go to: <HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>\Software\Wow6432Node\Strategy\JNI Bridge\Config For DataServices\32-bit JVM.
• Change the JavaVM path from C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win32\bin\client\jvm.dll to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win32\bin\server\jvm.dll.
• Go to <HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>\Software\Wow6432Node\Strategy\JNI Bridge\Configuration.
• Change the JavaVM path from C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win32\bin\client\jvm.dll to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win32\bin\server\jvm.dll.
• You need to copy the cacert file from the Strategy shipped JRE and put it in Certificate Manager, if it is installed. Copy the Strategy shipped cacert file in JRE\lib\security and place it in <InstallPath>\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win64\lib\security\cacert.
• Restart all Strategy processes and launch Tools.

How to Stop the Certificate Manager Service:

• Make a backup of the Strategy JRE before swapping with OpenJDK.
• Replace the cacert file in the swapped JRE\lib\security with the Strategy one located at JRE\lib\security. Follow the steps above to swap JREs.The cacert file is located at <InstallPath>\Common Files\Strategy\JRE\180_192\Win64\lib\security\cacert.
• Verify this works by restarting, stopping, and starting services
  

How to Change JRE Directory Permissions

• Stop the Certificate Manager service if it is installed on the server. Follow the above mentioned steps to stop the Certificate Manager service after swapping JREs.
• You need to change the JRE directory permissions. Go to <installPath>\Common Files\Strategy\JRE.
• Right-click and choose Properties > Attributes.
  

• Uncheck Read Only.
• Click Apply.
• Click OK to confirm changes to this folder, subfolder, and files..
• Click OK.
• Launch your repair, modification, or install.

Linux On-Prem: Changing JRE to OpenJDK

How to Overwrite the Default JRE with OpenJDK:

1. After installation, download the JRE from OpenJDK. Make sure to choose the OpenJDK 8 (LTS) version with a HotSpot JVM, and a Linux 64bit JRE platform.
   
• Version: OpenJDK 8 (LTS)
• JVM: HotSpot
• Operating System: Linux
• Architecture: x64
• File: JRE
2. Stop all Strategy services.
3. Replace the contents of the current JRE with my OpenJDK's JRE at /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_jre.
4. Verify the Java version by navigating to /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_jre/bin and run the following command:
   

   
   ./java -version

   
   
5. Replace the content of the current JRE with OpenJDK's JRE at /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_uninstall/jre.
6. Verify the Java version by navigating to /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_uninstall/_jre/bin and run the following command:
   

   
   ./java - version

   
   
7. Restart all Strategy services or reboot the machine.

Note: For Command Manager or other local Strategy tooling to function, the following additional steps need to be performed to obtain one file from the JDK.

1. Download the JDK package, following step 1, but download the JDK instead of JRE.
2. Unzip the JDK and grab the tools.jar.
3. Move only the tools.jar file into the /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_jre/bin directory.

What to test after performing a minor JRE upgrade?
It is beyond the scope of this article to advise on your specific product and implementation.  When performing a minor JRE upgrade, there isn't a significant amount of testing typically needed.  Problems with the JRE usually will show as major blocking problems, such as failure to start the Intelligence Server, or failure to login to Web.  For targeted testing of components which rely on the JRE:

• Platform Analytics - specifically ensuring that telemetry events are being captured and flowing into the Platform Analytics warehouse.
• Exporting to PDF from Dossiers
• For the JDK Tools.jar change, Strategy tooling which can pop-up a GUI, such as Command Manager and License Manager should be validated.
• For Windows based Certificate Manager, general Certificate Manager workflows should be validated.

Strategy's SQL Engine is not impacted by this JRE change, so data integrity should not be a concern.  Similarly, Strategy Web and Library rely on the JRE of the web server, so they are equally not impacted by this JRE changes described in this article.
How to Launch the Installer

1. Launching the installer to remove updates, modify the install, or uninstall from /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_uninstall/, fails the integrity check since the files do not match.
2. Launch the installer without an integrity check, using following command:
   ./setup.sh -nocheck

How to Repair the Install from Media

1. Launch the repair install from the media. Repair install replaces all files, including JRE from media.
2. Replace the contents of the current JRE and OpenJDK's JRE at /opt/Strategy\install\_jre.
3. Verify the Java version by navigating to /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_jre/bin and running the following command:
   ./java -version
4. Replace the contents of the current JRE with OpenJDK's JRE at /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_uninstall/jre.
5. Verify the Java version by navigating to /opt/MicroStrategy/install/_jre/bin and running the following command:
   ./java -version
6. Restart all Strategy services or reboot the machine.

Note: To view the latest changes to the certifications scope and impending 3rd party upgrades in 2023, see KB485900.