Discontinuation of on-prem build service in 5.23

As of version 5.23, custom Mobile apps are built using the SaaS build service. For further information on this change, please see our announcement.

Servers running older versions of Mobile that include the build service may require additional steps to remove build service-related settings so they can successfully upgrade to Mobile 5.23.

How to fully remove the build service from your server

If you have upgraded to Mobile 5.23 but are still seeing remnants from an older version, please read the following.

Uninstalling the older version

To ensure Mobile runs successfully, only one instance should be installed on your server. To confirm that older versions have been uninstalled:

1. Open Control Panel on the server where Mobile is installed.
2. Navigate to Programs > Programs and Features.
3. Check that Mobile 5.23 (or newer) is the only version installed.
4. If an older version is installed, select it, click Uninstall, and follow the prompts.

Removing the URL Rewrite rule from IIS Manager

The build service editions of Mobile require a URL Rewrite rule in IIS Manager that forwards build requests to Docker via port 10952. If this rule is not automatically removed when upgrading to version 5.23, it must be done manually to avoid redirect issues when accessing Mobile Designer. To confirm whether this rule has been removed:

1. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager on the server where Mobile is installed.
2. In the left panel, select the site where Mobile is hosted. By default, this should be Server Name > Sites > Default Web Site.
3. In the center panel under IIS, double click URL Rewrite.
4. Check that there is no inbound rule for mobile viewer that rewrites to http://localhost:10952.
5. If there is such a rule, remove it using the Remove tool in the right panel.

Uninstalling Docker

If you have no other programs that use Docker, you may want to uninstall it to clean up your server. To do so:

1. Ensure that no other programs use Docker.
2. Open an elevated PowerShell session (run as administrator.)
3. Run the following cmdlets to check for running containers:

docker swarm leave --force
docker ps --quiet | ForEach-Object {docker stop $_}

4. Run the following cmdlet to remove all containers, container images, networks, and volumes:

docker system prune --volumes --all

5. Run the following cmdlets to remove the Docker module and its corresponding Package Management Provider:

Uninstall-Package -Name docker -ProviderName DockerMsftProvider
Uninstall-Module -Name DockerMsftProvider

6. Run the following cmdlets to clean up Docker data and system components:

Get-HNSNetwork | Remove-HNSNetwork
Get-ContainerNetwork | Remove-ContainerNetwork
Remove-Item "C:\ProgramData\Docker" -Recurse

7. If desired, remove the Hyper-V and Containers features using the following cmdlets:

IMPORTANT: The Hyper-V feature is a general virtualization feature that enables much more than just containers. Before disabling the Hyper-V feature, make sure there are no other virtualized components on your system that require Hyper-V.

Remove-WindowsFeature Containers
Remove-WindowsFeature Hyper-V

8. Reboot the server.

For more information on Docker configuration and uninstallation, please see this Windows article.

Confirm the version of Mobile Designer

After completing the upgrade to Mobile 5.23 and following the necessary steps above, run your on-premise version of Mobile Designer and confirm that the version listed under the Help tab in the left toolbar shows 5.23.