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BMC Server Automation 8.6

Upgrading


Notice

BMC Software is alerting users of BMC Server Automation for Windows Patching that they need to upgrade the BMC Server Automation application server and Windows target servers to the latest versions to ensure the continued functioning of Windows Patching within the product. 

Ivanti has announced the end-of-life for an underlying Shavlik SDK version that BMC Server Automation uses to get updates for Windows patches. The original end-of-life support for Shavlik 9.1 was December 31, 2018. The end-of-life support is now extended to September 30, 2019, which provides users with additional time to upgrade BMC Server Automation application server and the BMC Server Automation RSCD Agents running on Windows target servers.

BMC Server Automation provides a centralized upgrade UI for upgrading all BMC Server Automation components. Prior to version 8.6, each component was upgraded using individual component installers and upgrade procedures.

BMC recommends using the centralized UI in the unified product installer, but also provides the individual component installers for operating systems that are not supported by the unified product installer. For a centralized upgrade of multiple product components, you can also choose to run the unified product installer in unattended (silent) mode.

This topic includes the following sections:

Note the following BDSSA upgrade requirement:

Note

If your BMC Server Automation environment includes BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation, upgrade BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation before upgrading BMC Server Automation. For more information, see the following topic in the Decision Support for Server Automation online technical documentation:

Upgrading

Upgrading to version 8.6

The latest upgrade version for 8.6 is Version 8.6.01.002: Patch 2 for Service Pack 1. The fixes included in this patch are listed in 8901Known and corrected issues.

To upgrade to 8.6, see one of the following topics, based on your Application Server platform:

PlatformUpgrade methodHow to

Microsoft Windows, 64-bit

or

Linux, 64-bit

Unified product installer

Upgrading to version 8.6 SP1 for Microsoft Windows and Linux (includes video)

Upgrading silently using the unified product installer (unattended)

SolarisComponent level upgrade

Walkthrough: Upgrading using the configurator and individual component installers

To apply the patch to a specific component, follow the instructions in Installing individual components for the specific component you are upgrading. For an example walkthrough of the process, see:

BMC Server Automation supports direct upgrade from versions 8.3.xx and 8.5.xx. If you need to upgrade from a BMC Server Automation version earlier than 8.3, you must first upgrade to the latest 8.5 service pack, as discussed in the Upgrading section of the BMC Server Automation 8.5 online documentation. Afterwards, you can upgrade from version 8.5.xx to 8.6.x.


High-level steps for the upgrade

Note

For BMC Server Automation version 8.6 SP1 and later, the task of running SQL Update scripts, which was necessary in the past for any upgrade to a BMC Server Automation patch or service pack, is no longer required during an upgrade. The database upgrade is now handled internally by the unified product installer, which was introduced in version 8.6.

Click one of the tabs to view the high-level steps for the upgrade:


    Item Description
    Complete preparatory tasks for upgrade

    Review the tasks to complete prior to upgrade in Preparing for a Windows upgrade using the unified product installer.
    Review requirements for Windows

    Review the key requirements for running the unified product installer on Windows.

      Click here to review.

    • During an upgrade, the unified product installer automatically installs an RSCD Agent on every Application Server machine that does not already have an agent installed. If you are not interested in having PsExec installed in your environment or if you are not interested in providing details of the required credentials, you can install an RSCD Agent manually on each of the detected machines.



    • If you have PXE servers on your setup, you must copy the PXE installers to <windows-drive>\Windows (typically C:\Windows) on Windows PXE server before starting Unified product installer.
    • NSH must be present on each Application Server machine (that is NSH proxy server, Configuration server, Job server, or PXE server).
    • Unified installer should be run only from a node set up as a Configuration server (for more about this type of Application Server setup, see Application Server types).
    • During the upgrade, the installer checks the existing version of Perl. If the host computer on which you are installing the Network Shell has:
      • A supported version of Perl installed — The Network Shell installation automatically installs the Network Shell Perl module. For information about the Perl versions that BMC Server Automation supports, see Perl support.
      • An unsupported version of Perl installed — The installation copies files that allow you to install the Perl module after you have installed the supported version of Perl

    • On 64-bit Windows systems, confirm that the <WINDIR>\SysWOW64 directory contains a copy of the chcp.com file. The installer uses this file to set the code page of standard output (stdout). You can obtain the file from a 32-bit version of Windows.
    Review limitations

    Note the limitations when using the unified product installer for product upgrade.

      Click here to review.

    Category Description of support or limitation
    Multiple Application Server (MAS) environments The unified product installer only supports upgrade of an homogeneous MAS environment, that is, either all Application Servers run on Linux 64-bit operating systems or all run on Windows 64-bit operating systems.
    "Mixed" Application Server/database environments The unified product installer supports upgrade of "mixed" Application Server/database environments (for example, Linux Application Server + Microsoft SQL Server database). The UPI does not require the database or the file server operating system to match the operating system of the Application Servers.
    PXE servers

    For PXE servers to be upgraded by the unified product installer, they must be:

    • Up and running.
    • Running the same OS as the Application Server.

    If your environment includes hybrid PXE servers (that is, PXE servers not running Windows or Linux), you must perform a workaround for the upgrade

      Click here to see the workaround.
    1.  Stop the hybrid PXE server / TFTP server.
    2. Run the unified product installer. The installer ignores the PXE server, as it is in a stopped state. The installer upgrades the rest of the infrastructure, with the exception of the hybrid PXE server.
    3. Once the unified product installer has completed the upgrade, run the configurator utility on that PXE server. See Migrating the database and persisting configuration data to the database.
    4. Upgrade the PXE server according to the instructions in Upgrading the Provisioning System.
    5. Copy the global.property file from the Application Server to the /br/deployments/ directory on the PXe server.
    6. Restart the PXE server.
    Upgrade scenarios

    The unified product installer does not support the following upgrade scenarios:

    • 32-bit Windows or 32-bit Linux machines

    • Solaris SPARC machines

    • Upgrading the BMC Server Automation Console (RCP client). Uninstall the older version of the console and install the new version on a different host.
    • Application Servers installed with the -local flag, that is installed in a self-contained directory structure.

      
    Test the upgrade in a duplicate environment

    Prior to upgrading your production system, the best practice is to first test the upgrade using a copy of the production database in another environment.

    The steps in Testing the upgrade in a duplicated environment topic cover the high-level steps that you must perform; the specifics will likely vary, depending on the database in use, the operating systems involved, and the particular environment details.
    Upgrade the environment

    See:

    Upgrading to version 8.6 SP1 for Microsoft Windows and Linux 
    (Optional) Get assistance through the AMIGO Upgrade Program To assist you in your upgrade, you might be interested in joining the AMIGO Upgrade Program, described in Knowledge Article ID: 000011572.


    Item Description
    Complete preparatory tasks for upgrade

    Complete the tasks prior to upgrade outlined in Preparing for a Linux or UNIX upgrade using the unified product installer.
    Review requirements for Linux

    Review the key requirements for running the unified product installer on Linux.

      Click here to review.

    • During an upgrade, the unified product installer automatically installs an RSCD Agent on every Application Server machine that does not already have an agent installed. If you are not interested in providing details of the required credentials, you can install an RSCD Agent manually on each of the detected machines.


    • If you have PXE servers on your setup, you must copy the PXE installers to /tmp path on Linux PXE Servers before starting unified product installer.


    • NSH must be present on each Application Server machine (that is NSH proxy server, Configuration server, Job server, or PXE server).
    • Run the Unified installer only from an Application Server system that is set up as a Configuration server (for more about this type of Application Server setup, see Application Server types).
    • Run the installer from a computer where a Windows X server is installed.
    • If the host computer on which you are installing the Network Shell has:
      • A supported version of Perl installed — The Network Shell installation automatically installs the Network Shell Perl module. For information about the Perl versions that BMC Server Automation supports, see Perl support.
      • An unsupported version of Perl installed — The installation copies files that allow you to install the Perl module after you have installed the supported version of Perl
    • Ensure that the Bash shell is the default shell on all machines where BMC Server Automation is being upgrade.
    Review limitations

    Note the limitations when using the unified product installer for product upgrade.

      Click here to review.

    Category Description of support or limitation
    Multiple Application Server (MAS) environments The unified product installer only supports upgrade of an homogeneous MAS environment, that is, either all Application Servers run on Linux 64-bit operating systems or all run on Windows 64-bit operating systems.
    "Mixed" Application Server/database environments The unified product installer supports upgrade of "mixed" Application Server/database environments (for example, Linux Application Server + Microsoft SQL Server database). The UPI does not require the database or the file server operating system to match the operating system of the Application Servers.
    PXE servers

    For PXE servers to be upgraded by the unified product installer, they must be:

    • Up and running.
    • Running the same OS as the Application Server.

    If your environment includes hybrid PXE servers (that is, PXE servers not running Windows or Linux), you must perform a workaround for the upgrade

      Click here to see the workaround.
    1.  Stop the hybrid PXE server / TFTP server.
    2. Run the unified product installer. The installer ignores the PXE server, as it is in a stopped state. The installer upgrades the rest of the infrastructure, with the exception of the hybrid PXE server.
    3. Once the unified product installer has completed the upgrade, run the configurator utility on that PXE server. See Migrating the database and persisting configuration data to the database.
    4. Upgrade the PXE server according to the instructions in Upgrading the Provisioning System.
    5. Copy the global.property file from the Application Server to the /br/deployments/ directory on the PXe server.
    6. Restart the PXE server.
    Upgrade scenarios

    The unified product installer does not support the following upgrade scenarios:

    • 32-bit Windows or 32-bit Linux machines

    • Solaris SPARC machines

    • Upgrading the BMC Server Automation Console (RCP client). Uninstall the older version of the console and install the new version on a different host.
    • Application Servers installed with the -local flag, that is installed in a self-contained directory structure.

      
    Test the upgrade in a duplicate environment

    Prior to upgrading your production system, the best practice is to first test the upgrade using a copy of the production database in another environment.

    The steps in Testing the upgrade in a duplicated environment topic cover the high-level steps that you must perform; the specifics will likely vary, depending on the database in use, the operating systems involved, and the particular environment details.
    Upgrade the environment

    See:

    Upgrading to version 8.6 SP1 for Microsoft Windows and Linux 
    (Optional) Get assistance through the AMIGO Upgrade Program To assist you in your upgrade, you might be interested in joining the AMIGO Upgrade Program, described in Knowledge Article ID: 000011572.


    Item Description
    Complete preparatory tasks for upgrade

    Review the tasks to complete prior to upgrade:

    Preparing to upgrade individual components on Microsoft Windows or Preparing to upgrade individual components on UNIX and Linux
    Review requirements for upgrading individual components

    Review the basic requirements for upgrading using the individual component installers.

      Click here to review.
    • BMC Server Automation versions 8.6 and later require an RSCD agent installed on each Application Server. If you use the unified product installer, the RSCD agents are installed on Application Servers by the installer. However if you use the Individual component upgrade method, ensure that you have RSCD agents installed on each of the Application Servers to avoid potential errors in the upgrade process.
      If you end up installing the RSCD agent on the application server after the upgrade, you must use the -local option in the installation (as discussed in Installing components in non-default installation paths using the local flag).
    • Similarly, if you use the individual component upgrade method, ensure that Network Shell (NSH) and an RSCD agent are installed on the PXE server before performing the upgrade process.
    • If you use the individual component installer method, you must run the Configurator utility on all Application Servers and PXE servers before upgrading BMC Server Automation. The Configurator utility reads all existing configuration files and populates the database schema with configuration values present in the user environment. This configuration data is saved in the database for the proper function of BMC Server Automation. For more information, see Migrating the database and persisting configuration data to the database

    There are additional requirements for the individual installers, which are listed on each individual installer upgrade topic.
    Test the upgrade in a duplicate environment

    Prior to upgrading your production system, the best practice is to first test the upgrade using a copy of the production database in another environment.

    The steps in Testing the upgrade in a duplicated environment topic cover the high-level steps that you must perform; the specifics will likely vary, depending on the database in use, the operating systems involved, and the particular environment details.
    Upgrade the environment See Walkthrough: Upgrading using the configurator and individual component installers
    (Optional) Get assistance through the AMIGO Upgrade Program To assist you in your upgrade, you might be interested in joining the AMIGO Upgrade Program, described in Knowledge Article ID: 000011572.

    Additional upgrade information

    Which upgrade method should I use?

     Click here to expand a flowchart that can help you decide which upgrade method to use.

      upgrade_flowchart

    Artifacts installed when you upgrade with the unified product installer

    When you upgrade your BMC Server Automation environment using the unified product installer, the installer automatically installs sample content and also enables the quick start page, which is automatically displayed when you log in to the console.

     Click here to see a list of the items that are installed when you upgrade using the unified product installer.

    What kinds of things are installed?

    The blcontent is installed to support the use cases that appear on the quick start page (such as out-of-the-box compliance, discovery, and patching jobs). The blcontent consists of the following:

    • Pre-defined roles
    • Extended objects
    • Component templates 
    • Patch catalogs
    • Jobs (such as out-of-the-box Provisioning Jobs for Windows and Red Hat, agent installer jobs for various platforms, and so on)
    • Depot objects (such as system packages for provisioning, agent installer packages, and so on)

    Some of the content is installed by using ZipKits, which are pre-defined content used for a specific task. 

     Click here to see a list of the ZipKits that are included in the upgrade.

    ZipKit nameType of objects installed
    Patch Ready (Windows)Component template
    Extended object
    Depot objects 
    Windows 2012 R2 Standard ConfigurationComponent template
    Depot objects 

    Activation Status_Windows

    (For Windows 2008 Servers and above only)

    		Extended object
    IIS 8.5 (Windows 2012 R2)Depot object (package)
    LAMP on CentOS 6Depot object (package)
    Provisioning - Redhat Linux 6.0 (Internal zipkit, used by quick start page)Depot object (package)
    Provisioning - Windows 2012 (Internal zipkit, used by quick start page)Depot object (package)

    There are many other ZipKits available to you for use in your BMC Server Automation environment. To see the full list, go to BMC Communities.

    What if I don't want it? 

    If you do not want these time-to-value enhancements, you can do the following:

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    Last modified by Ranu Ganguly on Jul 31, 2018
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    Controlling the frequency of cache refresh
    Testing the upgrade in a duplicated environment
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