Preparing for an App Visibility upgrade and checking compatibility

This topic presents instructions to prepare the App Visibility Manager environment for an upgrade and describes compatibility considerations for the upgrade.

Increasing App Visibility server space requirements

Upgrading App Visibility server components (portal and collector) requires an additional 500 MB of free space to accommodate for upgrading the database technology.

Changing App Visibility database authentication

The App Visibility portal and App Visibility collector each include an App Visibility database, which is a PostgreSQL database that uses trust authentication by default. This authentication assumes that anyone who can access the App Visibility portal or collector computers is authorized to access the database.

If you changed the authentication method for one or more databases, such as password authentication, you must change back to trust authentication before you upgrade the component or components. After you complete the upgrade, you can return to the authentication method of your choice. To change the authentication method, refer to the PostgreSQL documentation.

Backing up the App Visibility database

Make a physical backup of the App Visibility PostgreSQL database to protect your data from loss. The output of a physical backup contains the data files that the App Visibility server can use directly, resulting in a faster recovery operation.

To create an App Visibility database backup file

1. On the computer with the App Visibility portal or collector, navigate to the following directory:
   • (Windows) collector_installationDirectory\collector\bin\db or portal_installationDirectory\portal\bin\db
   • (Linux) collector_installationDirectory/collector/bin/db or portal_installationDirectory/portal/bin/db
   If the portal and collector are installed on the same computer, they share a database, and you only need to perform the procedure in one place.
   If the portal and collector are on separate computers, perform the backup procedure on both components at the same time so that the backup content is consistent. Otherwise, the backup content does not match and the data is incorrect when restored.
2. Run the following script:
   
   • (Windows) create-pgsql-dump.bat
   • (Linux) ./create-pgsql-dump.sh

The script creates a backup of the data in the avdb.dump file in the server component's installationDirectory\ADOP_DB\pgsql\backup directory.

Backup and Restore

Recovering the App Visibility database data

If you have issues with your database, you can recover the backed-up data file.

To recover the backed up App Visibility data file

1. Ensure that the avdb.dump file is in the server component's installationDirectory\ADOP_DB\pgsql\backup directory.
2. Stop the component service:
   
   • On the computer with the App Visibility portal, stop the portal service.
   • On the computer with the App Visibility collector, stop the collector service.
   For information about stopping services, see Starting and stopping the App Visibility server services.
3. Navigate to the following directory, according to your system:
   
   • (Windows) collector_installationDirectory\collector\bin\db or portal_installationDirectory\portal\bin\db
   • (Linux) collector_installationDirectory/collector/bin/db or portal_installationDirectory/portal/bin/db
   If the portal and collector are installed on the same computer, they share a database, and you only need to perform the procedure in one place.
   If the portal and collector are on separate computers, perform the recovery procedure on both components at the same time so that the content is consistent. Otherwise, the content does not match and the data is incorrect when restored.

4. Run the following script:

   • (Windows) restore-pgsql-dump.bat
   • (Linux) ./restore-pgsql-dump.sh
5. Start the component service.

The database data is recovered.

For more information about how to recover the PostgreSQL database data, see Backup and Restore .

Backing up customized App Visibility agent policies

If you created a customized agent policy, including adding comments, copy the contents of the policy and save it as a text file. This backup file can be used to compare the previous settings with the current.

1. In the navigation pane of the TrueSight console, select Administration > App Visibility Agent Policies.
2. Click the name of the agent policy you want to back up.
3. Copy the contents of the agent policy and paste them into a text file.
4. Save the text file as a backup file.

If you customized other settings with the help of BMC Support, contact them for assistance backing up the settings.

Recovering customized App Visibility agent policies

1. In the navigation pane of the TrueSight console, select Administration > App Visibility Agent Policies.
2. Click the name of the agent policy you want to back up.

3. Copy the contents of the saved text file and paste them into the agent policy.

4. Save the agent policy.

Backing up synthetic SLA data

Before you upgrade the App Visibility server, use the Synthetic Transaction SLA Report utility to back up your synthetic SLA data to mitigate problems that might occur during migration of the data. 

See

Checking upgrade compatibility

Consider the following version compatibility behaviors with the App Visibility upgrade:

Where to go from here

Upgrade the App Visibility server and verify the upgraded version.