Technical bulletin — Impact of Adobe Flash end of life on TrueSight Operations Management and replacement options

Update: December 9, 2020

BMC has tested Flash-based capabilities with the HARMAN Packaged Browser application—Electron/Chromium version. For updates regarding Limited Support, see "Alternatives for customers who want to continue to use the Flash-based BMC products."

Adobe announced the end of development and distribution of Adobe Flash Player by the end of the year 2020. Flash-based capabilities will no longer work after December 31, 2020. BMC has taken proactive steps over the recent releases to manage the deprecation of Flash-based capabilities in TrueSight Operations Management. BMC has also been providing alternative capabilities for the majority of areas where Flash was used in the past.

BMC recommends that you upgrade to TrueSight Operations Management version 11.3.04 before December 31, 2020 to avoid any problems as a result of the Adobe Flash Player retirement.

Refer to this topic for the answers to these commonly-asked questions.

How can I find out if I am impacted by the end of life of Adobe Flash?

If you are using a TrueSight Operations Management version earlier than 11.3.04, the end of life of Adobe Flash will impact the behavior of your TrueSight Operations Management environment.

The legacy TrueSight Infrastructure Management operator console uses Adobe Flash and is discontinued in version 11.3.04. However, the TrueSight Infrastructure Management Administration Console does not use Adobe Flash. Therefore, it is not impacted and is still available in TrueSight Operations Management.

What Flash-related changes can I expect when I upgrade to TrueSight Operations Management version 11.3.04?

The following table provides a comparison of the capabilities between version 11.3.04 and earlier versions:

Capability	Operator console (earlier than 11.3.04)	TrueSight console (in 11.3.04)	Documentation
Infrastructure Reports	Reports tab	Infrastructure Reports Note: After you upgrade to 11.3.04, you must apply the 11.3.04.000.001 hotfix to enable the Infrastructure Reports on TrueSight console. For more information, see Technical bulletin — 11.3.04.000.001: Hotfix for TrueSight Operations Management 11.3.04.	Managing infrastructure reports
Event Rules	Options > Administration tab > Event Rules	Configuration > Notification Rules Notes: Event rules workflow is available as notification rules in the TrueSight console. Supported notification types: Email and SNMP Trap	Managing notification rules
Event relationships	Main drawer > Event Collectors	Monitoring > Events	Viewing related events in the TrueSight console
Monitors configuration data (Graph)	Main > Devices > Show Monitors > Info Sent > Graph Display Custom Graphs > Graph Display > Monitor Information Graph Display > Monitor Information	Monitoring > Monitor Information	Viewing monitor information in the TrueSight console
Attribute Sets	Options > Administration tab > AttributeSet	Configuration > Attribute Sets Note: Supported attribute set type: External Reports	Configuring attribute sets
Agent Actions	Monitors > Tools Menu > Agent Actions	Monitoring > Devices > Monitors > Agent Actions	Executing agent actions on a monitor
Configuration Items	Navigation pane > Find CI	Monitoring > Configuration Items	Monitoring configuration items Viewing configuration item details
Performance diagnostic details	Options > Administration tab > Infrastructure Management > Performance Diagnostics	Configuration > Managed Device > View Performance Diagnostics	Viewing Infrastructure Management performance diagnostic details
Send Manual Events	Main drawer > Events > Event > Tools Menu > Send Manual Event(s)	msend CLI Note: The `mposter` and `msend` commands can only be run from the Infrastructure Management server command line window.	mposter and msend CLI commands
Servers	Central Monitoring Administration console > Servers	Configuration > Managed Devices	Managing Infrastructure Management devices from the TrueSight console
Repository	Central Monitoring Administration console > Repository	Administration > Repository	Managing the repository and packages
Policies	Central Monitoring Administration console > Policies	Configuration > Infrastructure Policies	Managing policies
Global Thresholds	Central Monitoring Administration console > Global Thresholds	Configuration > Global Thresholds	Configuring global thresholds
Timeframes	Central Monitoring Administration console > General > Timeframes	Configuration > Infrastructure Time Frames	Viewing and managing time frames
Cluster	Central Monitoring Administration console > General > Cluster	Configuration > Integration Service Clusters	Configuring an Integration Service cluster
Event collectors	Main drawer > Event Collectors	Monitoring > Events > View event groups Notes: Many of the out-of-the-box event collectors are available as out-of-the-box event groups. Existing event collectors configured in the Operator console are not migrated to the Manage Event Groups page.	Managing event groups from the TrueSight console

Which features are deprecated when I upgrade to TrueSight Operations Management version 11.3.04?

The TrueSight Infrastructure Management operator console is discontinued in 11.3.04. Therefore, you can no longer cross-launch to the Infrastructure Management operator console from the TrueSight console. The TrueSight console, a component of TrueSight Presentation Server, replaces the operator console.
The TrueSight Infrastructure Management SLO console is discontinued in 11.3.04.
SNMP Adapter Configuration Manager is discontinued in 11.3.04. You can now compile the MIB files by using the mib2map CLI utility.
Support for BMC Impact Model Designer that is used to create service models by using CIs from Atrium CMDB is deprecated in 11.3.04. You can now use the new Atrium CMDB console by navigating through the Remedy Forms to create service models.

What other enhancements can I expect when I upgrade to TrueSight Operations Management version 11.3.04?

See the 11.3.04 enhancements Open link topic for the enhancements available in TrueSight Operations Management 11.3.04.

How do I upgrade to TrueSight Operations Management version 11.3.04?

See the following topics in the TrueSight Operations Management deployment documentation:

Planning
Supported upgrade paths
Upgrading
Troubleshooting version 11.3.04 upgrade and post-upgrade issues
Note: Ensure that you apply the latest hotfix on top of 11.3.04.

Alternatives for customers who want to continue to use the Flash-based BMC products

HARMAN International Packaged Browser solution

HARMAN International has an exclusive agreement with Adobe to provide extended licensing and support agreements for the enterprise Adobe Flash Player until the end of 2023. For details, go to https://services.harman.com/partners/adobe Open link .

BMC Software provides Limited Support for Adobe Flash-based capabilities in BMC products when used in combination with the HARMAN Packaged Browser application—Electron/Chromium version. Limited Support is provided temporarily until Dec 31, 2021, to cover the time period until customers upgrade to the latest BMC product version that has replaced the Flash-based capabilities.

Adobe Enterprise Enablement for legacy browser versions

Important

The ability to run Adobe Flash Player depends upon the browser vendor's support. Running BMC Software products with outdated browser versions requires you to turn off automatic updates. This approach should be carefully considered and should be in alignment with your company's security group recommendations.

With Adobe Flash Player 32.0 Enterprise Enablement, companies can allow Flash Player content to be loaded from a set of trusted URLs by performing these actions:

To allow Flash to run for a BMC product, in a mms.cfg file, enable the AllowListURLPattern option and add the list of trusted URLs as follows:
Example AllowListPattern configuration
EnableAllowList=1
AllowListUrlPattern=http://<TSIM-Server-FQDN>
AllowListUrlPattern=https://<TSIM-Server-FQDN>
AllowListUrlPattern=http://<MidtierServer>:<port>
AllowListUrlPattern=https://<MidtierServer>:<port>
For details about the AllowListUrlPattern options, the location of the mms.cfg file for different platforms, and other recommendations from Adobe, see the Adobe Flash Player 32.0 Administration Guide .
Push the mms.cfg file to all browsers that need to continue to use Flash.
Prevent automatic updates of newer browser versions that will not allow Flash Player to load.
For information about Flash Player automatic updates, go to https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-background-updates.html .

BMC Software has validated the Flash Player will continue to run with Flash Player Enterprise Enablement on these browser versions:

Tested browser version	Vendor support
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/update-adobe-flash-support
Mozilla Firefox 83	https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/end-support-adobe-flash
Google Chrome 86	https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7084871?hl=en