18.08.01: Patch 1 for version 18.08

This release consolidates the hotfixes delivered for Remedy version 18.08 and later into a single patch. Additionally, this patch also includes fixes for defects covering Remedy version 18.08 issues.

Defect fixes

This patch includes fixes for some customer defects. For more information about the defects fixed in this patch, see known and corrected issues.

Patch components

The following table lists the patch components and the link to the deployment package: 

Applying the patch

A deployment patch package contains data, object definitions, and binary files. You can deploy a package in your environment using the AR System Deployment Management Console that provides a single method to promote data and definitions effectively and reliably across all servers in a server group. A user with AR System administrator permission or a Package Deployer role can deploy the patch package.

Before you begin

Ensure the following requirements are met before you deploy the package:

• All servers in the server group have the platform (AR Server, CMDB, and Atrium Integrator Server) upgraded to version 18.08.
• All applications (ITSM, SRM, and SLM) on the servers in the server group are upgraded to version 18.08.
  For more information, see Upgrading the applications.

• BMC recommends that the Preload action should be disabled. See  About Mid Tier caching
  However, if the Preload action is enabled, you must disable the Preload action on the mid tier servers that point to the server where you plan to deploy the package. Disable the Preload action from the Cache Settings page in the Mid Tier Configuration Tool.
  See  Cache setting parameters in the BMC Remedy AR System online documentation. You need not enable the Preload action after deployment.

• The minimum plug-in heap size required is 1024 MB for a package of size 250 MB or 300 MB. 
  If the heap size is less than 1024 MB, increase the heap size on all the servers in the server group. If you have multiple plug-in servers, update the heap size on the plug-in server where the AR Migrate plug-in is deployed.

  To update the heap size, open the armonitor.conf file and update the -Xmx value and restart the plug-in server. For example:

  "%BMC_JAVA_HOME%\java" -Xmx1024m "C:\BMCData\ARSystem\pluginsvr;C:\BMCData\ARSystem\pluginsvr\arpluginsvr91_build005.jar;
C:\BMCData\ARSystem\arserver\api\lib\arcmnapp91_build005.jar" com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.ARPluginServerMain
-x localhost -i "C:\BMCData\ARSystem" -m

As a best practice, ensure that the plug-in heap size is 3 times more than the deployment package size to avoid package import errors.

• Check the ranking order for the components. As a best practice, BMC recommends providing rank 1 for admin server, rank 2 for integration server, and last ranks for the user-facing servers. Higher the ranking, higher is the preference given for deploying payloads on that server.
  For more information, see  Setting the component ranking order before deploying a binary payload in BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.
  
• (Optional) If you have customizations, create a snapshot for reconciliation. Capture a snapshot of your application objects. For instructions, see Capturing a snapshot of server application objects.
  
  
• Download the patch packages from the EPD site. See Patch components

Importing the patch 

1. Log in to Mid Tier as an administrator or a package deployer user by using the following URL:
   http://<midTierServerName>:<port number>/arsys

2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration>AR System Deployment Management Console.

3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
   1. Select Transfer Package > Import.
      
      
   2. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Browse to navigate to the folder that has the downloaded EPD package.

   3. Select the package that you want to import, and then click OK.
      The package status column shows the status as Importing until the package contents are completely imported. If the status shows Importing for more than 10 seconds, click Refresh to view the updated status.

      Important

      The package is a ZIP file. Import the package without extracting the ZIP file. If you need to extract the file for troubleshooting, you must use the 7-Zip utility to extract the contents of the ZIP file.

      When the package is imported, the entry of the package is displayed in the AR System Deployment Management Console and the package status changes to Ready to Deploy.
      

Deploying the patch

Deploy the patch packages in the following sequence:

1. BMC Remedy Mid Tier
2. BMC Remedy AR System server
3. BMC CMDB
4. BMC Remedy ITSM Suite
5. BMC Service Request Management
6. BMC Service Level Management
7. Remedy with Smart IT

The AR System administrator or a Package Deployer performs the following steps to deploy the package in an environment:

1. Log in to Mid Tier as an administrator or a package deployer user by using the following URL: 
   http://<midTierServerName>:<port number>/arsys/

2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.

3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
   

   1. Select the package row that you have imported, and then select Operations > Deploy.
      The following message is displayed if the package contains binaries:
      This package includes files to be deployed/rollback. You can monitor the status of the file deployment/rollback by opening the package, selecting the item for file deployment and clicking on the "View Payload Status" button. (ARNOTE 10000) 

   2. In the message window, click OK.
   3. To view the package status, click Refresh.
      When the package is successfully deployed, the status of the package changes to Deployed.
   4. If your package contains binary files, to view the deployment status, perform the following actions:
      1. Select the deployed package entry, and then select Manage Package > View.
         The AR System Deployment Management form opens.
      2. Select Deployment Payload from the table next to the Deployment Package Contents panel.
      3. Click View Payload Status.
         
         
         
         The AR System Single Point Deployment Status window opens displaying the list of server names in the Host Name column and the package deployment status in the Host Status column.
         
         
         
      4. If a server's package deployment status shows the Waiting for Utility Run status, connect to the server and run the payload deployment utility. This utility needs to be run on all the servers that has Waiting for Utility Run status.

To run the payload deployment utility

1. On the server, set JAVA_HOME to point to the JRE top level folder.
2. Run the arpayloaddeploymentutil.bat (Windows) or arpayloaddeploymentutil.sh (UNIX) utility from the following location:

   • (Windows): <installDirectory>\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem

   • (UNIX): <installDirectory>/ARSystem/bin
     

     Note

     A binary payload is deployed on all the servers automatically if the filedeployer.localDeploymentRequired parameter is set to false in the deployConfig.properties file. If the filedeployer.localDeploymentRequired parameter is set to true (default), you need to manually run the payload utility on all the servers in the server group.
     

     The deployConfig.properties file is located in the following folder:

     - (Windows): /ARinstallDirectory

     - (UNIX): /ARSystem/bin

     Only an administrator user with permissions to access the file system can change the setting.

     The arpayloaddeploymentutil.bat (Windows) or arpayloaddeploymentutil.sh (UNIX) utility stops all the related components services for which the package is provided. After the package is successfully applied, the services are up automatically.

3. On the mid tier server, run the payload utility. Perform the following:
   1. On the mid tier server, set JAVA_HOME to point to the JRE top level folder.  
   2. (UNIX) Verify whether the file deployer service is running. 
      • To start the service, run the ./filedeployer.sh start command from the /opt/bmc/ARSystem/midtier/filedeployer/ location.
      • To stop the service, run the ./filedeployer.sh stop command from the /opt/bmc/ARSystem/midtier/filedeployer/ location.
        
   3. Navigate to the file deployer location and run the utility.
      • (Windows) <AR_Install_DIR>\midtier\filedeployer\arpayloaddeploymentutil.bat  
      • (UNIX) /opt/bmc/ARSystem/midtier/filedeployer/arpayloaddeploymentutil.sh
   4.  After the utility completes its run, re-login to the mid tier.

4. Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 on servers where the deployment status shows Waiting for Utility Run.
   After you run the utility, the package for BMC Remedy IT Service Management is successfully applied to your environment.
   
   
   
   

   Note

   • Depending on your operating system, the package content types compatible with your operating system are processed. Package entries that are not compatible with your operating system, are skipped from processing and are shown with a Skipped status. For example, if your operating system is Unix and if you deploy a package which has content type for Windows, the package processing is skipped for that server.

   • The package deployment process will not continue until the payload deployment status is successful on a server.

   Deploying package in a server group

   When you deploy a package in a server group, the ARX and DEF content types are processed on all the servers of the server group.
   However, if the package contains a Deployment Payload content type, you need to run the payload utility, which is processed according to the component ranking order. The higher the ranking, the higher is the preference given for processing the package on that server. For more information, see  Setting the component ranking order before deploying a binary payload in BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.

   BMC does not recommend to roll back a package that was successfully deployed.

Rolling back the patch

If an issue occurs during the validation of the patch package, or if an error occurs while deploying the package, you can restore the objects on your server to the pre-deployment state. 

Roll back the packages in the following sequence: 

1. Remedy with Smart IT
2. BMC Service Level Management
3. BMC Service Request Management
4. BMC Remedy ITSM Suite
5. BMC CMDB
6. BMC Remedy AR System server
7. BMC Remedy Mid Tier

To roll back a patch

The AR System administrator or a Package Deployer performs the following steps to roll back a package:

1. Log in to Mid Tier using the following URL: 
   http://<midTierServer>:<port number>/arsys/
2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.
3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:

1. 1. Select the package that has Deployed with Error status.
   2. Select Operations > Rollback.
   3. In the confirmation dialog box that is displayed, click Yes.
   4. (Optional) Click Refresh. 
      The State of the package changes from Rolling back to Rolled back.
      If a package contains binary files, the state of the package is shown as Pending Rollback. 
   5. To view the payload deployment status for a package containing binary files, perform the following steps:
      1. Select the deployed package entry and click Manage Package > View.
         The AR System Deployment Management form opens.
      2. Select Deployment Payload from the table next to the Deployment Package Contents panel.
         The Deployment Payload status is shown as Rollback Pending.
      3. Click the View Payload Status button.
         A table that shows the status of the package on all the servers in a server group is displayed.

         
         
         

      4. Connect to the server that has the Wait for Utility Run status and run the payload utility.
         

      5. Repeat steps from i to iv on all the servers of a server group from where you want to roll back the package.
         After the payload utility is run, the package starts rolling back. You can view the package status on the main AR System Deployment Management Console. If the state changes to Rolled Back, it means that the package rollback is successful.
         

BMC_DEPLOYMENT_PACKAGES folder

The BMC_DEPLOYMENT_PACKAGES folder is automatically created on the target server when a package deployment or rollback operation is triggered from the AR System Deployment Management console. The folder is created at the following location:
<Install directory> \BMC Software\ARSystem\Arserver\Db\BMC_DEPLOYMENT_PACKAGES

This folder is a temporary working directory. You can safely delete this folder or the contents of this folder after successful package deployment or rollback on all the servers. Do NOT delete this folder or the contents of this folder when the package deployment or rollback is in progress.

Viewing the package deployment logs

You can check the following log files to view the package deployment status or any related errors. For more information, see Troubleshooting package deployment issues.

Post deployment tasks

• If you have customized any out-of-the-box objects, you need to reconcile the customizations. Use three-way reconciliation in Developer Studio to reconcile the objects if overlays exist for any of the objects that were updated. For more information, see  Reconciling Workflow Objects  in BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.

• Clear plug-ins cache from the Cache Settings page in the Mid Tier Configuration Tool.
  See  Cache setting parameters in the BMC Remedy AR System online documentation. 
  
  

  Note

  Whenever AR System server successfully applies a deployment package, the Mid Tier receives a notification and can sync the cache automatically. For more information, see Using the cache sync option in the BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.

• (Optional) If needed, you may reset the heap size to its previous value and restart the plug-in server.

Related topics

Troubleshooting package deployment issues

Creating and deploying a binary payload in BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.

Creating and deploying a package in BMC Remedy AR System online documentation.