Performing the BMC Remedy AR System upgrade

After upgrading Mid Tier, perform the steps in this topic to upgrade the following components and plug-ins with the BMC Remedy AR System server interface-based installer:

Before you begin

• If you have not done so already, prepare the system to run the installers. If you want to run in nonadmin mode on Windows, see Preparing a Windows environment. If you want to run in nonroot mode on UNIX, see Preparing a UNIX environment.

• If you have not done so already, run the BMC Remedy AR System database consistency checker. For more information, see Running the database consistency checker in BMC Remedy AR System documentation.

To upgrade BMC Remedy AR System 

1. Unzip the appropriate suite installer that you downloaded (for example, ARSuiteKitWindows.zip or ARSuiteKitLinux.zip). For more information, see Downloading the installation files.

2. Navigate to the Disk 1 folder.

3. Start the installer and then, in the lower right corner of the Welcome panel, click Next.

   • (Windows) Run setup.exe.
   • (UNIX) Run setup.bin.

4. In the lower right corner of the Welcome panel, click Next.

5. Review the license agreement, click I agree to the terms of license agreement, and click Next.

6. On the Install/Upgrade selection panel, perform the following actions: 

   1. 
      

      • For zero-downtime upgrade, click Upgrade. 
        

      • For staged upgrade, do one of the following based on how you set up systems for a staged upgrade: 

        • If you are using the replicated database of your current production environment, click Install.

        • If you are upgrading a clone of your current production environment, click Upgrade. 

   2. Select the specific products to upgrade.
      For example, select AR System Servers.
   3. (Optional) Add a new language.
      You can select additional localized views to install later.
   4. Navigate to the directory in which you want to install the BMC Remedy AR System application.
      The default locations are as follows:
      • (Windows) C:\Program Files\BMC Software\ARSystem
      • (UNIX) /opt/bmc/ARSystem

7. In the AR System Server User and Database Information panel, for zero-downtime upgrade, review the pre-populated values, and click Next.

   • For staged upgrade, provide the details of the new database server if upgrading using a clone of your current production environment. If upgrading against a restored database, perform the following steps: 

   1. 1. Provide the same values for Database Name, Database User, and Database Password as that of your current production server. 

      2. Specify the Database Host Name and Database Port of the new database. 
         The installer detects an existing AR database and provides you an option to upgrade, as illustrated in the following screenshot.

         

      3. Click Yes, and then click Next.
         As the installer is running in the installation mode, you encounter all the panels that you encounter during fresh installation. 

         Note

         Do not import sample data.

8. Click Next.

9. Resolve the errors and warnings, if reported, in the BMC Remedy Configuration Check report before proceeding with the upgrade. 

   
   
   
   

   1. In the Detail tab, click Help to be directed to information on how to resolve the error or warning, or go to Reviewing and resolving preupgrade and configuration issues. 
      

   2. After you resolve the errors and warning, select the check box to acknowledge resolving those errors and warnings before you proceed with installation or upgrade. 

   3. To view informational messages later, see Viewing configuration check reports.

   After the installer validates your inputs provided in the previous panels, the Installation preview panel appears, listing the product and product features that will be upgraded.
10. Click  Install.
    The BMC Remedy AR System features you have selected are installed. After the post-installation cleanup, a summary of the installation appears.
11. Click View Log to review the installer log for any errors or warnings. The install logs are available at the following location: 
    • (Windows) C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp\arsystem_install_log.txt

    • (UNIX) /tmp/arsystem_install_log.txt
      
      

      Note

      When upgrading against a restored database, ignore the Approval Server post-installation sanity failed check.

12. To exit the BMC Remedy AR System installer, click Done.

After you upgrade BMC Remedy AR System

• After you upgrade, check whether a patch or fix has been released in Release notes and notices. When you upgrade the product, you must install the latest service pack and then apply the latest patch (if available). Patches are not full installations and must be applied over the latest full installation (main release or a service pack).
  

• (Staged upgrade only) Immediately after you upgrade the BMC Remedy AR System server on the destination server (production staging server or QA), disable the AR System application dispatcher, Email Engine, and Assignment Engine in armonitor.conf or armonitor.cfg by placing a leading # (hash) on each line:

  • arsvcdsp
  • emaild
  • apsvcae

  Restart the AR System server. For instructions, see Starting and stopping the BMC Remedy AR System server.

• Ensure that the DSO and escalation services are still disabled.
  For instructions on how to disable these services, see To disable DSO and escalations after you set up a staging system.
  
  
• View the upgrade status. Perform the following:
  • Click AR System Administration > Server Information > Platform > Server Group Upgrade Status.
    

    • After upgrading the primary server, the server group upgrade status is marked as Pending, which indicates that the post installation tasks are not yet completed.       

    • After upgrading all the active servers in a server group, the upgrade status is marked as Done, which indicates that the post installation tasks are completed.

      Note

      You can start upgrading the Remedy ITSM application only when the Server Group Upgrade Status is marked as Done.

       When is the server group status marked as Done?

      Consider a server group consisting of three servers.

      Scenario 1	Scenario 2	Scenario 3
      Server 1- Upgrading Server 2 - Active but not upgraded Server 3 - Active but not upgraded In this scenario, postinstallation tasks are started when all the three servers in the server group are upgraded. Upgrade status is marked as Done when the postinstallation tasks are completed.	Server 1 - Upgraded Server 2 - Upgraded Server 3 - Active but not upgraded In this scenario, postinstallation tasks are started when all the three servers in the server group are upgraded. Upgrade status is marked as Done when the post installation tasks are completed. It is must to upgrade Server 3. If you don't upgrade it, the upgrade status of the server group is not marked as Done.	Server 1 - Upgraded Server 2 - Upgraded Server 3 - Inactive and not upgraded An inactive server is not up and not running. Sometimes, dummy or invalid entries in the AR System Server Group Operational Ranking form are considered as inactive servers. After upgrading the active servers in the server group, the installer waits for 48 hours and starts the postinstallation tasks. It is recommended that before starting the upgrade, delete the inactive server entries from the AR System Server Group Operational Ranking form to avoid this delay of 48 hours. After completing the postinstallation tasks for the active servers, the upgrade status is marked as Done.

  • If you are using a single server instead of a server group, the upgrade status is marked as Done after the upgrade of all platform components (AR System, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator) is complete on that server.

  • If you are using only AR System Server, the upgrade status is marked as Done after the AR System Server upgrade is complete. 
    
    For more information, see this blog on BMC Communities.

Troubleshooting the BMC Remedy AR System upgrade

Consult the following topics for information about issues you might encounter during the upgrade:

• Working with logs
• 2021-01-05_00-08-25_Troubleshooting data and workflow import issues
• Troubleshooting driver issues
• 2021-01-05_00-11-41_Troubleshooting Remedy AR System issues
• Platform installation and upgrade known and corrected issues

Where to go from here