20.02.02: Patch 2 for version 20.02

This topic contains information about the fixes in this patch and provides instructions for downloading and installing the patch.

This patch contains the updates delivered in version 20.02.01 and the product fixes. This patch also consolidates the hotfixes that have been delivered for version 20.02 of the Remedy platform components (Remedy AR System Server, Remedy Mid Tier, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator).

Because this patch includes the updates delivered in version 20.02.01, you can directly upgrade from version 20.02 to version 20.02.02 of Remedy IT Service Management Suite.

Updates

The Remedy 20.02.02 patch release is only for the Remedy platform components (Remedy AR System Server, Remedy Mid Tier, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator).

The Remedy 20.02.02 patch release includes replacement of remaining Flash-based capabilities in Remedy and support for OAuth 2.0 in Email Engine for the Exchange Web Services (EWS) protocol to access Microsoft Office 365 (Exchange).

Learn about the updates in this patch:

• Replacement of remaining Adobe Flash capabilities in Remedy in the Remedy ITSM online documentation.
  
• 20.02.02: Patch 2 for version 20.02 in the Remedy AR System online documentation.
• 20.02.02: Patch 2 for version 20.02 in the BMC CMDB online documentation.

If you are using Remedy ITSM on-premises, BMC recommends that you upgrade to 20.02 Patch 02 before December 31, 2020 to avoid any problems as a result of the Adobe Flash retirement. Based on the capabilities you require, upgrade as follows:

• To replace all remaining Flash-based capabilities, upgrade the Remedy Mid Tier or the Remedy platform (Remedy AR System Server, CMDB, and Atrium Integrator) to version 20.02 Patch 02. You need not upgrade the Remedy ITSM applications. 
• To replace the Approval Process Visualizer and the SRM Process Designer and Visualizer capabilities, upgrade only the Remedy Mid Tier. You need not upgrade the entire Remedy platform.

If you are a BMC Helix ITSM subscriber, BMC plans to upgrade your SaaS environments before the end of 2020 to replace the Flash-based capabilities, which will be scheduled in coordination with you.

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.

Applying the patch for BMC Helix ITSM subscribers

If you are a BMC Helix ITSM subscriber and want to apply the patch, you must request for an upgrade. For more information, see BMC Helix Upgrade policy  in the BMC Helix Subscriber Information documentation.

Downloading the patch

The following table lists the patch components and links to the deployment packages on the BMC Electronic Product Download site.

Access the following links and click on the Patches tab to view the patches:

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Before you begin

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

• Make sure that the Remedy platform (AR System Server, Remedy Mid Tier, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator Server) is upgraded to version 20.02. For more information, see Upgrading the platform. 
  
  

• Make sure that value of the parameter Operating-Mode is 0 on the Primary or Administrator Server before deploying the Remedy 20.02.02 patch. Restart the AR server after you update the parameter. You can validate this change by navigating to AR System Administration Console > System > General > Centralized Configuration and select Component Type: com.bmc.arsys.server.
  
  
• Download the patch packages from the EPD site. See Patch components.  
  
  

• Deploy the Precheck package (Java Memory Check Prerequisite Deployment Package For Version 20.02.02) before you deploy the Remedy Platform 20.02.02 patch.
  The Precheck package includes workflows that check the Java plug-in heap size on your server. When you deploy the precheck package, the workflows that check the plug-in heap size are deployed on your server. For instructions on deploying this Precheck package, see Deploying the package.

  After deploying the Precheck package, when you start importing the Remedy Platform patch, a warning is displayed on the Deployment Management console if the heap size is less than the recommended heap size.
  
  

• Set the Java plug-in heap size of the server to 2048 MB to avoid package import errors. The size of Remedy Platform 20.02.02 package is more than 400 MB. 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/cfg file, 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_build009.jar;
C:\BMCData\ARSystem\arserver\api\lib\arcmnapp91_build009.jar" com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.ARPluginServerMain
-x localhost -i "C:\BMCData\ARSystem" -m

  After you update the heap size, perform the following steps to restart the plugin server:

  a. From the Mid Tier, navigate to Applications-> Remedy Management Console->AR system Server Group Console->Manage Process

  b. Select the BMC:DefaultJavaPluginServer process name.

  c. From Operations, select 'Refresh' and run the operation.
  
  

• Warning

  Remedy 20.02.02 patch deployment may fail if you do not perform the following procedures:

  
  

  1. (Windows only) Update the armonitor-9.1.10-SNAPSHOT.jar file:

  1. Download the Armonitor Snapshot Jar File Prerequisite For Version 20.02.01 file from the  BMC Electronic Product Download (EPD) site .
  2. Unzip the file and find the new armonitor-9.1.10-SNAPSHOT.jar file.
  3. Stop the Remedy AR System service and take a backup of the old JAR file. 
  4. Replace the old armonitor-9.1.10-SNAPSHOT.jar file with the new JAR file from the following locations: 
     • <ARSystemInstallDirectory>/BMC Software/ARSystem

     • <ARSystemInstallDirectory>/BMC Software/ARSystem/lib/start/startlevel3

  5. Start the Remedy AR System service.

  Note: If you are using a version of Java older than Java 1.8.231, Java 11.0.5 or Java 13.x, you can perform this step at a later time to avoid a restart of AR System server. However, before upgrading Java, make sure you update the armonitor-9.1.10-SNAPSHOT.jar file.

  
  

  2. (Windows only) If you have upgraded Remedy Mid Tier from version 9.1.04 to version 20.02 OR from version 9.1.04 to version 18.05/19.02/19.08 and then 20.02, follow the steps in the knowledge article 00932834 before you apply the Remedy 20.02.02 Mid Tier patch.

• 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.
  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.

• Check the file deployment component ranking order for the components. Set the ranking order as follows: 

• Rank 1 for admin server

• Rank 2 for integration server

• Last ranks for the user-facing servers 
  Preference is given to the highest ranking server when 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.

• Before deploying the Remedy Platform package, any Remedy service such as “BMC Remedy Action Request System Server <servername>” or “BMC Remedy Email Engine - <servername>” should be up and running. Additionally, all processes enabled in the armonitor.cfg/conf file, such as Reconciliation server, plugin servers, and other, should be up and running.
  
  

• Make sure that the Reconciliation Engine process (arrecond) is not commented out in the armonitor.cfg/conf file. 
  
  

• (Optional) When a package contains binaries, you can deploy the binary payload automatically by setting the filedeployer.localDeploymentRequired parameter to false in the deployConfig.properties file.
  The deployConfig.properties file is located in the following folder:

  (Windows): /ARinstallDirectory

  (UNIX): /ARSystem/bin

  The servers will restart automatically as per the rankings in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form. Only an administrator user with permissions to access the file system can change the setting. For more information, see Run the payload deployment utility.
  
  

• (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.

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Applying the patch for on-premises deployment

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 by performing the following tasks:

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To import 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.

   
   
   

   If the Remedy Platform package is not imported, the Status changes to Init Pending Deployed. Set the Java plug-in heap size to 2048 MB, import the package again, and then deploy the package.
   
   If you have applied the Precheck package and the heap size is not set, you get the following error message:

   The Java heap size on the server where you are importing package is ___m. Increase the heap size in the armonitor.conf/cfg file on your server to 2048m. Make sure that 2048MB heap size is free to use for deployment and import the package again.


   
   To avoid this error, you must set the Java plug-in heap size to 2048 MB before you start deploying the patch. To update the heap size, open the armonitor.conf/cfg file, 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_build009.jar;
C:\BMCData\ARSystem\arserver\api\lib\arcmnapp91_build009.jar" com.bmc.arsys.pluginsvr.ARPluginServerMain
-x localhost -i "C:\BMCData\ARSystem" -m

To deploy the patch

Deploy the patch packages in the following sequence:

1. Remedy Mid Tier.
   You can deploy a Mid Tier patch on an additional server. For more information, see Deploying a Mid Tier patch on an additional server.
2. Remedy Platform (Remedy AR System server, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator)

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 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.

      Important

      While deploying the Remedy Platform package, the AR System server restarts once.

      The AR server restarts when the package deploys Remedy AR System.

   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. From the table next to the Deployment Package Contents panel, select Deployment Payload.
      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 the package deployment status is Waiting for Utility Run, connect to the server and run the payload deployment utility. 
         
         
         
         
      5. This utility needs to be run on all the servers that has Waiting for Utility Run status.
         
         

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To run the payload deployment utility

Perform this procedure if your package contains binary files, and the package deployment status is Waiting for Utility Run:

1. On the AR System 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
     

     Important

     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.

     Make sure that your Primary or Admin server is not part of the auto deployment so that you can use that server to monitor the deployment status.

3. On the mid tier server, run the payload utility by performing the following actions:
   1. Set JAVA_HOME to point to the JRE top level folder on the Mid Tier server.
   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 Remedy IT Service Management is successfully applied to your environment.
   
   
   

   Important

   • 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 Remedy AR System online documentation.

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

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To deploy a Mid Tier patch on an additional server

Before you begin, you must first  configure that server  if you deploy a Mid Tier patch on one server and want to deploy the same patch on another server. Perform the following steps after configuring the additional server. 

1. Open the Mid Tier Configuration page by using the following path:
   http://<hostName>:<portNumber>/<contextPath>/shared/config/config.jsp
2. Click File Deployer Setting.
3. In the AR Server Host Name field, enter the name of the additional server where you want to deploy the Mid Tier patch.
   
   

4. Restart File Deployer for the Mid Tier patch by using the ./filedeployer.sh start command.
   The Mid Tier entry is added to the AR System Monitor form.

5. Deploy the Mid Tier patch on the additional server.

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To apply a Remedy language pack

Apply the 20.02.01 language packs if you have not applied language packs on the base 20.02 version. Do not apply the 20.02.01 language packs if you have language views already available in the base 20.02 version.

Perform the following steps to apply the 20.02.01 language pack after you apply the Remedy Platform 20.02.02 patch:

1. Download the Remedy Platform 20.02.01 language deployment package from EPD . Remedy Platform 20.02.01 language pack ZIP file contains the individual language packs. 
2. Extract the ZIP file to get the individual language packs and import the packs that you want to apply. Use the 7-Zip utility to extract the contents of the ZIP file.
3. Apply the Remedy platform 20.02.01 language pack. For more information, see Applying a language deployment package.

4. After you apply the Remedy platform language pack, download the Remedy applications language pack from the EPD and extract it. To download the latest version of Remedy applications language pack, see Downloading the installation files.

   Important

   Make sure that you download and apply the Application language pack of the same version as your Remedy applications version.
   For example, if you have Remedy applications version 20.02 on your server, apply the Remedy applications 20.02 language pack. 

5. Import and apply the Remedy applications language pack.

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 Platform (Remedy AR System server, BMC CMDB, and Atrium Integrator)
2. Remedy Mid Tier

Package rollback criteria

Rollback validation helps you to avoid accidental rollback. BMC offers the following conditions for a package rollback:

• You can roll back a package within 48 hours of a successful package deployment. You can configure a maximum 168 hours. 
  Use the D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval parameter in the Centralized Configuration to configure the limit for rollback. For more information about the D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval parameter see,  D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval  in Remedy AR System online documentation.
• You can rollback only the last deployed package.

To roll back the patch

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

1. Log in to Mid Tier by 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.

         
         

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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 the package is successfully deployed or rolled back on all the servers. Do NOT delete this folder or the contents of this folder when the package deployment or rollback is in progress.

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.

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Post deployment tasks for on-premises deployment

• Apply the Backward Compatibility (BCT) hotfix to make your Remedy ITSM Applications (version 20.02 or earlier) are compatible with Remedy Platform version 20.02.02. The BCT hotfix includes fixes for issues related to approvals in AR System, rendering of images in SRM and rendering of task flow forms in Incident management, Change management and Work orders and so on. 
  Download the Platform Only Upgrade Compatibility Package For Apps hotfix file from BMC Electronic Product Download (EPD) site .
  
  
• If you have installed Remedy Mid Tier on a BEA WebLogic web server, restart the Weblogic services to complete the deployment.
  
  
• If you are upgrading Remedy Mid Tier from versions earlier than 19.02, set the value of the flashboards.showgraphinflash property to 2 to switch the rendering of the flashboards from Flash to HTML.
  You can modify the property in any one of the following ways:
  • Modify the property in the config.properties file, see Modifying the config.properties file. Restart the Remedy Mid Tier services after you modify the property.
  • If you have configured CCS for Mid Tier, you can modify the property using CCS. To modify the property in the CCS configuration, see Updating configuration settings by using the AR System Configuration Generic UI form.
    
    
• If you have customized 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. 

  Important

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

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

• When the BMC:DefaultJavaPluginServer process stops, the following log4j warning is logged in the <ARServerInstallDir>/ARServer/Db/armonitor.log file:

  log4j:WARN Continuable parsing error 199 and column 23

  log4j:WARN The content of element type "log4j:configuration" must match "(renderer*,throwableRenderer?,appender*,plugin*,(category|logger)*,root?,(categoryFactory|loggerFactory

  You can ignore the log4j warning because it does not impact functionality.
  
  

• Use the Like Operator Object Identifier utility to list all filters and escalations where the LIKE operator is used without a wildcard in the Run If qualification. This utility is shipped as part of the AR Tools. For more information, see  Listing forms, filters and escalations by using the Like Operator Object Identifier utility .

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What else changed in this release

The following table contains a list of objects that were changed in this patch release. If you have an overlay for any of the objects listed in the following table, you must reconcile the overlay objects with the objects that were updated by using three-way reconciliation.  For more information, see Reconciling AR customizations.

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Related topics

Troubleshooting package deployment issues

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

Applying a deployment package