Reducing upgrade time by upgrading products in parallel

In this advanced topic, you can quickly upgrade the entire BMC Cloud Lifecycle Managment stack by upgrading certain products in parallel and skipping the default product dependencies.

To do this, you must use the setup.cmd –J release_dependencies=true (Windows) or setup.sh –J release_dependencies=true (Linux) flag when you launch the installer. The installer no longer checks any product dependencies during upgrade. You now can manually promote the appropriate product nodes and execute the upgrades. As a result, you can execute specific product upgrades in parallel instead of waiting for one product to finish before you launch another upgrade. You can finish more product upgrades in less time and so reduce the overall deployment time.

This topic contains the following information:

Before you begin

• Meet all the upgrade prerequisites before you start.
• Do not run Cloud Database Extensions and Atrium Core Web Services in parallel, because both product point to the same AR System server. If the Cloud Database Extensions upgrade is in progress, the Atrium Web Services upgrade finds the AR System server busy and likely will fail.
• Do not upgrade BMC Network Automation before Atrium Core Web Services. BBNA has a soft dependency on Atrium Core Web Services. If Atrium Core Web Services is not available, the BBNA upgrade fails.
• Make snapshots and database backups when prompted by the installers.

Upgrade order

The following table lists the sequence you should follow when you upgrade your CLM deployment in-place (not staged). For example, upgrading BMC Network Automation depends on finishing upgrades of Enterprise-AR, Cloud-AR, Enterprise-AR – Primary Post Configuration, Cloud-AR – Primary Post Configuration, and Atrium Core – Web Registry Components. 

To upgrade products in the proper sequence when you do not check dependencies

Use the following order when you upgrade the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management products and you skip the dependency check. 

1. Download the installation bits from EPD on the installer host. 
2. Open a command prompt on the installer host. 
3. Launch the installers from the command line.
   1. On Windows, enter setup.cmd –J release_dependencies=true.
   2. On Linux, enter setup.sh –J release_dependencies=true.
4. When you are prompted that the installers are launched with the release dependencies set to true, click Next to continue.
5. Install the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management installer on the installer host.
6. Install NSH on the installer host.
7. Select Upgrade.
8. Review the integration disclaimer. 
9. Specify if you have a backup registry or not. 
10. Specify if you have a 1-AR or 2-AR server environment.
    Because the 3.1.01 environment is a 2-AR server environment, select No. 
11. Select the the deployment type, for example, Small Deployment.
12. Select which tier of products that you need to upgrade.
    This example uses only the Control tier. If you need to upgrade the PXE server, you must select the Workload tier as well. 

13. Enter the hosts and products that you want to upgrade, for example:

14. Continue running the installer to integrate the products:
15. Select the upgrade deployment type.

16. Review the host information.

17. Enter the operating system credentials.
    The installer upgrades the RSCD agents and performs other background tasks.

18. Review the host summary and continue with the upgrade.

    Note

    The following sequence of upgrades is approximate. Because the EAR upgrade can take about 90 minutes or more to finish and the CAR upgrade about an hour, you will start and finish upgrading several other products in parallel, for example, the Mid Tier and the entire suite of BMC Server Automation products. The upgrade sequence can widely vary, based on your particular environment.
19. Upgrade the following products in parallel.
    
    The install planner automatically promotes BMC Server Automation Application Server. You then manually select and promote move additional products from Upcoming upgrades to Currently upgrading. Because product dependencies are not being checked, the Currently upgrading tree lists these products as being concurrently installed.

    1. Start upgrading BMC Server Automation Application Server and finish the upgrade.

    2. Manually promote EAR and finish the upgrade. 
       You must also apply a new AR System license to the EAR server.  

    3. Manually promote CAR and and finish the upgrade.
       You must also apply a new AR System license to the CAR server. 
    4. Manually promote the Mid Tier and finish the upgrade. 
       Even though the EAR and CAR servers are being concurrently upgraded, the Mid Tier upgrade will not check the dependencies and allows the upgrade to continue. 
    5. After BMC Server Automation Application Server is finished, immediately upgrade BMC Server Automation Console.
       In the BMC lab environment, the EAR and CAR upgrades continued.
       
       
    6. After CAR is finished, immediately upgrade the BMC Atrium Core upgrade on the CAR host.
    7. After BMC Server Automation Console is finished, immediately upgrade BMC Server Automation Post Install Configuration.
    8. After EAR is finished, immediately upgrade the BMC Atrium Core upgrade on the EAR host.
       This upgrade can take 1-2 hours to finish loading the localized Product Catalog components.
    9. After the CAR Atrium Core upgrade is finished, run the AR Post Install Configuration on the CAR host.
    10. After BMC Server Automation Post Install Configuration is finished, run the AMREPO upgrade.
    11. After CAR Post Install Configuration is finished, do not upgrade the CAR DSO mappings until you finish upgrading EAR Post Install Configuration. 
        Continue to monitor the EAR upgrade.
    12. After AMREPO is finished, run the BMC Atrium Orchestrator CDP upgrade.
    13. After CDP is finished, run the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Content upgrade.
    14. After BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Content is finished, upgrade the BBSA Console running on the BAO host.

    15. After the BBSA Console upgrade is finished, run the Atrium Orchestrator Post Install Configuration upgrade.

        Tip

        Take a snapshot of the BAO host, even though the installer does not prompt you to! 
    16. When you finish upgrading BAO, continue to monitor the Atrium Core upgrade on the EAR host.
    17. After the EAR Atrium Core upgrade is finally finished, upgrade BMC Atrium Integrator on the EAR host.
    18. After the BMC Atrium Integrator upgrade is finished, upgrade BMC Service Request Management on the EAR host.
    19. After the BMC Service Request Management upgrade is finished, upgrade AR Post Install Configuration on the EAR host.
    20. After the AR Post Install Configuration upgrade is finished, upgrade the DSO Mapping on the EAR host.
20. Promote and upgrade the DSO Mapping on the CAR host.
    The installer automatically promotes Atrium Core - Web Registry Components.
    
21. Upgrade Atrium Core - Web Registry Components concurrently with the CAR DSO mapping.
    Do not start upgrading BMC Network Automation yet, because it depends on a successful upgrade of Atrium Core - Web Registry Components.
22. After the CAR DSO mapping is finished upgrading, upgrade Cloud Database Extensions on the CAR host concurrently with Atrium Core - Web Registry Components.
23. After Atrium Core - Web Registry Components and Cloud Database Extensions are completely upgraded, start upgrading the remaining products:
    • BMC Network Automation (which automatically loads into Currently Installing)
    • Platform Manager (you must manually select and promote it into Currently Installing)
24. After BMC Network Automation is finished, monitor the Platform Manager upgrade. 
    At this stage, you have successfully upgraded 22 products!
25. After Platform Manager is finished, start and finish Cloud Portal AR Extensions.
    

26. After Cloud Portal AR Extensions is finished, run the Cloud Upgrade Migration. 
    

    Note

    If you are running a staged upgrade, you must run DDM before you perform the Cloud Upgrade Migration. 

     

27. Exit the install planner or continue upgrading other products.

Related topic

Reducing installation time by installing products in parallel

Where to go from here

Verifying the upgrade