If you are running BMC Server Automation 8.5.x or later, and are running 64-bit Linux and Windows platforms, you can use the unified product installer to upgrade to version 8.7.
The topic includes the following sections:
WarningNote
If you need to upgrade from a BMC Server Automation version 8.3.x. or earlier, you must first upgrade to the latest 8.5 service pack, as discussed in the Upgrading section of the BMC Server Automation 8.5 online documentation. Afterwards, you can upgrade from version 8.5.xx to 8.7.x.
Before you begin
Click here to review the supported upgrade paths.
BMC Server Automation supports direct upgrade from versions 8.5.xx and 8.6.xx. If you need to upgrade from a BMC Server Automation version 8.3.x. or earlier, you must first upgrade to one of the following:
- The latest 8.6 service pack, (as discussed in the Upgrading section of the BMC Server Automation 8.6 online documentation)
- The latest 8.5 service pack, (as discussed in the Upgrading section of the BMC Server Automation 8.5 online documentation)
Afterwards, you can upgrade from version 8.5.xx or 8.6.xx to 8.7.x.
The following figures illustrate the supported upgrade paths to BMC Server Automation 8.7.x.
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In the above diagrams, abbreviations are defined as follows:
- BSA stands for BMC Server Automation
- SP stands for Service Pack
- P stands for Patch
- Review the requirements and tasks to complete prior to upgrade in Preparing-for-a-Windows-upgrade or Preparing-for-a-Linux-or-UNIX-upgrade.
Click here to review the key requirements for running the unified product installer on Linux.
- During an upgrade, the unified product installer automatically installs an RSCD Agent on every Application Server machine that does not already have an agent installed. If you are not interested in providing details of the required credentials, you can install an RSCD Agent manually on each of the detected machines.
- If you have PXE servers on your setup, you must copy the PXE installers to /tmp path on Linux PXE Servers before starting Unified product installer.
- NSH must be present on each Application Server machine (that is NSH proxy server, Configuration server, Job server, or PXE server).
- Run the Unified installer only from an Application Server system that is set up as a Configuration server (for more about this type of Application Server setup, see Application Server types).
- Run the installer from a computer where a Windows X server is installed.
- If the host computer on which you are installing the Network Shell has:
- A supported version of Perl installed — The Network Shell installation automatically installs the Network Shell Perl module. For information about the Perl versions that BMC Server Automation supports, see Perl support.
- An unsupported version of Perl installed — The installation copies files that allow you to install the Perl module after you have installed the supported version of Perl
- Ensure that the Bash shell is the default shell on all machines that that BMC Server Automation is being upgrade.
Click here to review the key requirements for running the unified product installer on Windows.
- During an upgrade, the unified product installer automatically installs an RSCD Agent on every Application Server machine that does not already have an agent installed. If you are not interested in having PsExec installed in your environment or if you are not interested in providing details of the required credentials, you can install an RSCD Agent manually on each of the detected machines.
- If you have PXE servers on your setup, you must copy the PXE installers to <windows-drive>\Windows (typically C:\Windows) on Windows PXE server before starting Unified product installer.
- NSH must be present on each Application Server machine (that is NSH proxy server, Configuration server, Job server, or PXE server).
- Unified installer should be run only from a node set up as a Configuration server (for more about this type of Application Server setup, see Application Server types).
- During the upgrade, the installer checks the existing version of Perl. If the host computer on which you are installing the Network Shell has:
- A supported version of Perl installed — The Network Shell installation automatically installs the Network Shell Perl module. For information about the Perl versions that BMC Server Automation supports, see Perl support.
- An unsupported version of Perl installed — The installation copies files that allow you to install the Perl module after you have installed the supported version of Perl
- On 64-bit Windows systems, confirm that the <WINDIR>\SysWOW64 directory contains a copy of the chcp.com file. The installer uses this file to set the code page of standard output (stdout). You can obtain the file from a 32-bit version of Windows.
- If your certificates (id.pem, bladelogic.keystore) were created with a key size of 1024 bits (or less), you will need to regenerate them with a higher key size (2048 or higher). This is due to java 8 limitations.
- Review the requirements and tasks to complete prior to upgrade in Preparing-for-a-Windows-upgrade or Preparing-for-a-Linux-or-UNIX-upgrade.
- Note the limitations when using the unified product installer for product upgrade below.
WarningNote
As of BMC Server Automation 8.6 SP1, the task of running SQL Update scripts, which was necessary in the past for any upgrade to a BMC Server Automation patch or service pack, is no longer required during an upgrade. The database upgrade is now handled internally by the unified product installer, which was introduced in version 8.6.
Limitations when using the unified product installer for upgrade
The unified product installer only supports upgrade of an homogeneous Multiple Application Server (MAS) environment, that is, either all Application Servers run on Linux 64-bit operating systems or all run on Windows 64-bit operating systems. The PXE servers in your environment must also run the same operating system as the Application Servers.
WarningNote
The UPI does NOT require the file server operating system to match the operating system of the Application Servers.
If your environment includes hybrid PXE servers (that is, PXE servers not running Windows or Linux), see the upgrade workaround described in the "Workaround for hybrid PXE server environments" section of Walkthrough-Upgrading-to-version-8-7-for-Microsoft-Windows-and-Linux.
Additionally, the unified product installer does not support the following upgrade scenarios:
Upgrading using the unified product installer
WarningNote
If you are not an experienced user, see the related topics listed in the table to review the required planning information for upgrading the product.
The unified product installer automatically upgrades the database, file server, Application Server, agents, PXE server and TFTP server, and console in your environment, with certain exceptions. The checklist below walks you through the process of upgrading Windows and Linux environments using the unified product installer.
Workaround for hybrid PXE server environments
If your environment includes a PXE server that is not on Windows or Linux, complete the following steps:
- Stop the hybrid PXE server / TFTP server.
- Run the unified product installer. The installer ignores the PXE server, as it is in a stopped state. The installer upgrades the rest of the infrastructure, with the exception of the hybrid PXE server.
- Once the unified product installer has completed the upgrade, run the configurator utility on that PXE server. See Migrating-the-database-and-persisting-configuration-data-to-the-database.
- Upgrade the PXE server according to the instructions in Upgrading-the-Provisioning-System.
- Copy the global.property from the Application Server to PXE server in /br/deployments/.
- Restart the PXE server.
