Upgrade best practices

The following are the two possible upgrade methods based on which components are upgraded first:

• Server first upgrade - Upgrade the BMC ProactiveNet Sever(s) first, install and configure new Integration Service nodes, then upgrade the PATROL Agents. BMC recommends this method.
• Agent first upgrade - Upgrade the PATROL Agents first, and then configure them for the BMC ProactiveNet Server and new Integration Service nodes when those components are upgraded.

Do not attempt to implement both methods at the same time, or in the same environment.

Prerequisites to upgrading

At a minimum, complete the following actions before attempting an upgrade:

1. Complete a health check. Get help from BMC upgrade experts through the AMIGO program and upgrade only after they confirm that the environment is ready for an upgrade.
2. Publish the host name with the FQDN for all the PATROL Agents.
3. Check the system and scalability requirements, and if required, upgrade them.
4. Ensure that the BMC ProactiveNet Operations Console, BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console, and any other server related console sessions are closed before upgrading. If the system is running on Microsoft Windows, check to verify that no other user is using BMC ProactiveNet consoles from the Microsoft Windows task manager.
5. Verify that no user is using UNIX consoles to access the BMC ProactiveNet Server(s).
6. Back up the BMC ProactiveNet Server and database. If the servers are on virtual machines, take snapshots of the BMC ProactiveNet Server(s) and Integration Service hosts.
7. If you are installing the 9.6 Integration Services on existing Integration Service hosts, ensure enough resources are available.
8. If you are upgrading on Microsoft Windows, set all BMC ProactiveNet related services to manual mode.

General upgrade steps

The following steps apply to both the upgrade methods and to all supported upgradable versions prior to BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 unless otherwise indicated. Specific information related to server first upgrades versus agent first upgrade is provided further in this document.

1. Install the BMC ProactiveNet Server(s) 9.6 as an upgrade to the existing BMC ProactiveNet Server(s). In environments where multiple BMC ProactiveNet Server(s) exist, and a BMC ProactiveNet Central Server is used, first upgrade the Central Server.
2. Install and configure the BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 Integration Service nodes. If enough hardware resources are available on existing Integration Service nodes, the 9.6 Integration Service node can be installed on the same host with the existing Integration Services. If you decide to co-host the new and older Integration Services on the same computer, note the following:
3. 
   
   • Resource utilization requirements need to take into account the extra processes running on the host. You do not have to provide double the resources; however, you must provide more than what is required for maximum capacity for the old servers and the new services. To be safe, allocate an additional 30% over maximum so that there is headroom for all processes during the upgrade process. Be sure to account for disk space as well.
   • You can install only one event management cell on a host. Additional event management cells can be created post installation using the mcrtcell CLI command. If you have an existing event management cell, you can leverage that cell with the 9.6 Integration Services, but you must plan on upgrading it to the latest version.
4. Create silent install packages for the PATROL Agents and KMs.
5. Configure and/or edit policies to match monitoring configuration, filtering, and threshold needs for the new functionality in BMC ProactiveNet 9.6.
6. Deploy the PATROL Agent/KM installation packages to upgrade starting with a few representative agents.
7. Upgrade the PATROL Agents in batches of 50 to 100 at a time.
8. Pay attention to the load on the Integration Service node(s) and ensure that you are not exceeding the capacity. BMC recommends a maximum total of 900 agents per Integration Service for a large implementation.

Server first upgrade

If you choose to upgrade instead of migrating to BMC ProactiveNet 9.6, BMC recommends upgrading the BMC ProactiveNet Server first. The general steps for this process are outlined below. 

1. Upgrade the BMC ProactiveNet Server. If you have multiple BMC ProactiveNet Servers with a Central Server included, upgrade the Central Server first.
2. Install the new 9.6 Integration Service nodes.
3. Create the PATROL Agent and KM installation packages using Central Monitoring Administration 9.6. Ensure that the installation packages contain configuration settings for the Integration Services.
4. Create monitoring policies in Central Monitoring Administration.
5. Upgrade the PATROL Agents and point them to the new Integration Service nodes.
6. Decommission the old Integration Service nodes after all the agents are upgraded.

Server first upgrade workflow

Agent first upgrade

Although not recommended, it may be a requirement to upgrade the PATROL Agents before upgrading the BMC ProactiveNet Server and installing new Integration Service nodes. This is accomplished by configuring the communication between the current PATROL Agent and current BMC ProactiveNet Server, allowing a 9.5 agent to talk to a pre-9.6 BMC ProactiveNet architecture. This must be avoided if possible, but can be accomplished as described in this section. Before deciding to conduct an agent first upgrade, consider the following pros and cons of an agent first upgrade.

Pros

Cons

You can upgrade the PATROL Agents before you upgrade or migrate to a new 9.6 BMC ProactiveNet  Server. The advantage here is that you can be upgrading agents while you are installing the 9.6 BMC ProactiveNet Server in a development environment and/or implementing 9.6 BMC ProactiveNet Servers in a pre-production environment. This may save time in some environments because these activities can run in parallel. Warning Note This is the only advantage of doing an agent first upgrade. If you do not have a requirement to upgrade the agents as a parallel task/activity to learning BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 and preparing to upgrade or migrate, do not conduct an agent first upgrade.

For most environments you have to reconfigure, or pre-configure the older Integration Service nodes and adapters to work with the 9.5 PATROL Agents. This is extra work. The only scenario where this does not apply is in environments where the p3Adapters are already and exclusively used to poll data from the PATROL Agents. In these environments, the 9.5 PATROL Agents can be upgraded with no pre-configuration of p3Adapters. You cannot take advantage of new capabilities in the BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 environment until the 9.6 BMC ProactiveNet Server and Integration Service nodes are ready. You must configure monitoring multiple times as part of the upgrade process; by first using the p3adatpers and second by using policies in Central Monitoring Administration.

Pre-upgrade configuration steps

The following are pre-upgrade configuration steps required to support the agent first upgrade strategy. These steps are not necessary if the environment already relies on p3Adapters.

1. Make certain that you know and understand how p3Adapters work and how to configure them. Review documentation of earlier BMC ProactiveNet versions and get assistance if necessary.
2. The existing Integration Service nodes must all be using manual adapters. Do not use automated adapters that provide automated monitor type creation with the agent first upgrade method. Use manual adapters to avoid data issues for agents that are not already upgraded in the old server while you are upgrading agents over time.
3. Do not configure PATROL Agents for “streaming” data to the Integration Service. The Integration Service polls the PATROL Agents for data. You can ensure the proper configuration of the PATROL Agents by removing the /AgentSetup/integration/integrationServices pconfig variable for the agent(s) being upgraded.

4. Set up p3Adapters to poll the existing PATROL Agents. Do this by creating one or more p3Adapter profiles in the old Integration Services and assign the agents that will be upgraded to those profiles. On each Integration Server remove the sa_default connection to the pproxy process and replace it with a p3Adapter that polls the PATROL Agents to be upgraded.
   
   

   Warning

   Note

   Maintain the same agent name. For example, if you are using a short name when streaming, do not switch to FQDN when naming the agent in the p3Adapter profile. 

5. Stop the ProactiveNet Agent and the PATROL proxy on the associated Integration Service.
6. Start the ProactiveNet Agent and the PATROL Proxy on the associated Integration Service.

Agent upgrade steps

1. Check that the current data is visible in the Operations Console for the PATROL Agent(s).
2. Create a 9.5 PATROL Agent installation packageand ensure the following:
   • The value of the Integration Services field is left blank.
   • BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 KMs that are compatible with Central Monitoring Administration are included in the installation package.
3. Install the 9.5 PATROL Agent package as an “over the top” installation.
4. Verify that the current data is being collected and is visible in the Operations Console.
5. Upgrade the BMC ProactiveNet Server. If you have multiple BMC ProactiveNet Servers with a Central Server included, first upgrade the Central Server.
6. Install the new Integration Service 9.6 nodes.
7. Create monitoring policies using 9.6 Central Monitoring Administration.
8. Configure the PATROL Agents to connect to the new Integration Service nodes.
9. Decommission the old Integration Service nodes after all the agents are upgraded.

Summary of considerations and risks

The following points must be observed:

1. Manual PATROL Adapters must be in place before the p3Adapters are configured.
2. The p3Adapter profiles must be created.
3. All existing PATROL Agents must be switched to the p3Adapter profile prior to upgrading the PATROL Agents.
4. The application of p3Adapters and disabling of streaming from the agents must be done in a synchronized manner that reduces or eliminates loss of data collection and prevents duplicate data collection.
5. The application of monitoring policies from Central Monitoring Administration and the disabling of p3Adapters must be done in a synchronized manner that reduces or eliminates loss of data collection and prevents duplicate data collection.

6. All existing Integration Services must be switched to the p3Adapter polling configuration with no streaming allowed. This must be completed before any PATROL Agents are upgraded to version 9.5.
   
   

   Warning

   Note

   It is possible that something may be missed; for example, a few agents may be left out requiring further troubleshooting and configuration.

• The p3Adapter capability is not included with 9.6 Integration Services. The following explains why this functionality was not carried forward:
• PATROL Agents 9.5 are designed to push data all the way to the BMC ProactiveNet Server. A polling strategy as designed in the p3Adapter does not support this concept.
• A completely different, overall data propagation design was required to eliminate the problem with data gaps in previous versions.
• The scalability of the Integration Services was significantly increased in BMC ProactiveNet 9.6. This would not be possible with the polling strategy used in p3Adapter.
• In BMC ProactiveNet 9.6, BMC has designed a single method that is simpler, highly reliable, fault tolerant including store and forward capabilities, and is highly available for propagating performance data from the PATROL Agents to the BMC ProactiveNet Server.

Agent first upgrade workflow