Migrating from an IPv4 environment to an IPv6 environment

If you are a new BMC ProactiveNet 9.6 user, you can directly deploy the BMC ProactiveNet Server on the IPv6 protocol. You need not perform any manual steps.

If you are a BMC ProactiveNet user who upgraded from earlier BMC ProactiveNet versions to version 9.6, then to migrate the BMC ProactiveNet Server to an IPv6-enabled environment, run the pw-system-configureipv6 command on the BMC ProactiveNet Server and the configureipv6.bat (for Microsoft Windows) or configureipv6.sh (for UNIX) command on the computer in which the Integration Service is installed.

Migration for BMC ProactiveNet cell only users

For BMC ProactiveNet cell only users, there are no out-of-the-box commands or CLI commands to migrate from IPv4 to IPv6. Users have to manually update the following .conf files and update the ServerIPVersion=4 entry to ServerIPVersion=6.

/etc/mclient.conf

/etc/smmgr.conf

/etc/<cell>/mcell.conf

/etc/Admin/mcell.conf

Apart from updating the .conf files:

• If the host name is added with the IP address in mcell.dir, manually update the IP address to an IPv6 address.
• If any cell-based policy was created using an IPv4 address, change the IP address to an IPv6 address.

Best practices for the migration

1. Upgrade the server and Integration Service to version 9.6 before running the pw system configureipv6 on the server and the configureipv6.bat or configureipv6.sh commands on the Integration Service computer.
2. To avoid more down time, BMC recommends that you run the pw system configureipv6 command immediately after the computer on which the BMC ProactiveNet Server is installed is configured for IPv6. The actual down time starts from the time the computer is converted to IPv6 and ends after the command restarts the server.
3. Keep the Integration Service that is used for data collection on a dual stack (IPv4 + IPv6) computer until the migration of the BMC ProactiveNet Server is complete.
4. Perform the following steps on the Integration Service computer:
   1. Navigate to the $BPPM_AGENT_HOME/conf directory.
   2. Change status of the COMDefine patrol.preferIPv6Stack parameter to true from false.
   3. Restart the Integration Service.
   4. Once migration of the server is complete, use the configureipv6.bat or configureipv6.sh commands to migrate the Integration Service to an IPv6 environment.
5. Change the system protocol from IPv4 to IPv6. Ensure that the following network configurations are updated and working:
   1. The domain name used for IPv6 configuration must be the same as that used for IPv4. If the domain names are different, update the /etc/hosts file to map the IP address with host names of the old and new domain names.
   2. The ping localhost, ping hostname, and ping hostname.domain commands must return valid output.
   3. The nslookup localhost, nslookup hostname, and nslookup hostname.domain commands must return a valid output.
   4. The default route must be configured correctly.
   5. The host name must be resolvable.
   6. ipconfig/ifconfig must list only valid IPv6 addresses.
6. If the Integration Service is installed on same computer on which the BMC ProactiveNet Server is installed, navigate to the integrationServiceInstallationPath/bin directory and run the configureipv6.bat or configureipv6.sh commands.

7. If there are multiple Integration Services installed on same computer, set the path of the Integration Service that you want to migrate. For example, if multiple Integration Services are installed at $BPPM_AGENT_HOME/opt/bmc/bppmagent001 and $BPPM_AGENT_HOME/opt/bmc/bppmagent002, check the path of each BPPM_AGENT_HOME as follows:
   
   

   echo $BPPM_AGENT_HOME
8. Export to the proper path using the export BPPM_AGENT_HOME=/opt/bmc/bppmagent002 command.
9. After running the configureipv6.sh or the configureipv6.bat migration script, ensure that you manually restart the Integration Service.
10. Even after migrating to an IPv6 environment, you must manually change the IP address of the Integration Service to an IPv6 address on Central Monitoring Administration by clicking the Edit icon.

Known issues during the migration from IPv4 to IPv6

After migrating to an IPv6 environment, the following issues may arise:

• In Central Monitoring Administration, the IP Address column on the Servers tab displays the IPv4 address for the Integration Service. You must manually change the IP address to an IPv6 address by clicking the Edit icon or by using the pw device edit command.
• In Central Monitoring Administration, the tool tip for the device displays the IPv4 address. You can ignore this. There is no functional impact.

Troubleshooting the migration from IPv4 to IPv6

1. If the domain names are different, cross-launch to the operator console fails. Remove the domain name from the URL and refresh the page.
2. If any policy and rules were created based on the IPv4 address, manually update the same with a valid IPv6 address after the migration.
3. In case of a cluster, ensure that the cluster configurations are valid in the IPv6 environment.
4. In case of a disaster recovery setup, map the alias name with the new IPv6 address on both the nodes.