Technical bulletin: Impact of Adobe Flash end of life on TrueSight Orchestration and replacement options

Update: December 9, 2020

BMC has tested Flash-based capabilities with the HARMAN Packaged Browser application—Electron/Chromium version. For updates regarding Limited Support, see "Alternatives for customers who want to continue to use the Flash-based BMC products."

Adobe announced the end of development and distribution of Adobe Flash Player by the end of the year 2020. Flash-based capabilities will no longer work after December 31, 2020. BMC has taken proactive steps over the recent releases (version 8.2.00 and later) to manage the deprecation of the Flash-based capabilities in the TrueSight Orchestration Platform. BMC has also been providing alternative solution capabilities for the majority of areas where Flash was used in the past.

BMC recommends that you upgrade to TrueSight Orchestration Platform 20.02 before December 31, 2020 to avoid any problems as a result of the Adobe Flash Player retirement.

Refer to this topic for the answers to the commonly-asked questions.

How can I find out if I am impacted by the end of life of Adobe Flash?

If you are using any of the capabilities listed in the table in the next section, the end of life of Adobe Flash will impact the behavior of your TrueSight Orchestration Platform environment.

What Flash-related changes can I expect when I upgrade to TrueSight Orchestration Platform version 20.02?

The following table provides a comparison of the product behavior between version 20.02 and earlier versions:

Component	Behavior in versions earlier than 20.02	Behavior in version 20.02
Repository Manager application	The Repository Manager (earlier than version 8.2.00) application UI uses Adobe Flash Player for the following UI elements: Manage Content page and all its functionality Transfer Content page and all its functionality Manage Permissions page and all its functionality	A refreshed user interface that replaces Flash is already available in TrueSight Orchestration Platform version 8.2.00 and later versions. When you upgrade, your data is seamlessly migrated and appears in the new UI.
Operator Control Panel (OCP) application	The OCP application UI uses Adobe Flash Player for the following UI elements: Workflow explorer and all its functionality Workflow canvas and all its functionality Workflow status indicators Workflow execution	A refreshed user interface that replaces Flash is available in version 20.02. When you upgrade, your data is seamlessly migrated and appears in the new UI. For details, see Upgrading.
Grid Metrics	In the Grid Manager application, if you click Go to Metrics View, the Grid Metrics page is displayed using Adobe Flash.	Patch 1 for version 20.02 is now available, which provides an alternative to the Grid Metrics page in the Grid Manager UI. All grid metrics will be available in the Health Dashboard component. For details, see 20-02-01-Patch-1

Which features are deprecated when I upgrade to version 20.02?

The TrueSight Orchestration Platform applications such as the Repository Manager and the OCP that used Adobe Flash are deprecated. When you upgrade to version 20.02, your data is seamlessly migrated to the new refreshed user interfaces for the Repository Manager and the OCP.

What other enhancements can I expect when I upgrade to TrueSight Orchestration Platform 20.02?

To view a list of enhancements in version 20.02, see 20-02-enhancements.

How can I simulate and test the product behavior without Adobe Flash?

Turn off the Flash plug-in in your browser and test your product behavior without Adobe Flash.

How do I upgrade to TrueSight Orchestration Platform version 20.02?

To view the supported upgrade paths and to upgrade to version 20.02, see Upgrading.

Alternatives for customers who want to continue to use the Flash-based BMC products

HARMAN International Packaged Browser solution

HARMAN International has an exclusive agreement with Adobe to provide extended licensing and support agreements for the enterprise Adobe Flash Player until the end of 2023. For details, go to https://services.harman.com/partners/adobe.

BMC Software provides Limited Support for Adobe Flash-based capabilities in BMC products when used in combination with the HARMAN Packaged Browser application—Electron/Chromium version. Limited Support is provided temporarily until Dec 31, 2021, to cover the time period until customers upgrade to the latest BMC product version that has replaced the Flash-based capabilities.

Adobe Enterprise Enablement for legacy browser versions

Important

The ability to run Adobe Flash Player depends upon the browser vendor's support. Running BMC Software products with outdated browser versions requires you to turn off automatic updates. This approach should be carefully considered and should be in alignment with your company's security group recommendations.

With Adobe Flash Player 32.0 Enterprise Enablement, companies can allow Flash Player content to be loaded from a set of trusted URLs by performing these actions:

To allow Flash to run for a BMC product, in a mms.cfg file, enable the AllowListURLPattern option and add the list of trusted URLs as follows:
EnableAllowList=1
AllowListUrlPattern=http://<TSIM-Server-FQDN>
AllowListUrlPattern=https://<TSIM-Server-FQDN>
AllowListUrlPattern=http://<MidtierServer>:<port>
AllowListUrlPattern=https://<MidtierServer>:<port>
For details about the AllowListUrlPattern options, the location of the mms.cfg file for different platforms, and other recommendations from Adobe, see the Adobe Flash Player 32.0 Administration Guide.
Push the mms.cfg file to all browsers that need to continue to use Flash.
Prevent automatic updates of newer browser versions that will not allow Flash Player to load.
For information about Flash Player automatic updates, go to https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/flash-player-background-updates.html.

BMC Software has validated the Flash Player will continue to run with Flash Player Enterprise Enablement on these browser versions:

Tested browser version	Vendor support
Microsoft Internet Explorer 11	https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/update-adobe-flash-support
Mozilla Firefox 83	https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/end-support-adobe-flash
Google Chrome 86	https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/7084871?hl=en

Important

The Operator Control Panel application does not work with the HARMAN browser due to compatibility issues with the Chromium-based browser. If you want to use OCP, BMC recommends that you upgrade to the latest TrueSight Orchestration Platform version 20.02 or later, which provides a refreshed OCP user interface. For details, see Release-notes-and-notices.