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BMC Decision Support for Server Automation 8.5

BMC Decision Support for Server Automation is a web-based reporting application that provides extensive reporting capabilities related to your data-center servers that are managed by BMC.

Release notes and notices Updated 08 Jul 2014

This section provides information about what is new or changed in this space.

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Date

Title

Summary

July 07, 2014

Enhancements available in this release:

  • New query item in Patch domain
  • Change password for the ReportsSystem user ID
  • Support for new component versions
  • Added platform support
  • Added database support

February 24, 2014

Enhancements available in this release:

  • Installation enhancements
  • New console for configuring the product
  • Archival and restore utility
  • Enhanced reporting
  • Extract, transform, and load (ETL) improvements
  • online Help
  • Improved database sizing tools
  • Content Installer enhancements
  • Report Administration Utility (blrptadmin) functionality available in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation Console
  • Support for new component versions
  • Added platform support

Platforms that are no longer supported

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Creating PDF exports

You can create a PDF of a page or a set of pages. (Non-English page exports are not supported.) You can also create a Word document of the current page.

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Planning

Concepts, architecture, deployment, planning, and system requirements.

Installing

Information about installing the product and migrating product data.

configuring after installation

Required post-installation configuration.

Upgrading

Upgrade process, migration, and configuration.

Troubleshooting

Issues resolution, error messages, logs, and contacting Support.

Using

Interface descriptions, using the product.

Administering

Security, system administration, maintenance.

Integrating

Integrations with other products.
What's new?

This topic contains information about fixes and updates in this service pack, and provides instructions for downloading and installing the service pack. 

Tip

For information about issues corrected in this service pack, see Known-and-corrected-issues.

Supported versions of BMC Server Automation

Service Pack 1 supports the following versions of BMC Server Automation:

  • 8.5, 8.5 Patch (P) 1, 8.5 P2, 8.5 SP1, 8.5 SP1-P1, 8.5 SP1-P2, 8.5 SP1-P3, 8.5 SP1-P4
  • 8.3 and all related service packs

Enhancements

Service Pack 1 has been enhanced with the following features.

Changes in the BMC BladeLogic data model

 

A new query item, IAVA ID has been added to the Windows Bulletin query subject in the Patch domain. This attribute indicates the Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert ID of a Windows bulletin. Access this query item at Patch > Patch Overview > Patch Details > Windows Bulletin.

To see the complete BladeLogic data model sheet, click the "8.5.01 BMC BladeLogic data model" link at Data-model.

 

To see changes in the 8.5 BMC BladeLogic data model, click here..

To enable you to create reports based on the ACL policies and new object types, the following query subjects and query items have been included in various domain folders in the BMC BladeLogic data model. To see the details of these query items and the complete BladeLogic data model sheet, click the "8.5 BMC BladeLogic data model" link at Data model.

Domain folder

Query subject

Query item

Full path

Compliance

Compliance Rule Result

Rule Result String Overflow

Compliance Rule Result/Rule Result String Overflow

Inventory

Server

Staging Directory

Server/Staging Directory

RBAC
























Role

Authorization Method

Role/Authorization Method

User

Last Active Date

Role/User/Last Active Date

ACL Policy





ACL Policy Name

ACL Policy/ACL Policy Name

ACL Policy Description

ACL Policy/ACL Policy Description

Date Created

ACL Policy/Date Created

Date Modified

ACL Policy/Date Modified

Created User Name

ACL Policy/Created User Name

Modified User Name

ACL Policy/Modified User Name

ACL Policy Deleted

ACL Policy/ACL Policy Deleted

BL Package and NSH Script





Object Type

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Type

Object Name

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Type

Object Description

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Description

Object Created Date

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Created Date

Object Modified Date

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Modified Date

Object Deleted

Object/BL Package and NSH Script/Object Deleted

Custom Command



Command

Object/Custom Command/Command

Command Display Name

Object/Custom Command/Command Display Name

Command Created Date

Object/Custom Command/Command Created Date

Command Modified Date

Object/Custom Command/Command Modified Date

Command Deleted

Object/Custom Command/Command Deleted

Config File

Config File Name

Object/Custom Command/Config File Name

Object

Authorization Method

Object/Authorization Method

Audit Trail

Site Name

Audit Trail/Site Name

User Name

Audit Trail/User Name

Role Name

Audit Trail/Role Name

RBAC Filters

Policy is not deleted

RBAC Filters/Policy is not deleted

Patch













Patch Information



Patch Smart Group Name

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Patch Smart Group Name

Patch Smart Group

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Patch Smart Group

Catalog Update Status

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Catalog Update Information/Catalog Update Status

Catalog Update Job Run Start Time

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Catalog Update Information/Catalog Update Job Run Start Time

Catalog Update Execution Time (secs)

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Catalog Update Information/Catalog Update Execution Time (secs)

Installed Server Count

Patch Overview/Patch Information/Installed Server Count

Windows Bulletin

Bulletin ID

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows Bulletin/Bulletin ID

Patch Type ID

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows Bulletin/Patch Type ID

Impact

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows Bulletin/Impact

Impact Description

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows Bulletin/Impact Description

Windows HotFix

Patch Type ID

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows HotFix/Patch Type ID

Superseded By

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows HotFix/Superseded By

Superseded By Score

Patch Overview/Patch Details/Windows HotFix/Superseded By Score

Missing Patch Details

Is Missing

Missing Patch Details/Is Missing

Is Installed

Missing Patch Details/Is Installed

Patch Status

Missing Patch Details/Patch Status

Patch Server

Server Group Name

Patch/Patch Server/Server Group Name

Server Smart Group Name

Patch/Patch Server/Server Smart Group Name

Patch Filters

Patch Job Latest Run

Patch Filters/Patch Job Latest Run

The following query items have been deleted from the RBAC domain folder in the BMC BladeLogic data model in this version of the product.

Note

If you have included these items in any of the reports in previous versions of the product, data for these items will not be available in this version of the product.

Query subject

Query item

Profile


Authorization Description

Authorization Display Name

Authorization Type

Authorization Method

Site Name

Profile Authorization

Role

System Role

To see changes in the 8.3 BMC BladeLogic data model, click here...

To see the complete BladeLogic data model sheet, click the "8.3 BMC BladeLogic data model" link at Data-model.

Removed duplicate query items

In versions earlier than 8.3, the OS Vendor and Subnet Mask information is present in multiple query subjects. From this release, this information is available only in the OS Vendor and Subnet Mask query items, which are present in the Inventory\Server query subject.

Removed properties from the Inventory Server Property query subject

The following properties are no longer available in the Inventory Server Property query subject:

  • REPEATER_STAGING_DIR
  • STAGING_DIR
To see changes in the 8.2 BMC BladeLogic data model, click here...

See the following documents for the complete 8.2 BladeLogic data model and for the changes done in the data model in version 8.2. A sample CSV file obtained from report analysis on BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation version 8.1 is also available.

Document

Description

This document lists the mapping of query items from version 8.1 to 8.2.

This document lists the query items that are no longer available in version 8.2.

This document contains information about the query subjects and query items available in the BMC BladeLogic data model version 8.2.

This document is a sample CSV file obtained from report analysis on BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation version 8.1

Changing password for the ReportsSystem user ID

Now you can change password for the ReportsSystem user ID, which is used for internal administration tasks in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation. For more details, see Changing-the-password-for-the-ReportsSystem-user-ID.

New component versions

BMC Decision Support for Server Automation version 8.5.01 supports the following component versions:

Component

Version

Cognos

10.2.1

Java Runtime Environment (JRE)

JRE 7 update 55

Apache HTTP Server (Web Server)

2.2.27

Apache Tomcat

7.0.23

OpenSSL

1.0.1h

Added platform support

With this release, for deployments with an Oracle database, BMC Decision Support for Server Automation provides support for the following platforms: 

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (x86-64)
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (x86-64)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP2 (x86-64)

For deployments with a Microsoft SQL Server database, BMC Decision Support for Server Automation provides support for the following platforms: 

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (x86-64)
  • Windows Server 2012 (x86-64)

For a complete list of supported platforms, see Platform-support.

Added database support

With this release, BMC Decision Support for Server Automation provides support for the following databases:

  • Oracle database server 12c
  • Oracle database server 12Real Application Clusters (RAC)

For a complete list of supported databases, see Oracle-database-support.

With this release, BMC Decision Support for Server Automation provides support for SQL Server 2012. For a complete list of supported databases, see SQL-Server-database-support.

Downloading the service pack

Installing Service Pack 1 installs the entire BMC Decision Support for Server Automation product. You can download the service pack files from the BMC Electronic Product Distribution (EPD) website at http://webapps.bmc.com/epd. The version number shown on EPD is 8.5.01.

Click here to see the procedure for obtaining the service pack files.
  1. Create a directory in which to place the downloaded files.

    Note

    On Microsoft Windows computers, ensure that the directory is only one level into the directory structure. The EPD package creates a directory in the temporary directory when you extract the files, and the directory that contains the installation image should not be in a directory deeper than two levels into the directory structure.

  2. Go to http://www.bmc.com/available/epd.html
  3. At the logon prompt, enter your user ID and password, and click Submit.
  4. On the Export Compliance and Access Terms page, provide the required information, agree to the terms of the agreements, and click Continue.
  5. If you are accessing this site for the first time, create an EPD profile to specify the languages and platforms that you want to see according to the EPD site Help; otherwise, skip to step 6.
  6. Verify that the correct profile is displayed for your download purpose, and select the Licensed Products tab.

    Note

    If you are downloading a patch, select the Product Patches tab.

  7. Click the Go To Licensed Products View link.
  8. Expand BMC Decision Support for Server Automation to show its versions, then expand version 8.5 for your desired platform and language to see the available patches and service packs.
  9. Select the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation installation files and the corresponding Cognos installation files.
  10. Click Download (FTP) or Download Manager:
    1. Download (FTP) places the selected items in an FTP directory, and the credentials and FTP instructions are sent to you in an email message.
    2. Download Manager enables you to download multiple files consecutively, and to resume an interrupted download if the connection drops. This method requires a one-time installation of the AkamiNetSession Client program on the target computer and is usually the faster and more reliable way to transfer files. A checksum is used to verify file integrity automatically.

Installing the service pack as a fresh product installation

For information about installing Service Pack 1, see Installing.

Upgrading to Service Pack 1

 To upgrade to Service Pack 1, complete the tasks described in this section.

Review the supported upgrade paths

To review the versions that are supported for upgrading to Service Pack 1, see Supported-upgrade-paths.

For more information about upgrading, see the topics listed in Upgrading.

Run the service pack installer

For information about installing Service Pack 1, see Installing.

Perform the postinstallation tasks

For information about postinstallation tasks, see Configuring-after-installation.

Related topic

Known-and-corrected-issues

Frequently asked questions and other information

This topic provides information that supplements the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation 8.5.00 documentation. It contains the following sections:

Frequently asked questions

This section provides answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) about BMC Decision Support for Server Automation.

What happened to all the PDFs for this product?

Where to find information previously provided in a guide or manual

Document title

Found here in

BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation
Installation Guide: for Oracle

BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation
Installation Guide: for SQL Server

BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation Database Administrator Guide

BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation User Guide

BMC BladeLogic Decision Support for Server Automation User Guide: Report Authoring

Where do I find release note information?

The following table describes where you can find information previously provided in release notes.

Type of information

Found here in

New features (enhancements) and other information in 8.5.01

 

New features (enhancements) and other information in 8.5.00

  • Issues corrected by the base release and its service packs and patches
  • Issues that are currently open
Where can I find technical bulletins?

Technical bulletins contained information delivered after a product was released, often in conjunction with a service pack or patch for that release.

Where to find information previously provided in a technical bulletin

Type of technical bulletin

Found here in

Contents of a service pack or patch and instructions particular to it

Other information

Placed in context throughout this space, but listed and linked to in Technical bulletins. You will not have this topic in the first release of the product such as 8.5.00.

Where do I find information that was previously published as a flash bulletin?

Flashes contained urgent information about product issues and are delivered after a product is released. On docs.bmc.com, this information is delivered in an "Urgent issues" topic, under Release notes and notices. If this topic does not exist for a given product release, no urgent issues have been discovered for that release.

Is all the content for BMC Decision Support for Server Automation 8.5.00 in this space?

Yes, all the content for BMC Decision Support for Server Automation 8.5.00 is in this space.

I’d like a PDF of just selected information. How can I do that?

The BMC Documentation portal gives you the ability to generate PDF exports of multiple pages in a space.  

Creating PDF exports

You can create a PDF of a page or a set of pages. (Non-English page exports are not supported.) You can also create a Word document of the current page.

To export to PDF

  1. Click the Export icon in the upper-right. 1744830844926-963.png
  2. From the Export menu, select PDF.
  3. Follow the prompts for page selection and other options.
  4. Click Export.

 

Depending on the number of topics included in the export, it might take several minutes to create the PDF. Once the export is complete, you can download the PDF.

Where can I find information about the platforms currently supported for BMC Decision Support for Server Automation product versions?

You can find information about supported platforms on BMC Support Central, under Product Availability and Compatibility.

What are the supported BMC Server Automation versions?

For information about supported BMC Server Automation versions, see BMC-Server-Automation-requirements.

Which versions of third-party products are supported by BMC Decision Support for Server Automation?

Product version

Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version (shipped with product)

Apache Tomcat version for BMC Decision Support for Server Automation Console

Apache Tomcat version for reports portal (Cognos)

Apache HTTP Server (Web Server) version

OpenSSL version

8.5.01

7 Update 55

7.0.23

6.0.35

2.2.27

1.0.1h

8.5.00

6 Update 37

7.0.23

6.0.35

2.2.24

1.0.1e

Where do I find content_templates.zip in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation?

For information Inventory templates, see Installing-Inventory-templates-and-other-scripts.

I need to write a custom report. Where do I start?
I don't have access to Report Studio in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation? What should I do?

To use Report Studio, you must purchase a license for it and then enable it using the instructions that you are given when you purchase the license. To obtain the license, contact BMC Support.

How do I edit existing reports?

You can edit existing reports using Report Studio. To use Report Studio, you must purchase a license for it and then enable it using the instructions that you are given when you purchase the license. For information about editing reports, see the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Report Studio Professional Authoring User Guide at PDFs.

How do I create a report template and customize the branding?
How do I change the default timeout period for the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation portal?
How do I create report views?

For information about creating report views, see the IBM Cognos Connection User Guide at PDFs.

Additional resources from BMC

The following BMC sites provide information outside of the BMC Decision Support for Server Automation 8.5 documentation that you might find helpful: 

PDFs

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