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Promoting changes from one environment to another

As a BMC Helix administrator (use Package Creator and Package Deployer roles), you can perform change promotion from Development to QA, then to Production within your BMC Helix ITSM (BMC Remedy Mid Tier) by following the step-by-step instructions below. Use cases include: 

  • Migrate service request definitions (SRDs)  
  • Migrate service level targets (SLTs)

To promote a change to a form or a workflow from Development to QA, then to Production, customers must:

  1. Create package
  2. Export package
  3. Import package
  4. Deploy package
  5. Rollback in case of regressions

However, if you require a customization not supported by the Development-to-Production Console within your BMC Helix ITSM, such as a minor change promotion, please follow the Change request process by logging a change request. Examples of changes not supported by the self-service Development-to-Production Console include: 

  • Field migration within a particular form (not the entire form) 
  • Change in the existing workflow 

For more information, see How to export and import D2P package between environments.

icon_play.pngWatch the YouTube video to learn how to export and import D2P package

Defining a package

A package is a set of workflow object definitions, data, Service Request Management objects or service targets that you create in a development environment so you can promote the package across environments, such as QA or production.

To create a release package

  1. In the AR System Deployment Management Console, click Create from the Manage Package tab in the navigation pane to view the Deployment Package Information form.
  2. In the Deployment Package Information console, enter or select the appropriate data for the following fields:
    • Package Name—The unique name by which you want to create the package.
    • Package Version—The unique version number for the package.
    • Package Details—A detailed description of the package.
    • Add File — A file that you want to attach to the package. Click Add to browse and attach a file to the package. To prevent any malicious code to be included in the package inadvertently, you should consider white-listing the attachment files. Before you attach a file, consider setting restrictions on file uploads. For more information, see Setting security restrictions on file uploads.
    • Notification Email—Email address to receive email notifications about the status of your package. You can configure single or multiple email IDs (separated by semi colon) or, an email distribution list.
    • State—The current status of the package.

    • Status—The details describing the build status.

      Note: A state is the current condition or situation of a deployment package, whereas a status is an intermittent stage during the deployment of a package.

    • Status Reason—The reason describing the current status of the package.
      Note: In the Deployment Package Information console, when all fields are read-only and you cannot enter information into the fields, perform the following steps:

      i. Log in to Mid Tier.
      ii. Click Cache Settings.
      iii. Click Flush Cache.

  3. On the Deployment Package Contents panel, enter the information in the following fields to add contents to the package.

    • Content Type—The content that you want to add to the package. The following table describes the type of file that you might add to the package. You must have appropriate permissions for using the Content Type. For more information about permissions, see BMC Remedy Deployment Application roles and permissions.
       

      Content Type

      Description

      Add Packing List

      Adds the packing list along with the contents from the BMC Remedy Developer Studio to the current package. For more information, see Adding a packing list to a package.

      Use this option to add a packing list to an application package.

      Add AR Definition

      Adds the objects to the current package. For more information, see Adding a definition file to a package.

      Also, enables you to add the following AR objects to an application package:

      • Active link guide
      • Application
      • Packing list
      • Filter guide
      • Webservice

      For more information, see Adding AR object to an application package.

      Delete AR Definition

      Adds a delete object command to the package. The referenced object is deleted from the environment where the package is deployed. For more information, see Deleting a definition file from a package.

      Add Data

      Adds data to the current package. A package deployer can create a package using this content type. For more information, see Adding data to a package.

      Add Static Data

      For BMC internal purposes only.

      SRM
       

      Adds Service Request Management objects, like service request definitions (SRDs), process definition templates (PDTs) and supporting data to the current package. You can also add custom advanced interface (AIF) forms and custom workflows. For more information, see Adding SRM to a package. A package deployer can create a package using this content type.
      For more information on using the AR System Deployment Console to migrate BMC Service Request Management objects and data, see About migrating BMC Service Request Management objects and data image-2023-6-7_9-37-5.png .

      HRCM

      Adds solutions from BMC HR Case Management to the current package. A package deployer can create a package using this content type. For more information, see Add HRCM Data to a package.

      Application Object

      The Application object allows you to deploy templates such as, Incident template, Change template, and task template efficiently and reliably across environments. You can also deploy a custom application using this content type.

      For example, if you have a task or a task group template on your AR Server then you can relate that task template or task group template with any application, such as Change Management or Incident Management.

      Application object offers the following options:

      Task template or task group template

      Incident template

      Change template

      Work Order template

      Custom application

      Service Targets

      For information about adding an out-of-the-box Application Object to a package, see Add an application object to a package.

      Deployment Payload

      The Deployment Payload allows you to create and deploy binary payload across environments. Binary payload is a set of binary files, configurations files, batch or Shell scripts, and executable files. For information about adding a Deployment Payload to a package, see Add a Deployment Payload to a package.

      Smart IT Definition 

      The SmartIT Definition offers to import or export the SmartIT customizations without making any changes in the code. For example, you can configure the provider action for a specific field for running the attached workflows without changing code. For more information about adding a SmartIT Definition to a package, see Add a SmartIT Definition to a package.

      CMDB

      Adds CMDB CDM definitions to the package. An Administrator can create a package using this content type. For more information, see Add a CDM definition to a package.

    • Content Description – The name of the content you want to add to the package.
    • Sequence – The sequence field is used to define the order in which the objects will be built, validated and deployed. This field is auto-populated based on the number of contents you add to the package. You can use the increment or decrement buttons to change the order of the contents.
    • Status – The current status of the contents added to the package.
    • Status Reason – The reason describing the current status of the contents added to the package.
  4. (Optional) Click Manage Pre-Check to build qualification for the package. 
    For more information about Pre-Check, see Defining Pre-Check.
  5. Click Add, and then click Save.

To export a package

  1. Log in to Mid Tier as an administrator or a package deployer user by using the following URL:
    http://<midTierServerName>:<port number>/arsys
     
  2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.
     
  3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
    1. Select Transfer Package > Export.

    2. Select the package to export as a .zip file and select Save

      image-2024-2-9_17-4-40.png

To import a package

  1. Log in to Mid Tier as an administrator or a package deployer user by using the following URL:
    http://<midTierServerName>:<port number>/arsys
     
  2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.
     
  3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
    1. Select Transfer Package > Import.
      fresh_import.png
    2. In the Add Attachment dialog box, click Choose File to navigate to the folder that has the downloaded EPD package (ITSM, SRM, or SLM).

    3. Select the package that you want to import, and then click OK.
      The Status column shows the status as Importing until the package contents are completely imported. If the status shows Importing for more than 10 seconds, click Refresh to view the updated status.

      When the package has been successfully imported, the entry of the package is listed in the AR System Deployment Management Console, and the package status changes to Ready to Deploy. 
      image2020-2-26_14-7-31.png

To deploy a package

In a server group, you can upgrade Remedy applications sequentially on one server after the other or if you have a large server group implementation, you can speed up the upgrade process by deploying a package simultaneously across a server group.

To upgrade the Remedy applications, deploy the packages in the following sequence:

  1. Remedy IT Service Management (ITSM)
  2. BMC Service Request Management (SRM)
  3. BMC Service Level Management (SLM)

The AR System administrator or a Package Deployer performs the following steps to deploy the package in an environment:

  1. Log in to Mid Tier as an administrator or a package deployer user by using the following URL: 
    http://<midTierServerName>:<port number>/arsys/
  2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.
  3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
    1. Click the package row that you have imported, and then select Operations > Deploy.
      image2020-2-26_14-9-10.png
      The following message is displayed if the package contains binaries:
      This package includes files to be deployed/rollback. You can monitor the status of the file deployment/rollback by opening the package, selecting the item for file deployment and clicking on the "View Payload Status" button. (ARNOTE 10000) 
    2. In the message window, click OK.
    3. To view the package status, click Refresh.
      When the package is successfully deployed, the status of the package changes to Deployed.

If the package contains a Deployment Payload content type, you need to run the payload deployment utility.

Rolling back a package

If an issue occurs during the validation of the package, or if an error occurs while deploying the package, you can restore the objects on your server to the pre-deployment state. BMC does not recommend to roll back a package that was successfully deployed.

Roll back the packages in the following sequence: 

  1. BMC Service Level Management
  2. BMC Service Request Management
  3. BMC Remedy IT Service Management 

To roll back a package

The AR System administrator or a Package Deployer performs the following steps to roll back a package:

  1. Log in to Mid Tier by using the following URL: 
    http://<midTierServer>:<port number>/arsys/
  2. From the IT Home page, select Applications > AR System Administration > AR System Deployment Management Console.
  3. In the Deployment Management Console, perform the following actions:
    1. Select the package that has Deployed with Error status.
    2. Select Operations > Rollback.
    3. In the confirmation dialog box that is displayed, click Yes.
    4. (Optional) Click Refresh. 
      The State of the package changes from Rolling back to Rolled back.
      If a package contains binary files, the state of the package is shown as Pending Rollback.
      pending_rollback.png
    5. To view the payload deployment status for a package containing binary files, perform the following steps:
      1. Select the deployed package entry and click Manage Package > View.
        The AR System Deployment Management form opens.
      2. Select Deployment Payload from the table next to the Deployment Package Contents panel.
      3. The Deployment Payload status is shown as Rollback Pending.
      4. Click the View Payload Status button.
        view_rollback_status.png
        A table that shows the status of the package on all the servers in a server group is displayed. 
        rollback_waiting.png
      5. Connect to the server that has the Wait for Utility Run status and run the payload utility.
      6. Repeat steps from i to v on all the servers of a server group from where you want to roll back the package.
        After the payload utility is run, the package starts rolling back. You can view the package status on the main AR System Deployment Management Console. If the state changes to Rolled Back, it means that the package rollback is successful. 

Package rollback criteria

Rollback validation helps you to avoid accidental rollback. BMC offers the following conditions for a package rollback:

  • You can rollback a package within 48 hours of a successful package deployment. You can configure a maximum 168 hours. 
    Use the D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval parameter in the Centralized Configuration to configure the limit for rollback. For more information about the D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval parameter see,  D2P-Rollback-Timeout-Interval image-2023-5-31_17-59-9-2.png in Remedy AR System online documenation.
  • You can rollback only the last deployed package.

 

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