Remedy ITSM Suite in-place upgrade process



In an in-place upgrade, you leverage your existing hardware and Remedy environments (development, QA, and production). On the development system, you upgrade and reconcile application customizations (overlays). You can perform an in-place upgrade of your systems with an option of no outage of your environment.

While upgrading your QA system, you test the upgrade of the platform components and applications with production data and fully test the upgraded environment.

When you perform the final upgrade on the current production environment, you import your reconciled application customizations, validate the system, and go live.



 

 

 


Before you begin

Plan

Create an upgrade plan by reviewing the section Planning-an-upgrade. This document covers important upgrade decisions and considerations, such as system requirements, which upgrade method to use, and which components to upgrade.

Prepare

Complete the tasks in the Preparing section, which will help you prepare for running the upgrade installers.


In-place upgrade overview

The table below illustrates the task flow for the in-place upgrade process that follows.

In-place upgrade overview

The image below illustrates the task flow for the in-place upgrade process that follows.

Remedy_in_place_upgrade.png

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To view and keep the in-place upgrade overview in a single tab, click Fullscreen mode above the image.

Zero-downtime upgrade for platform components

In an in-place upgrade, platform components are upgraded by using a zero-downtime upgrade method. To learn more about the zero-downtime upgrade, see Preparing for zero-downtime upgrade of the platform.

Note

Beginning with version 9.1.04, for both in-place and staged upgrades, you must upgrade the platform components on all the servers of a server group and then upgrade the application components.


Performing an in-place upgrade

BMC recommends that you perform the tasks in each environment in the order listed.

 

Note

For an in-place upgrade, it is not necessary to freeze data changes or to restrict activity on the production environment during the upgrade; however, BMC recommends that you limit changes to object definitions and to AR System configuration. If you do make changes to object definitions or AR System configuration, ensure that you make and test the changes in each of the environments (development, QA, and production) to ensure they do not impact upgrade activities.

 

Task

Action

Additional information

Development system in-place upgrade

1.

2.

Upgrade the BMC Remedy AR System components and BMC Atrium Core.  

Process overview
Warning
  • While the upgrade is processing, you should not perform any Remedy AR System or Atrium CMDB administrative functions until the upgrade is complete for that system.
  • If you are using a currency format other than the default(default format is USD), you must run the currency utility before upgrading the platform and application components to 9.1.04 or later versions. Running the currency utility preserves the customization relevant to currency settings. Download the latest currency utility from BMC Communities. As a precaution, take a backup of the database before running the currency utility. The database backup might be required if a power outage or some technical issue interrupts the currency utility. 

    To run the currency utility manually, see Running-currency-utility-before-upgrading-the-platform-components. 


Order

Action

Additional information

1

None.

2

Prepare the server group for an upgrade.

When you are performing a zero-downtime upgrade or an upgrade with an outage window, first check the following details:

Start the non administrative servers one by one and ensure the following items:


    • Administration, CMDB, and Approval operations have the same ranking within a non administrative server.  
    • For each server in a server group, ensure that the Server-Connect-Name option is set to the local AR server name, not the load balancer name or the server group name. 
    • For version 9.x or later, update the Server-Connect-Name setting on the Centralized Configuration form.  For versions prior to 9.x, update this setting in the ar.cfg (Windows) or ar.conf (UNIX) file. To update the Server-Connect-Name, see Configuration settings S-Z

To prepare a server group for upgrade, do one of the following actions:

3

The primary server in the context of upgrades is the server that has a rank 1 for administration operation in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form. You should first upgrade the server with the administration operation rank 1 because administration operations ownership is required to import workflows during an upgrade.

Process overview

Order

Action

Additional information   

1

Components and plug-ins upgraded

Components

  • BMC Remedy AR System server
  • BMC Remedy Email Engine
  • BMC Remedy Approval Server
  • Assignment Engine
  • Flashboards

Plug-ins

  • AR External Authentication (AREA) LDAP
  • AR System Database Connectivity (ARDBC) LDAP
  • Web Services
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
  • Full Text Search (FTS)

2

This step is required only if you have BMC Remedy Smart Reporting installed in your current environment.

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 9.0.x, you have to perform a fresh installation of the BMC Remedy Smart Reporting component. For instructions, see Preparing to install BMC Remedy Smart Reporting.

3

(Windows) You can upgrade clients before or after the AR System server upgrade. Use the BMC Remedy AR System installer (ARSuiteKitDeveloperWindows.zip) to upgrade the following clients:

  • BMC Remedy Developer Studio (and the Localization Toolkit)
  • BMC Remedy Data Import
  • BMC Atrium Integrator Spoon

Note: The clients can be installed on Windows only; they are not available for Linux or UNIX.

4

Installing or upgrading a product on an encrypted BMC Remedy AR System server is not supported.

Best practice
We recommend that you install BMC Remedy Encryption Security after you have upgraded all other components.

Before upgrading BMC Remedy ITSM applications, you must deactivate the BMC Remedy Encryption Security. For instructions, see Temporarily-deactivating-BMC-Remedy-Encryption-Security.

5

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have access to internet, install the latest offline Help content.

4

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information   

1.

Install BMC Atrium CMDB on the same computer on which the AR System server is installed.

2.

If BMC Atrium Core Web Services is installed on a different computer than BMC Atrium CMDB, you must upgrade BMC Atrium Core Web Services after you upgrade BMC Remedy AR System and BMC Atrium CMDB. If BMC Atrium CMDB and BMC Atrium Core Web Services are on the same computer, they are upgraded together.

3.

You must upgrade Atrium Integrator server before you install BMC Remedy ITSM or BMC Service Request Management. Upgrade the BMC Atrium Integrator server on the computer where you have upgraded the BMC Remedy AR System server.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1,

Upgrade Atrium Integrator server
 

Choose the upgrade procedure based on your upgrade path:

Perform the Atrium Integrator server upgrade from 8.0 and later 



4.

(Optional) Install BMC Configuration Drift Management.Note: The latest version of BMC Configuration Drift Management that you can install is version 8.1.xx.

5.

(Optional) If you have not already done so during the BMC Remedy AR System upgrade, install the offline Help.

5

Reconcile AR customizations.

Reconcile once after you upgrade the platform on the primary server. See Adjusting-customizations-when-upgrading.

6

Upgrade Secondary Servers.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 for the Secondary servers.

7

Verify platform upgrade status for the entire server group.

  1. From Mid Tier, select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console > System > General > Server Information.
  2. On the Server Information page,  verify the AR System server version and upgrade status. The status must be Done after AR System server is upgraded on all servers.

3.

Adjust your application customizations and assign the appropriate overlay type to the objects' granular sections before proceeding with the BMC Remedy application upgrades.

This step is mandatory for version 8.0 or earlier and optional for version 8.1 or later. If you are upgrading from version 8.0 or earlier, this operation will significantly reduce the number of objects that you need to reconcile and will reduce the difficulty of that reconciliation. This operation is optional for anyone upgrading from release 8.1 or later since the granular overlay feature is present from that release forward; however, it can still help you optimize your overlays.

4.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer, BMC Remedy ITSM core products, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1.

If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is installed, the installer upgrades the Process Designer Integration and Configuration Tool (PDICT) and the Process Designer server.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer in the following order according to your version:

  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.02 or 8.3.03, upgrade it before you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.04 or later, upgrade it after you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If you are performing a fresh installation of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer along with the upgrade of other application components, you must install it after you upgrade the other application components.

2.

Upgrades BMC Service Desk (includes BMC Incident Management and BMC Problem Management), BMC Asset Management, BMC Change Management, and BMC Knowledge Management.

If you are using BMC Digital Workplace and/or BMC Remedy with Smart IT, it is recommended that you upgrade the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite to only after upgrading BMC Digital Workplace.

The upgrade sequence is as follows:

  1. Upgrade to BMC Digital Workplace
  2. Upgrade to Remedy ITSM Suite
  3. Upgrade to Remedy with Smart IT

3.

Upgrades BMC Service Request Management and the Data Visualization modules.

4.

Upgrades BMC Service Level Management, BMC Service Level Management Collector, and BMC Service Level Management Collection Point.

5.

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have internet access, install the latest offline Help content.

After upgrading the applications, perform 3-way reconciliation to reconcile changes that you made in your overlays with changes introduced by BMC during an upgrade. For instructions, see Reconciling-AR-customizations.

5.

Perform functional validation and make any necessary fixes as recommended for the Development system.

6.

Update the integrations.

Depending on your current deployment and whether or not you need to upgrade your integrations to the AR System server, such as BMC TrueSight Operations Management or BMC Service Resolution, decide whether you will perform a fresh installation, upgrade those products, or repoint them to the staging system. 

Refer to the documentation for those products if you need instructions.

7.

Choose the appropriate method to export and import the packing list to the QA and production systems as indicated.

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QA system in-place upgrade

8.

Upgrade the BMC Remedy AR System components and BMC Atrium Core.  

Process overview
Warning
  • While the upgrade is processing, you should not perform any Remedy AR System or Atrium CMDB administrative functions until the upgrade is complete for that system.
  • If you are using a currency format other than the default(default format is USD), you must run the currency utility before upgrading the platform and application components to 9.1.04 or later versions. Running the currency utility preserves the customization relevant to currency settings. Download the latest currency utility from BMC Communities. As a precaution, take a backup of the database before running the currency utility. The database backup might be required if a power outage or some technical issue interrupts the currency utility. 

    To run the currency utility manually, see Running-currency-utility-before-upgrading-the-platform-components. 


Order

Action

Additional information

1

None.

2

Prepare the server group for an upgrade.

When you are performing a zero-downtime upgrade or an upgrade with an outage window, first check the following details:

Start the non administrative servers one by one and ensure the following items:


    • Administration, CMDB, and Approval operations have the same ranking within a non administrative server.  
    • For each server in a server group, ensure that the Server-Connect-Name option is set to the local AR server name, not the load balancer name or the server group name. 
    • For version 9.x or later, update the Server-Connect-Name setting on the Centralized Configuration form.  For versions prior to 9.x, update this setting in the ar.cfg (Windows) or ar.conf (UNIX) file. To update the Server-Connect-Name, see Configuration settings S-Z

To prepare a server group for upgrade, do one of the following actions:

3

The primary server in the context of upgrades is the server that has a rank 1 for administration operation in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form. You should first upgrade the server with the administration operation rank 1 because administration operations ownership is required to import workflows during an upgrade.

Process overview

Order

Action

Additional information   

1

Components and plug-ins upgraded

Components

  • BMC Remedy AR System server
  • BMC Remedy Email Engine
  • BMC Remedy Approval Server
  • Assignment Engine
  • Flashboards

Plug-ins

  • AR External Authentication (AREA) LDAP
  • AR System Database Connectivity (ARDBC) LDAP
  • Web Services
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
  • Full Text Search (FTS)

2

This step is required only if you have BMC Remedy Smart Reporting installed in your current environment.

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 9.0.x, you have to perform a fresh installation of the BMC Remedy Smart Reporting component. For instructions, see Preparing to install BMC Remedy Smart Reporting.

3

(Windows) You can upgrade clients before or after the AR System server upgrade. Use the BMC Remedy AR System installer (ARSuiteKitDeveloperWindows.zip) to upgrade the following clients:

  • BMC Remedy Developer Studio (and the Localization Toolkit)
  • BMC Remedy Data Import
  • BMC Atrium Integrator Spoon

Note: The clients can be installed on Windows only; they are not available for Linux or UNIX.

4

Installing or upgrading a product on an encrypted BMC Remedy AR System server is not supported.

Best practice
We recommend that you install BMC Remedy Encryption Security after you have upgraded all other components.

Before upgrading BMC Remedy ITSM applications, you must deactivate the BMC Remedy Encryption Security. For instructions, see Temporarily-deactivating-BMC-Remedy-Encryption-Security.

5

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have access to internet, install the latest offline Help content.

4

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information   

1.

Install BMC Atrium CMDB on the same computer on which the AR System server is installed.

2.

If BMC Atrium Core Web Services is installed on a different computer than BMC Atrium CMDB, you must upgrade BMC Atrium Core Web Services after you upgrade BMC Remedy AR System and BMC Atrium CMDB. If BMC Atrium CMDB and BMC Atrium Core Web Services are on the same computer, they are upgraded together.

3.

You must upgrade Atrium Integrator server before you install BMC Remedy ITSM or BMC Service Request Management. Upgrade the BMC Atrium Integrator server on the computer where you have upgraded the BMC Remedy AR System server.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1,

Upgrade Atrium Integrator server
 

Choose the upgrade procedure based on your upgrade path:

Perform the Atrium Integrator server upgrade from 8.0 and later 



4.

(Optional) Install BMC Configuration Drift Management.Note: The latest version of BMC Configuration Drift Management that you can install is version 8.1.xx.

5.

(Optional) If you have not already done so during the BMC Remedy AR System upgrade, install the offline Help.

5

Reconcile AR customizations.

Reconcile once after you upgrade the platform on the primary server. See Adjusting-customizations-when-upgrading.

6

Upgrade Secondary Servers.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 for the Secondary servers.

7

Verify platform upgrade status for the entire server group.

  1. From Mid Tier, select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console > System > General > Server Information.
  2. On the Server Information page,  verify the AR System server version and upgrade status. The status must be Done after AR System server is upgraded on all servers.

9.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer, BMC Remedy ITSM core products, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.

If you are upgrading only the platform, omit the steps to upgrade the applications.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1.

If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is installed, the installer upgrades the Process Designer Integration and Configuration Tool (PDICT) and the Process Designer server.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer in the following order according to your version:

  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.02 or 8.3.03, upgrade it before you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.04 or later, upgrade it after you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If you are performing a fresh installation of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer along with the upgrade of other application components, you must install it after you upgrade the other application components.

2.

Upgrades BMC Service Desk (includes BMC Incident Management and BMC Problem Management), BMC Asset Management, BMC Change Management, and BMC Knowledge Management.

If you are using BMC Digital Workplace and/or BMC Remedy with Smart IT, it is recommended that you upgrade the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite to only after upgrading BMC Digital Workplace.

The upgrade sequence is as follows:

  1. Upgrade to BMC Digital Workplace
  2. Upgrade to Remedy ITSM Suite
  3. Upgrade to Remedy with Smart IT

3.

Upgrades BMC Service Request Management and the Data Visualization modules.

4.

Upgrades BMC Service Level Management, BMC Service Level Management Collector, and BMC Service Level Management Collection Point.

5.

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have internet access, install the latest offline Help content.

After upgrading the applications, perform 3-way reconciliation to reconcile changes that you made in your overlays with changes introduced by BMC during an upgrade. For instructions, see Reconciling-AR-customizations.

10.

Import the packing list or package that you created in step 6.

 

11.

Update the integrations.

Depending on your current deployment and whether or not you need to upgrade your integrations to the AR System server, such as BMC TrueSight Operations Management or BMC Service Resolution, decide whether you will perform a fresh install, upgrade those products, or repoint them to the staging system. 

Refer to the documentation for those products if you need instructions.

12.

Perform the following kinds of testing as recommended for the QA environment:

  • Out-of-the-box functionality testing
  • End-to-end testing to validate data and to check that customized applications and integrations are working correctly
  • Performance testing to confirm system performs as expected under load.

13.

Resolve issues uncovered during testing. 

Fix application customizations on the development system, and then update the packing list and re-migrate customizations from the development system. On the QA system, re-import the customizations. Repeat this process until all issues are resolved.

Back to top

Production system in-place upgrade

14.

Upgrade the BMC Remedy AR System components and BMC Atrium Core.  

Process overview
Warning
  • While the upgrade is processing, you should not perform any Remedy AR System or Atrium CMDB administrative functions until the upgrade is complete for that system.
  • If you are using a currency format other than the default(default format is USD), you must run the currency utility before upgrading the platform and application components to 9.1.04 or later versions. Running the currency utility preserves the customization relevant to currency settings. Download the latest currency utility from BMC Communities. As a precaution, take a backup of the database before running the currency utility. The database backup might be required if a power outage or some technical issue interrupts the currency utility. 

    To run the currency utility manually, see Running-currency-utility-before-upgrading-the-platform-components. 


Order

Action

Additional information

1

None.

2

Prepare the server group for an upgrade.

When you are performing a zero-downtime upgrade or an upgrade with an outage window, first check the following details:

Start the non administrative servers one by one and ensure the following items:


    • Administration, CMDB, and Approval operations have the same ranking within a non administrative server.  
    • For each server in a server group, ensure that the Server-Connect-Name option is set to the local AR server name, not the load balancer name or the server group name. 
    • For version 9.x or later, update the Server-Connect-Name setting on the Centralized Configuration form.  For versions prior to 9.x, update this setting in the ar.cfg (Windows) or ar.conf (UNIX) file. To update the Server-Connect-Name, see Configuration settings S-Z

To prepare a server group for upgrade, do one of the following actions:

3

The primary server in the context of upgrades is the server that has a rank 1 for administration operation in the AR System Server Group Operation Ranking form. You should first upgrade the server with the administration operation rank 1 because administration operations ownership is required to import workflows during an upgrade.

Process overview

Order

Action

Additional information   

1

Components and plug-ins upgraded

Components

  • BMC Remedy AR System server
  • BMC Remedy Email Engine
  • BMC Remedy Approval Server
  • Assignment Engine
  • Flashboards

Plug-ins

  • AR External Authentication (AREA) LDAP
  • AR System Database Connectivity (ARDBC) LDAP
  • Web Services
  • Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
  • Full Text Search (FTS)

2

This step is required only if you have BMC Remedy Smart Reporting installed in your current environment.

If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 9.0.x, you have to perform a fresh installation of the BMC Remedy Smart Reporting component. For instructions, see Preparing to install BMC Remedy Smart Reporting.

3

(Windows) You can upgrade clients before or after the AR System server upgrade. Use the BMC Remedy AR System installer (ARSuiteKitDeveloperWindows.zip) to upgrade the following clients:

  • BMC Remedy Developer Studio (and the Localization Toolkit)
  • BMC Remedy Data Import
  • BMC Atrium Integrator Spoon

Note: The clients can be installed on Windows only; they are not available for Linux or UNIX.

4

Installing or upgrading a product on an encrypted BMC Remedy AR System server is not supported.

Best practice
We recommend that you install BMC Remedy Encryption Security after you have upgraded all other components.

Before upgrading BMC Remedy ITSM applications, you must deactivate the BMC Remedy Encryption Security. For instructions, see Temporarily-deactivating-BMC-Remedy-Encryption-Security.

5

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have access to internet, install the latest offline Help content.

4

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information   

1.

Install BMC Atrium CMDB on the same computer on which the AR System server is installed.

2.

If BMC Atrium Core Web Services is installed on a different computer than BMC Atrium CMDB, you must upgrade BMC Atrium Core Web Services after you upgrade BMC Remedy AR System and BMC Atrium CMDB. If BMC Atrium CMDB and BMC Atrium Core Web Services are on the same computer, they are upgraded together.

3.

You must upgrade Atrium Integrator server before you install BMC Remedy ITSM or BMC Service Request Management. Upgrade the BMC Atrium Integrator server on the computer where you have upgraded the BMC Remedy AR System server.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1,

Upgrade Atrium Integrator server
 

Choose the upgrade procedure based on your upgrade path:

Perform the Atrium Integrator server upgrade from 8.0 and later 



4.

(Optional) Install BMC Configuration Drift Management.Note: The latest version of BMC Configuration Drift Management that you can install is version 8.1.xx.

5.

(Optional) If you have not already done so during the BMC Remedy AR System upgrade, install the offline Help.

5

Reconcile AR customizations.

Reconcile once after you upgrade the platform on the primary server. See Adjusting-customizations-when-upgrading.

6

Upgrade Secondary Servers.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 for the Secondary servers.

7

Verify platform upgrade status for the entire server group.

  1. From Mid Tier, select AR System Administration > AR System Administration Console > System > General > Server Information.
  2. On the Server Information page,  verify the AR System server version and upgrade status. The status must be Done after AR System server is upgraded on all servers.

15.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer, BMC Remedy ITSM core products, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.

During the application upgrade, you will need to schedule downtime.

If you are upgrading only the platform, omit the steps to upgrade the applications.

Process overview

Task

Action

Additional information

1.

If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is installed, the installer upgrades the Process Designer Integration and Configuration Tool (PDICT) and the Process Designer server.

Upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer in the following order according to your version:

  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.02 or 8.3.03, upgrade it before you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer is at version 8.3.04 or later, upgrade it after you upgrade BMC Remedy ITSM, BMC Service Request Management, and BMC Service Level Management.
  • If you are performing a fresh installation of BMC Remedy ITSM Process Designer along with the upgrade of other application components, you must install it after you upgrade the other application components.

2.

Upgrades BMC Service Desk (includes BMC Incident Management and BMC Problem Management), BMC Asset Management, BMC Change Management, and BMC Knowledge Management.

If you are using BMC Digital Workplace and/or BMC Remedy with Smart IT, it is recommended that you upgrade the BMC Remedy ITSM Suite to only after upgrading BMC Digital Workplace.

The upgrade sequence is as follows:

  1. Upgrade to BMC Digital Workplace
  2. Upgrade to Remedy ITSM Suite
  3. Upgrade to Remedy with Smart IT

3.

Upgrades BMC Service Request Management and the Data Visualization modules.

4.

Upgrades BMC Service Level Management, BMC Service Level Management Collector, and BMC Service Level Management Collection Point.

5.

(Optional) If you are bound by a firewall or do not have internet access, install the latest offline Help content.

After upgrading the applications, perform 3-way reconciliation to reconcile changes that you made in your overlays with changes introduced by BMC during an upgrade. For instructions, see Reconciling-AR-customizations.

16.

Import the packing list or package that you created in step 6 or that you might have re-created in step 10.

17.

Update the integrations.

Depending on your current deployment and whether or not you need to upgrade your integrations to the AR System server, such as BMC TrueSight Operations Management or BMC Service Resolution, decide whether you will perform a fresh install, upgrade those products, or repoint them to the production system. 

Refer to the documentation for those products if you need instructions.

18.

Perform some basic sanity tests to ensure the system and applications are ready for access and go live.

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