Technical Blog Post
Abstract
ITCAM for Transactions - Upgrade to ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 before ITCAMfT 7.3 end of support (30 April 2017)
Body
IBM Tivoli Composite Application Manager for Transactions
~ How to do stuff ~
By Kevin Baldwin -
How to.....
Plan and upgrade to ITCAM for Transactions 7.4.0.1
The End of Support (EoS) date for ITCAMfT 7.3.0.x is 30 April 2017.
If you don't have a support extension, you need to upgrade to latest version of ITCAMfT by upgrading to ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 and applying the appropriate interim fixes.
The following information is intended to help you prepare for the upgrade.
What's changed?
Two significant changes impact Client Response Time (CRT) and Robotic Response Time (RRT) users.
- Client Response Time (T4) is deprecated in ITCAM for Transactions V7.4.
For alternatives, see Migrating from Client Response Time to Transaction Reporter.
- Robotic Response Time (T6): No longer supports IBM Rational Robot.
The only Rational products supported for use on ITCAMfT 7.4 T6 agents are Rational Performance Tester (RPT) and Rational Functional Tester (RFT).
When ITCAMfT 7.4 stopped supporting the use of Rational Robot on the T6 agent, the workaround was to use ITCAMfT 7.3.0.1 T6 agents in the ITCAMfT 7.4 environment.
When support for ITCAMfT 7.3 ends so does support for running Rational Robot scripts in the ITCAMfT 7.4 environment.
The "Rational Robot is not supported on 7.4 RRT agents" blog still includes information relating to the use of ITCAMfT 7.3.0.1 agents in an ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 environment, but this will be removed as soon as 7.3.0.1 is out of support. However, it also provides information that you can find useful in deciding which Rational product to use, RFT and/or RPT.
Information relating to other changes can be found in the "What's new" section of product documentation as follows:
- If you're upgrading from ITCAMfT 7.3.0.0
What’s new in ITCAM for Transactions V7.3.0.1
- If you're upgrading from ITCAMfT 7.3.0.0 or 7.3.0.1
What’s new in ITCAM for Transactions V7.4
What's new in ITCAM for Transactions V7.4.0.1
The following links contain references to other deprecated items not documented in the "What's new" sections:
- Deprecated in ITCAMfT 7.3.0.1
Monitor HTTPS transactions using the web server plugin
- Deprecated in ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1
WRM_IGNORE_PAGETAGS parameter
ISM CLI profile operation : Validate all profiles option
IdentifierChecksumFields ISM property
Transaction Tracking Overview workspace
Do not use the deprecated ITCAM for SOA Log File Service (ttdcproxy_soa)
Check whether other software needs to be upgraded
Refer to the ITCAMfT 7.4 system requirements and prerequisites reports to check what other software and hardware needs to be upgraded.
Here are some examples:
Operating System
IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM)
Tivoli Common reporting (TCR)
Rational Functional Tester (RFT)
Rational Performance Tester (RPT)
Netcool/Omnibus
Web Servers
Database
WinPcap
Review the following information found in the "Detailed System Requirements" report for each ITCAMfT component that needs upgrading:
- Supported Operating systems
- Supported Hypervisors
This section specifies the hypervisors and their guest operating systems that the ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 component can run on.
- Prerequisites
Shows that the minimum prerequisite versions of ITM required to work with ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 are:
ITM 6.2.3.3 or ITM 6.3.0.1
It's advisable to upgrade to the latest available version of ITM.
At the time of publishing this blog the latest version is ITM 6.3.0 Fix Pack 7 (6.3.0-TIV-ITM-FP0007)
Note: If your environment includes Linux machines used to run ITCAMfT agents, you might want to consider applying ITM 6.3.0 Fix Pack 6 (6.3.0-TIV-ITM-FP0006) as there are reports of some problems after applying ITM 6.3.0 Fix Pack 7.
If you need to upgrade ITM here's an excellent place to start:
IBM Tivoli Monitoring, Version 6.3 - Overview of the upgrade process
This section outlines the steps for upgrading from IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.1 or V6.2 to IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.3 and includes links to ITM hardware and software requirements.
- Supported Software
This section lists the minimum prerequisite level of various products required to work with the component.
If you need to upgrade RFT and/or RPT, you should apply the latest version supported by ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 as seen in ITCAM RPT RFT Robot Support Matrix.
This link not only shows what versions of RPT and RFT are supported by different versions of ITCAMfT. It also includes additional information you need to know when using the latest versions of RFT and/or RPT supported by ITCAMfT.
Here are some links to Rational Knowledge documentation you will find useful:
RPT
Installing Rational Performance Tester and Rational Performance Tester Agent
Installation requirements
RFT
Installation requirements
This section details hardware, software, and user privilege requirements that must be met in order to successfully install and run Rational Functional Tester.
Upgrading from earlier versions
Migrating test assets from earlier versions of Functional Tester
- Hardware
This section of the report provides information about the hardware requirements of the component including disk space, memory and processor.
To check system requirements and prerequisites of other software that needs upgrading you'll need to refer to the documentation for those products.
Download information
To identify and download the software needed to upgrade your environment you should use the information in the following technote:
ITCAM for Transactions 7.4 - Interim Fixes and Fixpacks
Table 1 of this technote provides the information needed to identify which fix packs and interim fixes are needed to run the latest available version of ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 for each component.
The table includes a "Can be applied to..." column. This shows what currently installed versions can be updated.
Versions that can be updated also include Interim and Limited Availability fixes previously released for that version.
For Example:
Where an update can be applied to version 7.4.0.1, it can also be applied to 7.4.0.1 IF0008
You'll see that each component has different "Can be applied to..." versions which means that each component has a different upgrade path to get to ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 before then applying the appropriate interim fixes to get to the latest version.
To get to the latest version, all components need interim fixes that need ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 to be installed first.
Here's a table showing the upgrade path to ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 for each component:
Component | Agents included | Current version | Version(s) to be applied |
Response Time |
AMC/T3 WRT/T5 |
7.3.0.0 | 7.4.0.1 |
7.3.0.1 | 7.4.0.1 | ||
Internet Service Manager | ISM/IS | 7.3.0.0 | 7.4.0.0 then 7.4.0.1 |
7.3.0.1 | 7.4.0.0 then 7.4.0.1 | ||
Transaction Tracking | Transaction Collector/TU Transaction Reporter/TO |
7.3.0.0 | 7.3.0.1-IF0027 then 7.4.0.1 |
7.3.0.1 | 7.4.0.1 |
Use the following information to download images from Passport Advantage (ISM only) and open the appropriate readme documents where you'll find links to Fix Central to download installation packages:
- Response Time - AMC(T3) / WRT(T5) / RRT(T6)
ITCAMfT Response Time 7.4 Fix Pack 1 - 7.4.0.0-TIV-CAMRT-FP0001
- Internet Service Manager - ISM(IS)
ITCAMfT 7.4.0.0 Internet Service Monitoring Image numbers to be downloaded from Passport Advantage:
AIX - CIQK2EN
Windows - CIQK5EN
Solaris - CIQK4EN
Linux - CIQK3EN
And...
ITCAMfT Internet Service Monitoring 7.4 Fix Pack 1 - 7.4.0.0-TIV-CAMIS-FP0001
- Transaction Tracking - Transaction Collector(TU) / Reporter (TO)
ITCAMfT - Transaction Tracking 7.3.0.1 Interim Fix 27
And...
ITCAMfT - Transaction Tracking 7.4 Fix Pack 1 - 7.4.0.0-TIV-CAMTT-FP0001
You then need to identify and download interim fixes for the appropriate components.
Use the readme links in Table 1 of ITCAM for Transactions 7.4 - Interim Fixes and Fixpacks to open the readme document where you'll find links to Fix Central to download installation packages.
Upgrade advice
For the detail behind the following high-level upgrade process you need to refer to Knowledge Center product documentation and fixpack / interim fix readme documents.
- Upgrade other software etc. to ensure ITCAMfT System Requirements and Prerequisites are met
- Install ITCAMfT application support on TEMS / RTEMS / TEPS / TEP Desktop Clients
- Upgrade AMC/T3 agent
- Upgrade remaining ITCAMfT agents
- Clear Java and browser cache before using the TEP Browser and Java Webstart to open the TEP
Before starting the upgrade make sure you read the following upgrade information for each component that applies to your environment. Some information will not be applicable as it relates to upgrading from earlier versions of ITCAMfT (ie. versions 6.2, 7.1 & 7.2):
- ITCAMfT 7.4.0.0
Upgrading Internet Service Monitoring
- ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1
Upgrading from previous versions of Response Time
Upgrading Internet Service Monitoring
Upgrading your Transaction Tracking installation
The following links may be useful if you encounter problems during or after upgrading. In fact it may be worth reviewing before the upgrade starts to see if there's anything you can do to avoid problems before they happen:
ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 Knowledge Center documentation:
- Troubleshooting Guide > Response Time troubleshooting > Troubleshooting: Install / upgrade problems
- Installation and Configuration Guide > Installing Internet Service Monitoring > Troubleshooting the Internet Service Monitoring installation
- Installation and Configuration Guide > Installing Transaction Tracking > Troubleshooting the Transaction Tracking installation and configuration
The following links may be useful if you encounter problems during or after upgrading. In fact it may be worth reviewing before the upgrade starts to see if there's anything you can do to avoid problems before they happen:
ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 Knowledge Center documentation:
- Troubleshooting Guide > Response Time troubleshooting > Troubleshooting: Install / upgrade problems
- Installation and Configuration Guide > Installing Internet Service Monitoring > Troubleshooting the Internet Service Monitoring installation
- Installation and Configuration Guide > Installing Transaction Tracking > Troubleshooting the Transaction Tracking installation and configuration
Blogs and technotes:
- If you have problems using MTEMS to configure agents take a look at the blog:
ITCAM for Transactions - Agent Configuration - Empty window
How to..... Recover missing agent configuration options
- If you experience problems opening AMCE in the TEP console, this blog may be useful:
ITCAM for Transactions - Application Management Configuration Editor (AMCE) fails to open
How to..... Identify and fix problems opening AMCE caused by jar file conflicts
- ITM Framework and GSKit issues (32 bit / 64 bit)
Installing 32-bit libraries is an ISM installation prerequisite as seen in the following link:
ITCAMfT 7.4.0.1 > Installation and Configuration Guide > Planning your ITCAM for Transactions installation > Planning to install Internet Service Monitoring > Installation prerequisites
Where it states:
Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent Framework. If you are installing on 64-bit Windows, UNIX, or Linux systems with IBM Tivoli Monitoring V6.3.0.1 or later components installed, install the 32-bit Tivoli Enterprise Management Agent Framework from the IBM Tivoli Monitoring installation media before installing ITCAM for Transactions agents.
Please note: This requirement is only documented for ISM but it should be treated as a requirement for all ITCAMfT agents
Refer to the "ITCAM for Transactions - Agents fail to start and other problems due to ITM Framework and GSKit mixed versions" blog for more information
Visit the ITCAM for Transactions ~ How to do stuff ~ Homepage for more blogs in this series
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