You can upgrade to License Metric Tool
9.2.37 from all 9.x versions. Upgrade
of License Metric Tool consists of upgrading the
server, VM Manager Tool, and the scanner as well as restarting
actions created by fixlets that were updated. Upgrading the License Metric Tool server to the latest version is a one-click process
for 8 versions back. For older versions, additional steps are required. You cannot upgrade between
different operating systems.
Before you begin
- Ensure that no files or directories in the License Metric Tool installation directory are open in an
external program. For example, that no log files are open in a text editor.
- Ensure that no PDF reports are being generated during the server upgrade.
Otherwise, the upgrade might fail with error code 41.
- The following programs were confirmed to interrupt the upgrade of
the server. If you use any of these programs, disable it for the period of the upgrade.
- Arcserve Backup
- Dynatrace OneAgent
- VMware CarbonBlack
- Ensure that you provide enough space for the upgrade. For more information, see the following links.
- If you do not have Internet access on the computer where the BigFix® is installed, you also need to change the value of
the _BESGather_Download_CacheLimitMB parameter. For more information, see:
Caching the files.
About this task
If you are upgrading from application update earlier than 9.2.29, additional steps are required. For more information, see:
Upgrading to the latest version.
Starting
from application update 9.2.26, if the local VM Manager Tool
does not exist, it is installed during the upgrade of the server. You can continue using the
VM Manager Tool that you had previously, or switch to using
the local one. For more information, see: VM Manager Tool deployment types and flow of data.
Procedure
- Optional: If you have a test environment, you can first perform the upgrade
in the test environment. For more information, see: Optional: Upgrading the License Metric Tool server in the test environment (BigFix scenario).
- Verify whether your version of the database is supported by the new version of the
License Metric Tool server. If it is no longer supported,
upgrade the database.
Ensure that the version of the database to which you are upgrading
fulfills the following requirements.
- It is supported by your current version of License Metric Tool and the one to which you are upgrading.
- If you share the database between License Metric Tool and
BigFix, the database version is supported by both
applications.
If you cannot fulfill these requirements or for more information, see the following links.
Note: If your version of the database is no longer supported, the Upgrade to the
latest version of License Metric Tool fixlet is not relevant.
- If you upgraded the database, log in to License Metric Tool and run the import. It is necessary
to make the fixlet for upgrading the License Metric Tool server relevant.
-
Create a back up of the License Metric Tool
database, installation registry, and the server files to be able to restore the server if the
upgrade fails. For more information, see: Backing up the server.
-
If the computer on which the BigFix server
is installed does not have the Internet access, update the fixlet site. Otherwise, the site is
updated automatically after its new version is released. For more information, see: Updating the fixlet site.
-
Upgrade the License Metric Tool server. The
easiest and preferred method is by using a fixlet. To use this method on Linux, the server must be
installed by a root user. Alternatively, you can upgrade the server in interactive or
silent mode.
To upgrade the server with a fixlet, perform the following steps.
-
In the BigFix
console, go to .
-
Select Upgrade to the latest version of License Metric Tool, and click
Take Action.
-
Select the computer on which the server is installed, and click
OK.
To check the status of the upgrade in the
BigFix console, go to
Actions and look for the upgrade action. If the upgrade fails, check the
logs. For more information, see:
Server installation and upgrade logs. You can resume
a failed upgrade after you solve the problem. For more information, see:
Resuming a stopped or failed upgrade. To use the resume mode, you need the
License Metric Tool installer. To download the installer,
run the Download IBM License Metric Tool fixlet.
During the upgrade of the server, new software catalog and PVU table are uploaded to License Metric Tool.
-
If the new version of the VM Manager Tool contains
security fixes, fixes of problems that appear in your environment, or new features that you want to
use, upgrade the VM Manager Tool to the latest version.
To check which type of the VM Manager Tool you have, log
in to License Metric Tool, hover over
Management, and click VM managers. Then, check the
value in the Deployment Type column. Both disconnected and distributed
VM Manager Tool are listed as
Distributed.
-
If the new version of the scanner contains security fixes, fixes of problems that appear in
your environment, or new features that you want to use, upgrade the scanner to the latest
version.
To update the scanner, perform the following steps.
-
In the BigFix
console, go to Fixlets and Tasks.
-
Select Install or Update Scanner, and click Take
Action.
-
Select all relevant computers, and click OK.
-
If some of the fixlets were updated on the action site, and you want to use features for which
running the new version of the fixlet is required, restart actions created by these fixlets.
Otherwise, the new features might not work properly. View the fixlet version in the console to see
which actions need to be restarted.
To restart the actions, perform the following steps.
-
In the BigFix console, go to
Actions.
-
Look for actions started by the fixlets that were updated, right-click each action, and click
Stop Action.
-
Run the updated version of the fixlets.
-
To ensure that all changes are processed, run an import. In License Metric Tool, click , and click Import Now.
Important: The first import after the upgrade might last longer
because it includes the new software catalog.
- Optional: Upgrade the BigFix platform. In most cases, upgrading the BigFix
platform is not required as features of License Metric Tool
are independent from the version of BigFix. Thus,
your decision to upgrade the BigFix platform
mainly depends on your business needs. For more information, see: Upgrading components of the BigFix platform (BigFix scenario).
Results
To verify that the upgrade was successful, perform the following steps.
- Log in to License Metric Tool, hover over the Help icon,
and click About. If the upgrade is successful, a new version is displayed on
the panel.
- Run an import. If the upgrade is successful, the import finishes without errors.
What to do next
When you upgrade from older versions of
License Metric Tool, you might encounter the following problems.
Important: It is recommended to upgrade
regularly and use the latest version of License Metric Tool
that is available.
Table 1. Considerations after the upgrade
Version from which you are upgrading |
Considerations |
Earlier than 9.2.7 |
Predefined report views called All IBM Metrics and IBM
Software Only are removed as they were duplicates of the default report view. If you scheduled these
predefined report views to be sent to specified recipients, the schedules were also removed.
Otherwise, you would not be able to modify or delete them. To have the reports sent again, create a
new schedule for the default report view.
|
Earlier than 9.2.1 |
If you had computer groups defined, subcapacity calculations are
disabled for those groups after the upgrade. As a result, some of the panels and reports are not
visible for users who are assigned to those computer groups. To re-enable subcapacity calculations,
go to , open a computer group, and select PVU, RVU MAPC and VPC.
Then, click Save. For more information, see: Setting up computer groups.
|
Earlier than 9.0.1.2 |
The default Java heap size is not sufficient for the current version. Increase the
Java heap size to 1536 megabytes (Xmx1536m).
|