Things to consider in how to upgrade to ITMS 8.5 RU4 from a previous ITMS 8.5 RUx version

Products

• IT Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Upgrading from ITMS 8.5 RUx to 8.5 RU4 should be a straightforward process. Just as a reminder, we (technical support organization) do not conduct upgrades for the customers as part of our Support agreement and if you need a step-by-step procedure besides what we are sharing here, you will need Professional Services to assist you with a more customized plan.

Reach out to the Symantec Professional Services team here:
https://www.broadcom.com/support/services/symantec

This article provides general guidance on things to consider while upgrading to ITMS 8.5 RU4 from another 8.5 RUx version. 

 

Environment

ITMS 8.5

Resolution

Here are our recommendations:

1. The most common things to consider for an upgrade are referenced in our documentation like this one:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/dam/broadcom/techdocs/symantec-security-software/endpoint-security-and-management/it-management-suite/generated-pdfs/ITMS_8_5_Install_Upgrade_Guide.pdf

or under the 8.5 RU4 Upgrade info:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/symantec-security-software/endpoint-security-and-management/it-management-suite/ITMS/Release-Notes/Symantec-IT-Management-Suite-85-RU4-Release-Notes/general-installation-and-upgrade-information-v132965439-d846e90792.html

The most important thing to consider is to review whether your current OS version on your SMP Server is still supported. You can review our Support Matrix here:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/symantec-security-software/endpoint-security-and-management/it-management-suite/ITMS/Platform-and-OS-Support.html

2. Review the ITMS 8.5 RU4 Release Notes so you can be aware of any known issues as well as other changes added on that release:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/symantec-security-software/endpoint-security-and-management/it-management-suite/ITMS/Release-Notes/Symantec-IT-Management-Suite-85-RU4-Release-Notes.html

3. One important thing to consider to do on any upgrade is to have a recent KMS encryption keys backup. See the following KB on how to do this:

174996 "Backing up and restoring Notification Server KMS encryption keys"

4. After you upgrade to 8.5 RU4, take into consideration other pointfixes available for that release:

198337 "CUMULATIVE POST ITMS 8.5 RU4 POINT FIXES"

5. After you are done upgrading the usual next step is to enable the Symantec Management Agent and Solutions plugins upgrade policies. Most customers enable the Symantec Management Agent upgrade policy first, then they upgrade their Site Servers for the package and task services:

• Upgrade Symantec Management Agent on Site Server computers using default SMA upgrade policies.
• Upgrade Symantec Management Agent on Non-Site Server computers using default SMA upgrade policies.
• In order to update client machines and Package Server agent machines with the updated Agent’s package, use the upgrade policy for Package Server (“Windows Package Server Agent Upgrade” under Settings>Notification Server>Site Server Settings>Package Service>Advanced>Windows)
• In order to update client machines and Task Server agent machines with the updated Agent’s package, use the upgrade policy for Task Server (“Task Service Upgrade (x64)” under Settings>Notification Server>Site Server Settings>Task Service>Advanced)

 

Additional Information

If you need to upgrade from an earlier version (ITMS 7.6, 8.0 or 8.1), see:

172709 "What are the steps for Migrating an 8.x Notification Server to an 8.5"
175049 "Upgrading / Migrating to 8.5"