Upgrade guidance for IT Management Suite

Products

• IT Management Suite
• Client Management Suite

Issue/Introduction

Example Upgrade Scenario:

When considering an upgrade from ITMS 8.7.2 Release to:

1. ITMS 8.7.3 or
2. ITMS 8.8 or 
3. ITMS 8.8.1

Environment

ITMS 8.x

Resolution

Disclaimer:
The following is provided as a general guidance. It is not intended to provide every single detail on what to consider (like if Cloud-enabled Management (CEM) is in use, custom changes in Security or file access, etc)  since each environment is different. For complex implementations, if the Upgrade knowledge/experience is minimal, you may want to consider contacting Broadcom Professional Services for assistance.

Note: Broadcom Support team doesn’t perform Upgrades for customers or join a session during the Upgrade process; However, we are more than happy to troubleshoot any upgrade failures or post-upgrade concerns. Just open a Support case to receive further assistance.

General recommendations:

1. Remember, Best Practice is testing the install/upgrade in a lab environment before doing the install/upgrade in the production environment.
2. Make a backup of the SMP server, Site servers (task and package), Gateway servers, SQL servers, and SQL databases. Consider having a most recent backup/snapshot of the SMP Server and SQL database in case of a big failure during the upgrade to rollback if needed. 
3. Make a backup of (export) SMP Certificates. Also, refer to other items considered important to backup: ITMS Disaster Recovery
4. Visit the main ITMS landing page.  This will have sections for the LATEST RELEASE of ITMS including: Release Notes, Platform OS Support, Getting Started, Administration, etc.  Become familiar with this link.
5. Check the following document to see which upgrade path to follow: ITMS 8.7.3 General Installation and Upgrade Information and ITMS 8.8 General Installation and Upgrade Information
6. Verify that the systems still meet the minimal  hardware recommendations: IT Management Planning Considerations and Recommended IT Management Suite Hardware
7. Verify that the ITMS environment is running on supported Server OSs, IIS, .NET, and SQL: ITMS Platform Support Matrix
   Note: In case that the hardware is too old or no longer supported by the ITMS version being upgrading to, refer to the following documentation for Migration to a new server:
   • Migration Scenarios and Troubleshooting
   • Migrating to a New SMP Server While Keeping the Same Hostname and IP Address
   • Migrating a Stand-Alone ITMS 8.5 RU4 Instance to the Latest ITMS Version
   • Migrating a Cloud-Enabled Management Machine to a New SMP Server
   • How to Move or Migrate Management Agents from One Notification Server to Another
   • How To Re-Import Image Files After Migrating To A New SMP Server
   • Moving an Existing CMDB from One SQL Server to a New SQL Server
   • Validating Site Servers After an OS Upgrade
   • How to Replace a Site Server with New Hardware
8. Review Release Notes for the upgraded version:
        ITMS 8.7.3 Release Notes
        ITMS 8.8 Release Notes
        ITMS 8.8.1 Release Notes
9. Be aware of current pointfixes for the upgraded version:
        For ITMS 8.7.3, refer to KB article CUMULATIVE POST ITMS 8.7.3 POINT FIXES
        For ITMS 8.8 RTM (GA), refer to to KB article CUMULATIVE POST ITMS 8.8 RTM (GA) POINT FIXES
        For ITMS 8.8.1 refer to KB article CUMULATIVE POST ITMS 8.8.1 POINT FIXES
10. During the course of the ITMS upgrade, it may be determined that a Windows Server Operating System upgrade is needed. Refer to KB article In-Place Operating System Upgrades
11. Upgrading the SMP Server is usually the first portion to work on. We use Symantec Installation Manager to conduct the initial upgrade steps in KB article Upgrading to a Higher Version of Symantec Product Using the Symantec Installation Manager
12. Review and be familiar with the following Best Practices for Upgrading to IT Management Suite and Upgrading IT Management Suite
13. After the SMP Server has been upgraded, upgrading the Site Servers is the most common next step Upgrading Site Servers
14. After the Site Servers have been upgraded, then move to the rest of the managed agents as explained in Upgrading Symantec Management Agent
15. And the corresponding Solution plug-ins information is listed in Using the Unified Windows Agent Plug-in Rollout Policy

Some other KB articles to be aware of when upgrading the Symantec Management Agent and its plug-ins are:

• Display all the Agent plug-in policies in one single place
• Report that shows what plug-ins need to be upgraded
• Reporting all installed agents and versions per managed computer
• Where can I check the agent upgrade status in the Symantec Management Console?
• Best Practice: How to remediate systems where an Agent Plugin is not upgrading on some systems

The main idea is that after the SMP Server has been upgraded first, then proceed to upgrade the Site Servers. After that, then upgrade the client machines. 

Make sure the Site Servers have a supported version of .NET.  As well, during the upgrade on the SMP Server and Site Servers / client machines, make sure the proper UAC levels are set (reduce it to avoid conflicts on getting components installed because UAC is blocking the process) as well stop any anti-virus and real-time scanners that could block MSIs, EXE or any other assemblies that needs to be upgraded and executed.