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SBM 10.1.5.3 Readme

New Installations of Serena Release Control

If this is a new installation, download Serena Business Manager version 10.1.5.x from http://www.serena.com/support and then follow the instructions in the SBM Installation and Configuration Guide to install and configure Serena Business Manager. After you have verified that Serena Business Manager is installed successfully, download Serena Release Control version 6.0.1 from http://www.serena.com/support and follow the installation and configuration instructions in the Serena Release Control Installation and Setup Guide.

Installer Components

The installer delivers these components:

• Solution Files – You import the Serena Release Control 6.0.1 solution file in Application Repository. The Release Control solution file contains the following process apps:
  • RLC - Approvals
  • RLC - Environment
  • RLC - Manual Deployment Task
  • RLC - Release Data
  • RLC - Release Package
  • RLC - Release Train
  • RLC - Sample Request
  • RLC - Task Templates
• Framework Files – The framework files augment your underlying SBM installation and enable certain features in the Release Control process apps. The framework files include new templates, images, and code.

Supported Configurations

Detailed information about supported platforms and software configuration is available in the Supported Platform Matrix. (In the row for this release, click the link in the Platform Matrix column.)

• SBM Support:

  Serena Release Control 6.0.1 is not supported for SBM version 11.x; it is supported only on SBM versions 10.1.5.x.

• SBM Interfaces

  Serena Work Center is required for Release Control.

• Web Browsers

  Internet Explorer 8, 9, and 10 are not supported for Release Control.

  Compatibility mode must be deselected in all versions of Internet Explorer.

Third-party Tools

For more information regarding third-party software copyrights and license information, refer to the files under "Downloads" or "News" at http://www.serena.com/support.

Enhancements and New Features

The following enhancements and new features are included in this release.

• Custom columns for requests and deployment units
  • For request and deployment unit widgets, you can now store any custom data provided by the providers and configure columns to display in the widgets.
  • Choose from a number of built-in general and provider-specific fields to add to your widget columns.
• Quick views of associated parent and child information

  You can click an eye icon in lists to get a quick view of associated parent or child release packages in a pop up.

• Reload options for synchronizing data from providers into Release Control

  You can now synchronize an API to the system so that data can be refreshed from its source. Transitions Reload Deployment Unit Data and Reload Request Data are implemented in the default Release Package process app on the Deployment Units and Requests tabs, respectively.

• Increased visibility into what is deployed where

  You can now click a link on deployment path executions to show all the deployment units deployed as part of that execution.

• Easier association of release packages to release trains

  You can now associate release packages to a release train from within the release train.

• Improved performance

  Server and user interface interactions have improved performance and response time.

• CA Nolio provider plugin

  You can now execute CA Nolio processes as part of your Release Control deployment tasks.

• Improved communication with the SDA plugin

  Taking advantage of updated messages returned from Serena Deployment Automation 6.1.1, Release Control can now automatically detect rejected and cancelled processes and show the proper status in Release Control.

• Date/time information is now shown in the time zone defined in SBM

  For consistency and easier comparison, the date/time information from plugins is now shown in the time zone and format defined in SBM. If any integrating products' servers are at a different locale, the date/time is calculated as needed. For integrating products that do not return their time zones by default, you can specify the time zone in the plugin configuration. For example, for the ChangeMan ZMF and Dimensions CM plugins, you can specify the time zone of the server using the Server Time Zone Name property. If this is not set, Release Control assumes the time zones are the same for the integrating product and SBM.

Defect Fixes

Several defects were fixed in this release. For the full list refer to the Knowledge Base.

More Information

To learn more about Serena Release Control, visit these areas:

• Serena Documentation Center
• Product Overview
• Community

About Upgrades

The upgrade process consists of two phases: the installation upgrade and the solutions upgrade.

• In the installation upgrade phase, you run the Release Control installer and configure your installation using SBM Configurator. This installs the newest versions of the framework files, and configures your installation to use the new files.
• In the solution upgrade phase, you import the new solution file and decide if you will preserve or overwrite any modifications that you have made to the process apps.

Pre-Upgrade Steps

Before you begin the upgrade process:

1. Backup your existing database before you run the Release Control installer.
2. If you want to preserve any changes you have made in your process apps, use the Compare feature in SBM Composer to create a comparison report. (If you do not want to preserve your changes, or if you did not customize the apps, skip this step). You will use this report to help you merge your modifications into the new apps. For details on using the Compare feature, see the "Comparing and Merging Process Apps" topic in the SBM Composer Guide.
3. Create a backup of the installation directory structure for SBM on your SBM Application Engine machines.
4. Download the latest version of Release Control from the Downloads Release Control page on support.serena.com.

Installation Upgrade

The instructions in this Readme are for upgrading your installation from version 6.0 to 6.0.1.

Upgrading from an Earlier Version

If you are upgrading from Release Control version 5.1.1, refer to Serena Knowledgebase item S141325 for instructions to upgrade to version 6.0, and then upgrade to version 6.0.1 using the instructions here. If you are upgrading from a version earlier than 5.1.1, please contact Serena Support.

Upgrading from Version 6.0

To upgrade your Release Control framework from version 6.0 to 6.0.1:

1. Run the Release Control installer on the server or servers that host the following SBM components:
   • SBM Application Engine
   • SBM Application Repository
   • SBM Common Services
   Note: If these SBM components are installed separately, you must run the installer on each server.
   The "Welcome to the Install Wizard" message appears. Click Next to continue.
2. The installer detects which SBM components are currently installed on the server. A message appears if any of the required SBM components are not detected on the server. Click Install to install Release Control.
3. Allow the installation to complete. Once the installation is finished, click Configure to launch SBM Configurator. Click Apply to finish the installation and configuration process. When you click Apply, SBM Configurator updates various configuration files on the server and prepares the system for use.

   Tip: When you click Apply in SBM Configurator, the JBoss service should start and upgrade the Release Control tables in the database. The upgrade process temporarily locks these tables, and then releases the lock when the upgrade is complete. Refer to solution S140225 for more information about database locking.
4. Once the Apply process is finished, close SBM Configurator to force it to start all necessary services.
5. Log in to Work Center using the following URL:

   http://serverName/workcenter

   Important: Launching Work Center immediately after clicking Apply in SBM Configurator is an important part of the upgrade process. This enables SBM Application Engine to import the new framework files.

Earlier versions of Release Control solution files are deleted and in SBM Application Repository, the Installed Solutions section shows only the latest version.

You have now upgraded the framework files and completed the installation upgrade phase. To upgrade your process apps to the latest versions, you must continue with Solution Upgrade.

Solution Upgrade

After you have finished the installation upgrade phase, launch SBM Application Repository, and then import the Release Control 6.0.1 solution file. The snapshots and process apps are available for deployment or promotion after the import is finished.

If you want to upgrade your process apps, continue with this section. If you do not want to upgrade your process apps, and prefer to continue working with an earlier version that you have customized, continue to Upgrading Without Promoting New Process Apps.

To upgrade your process apps:

For each process app, choose one of the following options:

• Compare, merge, and deploy the process apps

  If there are custom modifications that you made to the process apps that you want to preserve, review the comparison report that you generated as part of the pre-upgrade process. Use SBM Composer to compare and merge your changes into the new process apps, and then deploy them.

  Note: If you choose not to promote the snapshots, your solution will not have the new report, Link Release Packages to Train, and auxiliary data, such as the custom column example entries in the RLC Custom Columns table.
• Promote the process app snapshots
  1. In SBM Application Repository , Promote the new versions of the snapshots in any order without comparing and merging, which will overwrite your modifications (if any). Promoting the snapshots places the latest contents of the solution, including all reports, notifications, process apps, and auxiliary table data, onto your SBM Server.
     Important: When promoting, select the Merge conflicts check box to preserve changes that you made to the existing application. For example, if you want to keep the user roles that you added to an application, select the Merge conflicts check box to preserve them in the target environment after the promotion. If Merge conflicts is not selected, the existing entities will be deleted in the target environment.

  2. After ensuring the Release Package promotion has successfully completed, generate the deployment information solution views as follows:

     1. Open a command prompt.
     2. Navigate to the following SBM folder:

        \Application Engine\bin

        For example, here are the commands to navigate to the default location:

        cd\

        cd Program Files\Serena\SBM\Application Engine\bin

     3. Execute the following command:

        ttadmin.exe /GenerateViews

  3. Promote all of the process app snapshots again. This resolves references to the generated tables and resolves changes in Groovy scripts associated with the process apps.

     The solution view introduced in this release now appears in the Release Package process app as the following table:

     • RLC DU Execution Log
  4. In Application Administrator, give privileges for the new RLC DU Execution Log table. For more information, refer to "Creating Groups and Assigning Roles and Privileges" in the online Help or Serena Release Control Installation and Setup Guide.
  5. To take advantage of the custom column table entries for existing release packages, you must update the release packages and select custom column entries in the Options section of the form. For details on using mass update to do this, refer to solution S141700.

Once you successfully deploy the merged process apps or promote the new process app snapshots, the upgrade is finished and the system is ready for use.

Upgrading Without Promoting New Process Apps

If you decide to upgrade without promoting the new process apps, or only want to promote some of them, you will still need to run the installation to upgrade the framework. After that you need to do some additional steps to ensure the earlier versions of the process apps work with the upgraded framework. You will benefit from performance improvements and any framework issues that were fixed, but you will not have access to new functionality offered in the new versions of the process apps, such as custom columns.

Following are the additional steps you must complete:

• Manual Deployment Task process app: If you are using the sample Manual Deployment Task process app and decide to not upgrade to the new version of the process app, you must import the latest WSDL version of the RLCTaskExecutionEndpoint service to avoid errors when creating deployment tasks that transition or submit SBM items. For more information, refer to solution S141590.
• Release Control Forms:
  • State and transition forms for all applications have toolbars that extend far past the page.
  • Release package buttons are hidden on the validation transition form.
  • Release package drop-down options are overlaid by the widget forms.

  For information on how to fix the display issues, refer to solution S141610.

• Custom columns: This new feature will not be available if you upgrade without promoting the version 6.0.1 process snapshots. This feature is optional, but if you want to implement it, refer to solution S141618.

Plugin Upgrades

Updated plugins were made available in August and November of 2016. One of the available Release Control patches must be applied before using these plugins. For details, refer to the Release Control Plugins Readme on the Documentation Center.

Installed Plugins

For plugins that are installed by the Release Control 6.0.1 installer:

• Previous versions of the jar files are automatically removed and replaced with the 6.0.1.0 versions. This includes the SBM, SDA, and Dimensions CM plugins.
• In the Release Control Providers administrator page, the plugin and its configuration will automatically use the upgraded jar files.
• In Release Control, if you have existing requests or deployment units for the upgraded plugins, click Reload Request Data or Reload Deployment Unit Data respectively to pick up the changes.

Additional Plugins

To upgrade additional plugins, such as the ChangeMan ZMF plugin, do the following:

1. Download the latest version of the plugin you want to upgrade from the Downloads Release Control page on support.serena.com.
2. Navigate to the default\deploy\rlc.war\WEB-INF\lib directory. For example:

   ..\Serena\SBM\Common\jboss405\server\default\deploy\rlc.war\WEB-INF\lib

3. Delete the earlier version of the plugin jar files from this directory. For example:

   rlc-client-zmf-6.0.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

   and

   rlc-provider-zmf-6.0.0.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

4. Copy the plugin jar files for the 6.0.1 version of plugin to that directory. For example:

   rlc-client-zmf-6.0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

   and

   rlc-provider-zmf-6.0.1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

5. In SBM Configurator, select the Manager Services tab and restart JBoss.

   In the Release Control Providers administrator page, if you have already added the plugin, the plugin and its configuration will automatically use the upgraded jar files.

6. In Release Control, if you have existing requests or deployment units for the upgraded plugins, click Reload Request Data or Reload Deployment Unit Data respectively to pick up the changes.

For details on adding plugins and plugin configurations, refer to the documentation for your plugin on the Documentation Center.

Related Upgrades

You may need to upgrade SBM before upgrading to this version of Release Control.

• For versions of SBM that support this version, refer to Supported Configurations.
• For upgrade information for SBM, see the SBM documentation on Documentation Center.

Troubleshooting Upgrades

After upgrading, you may encounter one of the following issues:

• The task template is created without a task collection. The following error occurs:

  "The task collection for this item was not created correctly. Please contact your administrator."

• Manual deployment tasks remain in the Pending state.

The workaround for both of these is to promote all the process app snapshots again.