The information below pertains to upgrading to FootPrints 11.6 ( or an 11.6 Service Pack - 11.6.0x) from one of the following:

• Prior versions of FootPrints, version 11.5.1 or earlier.
• From FootPrints 11.6 (i.e. re-running the upgrade or upgrading to a more current service pack for 11.6).

This information does not pertain to new installations of FootPrints 11.6.

The upgrade to FootPrints 11.6 causes the history table in each workspace to be re-formatted in order to enhance performance for issues with a large number of links. This portion of the upgrade process is expected to consume a larger amount of server resources and time to complete the upgrade compared to upgrades to prior versions of FootPrints Service Core. Therefore, it is highly recommended that the necessary amount of planning is done to ensure enough time is allotted to upgrading to version 11.6 in order to ensure a successful upgrade occurs. For larger organizations with more than 100000 issues, it may be necessary for the upgrade to occur over a weekend when users are not accessing the system.

IMPORTANT! Before beginning the upgrade, a FULL backup of the Footprints database should be performed, in case issues occur during the upgrade. The information below contains general and technical information regarding the process of re-formatting the history table for the upgrade.

In the items and instructions below, C:\FootPrintsServiceCore refers to the "base" install location of FootPrints Service Core. By default, this would be C:\FootPrintsServiceCore on a Windows server and /usr/local/footprintsservicecore on a Unix or Linux server. Please adjust the path accordingly for the actual "base" install location of FootPrints Service Core in your environment.

1. FootPrints 11.6 upgrade files that were downloaded from the Numara Support website between June 10-13, 2013 should NOT be used to upgrade FootPrints. Please download the current upgrade file from the Product Downloads section at https://www.bmc.com/support/support-central.html
2. The amount of time needed for the upgrade is dependent on the number of issues in each workspace and the amount of rows in each workspace's MASTERx_HISTORY table (where "x" after MASTER represents a workspace number) in the database where FootPrints data is stored.
3. When upgrading a version of FootPrints which uses a MySQL database, a warning will be presented about the upgrade taking longer than normal.
4. MySQL upgrades will convert the MASTERx_HISTORY tables to use the InnoDB database engine rather than the MyISAM database engine. New workspaces created after the upgrade will automatically create this table as InnoDB.
5. The change of the database engine for the MASTERx_HISTORY tables to use the InnoDB database engine will increase the size of the database. Therefore, please ensure enough disk space exists on the database server to allow for this increase in size. At a minimum, 500mb or more of unused disk space should be available. More information about the conversion of MySQL tables from the MyISAM engine to the InnoDB engine can be found at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/converting-tables-to-innodb.html
6. Logging for the re-formatting of the history tables will be written to the C:\FootPrintsServiceCore\etc\log\files\FixIssueLinkHistory_log.txt (/usr/local/footprintsservicecore/etc/logfiles/FixIssueLinkHistory_log.txt on Linux). New log files will be created for each separate run of the script to avoid the files getting too large. The files are for informational purposes, but cannot be used to recreate data. For that reason, a proper database backup should be performed prior to the upgrade.
7. As the script that performs the re-formatting of the History table may need to run after the upgrade, the behavior of the script running in the background can be controlled in order to allow other scheduled tasks (such as mail processing and auto-run reports, etc) to run without long delay.
8. The behavior can be modified through the use (or non-use) of MRlocalDefs variables which would need to be set BEFORE beginning the upgrade. The "scenarios" that can be created by the use of the variables is described below:
   1. No variables defined (no peak hours defined): The upgrade occurs and regular updates to the History tables occur in the background in five-minute increments until the update of the history tables is completed. Other automated tasks run between the 5 minute increments.
   2. "Peak time" defined - updates occur on requested issues: The upgrade occurs. "Peak" hours are defined by use of the MRlocalDefs variable below. During the "peak" time, no updates to the History table occur unless a user requests to display the details of an issue. Updates to the History tables occur in 5 minute increments outside the "peak" hours. It may be desirable to define "peak" time hours as the hours where the usage on the system is greatest (user access, escalations run, mail is received and sent out, etc). The variable used to set the "peak" hours is:
      @FP::MRLD_DISABLE_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_DURING_PEAK_HOURS = (start_hour, end_hour);Example:
      @FP::MRLD_DISABLE_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_DURING_PEAK_HOURS = (8, 20);The variable above indicates to disable the running of the script that reformats the History tables during the peak hours of 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM (20:00 hours) and are in the times of the server clock of where FootPrints Service Core is installed. The start_hour and end_hour values must be one or two digit numbers and must be entered using 24 hour/military time. A 12/24 hour converter can be found here.
   3. Run to completion without stopping:

       

      This scenario may be desirable if the script to update the History tables can be run to completion without interruption (i.e. no 5 minute increments). It should be known that in this scenario, other automated tasks normally run by the scheduler may be impacted (delayed). If it is desired to use this scenario, it is suggested to stop the FootPrints Schedule and Watch Services on a Windows server or to comment out the cron job under the root account which runs the MRRunScheduledScripts.pl script on a Linux server and run the MRFixLinkHistory.pl script manually via command line. The variable used to implement this scenario is:
      $FP::MRLD_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_RUN_TO_COMPLETION = 1;
   4. COMBO - No updates in peak hours - continuous outside peak hours: No updates occur during peak hours, but once outside of peak hours, updates to the History tables occur will start and continue until completion. In this case, both of the variables mentioned above are used in the MRlocalDefs file:
      @FP::MRLD_DISABLE_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_DURING_PEAK_HOURS = (8, 20); $FP::MRLD_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_RUN_TO_COMPLETION = 1;
9. Instructions for modifying the MRlocalDefs file follows:
   1. Make a backup copy of the C:FootPrintsServiceCorecgiMRlocalDefs file on the Footprints Service Core server.
   2. Open the MRlocalDefs file in a text editor such as notepad or Wordpad (Windows), or vi, emacs or nano (Unix/Linux systems).
   3. Enter one or both of the following lines in the file on a separate line(s):
      @FP::MRLD_DISABLE_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_DURING_PEAK_HOURS = (start_hour, end_hour);AND/OR
      $FP::MRLD_FIX_LINK_HISTORY_RUN_TO_COMPLETION = 1;
   4. Ensure the variable line(s) entered is above the very last line of the file, which is a line that contains nothing but 1;. Also ensure the variable line(s) ends with the semicolon character as seen above.
   5. Save the MRlocalDefs file when done editing.

 

Go Back Manually running the MRFixLinkHistory.pl script Run the MRFixLinkHistory.pl script using the steps appropriate for the Operating System on which FootPrints Service Core is installed in your environment: Windows Server 2008:

1. Open a command prompt by clicking the Windows Start button and type command prompt or cmd in the Start Search box.
2. Right-click command prompt or cmd when it appears in the Programs List and choose Run as administrator. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
3. cd to the C:\FootPrintsServiceCore\cgi folder
4. Run the script using the FootPrints Service Core perl executable:
   C:\FootPrintsServiceCore\bin\per\lbin\perl MRFixLinkHistory.pl

Windows Server 2003:

1. Open a command prompt by clicking the Windows Start button and select All Programs | Accessories.
2. Right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as... and choose Administrator (if you are currently logged in as Administrator, uncheck the Run this program with restricted access checkbox).
3. Press OK.
4. cd to the C:\FootPrintsService\Core\cgi folder
5. Run the script using the FootPrints Service Core perl executable:
   C:\FootPrintsServiceCore\bin\perl\bin\perl MRFixLinkHistory.pl

Unix/Linux:

1. Become the root user on the server.
2. Open a shell window.
3. cd to the /usr/local/footprintsservicecore/cgi directory.
4. Run the script using the FootPrints Service Core perl executable:
   /usr/footprints_perl/bin/perl MRFixLinkHistory.pl