Upgrading ISIM virtual appliance from a USB device

Install the firmware update to upgrade ISIM virtual appliance.

The IBM Security Identity Manager virtual appliance has two partitions with separate firmware on each partition. The partitions are swapped during the firmware updates to roll back the firmware updates when required. Either of the partitions can be active on ISIM virtual appliance.

In the factory-installed state, Partition 1 is active and contains the firmware version of the current released product. When you apply a firmware update, the update is installed on Partition 2 and your policies and settings are copied from Partition 1 to Partition 2.

The IBM Security Identity Manager virtual appliance restarts the system by using Partition 2, which is now the active partition.

The IBM Security Identity Manager virtual appliance version upgrade can be installed only using the command-line interface (CLI).

  1. Download the isim_*.zip package from the IBM Fix Central.

  2. Extract the isim_*.pkg build to a location of your choice.

  3. Access the command-line interface (CLI) of the virtual appliance with either an ssh session or the console.

  4. Copy the isim_*.pkg to a USB device.

  5. Attach the USB device to your virtual system.

  6. In the virtual appliance CLI, run the isim command to display the isim prompt.

  7. Choose from either of the following steps depending upon the version.
    • For upgrade from IBM Security Identity Manager virtual appliance 7.0.1 or later...
      1. At the isim prompt, run the upgrade command.
      2. Run the list command to list the firmware updates.
      3. Run the transfer command to transfer the firmware updates to the virtual system. To install a firmware upgrade, we must first transfer it to the virtual system.
      4. Run the install command.
    • For upgrade from earlier versions of IBM Security Identity Manager virtual appliance 7.0.1, complete these steps.
      1. At the isim prompt, run the firmware_update command.
      2. Run the list command to list the firmware updates.
      3. Run the transfer_firmware command to transfer the firmware updates to the virtual system. To install a firmware upgrade, we must first transfer it to the virtual system.
      4. Run the install_firmarwe command.

  8. Select the index of the firmware update to install to the virtual system and press Enter. The results are as follows:

    1. The upgrade process formats Partition 2 and installs the new firmware update on it.

    2. When you apply the firmware update, your policies and settings are copied from Partition 1 to Partition 2.

    3. On completion, the process indicates you to restart the virtual system.

  9. Type the reboot command and press Enter to restart the virtual system. Partition 2 is now the active partition.The results are as follows:
    1. After the virtual appliance restarts from the Partition 2, all the configuration that were part of Partition 1, is applied to the Partition 2.
    2. After the configuration is applied to the virtual appliance, the process indicates you to restart the virtual appliance.

  10. For the Identity data store, clear the Service Integration Bus before you restart ISIM. See Clear the service integration bus.

  11. Restart ISIM.

  12. Configure the application interface only after you upgrade the primary node and all member nodes. We must configure application interface on the primary node first and then on the member nodes. See Manage the application interfaces.

  13. Optional: Back up Partition 2 in to Partition 1 after the successful completion of the firmware upgrade. The backup process overwrites the information that is in Partition 1. Do the following actions:
    1. Check and fix any errors if the upgrade process failed.
    2. Use Partition 1 to set it as the active partition and restart it.
    Partition 1 now becomes the active partition.

Parent topic: Upgrade the virtual appliance