ISIM Upgrades
There is no official migration path between the two. ISIM 6 and 7 are functionally identical, but differ in the type of the platform used, a software stack for v6 vs. the appliance for v7.
There are no changes to the data, and most of the UI, but there are changes in how you interface with the platform. Thus most of the upgrade is about ensuring that the current ways you do feeds, adapters and custom extensions work with the appliance. Because of the identical data handling we could do a partial in-place upgrade. Here is a draft of what the upgrade procedure will look like:
Design the regression testing, monitoring and backup procedures
Dev environment:
Create v7 VMs, perform basic configuration, install workflow extensions and custom adapter profiles
Create a management vm, install customizations on the management vm and configure
Communicate and test monitoring and backup with the infrastructure team
Perform regression testing for Dev
Document
Update user-facing documentation, communicate to end-users
Are there any unique requirements for ISIM 7, or any issues unique to our environment, which may present a challenge?
The appliance prohibits installation of non-standard components onto itself, thus we need to move customizations to a remote box and make sure that the customizations play nice with the appliance. The monitoring/backup procedures are also different with the appliance.
I did review your customizations, and, good news, most customization that you have revolve around calling web-services, which are identical between v6 and v7, so I do not expect any big issues in the upgrade. The monitoring/backup requirements seem fine too, but there will be changes in how Tim and the infrastructure group will do the backup. There are small differences in how challenge-response is handled.
If we decide to upgrade to ISIM 7, could you validate our system architecture and migration implementation plans?
Absolutely. I can work with Tim on the specifics and help work through the dev upgrade. The dev upgrade will take around two-three weeks, mostly because of the regression testing.
If we decide against upgrading during our migration, would you advise on our migration implementation plan from AIX -> Linux?
Yes. The AIX to Linux move will be simpler, because you can keep customizations on the same box as ISIM, but you will have to care for the OS and OS patching, unlike the all-in-one v7 appliance. The upgrade there will still be around 2-3 weeks, again because most of the work is regression testing (e.g. the customizations may rely on AIX system paths and non-Posix OS functions, which are different in RHEL/SUSE)
ISIM Upgrade plan
Yes, the migration can be accomplished without the loss of historical data. Most of our clients opt to keep original system available (on standby) for the duration of their data retention standard. Alternatively the data can be accessed from the original database even in the case of the original TIM being retired, and reported on via a custom pull method. We'll work with you on the pros and cons of each method.
Here is a sample of steps involved in an upgrade document that we delivered to one customer
Locations and Names
Prerequisites
Pre-installed software
SDS – Security Directory Server
Deploy appliance
Test
Make sure there are no pending requests in ITIM
Set TIM Policy Enforcement to “Mark”
Switch off Mail Delivery on ITIM
Export application profiles
Export existing configuration
Stop ITIM
Save ITIM code base
Export ITIM LDAP
Export ITIM Database
Populate LDAP
Upgrade the data structures
Upgrade Customizations
Reconfigure integrations
Update mail templates
Start ISIM
Test ISIM's basic functionality
Test customizations
Test reverse password sync
Re-enable scheduled activities
External team items
Reconfigure the name resolution
Take down the ITIM maintenance notice
Backout Plan
