Key Considerations for SiteMinder 12.8 to 12.9 Upgrade

[MARUBUN SUPPORT]

Hi Team,

Could you please help us with some questions from our customer regarding the SiteMinder 12.9 upgrade and Java update?

The details are as follows:

Customer Question 1: According to the documentation (URL below), there is a note regarding the "Change in the Minimum Required Java Version for JDK 1.8." Since our environment meets the prerequisites, can we assume that upgrading the Java version from 8.0.302.8 to 8.0.482.8 will not cause any operational issues? Also, are there any Knowledge Base (KB) articles or release notes that describe specific improvements or fixes included in this Java upgrade?

Confirmation to Vendor: Please refer to the following KB: https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/235267/how-to-upgrade-jdk-version-for-adminui.html Is it correct to say that as long as the instructions in this KB are followed, the upgrade is supported and recommended?

Customer Question 2: Regarding the "Upgrade a Policy Server on Windows" section in the manual, it states that the Policy Server must be running during the upgrade, and the installer will stop the service automatically. However, the customer prefers to stop the Policy Server service manually beforehand, along with other related services. During their previous upgrade in 2024, they performed the task with the service already stopped. Is it problematic to run the upgrade while the Policy Server service is in a "Stopped" state?

Confirmation to Vendor: Although the customer previously succeeded by stopping the service first, should we advise them to keep the Policy Server service running as per the manual? What is the technical reason for requiring the service to be running at the start of the installation?

Customer Question 3: While there are "Post-upgrade Tasks" documented for the Access Gateway, are there similar official verification procedures or checklists for the Policy Server, Policy Store, Admin UI, and Java upgrades on those components? If we can successfully log in to the Admin UI management console after the upgrade (from 12.8 to 12.9), can we consider that all components (Policy Server, Policy Store, Admin UI, Access Gateway, and Java) are functioning correctly?

Confirmation to Vendor: Are there any recommended methods or specific log files to check to verify the health of each component and the Java environment after an upgrade?

Thanks,

[Siva Naga Koteswara Rao Vishnumolakala]

Dear @MARUBUN SUPPORT

A1) You can use Java version 8.0.482.8 for SiteMinder 12.9, Please refer the vendor specific documentation for specific improvements or fixes of Java.
Broadcom provide the Reasonable Commercial Effort for change of Java in Admin UI, Please refer the 12.9 Platform Support Matrix and also a NOTE in Resolution section in the KB#235267

A2) It is fine to stop the  Policy Server service before the upgrade from 12.8 to 12.9, We introduced the step due to the Upgrade Readiness utility in SiteMinder 12.6 which primarily checks for unsupported 32-bit binaries, missing libraries, and custom authentication schemes that might fail in the 64-bit SiteMinder environment.

A3) It is recommended to check the installation logs for each component, The following also helps.
For Policy Server, Check smps.log for successful initialization and ensure no "max connection exceeded" errors are present.
For Policy Store, Run XPSSweeper to perform integrity checks. Confirm that the store schema has been successfully upgraded to the target version 
For Admin UI: Log in to the Administrative UI and perform basic tasks, such as viewing a policy or creating a test object, to verify functionality,Verify the AdminUI server starts without errors in the Wildfly logs.
For Access Gateway: Check the server.log and Apache/Tomcat logs for successful startup and request processing.
We would recommend to test the upgrade in your lower environment before production upgrade.

Thank you.