David is correct that admin mode can be problematic when dealing with clustered environments. Sometimes it's simply delayed (due to a long running cron task or report for example). Other times it may never go into admin mode without a restart. Specifically, I found that a JVM reloading a cache while admin mode is pending will prevent it from ever entering admin mode. This could be via a cron task that reloads cache (such as bulletin board) or a user on that JVM making a change (screen change, automation script change, etc.) that updates caches. A few weeks ago I had tested a fix to this issue for 7.6.1.2 which seemed to work perfectly. Since then I've switched jobs so I'm not sure on exact ETA.
The IBM recommended approach, however, is to shut down all JVMs but one to do the configuration and then start them back up. In newer versions there is automation in place to do this automatically. Specifically, if the system property mxe.adminmode.stopstartclusters is set to 1 and the necessary credentials are provided for WebSphere in the WAS.AdminPassword and WAS.AdminUserName system properties (assuming you password protect WebSphere, which you should) then Maximo should automatically try to stop and start the other JVMs for you.
The challenge with this approach is you need to ensure you have proper downtime recorded for your monitoring systems. If your admins in Maximo can do admin mode but can't schedule downtime in the monitoring system, it's something you need to ensure you have coordinated. And your admins need to be able to verify the health of each JVM after the maintenance which isn't always possible. For example, you need to hit server1:9080, server2:9080, etc. and verify everything started up correctly.
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Steven Shull
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Original Message:
Sent: Fri July 23, 2021 06:26 PM
From: User1971
Subject: Apply database configuration changes to a clustered environment
For a clustered Maximo environment:
What method do you recommend for applying database configuration changes? Example: add a custom field to the WORKORDER table.
A. Use admin mode and Apply Configuration Changes action in Database Configuration?
B. Use dbconfig command?
C. Shut down all but one JVM then run Apply Configuration Changes?
D. Other?
Thanks.
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