Installing and Configuring Change Assistant

This chapter provides an overview of Change Assistant and discusses how to:

Install Change Assistant.
Configure general, email, and web options for Change Assistant.

Understanding Change Assistant

Change Assistant is a standalone application that enables you to assemble and organize the steps necessary to apply patches and fixes for maintenance updates.

In order to perform reliable and accurate updates, Change Assistant gathers all the necessary information including the change log from the Environment Management hub and uploads it to PeopleSoft Customer Connection. With the environment data available, PeopleSoft Customer Connection can determine what updates apply to your environment.

When you access PeopleSoft Customer Connection, you can obtain a list of all unapplied updates for a given application environment including all prerequisites. You can then download a set of change packages associated with the update IDs and install the patches and fixes with minimal effort.

Installing Change Assistant

To install Change Assistant:

Note. A Windows-based operating system (such as Windows 2000 or XP) is required to use Change Assistant.

From the PS_HOME/Setup/psca directory, run Setup.exe.
On the Welcome screen, select Next.

The Change Assistant screen appears.
Accept the default Destination Folder or specify another Destination Folder.
Select Next.

The Start Copying Files screen appears.
Click Back to review or change any settings.

If you are satisfied with your settings, click Next to begin copying files. Change Assistant copies files to the designated directory.
Click Finish to complete the installation process.

Setting the Variable Path

After installing Change Assistant, you need to set the path.

Select Start, Settings, Control Panel.
Double-click the System icon.

The System Properties screen appears.
Select the Advanced tab.
Click Environment Variables.
Select the Path variable in the System Variables section, then click the Edit button.

The Edit System Variables screen appears.
Insert the following, in the Variable Value field, to the beginning of the path:
```
C:\PS_HOME\bin\client\winx86;
```
where PS_HOME is the name of the PeopleTools folder.
Click OK to save your settings.

Scanning the Workstation

The first time you use Change Assistant, it automatically scans your workstation for applications that it will use in order to automate the steps. For example, it automatically finds the SQL Query tool and uses it to run SQL commands or scripts.

If you add a new application or update an existing application, Change Assistant must perform a scan of the system in order to discover the changes. To perform this scan, select Tools, Scan Configuration.

Specifying Change Assistant Options

This section describes options to set in Change Assistant. Select Tools, Options, Change Assistant.

Change Assistant Mode	Apply Application Update Perform PeopleTools Only Upgrade Create or Modify Templates
Download Directory	Enter the full path of the location to which you want to download your change packages.
*PS_HOME	Enter the full path in which you installed PeopleTools.
*Staging Directory	Enter the directory in which you would like to stage all the Change Assistant update files. This is the location that Change Assistant will store files to be used during the apply update process.
*Output Directory	Enter the directory in which you want the log files generated by the update process to reside.

Setting Email Options

Select Tools, Options, Email.

Send Email Notifications	Select this check box to receive email notifications if there are errors in the update process. Change Assistant also sends you a completion message when it encounters a Stop in the update process.
SMTP Server	Enter the SMTP mail server from which you receive the error or completion messages.
Port	Enter the port from which you want to access the email.
Send To	Enter the address to which you want the email sent.
Return Address	Enter the email address of the sender. Use this to identify who sent the notification.
Test	Validates that email is sent to the designated recipients and is working correctly.

Setting Up Web Services Options

Select Tools, Options, Web Services.

Host

(Optional) Enter the name of the proxy server if you want to run Change Assistant behind the firewall using a proxy server.

Port

(Optional) Enter the port number for the proxy server.

Anonymous Proxy

Indicates that you are using a proxy server that does not require authenticated connections.

Microsoft Proxy Server

Indicates that you are using a proxy server with Windows NT authentication.

Windows Domain

The domain to which you belong.

Other Proxy Servers

Indicates you are using non-Microsoft proxy servers.

Setting Environment Management Options

Select Tools, Options, Environment Management.

Server Hostname	The hostname of the server in which the Environment Management components reside.
Server Port	Indicates the port in which to connect to the Environment Management hub.
	Click to verify a valid server URL. If you see “Service is off” to the right of this button, then you must correct the server URL and ping again until you see “Service is on.”
Chunk Size	Used for deploying files during a software update. Default is 1024 * 1024 bytes. Typically this does not need to be changed unless there are a significant number of files greater that 1024KB in a software update.
Ping Interval	Ping interval is in milliseconds for Change Assistant to contact the hub for new messages.
Drives to Crawl	Setting of drives to crawl to identify the configuration of the Change Assistant machine. Windows directories need to use the forward slash (/) character. Include your local drive in this setting so that Change Assistant can locate the SQL Query tool used for automating steps. Also include the path of the SQL Query tool.

Exporting Jobs to XML, HTML, or Microsoft Excel Format

Change Assistant allows users to export jobs to XML, HTML, or Microsoft Excel file formats. Do this by selecting File, Export Job in Change Assistant. Then, enter the desired exported filename and the select the desired file type format.

Validating Change Assistant Settings

After you have set up and configured Change Assistant and the Environment Management components, you should validate your Change Assistant and environment settings.

Change Assistant validates settings by:

Locating valid SQL query tools required to run SQL scripts.
Testing the Environment Management hub and ensuring that Change Assistant can communicate with it.
Testing Customer Connection and ensuring that Change Assistant can communicate with it.

You can also print a summary of your environment, which can facilitates the diagnosis of problems by PeopleSoft Global Support.

To validate your environment, select Tools, Options, Validate. Click Start Validation.

The validation processing of the example runs in this order:

When the validation process has completed, a completion message appears.

If any of the steps were unable to complete successfully, open the log file to determine the cause.

Note. If you use proxy servers, the system will ping those and prompt for proxy server user ID and password. In this case, the validation step numbers would be different from the example.

Viewing The Log File

Click View Log in the lower part of the screen.

Host	(Optional) Enter the name of the proxy server if you want to run Change Assistant behind the firewall using a proxy server.
Port	(Optional) Enter the port number for the proxy server.
Anonymous Proxy	Indicates that you are using a proxy server that does not require authenticated connections.
Microsoft Proxy Server	Indicates that you are using a proxy server with Windows NT authentication.
Windows Domain	The domain to which you belong.
Other Proxy Servers	Indicates you are using non-Microsoft proxy servers.