The source of the behavior was tracked down to a file permission problem: the tools was immediately attempting to update the log file 'rtmbrowser' in C:\Program Files\Serena\ Dimensions 11.2.2\RM\logs. Establishing permissions to read/write to the folder resolved the behavior.
SRA 5.0 is the first product to be released with Tomcat 7, the safest upgrade strategy, the installer deactivates the CM (or RM) system without attempting a migration. Copying the war files from the 6.0 webapps to the 7.0 and restarting tomcat re-enabled the CM Java Web client and Adminconsole components
Copy the security.dat file into a safe place for reuse, this file is located under RM – in the RM install directory, for example: C:\Program Files (x86)\Serena\ Dimensions 12.3.1\RM