Automatic Upgrade

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The procedure on this page describes the steps involved in running or scheduling an automatic upgrade for the supported clients and/or MediaAgents in your CommCell environment. Doing this can expedite and facilitate the upgrade process for your CommCell. You can schedule the upgrade of all the supported clients or even just a select few at various times without having to run the upgrades individually. You can run the upgrades immediately and/or schedule them for more convenient times to suit your requirements.

For a more details regarding those clients or MediaAgents that are supported for automatic upgrade operations, see Upgrade - Support.

Verify that the computer(s) in which you wish to upgrade the software satisfies the minimum requirements specified in System Requirements.

  • During automatic upgrade, the CommCell Console will be upgraded on clients where it was previously installed.
  • Automatic upgrade can also be run or scheduled using the Command Line Interface. For more information, see automaticupdate.

Supported Upgrade Paths

The following table provides a list of supported upgrade paths for the current software version. If the version currently installed on your computer is not listed here, contact your software provider for more information.

Installed Version

Upgrade to Version 8.0.0

Information
     
6.1.0 Supported Perform a direct upgrade to Version 8.0.0.
     
7.0.0 Supported Perform a direct upgrade to Version 8.0.0.

Upgrade Requirements
Review the following before configuring the automatic upgrade feature:

General

  • Verify that no jobs are in progress or scheduled to occur while the software is being upgraded on the client. If jobs are scheduled, either perform the upgrade at another time or disable all jobs in the client using the Activity Control tab from the Client Computer Properties dialog box in the CommCell Console.

    Once the upgrade is completed, you can enable the jobs from this dialog box.

  • Verify that the CommServe computer is accessible and all services on the CommServe and the MediaAgent in which you wish to perform the upgrade are running.
  • Verify that the SQL Server instance used by the CommServe is running on the CommServe computer.
  • Close all applications and disable any programs that run automatically, including antivirus, screen savers and system utilities. Some programs, including antivirus software, may be running as a service. Stop and disable all non-essential services before you begin. You can re-enable them after the upgrade.
  • The files and folders associated with CommCell components should not be opened by other applications (for example, Windows Explorer, FTP, etc.) on this computer or from other computers during the upgrade.
  • You will need the following to complete the configuration for Automatic Upgrade.

    Minimum Requirement for 8.0 CommServe:

    Service Pack 1, Update #11349

    Minimum Requirement for 6.1.0 Clients:

    Service Pack 4, Update #1232

    Minimum Requirement for 7.0.0 Clients:

    Windows Clients: Service Pack 5

    Unix Clients: Service Pack 5, Update #1344

    Be sure to install the update(s) applicable to your clients' platform environment.

Before You Begin
  • Review the Upgrade Requirements and Considerations specific to the components that will be upgraded using this procedure. (See Upgrades for a list of all Upgrade procedures.)
  • Users must have Administrative Management Capabilities or be a member of a user group with Administrative Management Capabilities to configure automatic upgrade operations. For more information, see User Administration and Security. 

Upgrade Procedure

Upgrade the CommServe
1. Upgrade the CommServe computer to the current software version. For more information, see Upgrade the CommServe.
2. Apply the latest updates and service packs to the CommServe computer.

Minimum Requirement for 8.0 CommServe:

Service Pack 1, Update #11349

 For more information, see Updates and Service packs.

Update the Clients
3. Apply the latest updates to the client computers you wish to upgrade. Verify that the the clients meet the CommServe Cache baseline. This will ensure that the clients have the latest updates required for upgrade.

Minimum Requirement for 6.1.0 Clients:

Service Pack 4, Update #1232

Minimum Requirement for 7.0.0 Clients:

Windows Clients: Service Pack 5

Unix Clients: Service Pack 5, Update #1344

NOTES

If a specific update has been obsoleted by another update, be sure to install the newer update.

 For more information, see Baseline.
4. Copy the contents of the latest software installation disc (containing the upgrade packages for your clients) to the CommServe cache directory using the CopyToCache utility.

It is recommended that you use the CopyToCache utility for this step because it reduces the risk of incorrectly populating the CommServe Cache directory. However, if it is necessary to manually copy the upgrade packages to the CommServe Cache directory, following the Manual Copy Method procedure below.

CopyToCache Utility Method

  1. Initiate Windows Explorer on your CommServe computer, and run the following program: <software_install_directory>/Base/CopyToCache.exe.
  2. Enter or use the Browse button to navigate to any directory within the DVD-Rom to be copied to the CommServe Cache directory in the Update Location field box. All files needed for automatic upgrade will be copied to the CommServe Cache directory. Note the the current CommServe Cache directory location is displayed in the Cache Location field.
  3. Select the Copy Packages option.
  4. Click Copy to begin the copying process.

Manual Copy Method

  1. Create the following folder structure on the CommServe computer cache directory where the upgrade packages will reside. ISO files cannot be copied to the cache directory; it must be the expanded DVD-Rom.

    2. Windows: \CVPackages\8.0.0\Windows\

    Unix: \CVPackages\8.0.0\Unix\

  2. Copy the contents of the source DVD-Rom to the CommServe cache directory accordingly, i.e., copy the Windows platform DVD-Rom to the Windows directory structure and the root of the  Unix platform DVD-Rom to the Unix directory structure. After copying the DVD-Rom(s), the CommServe cache directory should resemble the following:

    Windows:

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Windows\INTEL32

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Windows\INTEL64

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Windows\AMD64

    Plus any other folders or files present in the root of the DVD-Rom.

    Unix:

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Unix\aix5.2

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Unix\aix5.3

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Unix\aix6.1

    \CVPackages\8.0.0\Unix\darwin

    Plus any other folders or files present in the root of the DVD-Rom.

NOTES

If you incorrectly populate the CommServe cache directory, the automatic upgrade operations will fail generating an error indicating that the cache directory structure is incorrect.

 The location of the CommServe Cache directory is visible in the Automatic Updates Configuration (CommServe Update Cache) window, which can be accessed from the CommCell Console's Control Panel.  

 

 

Run or Schedule Automatic Upgrade
5. From the CommServe computer's CommCell Console, right-click on the CommServe node, and select the Install Updates option. The Install Updates Job Options dialog will display. You can also right-click on a specific client/MediaAgent to access the Install Updates Job Options.
6. Select Upgrade Clients as the Type of Operation.  
7. Select the client(s) to be upgraded using the Available/Selected Clients windowpanes, or select the All clients on CommServe option to automatically upgrade all supported clients within the CommCell.

NOTES

Clients can be selected for upgrade regardless of version numbers, e.g., 6.1.0 and 7.0.0 clients can selected for automatic upgrade simultaneously.

 This step is skipped if you accessed the Install Updates Job Options dialog from a particular client/MediaAgent.
8. Check the Reboot Computers if Required option if you are upgrading clients/agents with driver-based platforms to ensure successful completion of the upgrade operations.

Driver-based platforms include, but are not limited to:

  • File Share Archiver
  • File Archiver for Windows
  • Quick Recovery
  • Image Level ProxyHost
  • ContinuousDataReplicator
  • Recovery Director
If upgrading a particular client/MediaAgent requires a Reboot, and this option is not selected, the upgrade for that client will be skipped. The job details for that client will indicate that the reboot was skipped, see View the Details of a Job. Run automatic upgrade again with this option checked.
9. Click Schedule to schedule the upgrade operation or click OK to run the job immediately. For more information, see Create a Job Schedule.

Verify Upgrade Completed Successfully
10. Right-click on the Automatic Upgrade job (listed as Install Updates) displayed in the Job Controller window, and select Details. For more information, see View the Details of a Job.
11. Select the Progress tab to verify the Completed status of the upgrade operations for the selected clients in your CommCell environment.  If a client's status is listed as Failed, the Reason for Job Delay field and/or Event Viewer will display the reason for failure. If the reason for failure is one of the following, automatic upgrade can be rescheduled after resolving the error.
  • cache directory is corrupt
  • network failure
  • reboot option was not selected
  • client does not have the required updates
  • job is pending

All other failures indicate that the upgrade must be manually completed via the client.

For more information, see Automatic Upgrade on a client fails.
12. Click OK to close the Install Updates Job Details dialog box.  

Check Client Connectivity
13. Check the client connectivity once you have verified the upgrade has completed successfully. The client may not be accessible immediately after an upgrade has completed if it is in the process of rebooting. To check if a client is ready, see Check Client Connectivity. A client may be inaccessible for up to 30 minutes after an upgrade.

Post-Upgrade Considerations

All Agents

Review the Post-Upgrade Considerations specific to the components that were upgraded using this procedure. (See Upgrades for a list of all Upgrade procedures.)

General

  • Install post-release updates or Service Packs that may have been released after the release of the software. If you are installing a Service Pack, verify and ensure that it is the same version as the one installed in the CommServe Server. Alternatively, you can enable Automatic Updates for quick and easy installation of updates in the CommCell component.
  • If Activity Control was disabled on the client prior to the upgrade, enable it after the upgrade using the Activity Control tab from the Client Computer Properties dialog box in the CommCell Console.
  • Automatic Upgrade transfers the upgrade packages to the selected client computer(s) to run upgrade operations; they are stored locally on the client computer(s). After successful upgrade, these upgrade packages are automatically deleted from the client computer(s) in the following manner:
    • UNIX - upgrade packages are deleted 24 hours after the upgrade operations have completed.
    • Windows - upgrade packages are deleted the first time services are recycled after 24 hours has elapsed since upgrade operations have completed.

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