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Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

  • 1.  Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Apr 24, 2017 07:36 AM
    Version 12 introduces this feature, that allows you to upgrade agents directly from the Automation Engine server.

    This method has several pros :

    • You don't need to make a local copy of installation files / binaries from the newer version on each agent
    • The AE server updates the agents then restarts them, and writes an upgrade report.
    • You can bulk update agents from a single installation package.

    There are a few prerequisites and restrictions though:
    • It only works for agents > v12. You cannot use CAU to update a V11.2 agent for instance.
    • Agents can only be restarted by the AE server after the upgrade if they are linked to a Service Manager.
    • The user must have the 'Execute System Upgrade' privilege
    • CAU is only possible for these agent types:
    wmjurfeth2wq.png


    Install the Plugin Manager


    This is a separate component of the AWI that you will need to get from the Download Center. Unzip the compressed file and move the .jar to <Tomcat>\webapps\<AWI>\WEB-INF\autoinstall :

    olo6a89e808s.png

    Sign out from the AWI then reconnect to Client 0. The "Packs" view has been added to "Administration":
    m0in7c5motwc.png


    Download an update package


    Each agent has its own package. You can get it at the download center. Look for items whose name start with "PCK".

    pwa9ubr0fqpu.png

    Once you have downloaded a package, import it by pressing  loud0c2wesem.png from the "Packs" view.
    qubv0rs6nfcl.png

    Then choose the PCK location and validate:
    g3zmoxh0o5x5.png


    Update your agent(s)


    Once the PCK has finished loading, you can update the agent(s).
    Go to Administration > Agents & Groups > Agents, then right-click on the agent > Agent Upgrade.

    yci0ustbkvxl.png

    Set the target version - "latest" is set by default - then press "Upgrade":
    21qmgta63v07.png

    The update will start running:
    i1h4iyumxz2y.png

    You can get the update report @ Agents & Groups > Upgrade History:
    lks1gop4n727.png

    Best regards,
    Antoine


  • 2.  Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Apr 24, 2017 03:55 PM
    Great post Antoine_Sauteron !

    Additional info:
    1) with this you can upgrade one or more agents. If one of the agents selected to be upgraded through CAU is down, then it will be upgraded as soon as it comes up again.
    2) if the upgrade fails, the rollback restores the old binaries
    3) You can write a script to run CAU, where [agentname] can be * 
    :set &res# = MODIFY_SYSTEM (AGENT_UPGRADE, DEPLOY, [agentname],[targetversion], FORCED, [deployment title])


    More info here  https://docs.automic.com/documentation/webhelp/english/AWA/12.0/DOCU/12.0/AWA%20Guides/help.htm#AE_AWA_Source/Script/ucacsr.htm?Highlight=agent_upgrade


  • 3.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 25, 2020 08:43 AM
    Additional Info:

    Once an agent has been "tainted" with CAU, it can NOT be manually up- or downgraded anymore. You'll be stuck using CAU. If you try to manually up- or downgrade it by replacing it's binaries with a different version, the AE will automatically stop it as soon as it comes back up, overwrite it's files with the CAU version, and restart it.

    @David AinsworthI am not very keen on this, but alas it seems to be how it's designed.

    Best regards.


  • 4.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 25, 2020 08:46 AM
    Sorry David, I didn't mean to mention you here, the "mention" I previously typed and then deleted was still there and invisible when I submitted the text. One of the usual forum editor hickups ...


  • 5.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 26, 2020 06:33 AM
    OMG, @Carsten Schmitz, if this is true, then we will never start using CAU​.

    "Once an agent has been "tainted" with CAU, it can NOT be manually up- or downgraded anymore. You'll be stuck using CAU. If you try to manually up- or downgrade it by replacing it's binaries with a different version, the AE will automatically stop it as soon as it comes back up, overwrite it's files with the CAU version, and restart it."


  • 6.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 26, 2020 06:49 AM
    > if this is true

    It was confirmed as designed in this way by PM, so ... yeah. Sorry. Not loving this myself :(


  • 7.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 26, 2020 08:37 AM
    More "additional info" for future reference.

    - the "packs" screen must be used in Client 0, as Antoine already pointed out. While it does exists in Client > 0, it will not show any content there, which I find mildly confusing.

    - while the "packs" screen claims that you can only ever install one pack of each type ("agent unix"), this appears to be untrue. I was able to downgrade to a version that according to the message had been replaced by a newer one just fine. There is the cosmetic issue that a downgrade is repeatedly proclaimed to be an upgrade :)

    - it's nice that one can manage multiple versions with this! On the other hand, this also probably means that all packs will accumulate in the database, with (to me at least) no readily apparent way to ever purge old versions of packs. You know, since the "packs" screen, which could provide this, never shows more than one line per pack type. Over time, this would likely eat up significant DB space for the packs.

    Hth.


  • 8.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 26, 2020 11:23 AM
    @Carsten Schmitz so it look​s like AE admin got reduced solution when there is a serious problem on the agent.
    If there is a problem via CAU and you need to do it directly on the server, you have no more chance because the agent is tagged with CAU.

    Is reinstalling the agent will remove this CAU taint?

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    Regards,
    Carlos
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  • 9.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 27, 2020 07:28 AM
    We upgraded a Windows agent with CAU and were able to re-install it to Version 12.0.8 -- we did have to remove the Service Manager Service from the Server, delete both the Service Manager files and the Agent files from the Server and do a Complete new install on the both the Agent and the Service Manager. 

    But Agent is currently working successfully at version 12.0.8 



  • 10.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 30, 2020 03:41 AM
    Means my gut feeling on that part might have been wrong after all, good news, this :)


  • 11.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 30, 2020 03:40 AM
    Hi Carlos,

    > Is reinstalling the agent will remove this CAU taint?

    Have not tried but I highly doubt it. My gut feeling is that this mechanism is tracked and managed in the database.

    If there is a problem with the agent, you can use CAU to downgrade it; you can have multiple package versions in CAU so it's probably okay on that part in 95% of the cases. If there's a problem with the CAU mechanism, that's not an option though.

    Of course, on Linux there's always chattr +i, but that's ... extreme ;)

    Best,
    Carsten





  • 12.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 27, 2020 07:26 AM
    I believe the packs are installed in STORE objects and you can find these objects for agents under client 0 \PACKAGES\APPDATA\ and they will be the PCK* objects.  I haven't tested this, but I would assume that you could delete those objects to remove them from the database.


  • 13.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Mar 30, 2020 03:45 AM

    > I believe the packs are installed in STORE objects and you can
    > find these objects for agents under client 0 \PACKAGES\APPDATA\
    > and they will be the PCK* objects.  I haven't tested this

    Good lead, thanks!

    But I would really appreciate a PM to publish something about the design of this aspect, or the documentation department ( @Elina McCafferty).

    It should not always be upon community members to test out existential features, such as the required regular cleanup task for CAU packages, only because the impact of not cleaning up will hit some poor soul a few years down the line.

    Just my €0.02.




  • 14.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Mar 31, 2020 10:50 AM
    Hi @Carsten Schmitz, thank you for the input. My team will take a look, from the documentation perspective.
    Best regards,
    Elina​


  • 15.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted May 12, 2021 07:26 AM

    Hi,

    have you already tried to reset the HOST_TargetVersion attribute in the HOST table? It seemed to work for us, but I will try to get this verified by the support. The agent and AutomationEngine have already been restarted and still no current downgrade attempt.

    Really hard when the agents and ServiceManagers are downgraded after a manual upgrade of the AutomationEngine and one agent to version 12.3, afterwards the windows service couldn't be stopped anymore and all processes had to be killed.

    Btw, at a first workaround we renamed the Windows agent packages in client 0 which are located in PACKAGES\APPDATA\PCK.AUTOMIC.CAU_AGENT_WINDOWS, but still downgrades were tried and produced errors in Upgrade History.

    At the moment deleting the the HOST_TargetVersion for an agent seems to be the better way, but let's wait for the feedback of the support ;-)

    BR
    Thomas




  • 16.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Jun 25, 2023 05:00 AM

    Hi Thomas,

    changing HOST_TargetVersion has also worked for me on my test system.

    >At the moment deleting the the HOST_TargetVersion for an agent seems to be the better way, but let's wait for the feedback of the support ;-)

    Has support replied? What's the solution from Broadcom?

    best regards,

    Peter



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  • 17.  RE: Centralized Agent Upgrade (CAU) : installation and example

    Posted Jun 25, 2023 01:42 PM

    Hi @Peter Grundler 

    At least EM replied this: https://community.broadcom.com/enterprisesoftware/discussion/cau-in-v123-prevents-agent-installation-in-v21

    One of my customers tried it and it worked like expected.

    Cheers

    Christoph 



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    Automic AE Consultant and Trainer since 2000
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