Booster Auto-Upgrade

Centralized Booster upgrade from within FileWave, including single-Booster upgrades, multi-Booster scheduling, and monitoring. Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be automatically scheduled for upgrade after a FileWave Server upgrade.

Upgrading a Single Booster

What

The Booster upgrade feature gives FileWave administrators a centralized way to upgrade Boosters from within FileWave.

When/Why

Having to ssh or remote control to each Booster to download and run the installer takes too much time. Starting with FileWave 14.4, the "Boosters" and "Booster Details" tabs provide a manual upgrade option for each Booster that has an applicable upgrade available. Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be automatically scheduled for upgrade after a FileWave Server upgrade. By default, that automatic Booster upgrade is scheduled one week later, the delay is configurable in Preferences, and administrators can unschedule it if needed. That delay value is evaluated when the FileWave Server upgrade schedules Booster upgrades. If the delay is set to 0 days before the FileWave Server upgrade, compatible Boosters try to upgrade right away after that Server upgrade. Changing the delay afterward does not retroactively reschedule Boosters that were already queued. It affects the next FileWave Server upgrade scheduling event instead, such as 16.3.1 or later. That automatic attempt happens once per Booster, and if it fails, an administrator needs to intervene to complete or re-trigger the upgrade. Some of the criteria to determine if there is an applicable upgrade are:

This article discusses manually upgrading a single Booster immediately. In FileWave 16.3.0 and later, this is especially useful when you do not want to wait for the automatic post-Server-upgrade schedule or when you want to handle one Booster separately.

How

To upgrade a particular booster, just right-click it and select "Upgrade Booster". You can also right-click the booster in the "Booster Details" tab.

Upgrade Booster.png

Upgrading Multiple Boosters

What

The Booster upgrade feature gives FileWave administrators a centralized way to upgrade multiple Boosters from within FileWave.

When/Why

Having to ssh or remote control each Booster to download and run the installer takes too much time. Starting with FileWave 14.4, the "Boosters" and "Booster Details" tabs provide manual upgrade actions for Boosters that have an applicable upgrade available. Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be automatically scheduled for upgrade after a FileWave Server upgrade. By default, that automatic Booster upgrade is scheduled one week later, the delay is configurable in Preferences, and administrators can unschedule it if needed. That delay value is evaluated when the FileWave Server upgrade schedules Booster upgrades. If the delay is set to 0 days before the FileWave Server upgrade, compatible Boosters try to upgrade right away after that Server upgrade. Changing the delay afterward does not retroactively reschedule Boosters that were already queued. It affects the next FileWave Server upgrade scheduling event instead, such as 16.3.1 or later. That automatic attempt happens once per Booster, and if it fails, an administrator needs to intervene to complete or re-trigger the upgrade. Some of the criteria to determine if there is an applicable upgrade are:

This article discusses manually scheduling upgrades for multiple Boosters. In FileWave 16.3.0 and later, it also complements the automatic post-Server-upgrade scheduling workflow when you want to start upgrades immediately or control the selection yourself.

How

It is also possible to schedule multiple Boosters for upgrade at once. In this case, one Booster will be upgraded after another in alphabetical order. In FileWave 16.3.0 and later, compatible outdated Boosters may already be scheduled automatically after a Server upgrade. The simplest way to start that process immediately, or to manually schedule multiple Boosters yourself, is to use the "Upgrade All Boosters" button in the toolbar of the Boosters section of the native console:

Upgrade All Boosters icon.png

It automatically schedules all selected Boosters to upgrade. Alternatively, you can select multiple Boosters and use the context menu or toolbar button to upgrade them.

In FileWave 16.3.0 and later, the automatic post-Server-upgrade Booster schedule is controlled in FileWave Central -> Preferences -> General. The default delay is 7 days after upgrading the server, and administrators can adjust that delay to fit their environment. This preference is evaluated when the FileWave Server upgrade schedules Booster upgrades. A value of 0 days means compatible Boosters will try to upgrade immediately after that FileWave Server upgrade. Changing the preference afterward does not retroactively reschedule Boosters that were already queued, so the initial 16.3.0 Booster schedule will still reflect the value that was set at the time of the 16.3.0 server upgrade. Updating it later affects the next FileWave Server upgrade scheduling event, such as 16.3.1 or later. That automatic attempt is made once per Booster. If a Booster fails during that immediate run, you need to intervene manually to complete or re-trigger the upgrade.

booster-auto-upgrade-delay-preference-16.3.0.jpg

To track the progress of upgrading multiple boosters, you can use the new Booster Upgrade status field mentioned earlier. You can also use the new check box Upgrade available which allows you to filter out boosters that have no upgrade available. This check box is displayed in both the Boosters and Booster Details tabs:

Booster Header.png

Booster Status Fields.png

With this new functionality, the process to upgrade Boosters should be greatly simplified, especially for larger environments. 

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Reporting / Monitoring Booster Upgrade Process

What

The Booster upgrade feature gives FileWave administrators a centralized way to schedule and monitor Booster upgrades from within FileWave.

When/Why

Having to ssh or remote control to each Booster to download and run the installer takes too much time. Starting with FileWave 14.4, the "Boosters" and "Booster Details" tabs provide upgrade actions for each Booster that has an applicable upgrade available. Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be automatically scheduled for upgrade after a FileWave Server upgrade. By default, that automatic Booster upgrade is scheduled one week later, the delay is configurable in Preferences, and administrators can unschedule it if needed. That delay value is evaluated when the FileWave Server upgrade schedules Booster upgrades. If the delay is set to 0 days before the FileWave Server upgrade, compatible Boosters try to upgrade right away after that Server upgrade. Changing the delay afterward does not retroactively reschedule Boosters that were already queued. It affects the next FileWave Server upgrade scheduling event instead, such as 16.3.1 or later. Some of the criteria to determine if there is an applicable upgrade are:

This article discusses the reporting and monitoring functions around both manually scheduled Booster upgrades and the automatic post-Server-upgrade scheduling introduced in FileWave 16.3.0.

How

In the "Booster Details" tab, there are three fields that indicate the status of the Booster upgrade queue. These fields apply whether the upgrade was scheduled manually or automatically after a Server upgrade:

Booster Status Fields 2.png

Upgrade Status - This field shows the current progress of the booster with one of the below statuses:

Available Upgrade Version - Reports which upgrade version is available to this particular booster, given its operating system.

Scheduled for Upgrade - This flag indicates whether the booster is in the current upgrade queue.

Only on each upgrade success will subsequent Boosters continue to automatically upgrade, if scheduled, to the version indicated by the 'Available Upgrade Version'. If the auto-upgrade delay is set to 0 days before the FileWave Server upgrade, compatible Boosters make that first automatic attempt immediately after that Server upgrade. Changing the delay after the Server upgrade does not retroactively reschedule Boosters that are already queued. Each Booster gets one automatic attempt in that run. Booster upgrade failures prevent further automated, scheduled upgrades until addressed or overridden by bypassing the failed Booster from the 'Unschedule Booster' context menu item.

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Digging Deeper

When an upgrade is triggered through FileWave Central, the server sends a notification to the Booster with a URL parameter pointing to the upgrade package (deb for Linux, pkg for Mac, MSI for Windows) that shall be downloaded and installed. Currently, this URL will point to the FileWave CDN (https://fwdl.filewave.com/) for official releases. Both "Boosters" and "Booster Details" view offer a filter to only show Boosters that can be upgraded.

The location for auto upgrade logs is;