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 use SSH or remote control for every Booster upgrade takes too much time. Starting with FileWave 14.4, the Boosters and Booster Details tabs provide upgrade actions when an applicable upgrade is available. Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be scheduled automatically after a FileWave Server upgrade. The default delay is seven days. On FileWave 16.3.x, change it in FileWave Central > Preferences > General. Starting with FileWave 16.4.0, the setting is in FileWave Central > Preferences > Upgrades. Make the change before upgrading the Server. A value of 0 days schedules eligible Boosters immediately. The preference is evaluated when the Server upgrade creates the schedule; changing it afterward does not retroactively move work already in the queue.
Starting with FileWave 16.4.0, automatic Booster reporting validates the installed version as well as the reported status, and failed attempts can be retried automatically within defined limits.
Some criteria used to determine whether an applicable upgrade is available are:
- Booster has to be at least 14.4
- The operating system version has to be supported by the target version
- The booster has to be running in order to trigger an upgrade
- The version number of the target version has to be higher than the currently installed version (i.e you cannot use this feature to reinstall/downgrade to a specific version)
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:
Upgrade Status - This field shows the current progress of the booster with one of the below statuses:
- No upgrade in progress: Currently, no upgrade is being installed. This status is also shown when the last upgrade was successful.
- Downloading: Indicates that the booster is currently downloading a new booster upgrade from the server; a necessary step before the upgrade can be installed.
- Installing: The booster is currently installing an update. This should either lead to the "No upgrade in progress" or "Failed" state. The default timeout is one hour.
- Failed: Indicating the upgrade was unable to complete.
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.
- 'true': Booster is either processing an upgrade or waiting for a preceding Booster to finalize an upgrade, including failures.
- 'false': No upgrade is scheduled
Automatic-upgrade behavior depends on the FileWave version.
- FileWave 16.3.x: each Booster receives one automatic attempt in the scheduled run. A failure can require the administrator to address the Booster or remove it from the schedule before continuing.
- FileWave 16.4.0 and later: FileWave verifies both the reported upgrade result and the installed Booster version before marking the work complete. Failed attempts can be retried automatically within defined limits, and each attempt is logged.
After a FileWave 16.4 retry sequence, investigate any Booster that still reports Failed or remains below the Available Upgrade Version. Do not treat a restart or No upgrade in progress status by itself as proof that the target version was installed.
- Booster deployment planning
- Booster installation
- Upgrading a Single Booster
- Upgrading Multiple Boosters
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;
- Linux and MacOS:
/var/log/fwbooster_upgrade.log - Windows:
C:\ProgramData\FileWave\FWBooster\Data Folder\upgradeBooster.log