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 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 manual 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 Starting with FileWave 16.3.0, compatible outdated Boosters can also be scheduled automatically after a FileWave Server upgrade.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 value is evaluated when the Server upgrade creates the Booster schedule; changing it afterward does not retroactively move already scheduled work.

FileWave 16.4 makes automatic Booster upgrades more resilient. FileWave now checks both the reported upgrade status and the installed Booster version before treating an upgrade as complete. Failed attempts can be retried automatically within defined limits, and each attempt is logged. Use the Booster views to confirm the installed version and identify Boosters that still require manual attention after retries are exhausted.

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 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 In FileWave 16.3.0 and later, compatible outdated Boosters may already be scheduled automatically after a Server upgrade.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:

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.

The default delay is 7 days after upgrading the Server. Set it to 0 days before the Server upgrade when eligible Boosters should be scheduled immediately. This preference is evaluated when the Server upgrade creates the Booster schedule, so changing it afterward does not retroactively reschedule Boosters already in the queue.

On FileWave 16.3.x, a failed automatic attempt requires administrator intervention. Starting with FileWave 16.4.0, FileWave validates the reported result against the installed Booster version and can retry failed attempts automatically within defined limits. If a Booster still reports Failed or remains below the target version after those retries, inspect its upgrade log and schedule it again manually.

FileWave Central 16.4.0 and later: the automatic Booster-upgrade delay is in the Upgrades preferences tab.

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:

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

Related Content

• Booster deployment planning
• Booster installation
• Upgrading a Single Booster
• Reporting / Monitoring Booster Upgrade Process