Scheduled Program Update

Description

Replicator provides you with the possibility to distribute and automatically install the application updates on sites. There are two update types: program and plugin updates.

When updating a program, Replicator delivers the installer and other update files to sites and starts the installer at defined time.

A plugin is an independent console application that regularly starts to perform various actions, e.g. create some reports and send them by email to specified destinations. When updating a plugin, Replicator delivers the plugin executable file and some other auxiliary files to sites.  On installing a plugin, Replicator starts its executable file based on the schedule.

Distribute APM and APP Updates

To update a program on the sites, you need to:

  1. Create an update package of an application.

  2. Upload (publish) the update package into Replicator.

  3. Specify the sites to which the update must be delivered and set the installation time.

Create APM Update Package

To create the APM update package, follow the steps below:

  1. Run the APM setup wizard. In the Install mode dialogue, select the Generate update package option:


    Click Next to continue.

  2. In the Choose Adonis Personnel Manager Location dialogue, define the directory for saving the update package:


    Click Generate to generate the package.

  3. Wait until the package is generated:


    When completed generating, click Next to continue.

  4. When done, the following dialogue appears:


    Click Finish to close the wizard dialogue.

Take a minute to see the following video that will guide you through the procedure of how to create the APM update package:

 

Create APP Update Package

To create the APP update package, follow the steps below:

  1. Open a command line application and enter the following commands:

    start /D <path_to_the_folder_with_the_installation_set> <path_to_APP_installer.exe> /CAB /I=Prod (where I indicates the APP instance name)

    start /D H:\Adonis\Replicator\APP_distribute_via_Replicator AdonisPortalInstall_v2021.10.0.102.exe /CAB

  2. Press Enter.

As a result, the CAB update package will be generated and available in the defined folder: AdonisPortalInstall_v2021.10.0.102.cab.

Distribute and Install Update Package

To publish the update package in Replicator Manager, follow the steps below carefully:

  1. On the left-hand side pane, select the service to which you got connected and navigate to Updatable programs:


  2. Within the Updatable program's workspace, click the Publish update button. The Open dialogue then appears on the screen:

  3. Select the CAB file of the program you want to update—Click Open to load the file to Replicator Manager. Once clicked, the package publishing is started. If the package is successfully published, you are notified respectively:

  4. Select the sites to which the update package is to be delivered:

     

Based on whether you want to deliver an update package to a single site or a multiple of them, you can select a single row or a multiple of them accordingly.

Selecting the site(s) enables the Set Install Time button. Click the button to open the Set Update Install Time dialogue:

Within the dialogue, specify the update install time by setting one of the options:

  • Do not install the update automatically. Select the option to deliver the update package without auto-update.

  • Install update as soon as it is delivered to the site. Select the option to allow updating once it is delivered to the sites.

  • Install at a specified date and time. Select the option and specify the date and time values for the update installed on the sites.

Once done, click Ok to apply the changes.

 

As a result, the update package will be delivered to the selected site(s), and the update will start at the specified time or as soon as the update package is delivered to the site(s). Besides, you must set the connection parameters to the affected site(s) that have been correctly set. For more information, see Set Parameters For Sites.

Take a minute to see the video that will guide you through the procedure of distributing and updating install packages:

 

Set Parameters For Sites

After the program is installed, it is necessary to specify parameters for the Site(s). 

To specify the parameters, follow the steps below:

  1. On the left-hand side pane, select the service to which you got connected and navigate to Updatable programs.

  2. In the Updatable programs node, select the plugin/program to be affected. Right under the selected program/plugin, select Update parameters/Plugin parameters accordingly.

  3. In the Update parameters workspace, select the Site for which you want to add parameters and click the Add button. Clicking the command displays the Add new command dialogue where you can enter the parameters one by one:


  4. On entering, click OK to proceed.

 

Below, you will find the description of the parameters required for both APM and APP.

For APM, the following parameters are required:

Name

Value

Name

Value

APM_FOLDER

Specify the application installation path.

SERVER_NAME

Enter the server name.

DATABASE_NAME

Enter the database name to be used.

USER_NAME

Enter the APM username.

Password

Define the database password.

 

Before updating APM, make sure the following conditions are met:

  • Adonis Control Center is not running.

  • The APM login page is not open.

  • Adonis Replicator task types and tasks are active. In APM, navigate to the Setup tab > Adonis Replicator. In the Adonis Replicator workspace, switch to Replication Tasks and make sure the following tasks are set to Active:


    In the Adonis Replicator workspace, switch to Task Direction Types and make sure the following types are set to Active:


    In the Adonis Replicator workspace, switch to Task Types and make sure all the types are set to Active:



 

If APM is running and Replicator makes an attempt to perform an auto-upgrade, a warning message prompting you to save any changes will be displayed on the screen, and APM will be terminated:

 

For APP, the following parameters are required for the remote installation/upgrade:

Name

Value

Name

Value

REMOTE_SERVER

Specify the name or IP address of the server where to update APP

REMOTE_SERVER_LOGIN

Enter Windows login with admin access rights for \\server\Admin$ resource

REMOTE_SERVER_PASSWORD

Enter the password of the REMOTE_SERVER_LOGIN user

For more information on the remote installation/upgrade, refer to Remote Installation / Update.