6.0 Online Updates—Managing

Path: Port 9443 Appliance Console  > Online Update icon

Table 6-1 Using the Online Update dialog

Field, Option, or Button

Information and/or Action

Online Update (Automatic Update Schedule: X)

  • This is the dialog title and it also shows which Schedule option is selected (represented by X).

 

 

Register Online Update Service dialog

  • This dialog appears whenever the appliance is not registered with an update service. For example, the first time the Online Update icon is clicked or when a service has been de-registered.

  • You must register the appliance for it to receive online updates.

  • Service Type:

  • Select the service type that the appliance will use to obtain online updates through a local Subscription Management Tool (SMT) or the Micro Focus Customer Center

  • Local SMT

This is a server from where you can download the software updates and automatically install them to update the product.

  • Hostname: The hostname of the server from where you want the appliance to download software updates.

  • SSL cert URL (optional): The path to the SSL certificate for encrypting communications with the server.

  • Namespace path (optional): To enable the client to use the staging group, specify a value. Do not specify any value if you want to use the default production repositories.

  • Micro Focus Customer Center

  • Email: Your email address for registering the appliance to receive updates.

  • Activation Key: This displays in your NCC Portal in the same dialog as your product license.

  • Allow Data send: Select from the following options if you want to share information with the Micro Focus Customer Center:

    • Hardware Profile: Shares the hardware information.

    • Optional Information: Shares information such as host type, product version, release, architecture, timezone, and processor.

 

 

Update service: X

  • After you register the appliance for an update service, the service name appears in this field (represented by X).

  • Patches drop-down

  • Needed Patches: Selecting this option lists the patches that will be installed during the next manual or automatic update as specified in the Schedule (next).

  • Installed Patches: Selecting this option lists all patches that have been previously installed.

  • Schedule drop-down

  • Click this to schedule when the appliance will download and install updates.

  • If you select Manual, the appliance immediately downloads and installs all available patches.

  • If you select Daily, Weekly, or Monthly, you are setting up recurring update-download-and-install events at the specified interval.

    For details about when these events occur, see Understanding Online-Update-Check Scheduling

  • After selecting an interval, you must then choose the level of patches to apply—either All Needed Patches or Security Patches Only.

  • Optionally, you can specify whether to Automatically agree with all license agreements and Automatically install all interactive patches.

Update Now tab

  • This is selectable only when the Patches drop-down is set to Needed Patches.

  • After clicking the option, you must choose to apply either All Needed Patches or Security Patches Only.

  • Optionally, you can specify whether to Automatically agree with all license agreements and Automatically install all interactive patches.

View Info tab

  • Clicking this displays information such as a brief summary of the patch and the bug fixes in the patch.

Register tab

  • Clicking this displays the appliance’s registration status, and an option to Deregister the appliance.

  • If you deregister the appliance, the Register Online Update Service dialog reappears.

Refresh tab

  • Clicking this refreshes the status of updates on the Appliance.

Understanding Online-Update-Check Scheduling

The Online Update schedule is not rigidly set and followed. Rather, it is dynamically updated to maintain as closely as possible, the interval between checks that you specify.

When an update check can’t happen at the scheduled time for any reason, the system waits and checks as soon as it can.

When the check succeeds, the system schedules the next check at the current time on the next day, week, or month, depending on the interval currently specified.

When You First Set an Update-Check Schedule

Within 15 minutes after you apply one of the recurring Schedule options (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly), the appliance downloads and installs the level of patches you have chosen (either All or Security-only).

As long as

  • You don’t change the Schedule interval

    And

  • The system is able to immediately handle events when they occur

Then update checking happens at approximately the same time of day and at the interval you originally specified (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly).

For example, if you schedule Weekly downloads on a Monday morning and you apply your settings at 10 a.m., then the appliance will check for patches every Monday at 10 a.m., downloading and installing any new patches that match the patch level you selected.

If You Apply a Different Schedule Interval

You can only have one active schedule interval at a time.

After you have set a schedule interval, if you choose a different interval, it becomes active. Previously configured intervals are deactivated. Interval configurations are retained, but they aren’t in effect.

Continuing the previous example, let’s say that on Wednesday you decide that checking for updates weekly is not frequent enough, so you change the frequency to Daily and apply the change at 1 p.m.

Within 15 minutes, the appliance checks for new updates. Then the following day (Thursday) at ~1 p.m., it checks again, and so on.

If you subsequently decide to go back to Weekly updates, the Daily schedule is deactivated and the Weekly schedule resumes exactly as it was before the change to Daily. In other words, if nothing has affected the Weekly schedule as originally specified, it would run the next Monday morning at 10 a.m.

If Update Events Are Delayed, Schedules Adjust Accordingly

If an update event cannot run at the scheduled interval for any reason, such as the appliance being down, the system waits until it can run the job and then runs it immediately.

Continuing with the example above, let’s say that before you leave on Friday afternoon, you decide to return to Weekly update checks, so you change the schedule interval option.

As stated above, the expectation would be for the update check to happen the next Monday at 10 a.m. However, it turns out that Monday is a holiday, and the Facilities group shuts down all of the systems for maintenance on Friday night.

When the appliance comes back online at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, it immediately performs an update check and then adjusts the schedule for the next check to occur the following Tuesday morning at 4 a.m.

The recurring update-check interval is always maintained as closely as possible.