Appliance Administration:Updates

From rPath Wiki

The rPath Appliance Platform Agent (rAPA) includes an Updates page which is enabled by default. The page allows a rAPA user to check for appliance updates, schedule checks for updates, and apply available updates.

On some appliances, the default Updates task is replaced by a mechanism that uploads an entire appliance update image and reboots to that new image. If the interface has no tabs and text prompting to upload an update image, see the Upload Update Images page for reference and instructions.

Applying Updates

Use the steps in this section to check for and apply an appliance update:

1. Access and log in to the appliance agent web interface.
2. Insert the Update media if updating from disk (CD, DVD, or USB Hard drive)
3. Click Updates from the menu at the left.
4. In the Updates tab, use either Check for Updates or Check for Update Media as instructed in the following sections to check for available updates.

Check for Updates

An online update is used to check network-accessible repositories for appliance updates. Use the following steps to check for and apply updates online:

1. Click Check for Updates to check for appliance updates.
2. Click OK after successful check.
3. To examine an update if one is available, click the button provided to expand or collapse the display.
4. Click Apply Updates to perform the update if desired.
5. While the update occurs, verify a box displays messages about the process. If the update fails, note the errors reported for troubleshooting purposes.
6. Click OK to continue when the process is finished.

If another check is performed before an update is applied, any newer update will replace an older one in the display. The latest update should include everything necessary to bring the appliance up-to-date without having to perform multiple update operations to "catch up."

Offline Update

An offline update is used for updates from an update media source (CD, DVD, or USB drive) that has been properly prepared using rBuilder's Update CD/DVD image type. This is useful when online checks may be unreliable. Use the following steps to check for and apply updates from an update media source:

1. Click Check for Update Media to check for update media attached to the appliance. During this operation, rAPA checks for installation media and prepares to use it.
   
   
2. If rAPA indicates that the update media is available (as shown in the following image), click Check for Updates to check the current appliance against the update media.
3. To examine an update if one is available, click the button provided to expand or collapse the display.
4. Click Apply Updates to update the appliance.
5. While the update occurs, verify a box displays messages about the process. If the update fails, note the errors reported for troubleshooting purposes.
6. Click OK to continue when the process is finished.
7. Click Unmount to safely unmount the update media before removing it from the appliance.

Schedule Updates

Use the following steps to schedule regular automatic checks for appliance updates:

1. Access and log in to the appliance agent web interface.
2. Click Updates from the menu at the left.
3. Click the Settings tab.
4. Modify the settings as desired and click Save when finished. A dialog above the task content should indicate that the save is complete.

Use Automatically install updates to launch an update each time the scheduled check finds an available update. Consider the impact of automating this process on an appliance before selecting this option.

Status of Last Check and Last Update

Information about updates is included both in the Updates tab as well as on the Appliance Status page. The information includes the timestamp of the last and next scheduled update checks as well as the timestamp of the last applied update.

See the Rollbacks page for information about what was applied in the most recent updates as well as options for rolling back those updates.

Migrate

Some appliances include a Migrate tab as part of its Updates interface. A migrate is a unique type of update that refreshes the data on the system, and it is typically used to repair critical failures or to move the appliance from one update path to another. Because important data can be lost during a migration, use this tab only when advised by the appliance vendor, who should provide any accompanying information on how to preserve important data on the deployed appliance.