Automatically upgrade Agents post 14 SP1 release

Products

• CA Client Automation - IT Client Manager
• CA Client Automation

Issue/Introduction

Client Automation is a Server/Agent configuration and you always want the Domain Manager and the Agents to be at the same level, but there is a lot of work involved in upgrading all the agents. 

After Domain Manager and Scalability Servers are upgraded to 14 SP1, how can I automatically upgrade all my agents to R14 SP1?

Environment

Client Automation - 14 SP1 and above

Resolution

Client Automation 14 Service Pack 1 includes a way to automatically upgrade agents to 14SP1.

To setup the Automatic Updates:

You need to enable 2 configurations policies and stage the Packages to the Scalability Servers.

1. The configuration policies you need to enable are the following:

  Default Computer Policy\DSM\Software Delivery\Agent    

      Agent Auto Upgrade: Enable auto upgrade              Set to TRUE

    This enables the Agent to be upgraded automatically.  

Default Computer Policy\DSM\Software Delivery\Scalability Server

 

  Agent Auto Upgrade: Enable auto upgrade mode:                     Set to TRUE

    This enables the Scalability to upgrade agents automatically

 

  Agent Auto Upgrade: Agent versions allowed for upgrade           12.8.0.690;12.8.1.110;12.9.0.338;12.9.1.70;12.9.2.14;14.0.0.199

    Specifies semicolon separated Agent versions that are allowed for auto upgrade.

 

 

  Agent Auto Upgrade: Auto upgrade retry count                             3

    Specifies the number of times auto upgrade is retried, when previous upgrade attempts fail.

 

  Agent Auto Upgrade: Enable auto upgrade retry                        TRUE

    When auto upgrade of an agent fails, Scalability Server will retry the upgrade if this parameter is set to TRUE.

 

  Agent Auto Upgrade: Package missing Action                Agent Auto Upgrade: Package missing Action                 

    Specifies the list of actions for a Scalability Server to perform when an Agent package is missing from the Software Delivery Library.

 

Stage all the CA Client Automation plugins to all of your Scalability Servers

   The agent will know if they are English Only or NLS, so be sure to stage the correct plugins 

The agents will not update immediately they will upgrade after the SD Agent checks in with the Scalability Server and number of times.

The automatic upgrade of Agent software is attempted only when the Agent sends a full list of installed DSM software on every tenth job check,

and is controlled through the Job Check: SWD delta mode configuration policy.