Service Pack and Hotfix Installation

As a system administrator you install service packs and/or hotfixes that contain valuable corrections and bug fixes between releases.

Service pack releases comprise the complete Automic Automation system but hotfixes might be released for a single component. Make sure you always install the latest service pack or hotfix. Since the most current service pack/hotfix always includes the modifications of previous ones, there is not need to install all previous service packs/hotfixes to have all modifications included in your AE system.

This page includes the following:

Overview

There are a number of important issues you must consider before installing a service pack/hotfix:

  • The Automation Engine and the Automic Web Interface must be on the same major release version and service pack.

  • If the Automation Engine and Automic Web Interface are bundled together in the same hotfix, they must be on the same major release version, service pack, and hotfix

  • When a hotfix is issued for the AWI or the AE component, there is either a confirmation that there are no incompatibility issues, or an equivalent hotfix for both components is released at the same time.

  • If a hotfix has been released for both components, you should upgrade both components to ensure compatibility.

  • In case of any doubt, components bundled together in a download offering are tested for compatibility. An offering always contains the same service pack/hotfix version of the AE and AWI components. For more information, see Compatibility Information or access the compatibility matrix directly.

  • Use the guidelines for upgrading an AE system if you intend to upgrade to a new version of AE.

Shutting Down and Storing the Automation Engine

On the admin computer, user computer, server computer, and hosts:

  • Close all Automic Web Interface instances

  • Close all agents

  • Close all instances of the Automation Engine

  • If necessary, close the service that started the ServiceManager

  • Store all directories in which AE has been installed

  • Store the database

    Make sure to store the database with database utilities.

Downloading Service Packs and Hotfixes

Download the relevant service pack or hotfix from either the Product Downloads or Component Downloads page in https://downloads.automic.com/:

  • In Product Downloads, navigate to the relevant product - either Automic Automation or Automic Automation Kubernetes Edition - and download the offering.

  • In Component Downloads, select Automation Engine for Automic Automation or helm for AAKE from the drop-down list to see which service packs and hotfixes can be downloaded.

Installing Service Packs

To install a service pack, download it and use the guidelines for upgrading an Automic Automation or Automic Automation Kubernetes Edition system.

More information:

Installing Hotfixes - Automic Automation

Once the relevant hotfix is downloaded, the installation procedure depends on the component that is to be updated. Make sure to install one common hotfix version for initial data, server processes and the Automic Web Interface.

Hotfix for Initial Data

  1. Copy the complete database directory to the computer on which the utilities are installed.

    The DB directory must be a parallel directory of the BIN directory of the utilities.

  2. Shut down all server processes.

    This is especially important if they are distributed among several computers.

  3. Load the UC_UPD.TXT file to the database using the AE.DB Load utility.

  4. If necessary, load the server processes:

    1. In the INI file (ucsrv.ini) of the Automation Engine, set the startMode = parameter to COLD.

    2. Restart the (PWP) server process first and then restart all other server processes.

    Note: You only need a coldstart after a server hotfix installation.

Hotfix for the Automation Engine Component

Stop the server processes on all computers, install the hotfix files and restart the server processes.

Hotfix for the Automic Web Interface Component

Install the hotfix files for Automic Web Interface. Make sure the Automic Web Interface and the online documentation have the same version.

Hotfix for Utilities, Agents and Other Components

Stop the relevant component and install the hotfix files.

Installing Hotfixes - Automic Automation Kubernetes Edition

In AAKE, hotfixes released might contain only certain components and not necessarily the whole offering. You have to configure these components accordingly in the values.yaml file.

Example 

images:
  ae-initialdata:
    repository: gcr.io/esd-automic-saas/automic/component/release/
    tag: 21.0.0.1
    pullPolicy: Always
    pullSecret: automic-image-pull-secret
  ae-wp:
    repository: gcr.io/esd-automic-saas/automic/component/release/
    tag: 21.0.0.1
    pullPolicy: Always
    pullSecret: automic-image-pull-secret

To install a hotfix in AAKE, download the Helm chart containing the values.yaml file configured for the hotfix and use helm to update the required components:

helm upgrade aake HELM_Install.HELM_Automic_1_0_1.tgz -f values.yml

For more information, see Automic Automation Helm Plugin.

See also:

Release Policy