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UPGRADE EXPRESS Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) CIRCUIT MASTERS SOFTWARE, INC. 10014 Kent Town Sugar Land, Tx 77478 U.S.A. Sales: (713) 242-9353 Fax: (713) 242-4632 Support: (409) 335-6126 BBS: (409) 335-4786 CIS: 72103,2327 This fully functional demo copy of our "Upgrade Express" software product represents the Upgrade Express program, in its entirety. The state of the documentation however, is PRELIMINARY. This document will be updated regularly until the production version is complete. This fully functional demo will time out in thirty (30) days from the date in which you install it. You have permission to print 1 (one) copy of this documentation form, solely for the purpose of evaluating the Upgrade Express Demo product. To Our Valued Customers: This product has been specifically developed to allow you to most efficiently manage and control your network environment. Once Upgrade Express has been implemented into your facility, you will be pleased with the additional amount of extra time that you will have to spend in other important areas. At Circuit Masters Software, Inc., we place a very high value on user feedback. Any input or comments that you may have to offer will be most appreciated and certainly considered in our future releases. Take a moment and drop us a line. Our fax number is 713-242-4632 and your comments are welcome. Thank You, CIRCUIT MASTERS SOFTWARE, INC. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, copied, transmitted, transcribed or translated in any form or by any means without prior written permission of Circuit Masters Software, Inc. Circuit Masters Software, Inc. provides this manual "as is", without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including to , the limited warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Circuit Masters Software, Inc. may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the programs described in this manual at any time and without notice. Changes are periodically made to the information herein. These changes will be incorporated in new editions of this publication. Updated 12-09-94. (c) Copyright 1994, Circuit Masters Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. * * CONTENTS * * PROGRAM OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 1 Introduction To Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) . . . . page 1 Copyright/Trademark Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1 Upgrade Express Software Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 1 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 2 Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 What You Should Know Before Installing Upgrade Express . . . . page 3 Installing Upgrade Express . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 HOW THE DOS & WINDOWS RESPONDERS WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 3 RESPONDER AGENT OPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 4 USING UPGRADE EXPRESS QUICK START OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 5 CREATING UPGRADE DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 6 Create A New Upgrade Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 11 Determining The Distribution Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 12 Scheduling The Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 12 Targeting Clients & Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 13 Profile Containers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 14 Executing Upgrade Definitions On A File Server. . . . . . . . . page 15 Action Objects Supported By The UPSERVE NLM . . . . . . . . . . page 15 Distributing Upgrade Definitions To Other Servers . . . . . . . page 16 Creating A Distribution List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 16 Adding A Warehouse To The Distribution List . . . . . . . . . . page 16 Removing A WareHouse From The Distribution List . . . . . . . . page 16 Action Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 17 Upgrade Definition Re-Cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 18 UPGRADE ACTION OBJECTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 7 Path Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 Copy Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 20 Delete Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 21 Display User Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 Distribute File Packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 22 INI File Modification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 24 Text File Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 25 Edit Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 26 Move / Rename Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 27 Program Manager / Shell Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 27 Setting File Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 28 OS Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 29 Server Console Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 30 COMMON SOFTWARE DATABASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 8 page 31 INSTALLED SOFTWARE DATABASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 9 page 32 INSTALLED HARDWARE DATABASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 10 page 33 VIEWING UPGRADE DEFINITION STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 11 page 34 VIEWING AGENT STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 12 page 35 EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 13 Selecting Another Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 36 Viewing The Server Status Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 37 THE UPGRADE EXPRESS SERVER AGENT FOR NETWARE . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 14 page 38 REGULAR EXPRESSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 15 Metacharacters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 40 Using Metacharacters To Determine Position . . . . . . . . . . page 40 Matching Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 41 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 42 PULLING UPGRADE DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 16 Pulling Upgrades Under DOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 43 Pulling Upgrades Under Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 43 MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 17 Customer Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 44 Product Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 44 Other Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 44 * * CHAPTER 1 * * PROGRAM OVERVIEW * * * * Introduction To Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) * * Electronic Software Distribution, referred to as "ESD", is the ability to send files, software applications and software upgrades to all clients on the network from one workstation. Upgrade Express automates the ESD process by utilizing client and server agents that provide distribution, installation and configuration services for application software, driver files and operating systems. It then reports statistical information back to a centralized management console. * * Copyright/Trademark Acknowledgements * * Upgrade Express is a trademark of Circuit Masters Software, Inc.. NetWare and NLM are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are of their respective manufacturer. * * Upgrade Express Software Components * * Upgrade Express is comprised of the following software components that work together to create upgrade definitions, perform the upgrade process, and inform the management console. The Warehouse Server A warehouse server is the logical name given to a server where Upgrade Express has been installed. A warehouse server name is comprised of an administrator defined name combined with the $ dollar sign, and the physical file server name, ie. CORP$SERVER-1 The Management Console The Upgrade Express Management Console is an MS Windows application that controls the distribution process. Network administrators use the management console to create Upgrade Definitions that the Upgrade Responder Agent executes on the client machine. Upgrade definitions may be scheduled to run at specific time periods, designated as Push or Pull definitions and may be targeted to a specific group of clients on the network. The Warehouse Server Agent Warehouse server agents coordinate the distribution of upgrade definitions between warehouse servers on LAN's or WAN's. During the process of creating an upgrade definition, administrators can create a distribution list of page 1 other warehouse servers on the network to receive the upgrade definition, for the purposes of upgrading the clients that connect to that warehouse server, thereby eliminating overhead by forcing all clients to connect to one warehouse server. The DOS Upgrade Responder Agent The DOS upgrade responder agent is an MS-DOS application that executes the upgrade definition on the client machine. The agent may be executed as a foreground application or as an 8k TSR (terminate stay resident) program. The Windows Upgrade Responder Agent The windows responder agent is an MS-Windows application that runs in the background on the windows desktop and is responsible for executing upgrade definitions for windows clients. The windows responder agent also provides a user interface for executing Pullable upgrade definitions. All workstations running an Upgrade Responder Agent are referred to as Upgrade Express Clients. The Selective Upgrade Interface DOS The selective upgrade interface, provides an interface for DOS users to selectively execute upgrade definitions that are defined using the Pull method. Upgrade Express supports two types of distribution: Push Method - Forces the upgrade definition upon the client. Pull Method - Allows the client to execute the upgrade at their convenience. The Keyboard Capture Utility DOS Provides the ability to record keystrokes on a DOS workstation that can be played back by the DOS Upgrade Responder agent for the purpose of automating installation programs etc. To record and playback keystrokes and mouse movements under Windows, Upgrade Express uses the Microsoft Recorder application that is shipped with Microsoft Windows. page 2 * * CHAPTER 2 * * INSTALLATION * * * * Software Requirements * * Upgrade Express Management Console requires Windows 3.1 or higher. Upgrade Express Windows Responder Agent requires Windows 3.1 or higher. Upgrade Express DOS Responder Agent requires MS-DOS 2.0 or higher. Upgrade Express Server Agent requires NetWare 3.11 or higher. * * What You Should Know Before Installing Upgrade Express * * The Upgrade Express program requires that the user be logged in to the file server either as SUPERVISOR or a login ID with SUPERVISOR EQUIVALENCE. In order for the program to be installed correctly, you MUST be logged in to the file server as SUPERVISOR or a login ID with SUPERVISOR EQUIVALENCE. * * Installing Upgrade Express * * If you received Upgrade Express from the CMSI BBS, your download should have included three files: UEDISK1.ZIP, UEDISK2.ZIP and UEDISK3.ZIP. You have two options at this point: Option 1: Unzip each disk file received from the CMSI BBS into its own directory. When prompted for a diskette during the install process, enter the path to where the files can be found. Option 2: Unzip each disk file received from the CMSI BBS onto a separate diskette of your own. When prompted for a diskette during the install process, enter the appropriate diskette. To BEGIN the INSTALL process, Select the File|Run option from the Windows program manager screen. With the Upgrade Express Setup Disk In Drive A: Enter the following command in the run dialogue box: A:SETUP A brief message will appear while the setup program is loading, then the License Information dialogue will appear. Enter the information requested on this dialogue: Company Name, Your Name and a license key if available. If this is an evaluation or demo copy, the license key field will remain blank. When all of the License Information is entered, page 3 click the OK button. The Warehouse Information dialogue will then appear. Complete this dialogue by entering the following information: Server Name Select the server where upgrade express will be installed. Volume Name Select the network volume where Upgrade Express will be installed. The UE directory will be created off the root of this volume. Warehouse Name The name of the warehouse server that you are installing. This can be any character string, to help administrators and users identify the Upgrade Warehouse, ie CORP, SWDIST, ENGINEERING etc. Punctuation characters and spaces are not allowed in warehouse names. Devices The number of devices or clients that will be serviced by this warehouse server. This field contains a default value that represents the total number of nodes that Upgrade Express is licensed for. Each time a warehouse server is created, the number of nodes allocated to that warehouse is deducted from the total license. This is done so that multiple warehouse servers may be created that can service a user defined number of clients from each warehouse. FYI: A Warehouse Address Later in the manual you will see reference to a term Warehouse Address. A Warehouse Address is the full path specification of the Upgrade Express installation, for example SERVER\VOL:\UE. This address is generated by the selections made during installation. After all of the Warehouse Information has been COMPLETED, click the OK button to PROCEED with the installation process. The setup program will continue by creating the Upgrade Express directory structure on the volume that has been selected. Files will then be copied from the distribution disks to the directory structure. A progress gauge is displayed on the screen to inform you of the installation progress. Once all files have been copied to the Upgrade Express directory, the setup program will create a program group called Upgrade Express. The Upgrade Express Management console icon will then be added to that group. Upon completion of the setup program, a confirmation dialogue will be displayed. page 4 Click the OK button on the confirmation dialogue to EXIT the setup program. The setup program created the Upgrade Express directory structure on the volume which you specified during installation. Using the utilities supplied by your network operating system, users should be given the following rights or permissions to the following directories that were created below the SERVER/VOL:\UE directory. \BIN - The Location Of Program Executables Etc. All Users Read Only \LIB - The Location where upgrade definitions and distribution files are stored. Clients - Read Write Create Administrators - Read Write Create Delete \INV - The Location where hardware and software databases are stored. Clients - Read Write Create Administrators - Read Write Create Delete \SRV - The Location where the server agent is stored. Clients - None Administrators - Read Write Create Delete After granting the required access to the Upgrade Express directory structure, EXECUTE the Upgrade Express Management Console by: double click the management console icon located in the Upgrade Express program group. When the management console is loaded for the first time, it creates a default upgrade definition that will install the Windows and DOS upgrade responder agents. A message in the lower left hand status window of the management console will indicate that the definitions are being generated. An hour glass icon will be displayed until this process has been completed. After the definition has been generated, review the components of the upgrade definition by clicking the OPEN icon from the tool bar or selecting File|Open from the management console menu. The Available Upgrade Dialogue box will be displayed. Click on the Install Upgrade Responder Agents in the list box, then click MODIFY to change or customize the upgrade definition to better suite your environment. By default this upgrade definition is placed on hold when it is created, when the definition has been changed to suite your environment you should release page 5 it by clicking the Hold checkbox in the upgrade definition dialogue. SAVE any changes made to the upgrade definition by clicking the OK button. =>Note: Please see the chapter on creating and modifying upgrade definitions for details on how to customize the default upgrade definition. After the upgrade definition has been modified and released, it must be executed by client workstations. To automate this procedure, use the utilities supplied by the network operating system vendor to setup the system login script or login batch file so that it will execute the appropriate responder agent. Example: Windows clients should execute WRESPOND DOS clients should execute DRESPOND When the responder agent is loaded, it will perform the actions that are defined in the upgrade definition, namely distributing the responder agent files to the local workstation, modifying the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, and the WIN.INI file. Once the Upgrade Express Responder Agents have been installed on the client workstations, the Upgrade Express installation is complete. page 6 * * CHAPTER 3 * * HOW THE DOS AND WINDOWS RESPONDERS WORK * * The following describes how the responder agents perform the task of executing upgrade definitions. When the upgrade responder agent is loaded, it reads the appropriate INI file to setup it's operating environment. Items such as locating the correct Warehouse Server, determining if it should remain resident, etc.. After the responder's environment is defined, it will then attempt to access the directory that is specified as the Warehouse Address. If the directory is unaccessible, the responder agent will attempt to login to the Warehouse server and access the warehouse address again. Once access is gained to the Warehouse Directory the upgrade responder agent will query the Upgrade Express database. The responder then executes any waiting upgrade definition and records status information for the management console to receive. While upgrade definitions are being executed, a status window is displayed to inform the user of each step that is being performed. If a connection to a warehouse server is initiated by the upgrade responder agent, it will release the server connection when it is no longer required. When all upgrade definitions have been executed, the upgrade responder agent will then remain resident and poll the warehouse server at specified intervals, unless the responder has been configured to unload after it has queried the warehouse server. page 7 CHAPTER 4 * * RESPONDER AGENT OPTIONS * * The executable file name for the DOS responder agent is DRESPOND.EXE. All configurable options for the DOS responder agent are stored in the DRESPOND.INI file. DRESPOND.EXE uses the DRESPOND.INI file that is located in the same directory as DRESPOND.EXE. The executable file name for the Windows responder agent is WRESPOND.EXE. All configurable options for the Windows responder agent are stored in the WRESPOND.INI file. WRESPOND.EXE uses the WRESPOND.INI file that is located in the same directory as WRESPOND.EXE. The following is a sample DRESPOND.INI [Upgrade Warehouse] WarehouseName=ú£ºútô¥úÖ}é WarehouseAddress=ô¥úÖ}éú⌐úüè¼ò¿áóòúú [DOSResponder] Poll=60 RefuseNext=10 Paging=0 Flags=0 PageFile=C:SWAP.FIL Resident=1 [NetWork] Type=0 LoginProc=C:STARTNET The following items are defined in the Windows and DOS responder agent ini files. [Upgrade Warehouse] Section WarehouseName - The name of the warehouse server. WarehouseAddress - The Upgrade Express dir on the warehouse server. [???Responder] Section Poll - How often the responder agent should poll the warehouse server for new upgrades. Refuse Next - How long the responder agent should wait after an upgrade definition has been refused, before attempting to execute again. Paging - The virtual memory scheme to be used by the DOS Responder agent when running as a TSR. page 8 0 = Auto Config 1 = Use EMS Memory 2 = Use Disk 3 = Use XMS Memory Flags - Numeric flag indicator, currently used to specify whether the responder agent can be unloaded if running as TSR or Windows background. If flags = 2 the responder agent will not accept unload commands. PageFile - Specifies the path for the DOS responder to create swap files when disk is used for virtual memory. Resident - If set to 1, the responder agent will remain resident, other wise the responder agent will terminate after polling the warehouse server. [NetWork] Section Type - Indicates the network operating system in use. 0=NetWare 1=NetWare Lite 2=Banyan Vines 3=IBM LAN Network 4=Lantastic 5=3Com 3+ 6=MS Windows For Workgroups 7=Windows NT advanced server 8=Other OS not listed. LoginProc - Specifies the external batch file to execute for logging in to the network when not using Novell NetWare. page 9 * * CHAPTER 5 * * USING UPGRADE EXPRESS QUICK START OVERVIEW * * The process by which clients are updated using Upgrade Express can be divided into two steps: 1 - Create the upgrade definition that includes files to distribute, scheduling information, distribution lists, actions to perform and scheduling information. 2 - Verify the upgrade completed successfully. Administrators create upgrade definitions which include the following items: 1. Description - Describes what the upgrade definition will do. 2. Method - Determines if the upgrade should be Pushed upon the client or Pulled at the client's convenience. 3. Scheduling - Determines when, how often and how many clients should be effected by the upgrade definition. 4. Target Computers - Determines which clients or severs should be effected by the upgrade definition. 5. Distribution List - Specifies other warehouse servers that should receive the upgrade definition. 6. Upgrade Strategy - The actions that the client should perform when executing this upgrade definition. Once the Upgrade Definition is completed and saved, it is now available for execution by the designated Upgrade Express clients and warehouse servers. When the upgrade definition has executed successfully on the client, the upgrade is considered complete and will not be executed again on that client, unless the upgrade definition has been marked for daily execution by the administrator. Once the upgrade definition has been executed, the client reports status information to the management console. If a client did not successfully complete the upgrade definition, it will be displayed in the Executive Overview dialogue of the management console. Detailed information from each client by be viewed by opening the view dialogue for the upgrade definition in the management console. page 10 * * CHAPTER 6 * * CREATING UPGRADE DEFINITIONS * * As previously discussed, Upgrade Definitions contain the following items: Packages of Files To Be Distributed Scheduling Information Workstation Profiles Server Distribution Lists and Action Objects These upgrade definitions are then executed by the specific Upgrade Express clients to complete the electronic software distribution process. * * Create A New Upgrade Definition * * To CREATE a new upgrade definition, click the "NEW" icon from the toolbar in the Upgrade Express Management Console, or select File|New from the menu. The Upgrade Definition dialogue will be displayed. BEGIN by selecting or entering the information requested on this dialogue. Description A description for this upgrade definition. This description will be used by network administrators to easily identify this upgrade definition, and will be displayed by Upgrade Express clients when the upgrade definition is executed. Notes This is a free form text edit field to store detailed information regarding this upgrade definition. These notes are available to Upgrade Express clients when the upgrade definition is setup to use the Pull method. Hold Upgrade When selected, this check box allows the upgrade to be placed on hold, ie. no clients can access the definition for the purpose of executing the upgrade until the check mark has been removed. Lock Keyboard When selected this checkbox instructs the upgrade responder agent to page 11 disable the control keys on the requesting workstation. Reboot After Upgrade When selected, this checkbox instructs the Upgrade Responder Agent to reboot the workstation after it has completed the upgrade definition successfully. Rollback When selected, this checkbox instructs the Upgrade Responder Agent to "UNDO" the selected upgrade procedure. If the upgrade procedure has not been run by the workstation, no action will be taken. * * Determining The Distribution Method * * Upgrade Express supports two methods of ESD, they are Push and Pull. The "PUSH" Method Forces the upgrade upon the workstation. This method should be used to ensure that driver files and critical software is updated without delay. The "PULL" Method Allows the user to select the upgrade to be performed at their convenience. This method should be used for allowing access to "elective" software updates and installations. Once the options for this dialogue have been completed, continue with scheduling the Upgrade Definition. To CONTINUE, click the Scheduling Information Button. This button will CREATE the Scheduling Information dialogue box. * * Scheduling The Upgrade * * Before an upgrade definition may be executed by an Upgrade Express Client, the criteria defined in this dialogue must be met. If scheduling options have not been set, the upgrade definition will be run immediately by those workstations as outlined in the workstation profile. Enter the information requested in this dialogue. Begin Upgrade On Use this field to enter the date and time that an upgrade definition should become active. page 12 End Upgrade On Use this field to enter the date and time that an upgrade definition should become dormant. Upgrade May Be Refused Use this field to specify the number of times an upgrade may be refused by the client before it is forced upon them. If the field is blank, or set to zero (0) the client may not refuse the upgrade definition. Max Devices To Upgrade Use this field to specify how many devices should be upgraded before the definition goes dormant. This is useful for staging upgrade definitions before executing a complete release. Delete Upgrade Upon Completion Use this checkbox to specify that the upgrade definition should be deleted once all the scheduling or device commitments have been met. Repeat Upgrade Definition Daily This checkbox is used to instruct the Upgrade Responder Agent to run this upgrade definition daily. Upon completion, click OK to SAVE or click CANCEL to ABORT the changes. Now that the upgrade definition has been scheduled, the next step is to target specific workstations that should receive the upgrade definition. To DEFINE these workstations, click on the Workstation Profile button. The Target Computer Profile dialogue will be created. * * Targeting Clients And Servers * * In order to direct upgrade definitions to specific workstations or servers, Upgrade Express utilizes what is called a Computer Profile. Computer profiles are a list of attributes that must be present in a workstation or server before the selected upgrade definition may be executed by the client. Example: Workstation attributes might be Video card, disk space, network driver, user id, etc. A collective list of such attributes constitutes a Computer Profile. If the upgrade definition does not require it to be targeted to any specific workstation, but rather a global upgrade, a computer profile does not need to be created. page 13 On the dialogue are 2 "list box controls" and 6 "buttons". Use this dialogue to define the workstation profile. The topmost list box contains profile attributes that have not been selected or used. The bottom most list box contains profile attributes that have been selected and that makeup the workstation profile. To ADD a profile attribute from the top list to the bottom list, double click using the left mouse button on the attribute of your choice. If parameters for the attributes are required, you will be prompted to enter them. Example: selecting Base RAM Installed, you will be prompted for the amount of RAM. Once the attribute has been selected and defined, it will be placed in the bottom list box and will automatically be removed from the top list box. Keep in mind that any attributes added to the workstation profile must exist collectively with all other attributes for the upgrade definition to be executed. In other words, all profile attributes are ANDed together. Example: 101 keyboard AND vga AND 640k RAM. Delete - Use this button to remove an attribute from the workstation profile. When all profile attributes have been selected, click the OK button to SAVE the workstation profile and return to the Upgrade Definition Dialogue. [carlb start] ** Profile Containers ** Computer Profiles may be saved as a group to be re-used for later upgrade definitions. Creating Computer Profile Containers helps speed creation of new upgrade definitions, and makes targeted computers easier to identify. To create a new Profile Container, add all of the desired profile attributes to the, "Selected Profile Attributes" list box. After all attributes have been added, click the "Save Container" button. You will then be prompted to enter the container description. After the description has been entered the Profile Container will be created. To use an existing Profile Container, click the "Load Container" button. A list of all known containers will be displayed. Select the page 14 container to be used and click the "Ok" button, the "Selected Profile Attributes" list box will be loaded with the attributes stored in the selected Profile Container. * * Executing Upgrade Definitions On A File Server * * Upgrade Express supports the ability to perform an upgrade of software that is based on the file server, without the use of external client workstations. These upgrades are performed by the UPSERVE.NLM that is loaded on the Netware file server. The UPSERVE.NLM contains a special server based Upgrade Responder Agent. A special profile attribute "Upgrade Express Server", has been created to allow the targeting of any known Upgrade Express Server on the local or wide area network. In order for file servers to be listed by selecting the "Upgrade Express Server" profile attribute, they must have been setup as an Upgrade Express Warehouse Server and have the UPSERVE.NLM loaded. The following example scenario will guide you through the process of sending and upgrade to a file server for execution. 1. Create a new Upgrade Definition. 2. In the Target Computer Profile, using the "Upgrade Express Server" attribute, select all file servers that should receive and execute the upgrade definition. All targeted servers will automatically be added to the Server Distribution list for you. 3. Create the upgrade strategy. 4. Save the upgrade definition. After the following steps have been performed, the Upgrade will be distributed to the targeted servers, and then executed. *** Action Objects Supported By The UPSERVE.NLM *** Since the upgrade definition will be executed on the Netware Server, not all available action objects are supported by the NLM, due to OS limitations. The following list describes the available Action Objects. File Delete Text File Editing INI File Editing File Attribute Updates File Move File Copy File Distribution OS Commands Server Console Operations Any object listed above can be executed by the UPSERVE.NLM on the targeted file server. If action objects other than those listed above are executed page 15 by the UPSERVE.NLM, the Upgrade Express server will consider this an error during the upgrade process and rollback any progress that was made before the invalid action object was encountered. [carlb end] * * Distributing Upgrade Definitions To Other Servers * * Server Distribution Lists are managed by the Upgrade Express Server agent. This version of Upgrade Express currently only supports Server Distribution Lists in NetWare 3.x & 4.x environments. This will be expanded in future versions to Windows NT and OS/2 server environments. Upgrade definitions which are created on one warehouse server may be distributed to other warehouse servers on the network by creating a server distribution list. Distributing upgrade definitions across multiple warehouse servers allows upgrade definitions to be accessed on the local warehouse server rather than forcing the client to cross intermediate bridges and routers, to access upgrade definitions. Once the upgrade definition is distributed to other warehouse servers, it will be updated each time it is changed by the administrator on the source server, assuring that upgrade definitions are kept in sync. If the upgrade definition is deleted from the source warehouse server, the administrator is given the option of deleting the upgrade definition from all remote warehouse servers as well. * * Creating A Distribution List * * To CREATE a distribution list for an upgrade definition, click the Sever Distribution List button. The Server Distribution Dialogue will then be created. The dialogue contains a list of all warehouse servers where the upgrade definition has already been distributed. * * Adding A Warehouse To The Distribution List * * To ADD a warehouse server to the distribution list, click the ADD button. A list of available warehouses will then be displayed. Click the desired warehouse and then click OK. The warehouse will then be added to the distribution list. * * Removing A Warehouse From The Distribution List * * page 16 To REMOVE a warehouse from the distribution list, click the warehouse name in the list with the left mouse button. Then, click the DELETE button. Confirmation will be required before the warehouse is removed from the list. If a warehouse is removed from the distribution list, the administrator will be given the option of removing the upgrade definition from the remote warehouse. When all changes have been made to the distribution list, click the OK button to RETURN to the Workstation Upgrade Definition Dialogue. * * Action Objects * * Up to this point, all items associated with the Upgrade Definition have defined when it should run, where it should run, and where it should be distributed to. The Upgrade Strategy is the process or actions that the upgrade responder agent will take when it executes the upgrade definition. To DEFINE the Upgrade Strategy, click on the Upgrade Strategy Button. The Upgrade Strategy dialogue will then be created. On the dialogue box are two list box controls. The topmost list box contains the available strategy objects, while the bottom list box contains action objects that are in use. A action object can be defined as any procedure or operation that may be performed on the target workstation. Upgrade Express has identified and predefined templates for 12 of the most common tasks to be performed for electronic software distribution. ADD ACTION OBJECT To ADD a action object to the upgrade strategy, double click on the desired object in the available object list. COMPLETE the dialogue information requested for the object, then click OK. The action object will then be added to the Upgrade Strategy list. MODIFY ACTION OBJECT To MODIFY a action object, click on the desired object in the upgrade strategy list box, then click the MODIFY button. The completed dialogue reflecting the information which you have modified for page 17 the selected object will be displayed. Make the required modifications and click the OK button. DELETE ACTION OBJECT To DELETE a action object from the upgrade strategy, click on the desired object in the upgrade strategy list box, then click the DELETE button. Confirmation will be required before the action object is deleted. RE-ORDERING ACTION OBJECTS The Upgrade Responder Agents will execute each object in the order that they are displayed in the Upgrade Strategy list box. Sometimes it is necessary to re-order objects within the list. To MOVE an item in the list, click the item with the left mouse button. After the item is highlighted, move the mouse pointer to the position where the item should be moved (the cursor should change to a double arrow). Click the left mouse button again, and the item will be inserted into the new location. When all action objects have been added, click the OK button to return to the Workstation Upgrade Definition Dialogue. SAVING THE DEFINITION Now that all criteria have been defined, click the OK button to save the upgrade definition. Unless the definition has been placed on hold, it will be available for immediate execution to any Upgrade Express clients that are connected to the warehouse server and that meet the defined Computer Profile list. If a distribution list was created, the Upgrade Express Server Agent will begin the distribution to other servers at it's next earliest opportunity. * * Upgrade Definition Re-Cap * * To recap the upgrade definition completion process, the following steps need to be taken to create an upgrade definition. page 18 1. Give the upgrade definition a name, provide any notes. 2. Select the distribution method, push or pull. 3. Enter scheduling information for the upgrade definition. (optional) 4. Create a computer profile, target specific clients or servers. (optional) 5. Create a server distribution list. (optional) 6. Define the upgrade strategy. page 19 * * CHAPTER 7 * * UPGRADE ACTION OBJECTS * * As mentioned previously, Upgrade Express has identified and defined templates for 13 of the most common tasks to be performed by ESD. This chapter will detail a list of all 13 action objects and explain the dialogue box associated with each. The twelve most common action objects are: Copy Files Delete Files OS Commands Hardware Inventory Software Inventory Text File Editing Keystroke Playback INI File Modification Display User Messages Move / Rename Files Changing File Attributes Distribute File Packages Program Manager / Shell Operations Server Console Operations * * Path Variables * * Most of the action objects require that a path is entered to locate files, etc.. Upgrade Express has created three path variables to replace drive letters when they are not known by the network administrator. %BOOT% - The Boot drive of the requesting workstation %WINDIR% - The windows drive/directory of the requesting workstation %WINSYS% - The windows system directory of the requesting workstation. All action objects will interpret the path variables when they are used. Ignore Read Only In the following section you will notice that most action objects allow read-only files to be ignored. To clarify this means that the upgrade responder agent will not affect read-only files with the action object. Example: files marked read-only will not be edited Making Backups Most action objects allow backups to be made before the action is performed. Since the Upgrade Express rollback feature depends upon backups being made, if you wish to implement the roll back feature always select the Make Backup option. * * Copy Files * * This action object will instruct the upgrade responder agent to copy files from a source to a destination path. The following information is required by the Copy Files Dialogue: page 20 File Name The name of the file or files to be copied, may contain wildcard characters. Source Path The location where the files can be found to copy from. This path may be a local path, network path, or may be one of Upgrade Express' predefined path variables. Target Path The target path represents the location where the files will be copied to. This path may be a local path, network path, or may be one of Upgrade Express' predefined path variables. When all of the entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * Delete Files * * This action object instructs the upgrade responder agent to delete files from a specific path. Files may be deleted based on file name, file size, or file date. The following information is required by the Delete Files Dialogue: WARNING: There is no automatic rollback feature for this object, files are immediately removed from the drive.! The following information is required by the Delete Files Dialogue. File Name The name of the file to be deleted. The filename may contain wildcard characters to match a group of files. File Path The location where the files to be deleted can be found. This may be a local path, network path, or may be one of Upgrade Express' predefined path variables. Search Subdirectories Instructs the upgrade responder agent to search all subdirectories of the file path for matching files to delete. Ignore Read Only Files Instructs the upgrade responder not to delete files that have the read-only attribute set. page 21 Delete Where Size Instructs the upgrade responder agent to delete the files based upon the size of the file. Delete Where Date Instructs the upgrade responder agent to delete the files based upon the date of the file. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to save the object or CANCEL to abort. * * Display User Messages * * The display message object instructs the upgrade responder agent to display an administrator defined message for the user to read. This object is useful for displaying notes regarding the upgrade definition, or for broadcasting general information to the user community. The message editor dialogue is a free form text editor much like the OS Command editor. When finished typing or modifying the emessage, click the OK button to SAVE the MESSAGE or click the CANCEL button to ABORT saving the message. Hardware Inventory There is no dialogue associated with the Hardware Inventory, it simply instructs the upgrade responder agent to inventory the hardware that is installed in the client workstation. Software Inventory Like the Hardware Inventory object, there is no dialogue associated with the Software Inventory object, it simply instructs the upgrade responder agent to inventory the local drives of the client workstation for any software packages that have been defined in the Common Software Database. See the Common Software database section for more information regarding the Software Inventory features. * * Distribute File Package * * The basis for all ESD is to distribute packages of files, the Distribute File Package object, allows you to define file distribution packages aka FDP's to be included in an upgrade definition. Each FDP contains a description, a group of one or more files with attributes to be distributed to the requesting client. The following information is requested by the FDP dialogue: page 22 Description A description for the file distribution package. Add Files To FDP To ADD files to an FDP, click the ADD button The File Information dialogue will then be displayed. From the File Information dialogue click the Select File button, this will display the select file dialogue box. Use the controls on this dialogue to select the file or files to be added to the FDP. To select multiple files, click on the first file to add in the file list. While holding down the shift key, click the last file in the list to be added, then click the OK button. Destination Path Instructs the upgrade responder agent where the file should be placed on the requesting workstation, this path is defaulted to the location where the file was found when it was added to the FDP. Download Strategy Gives the upgrade responder agent specific instructions on how to handle existing files that may be overwritten, such as download when the library file is the latest, or when the file size is less than etc. File Attributes Instructs the upgrade responder agent to set any of the desired attributes on the file after it has been distributed to the client. Some of the file attributes are only available to files that have been distributed to a NetWare partition. Make Backup Instructs the upgrade responder agent to backup any existing files before overwriting them with new files from the distribution package. This should be checked so that a rollback can be performed. Replace All Instructs the upgrade responder agent to search and update any files found in subdirectories of the destination path. Click the OK button to ADD the file(s) to the FDP. The file(s) will then be copied from the directory specified to the Warehouse Server in the FDP directory. page 23 Delete File From FDP To DELETE a file from the FDP, click on the desired file in the FDP dialogue. Then click the DELETE button. Confirmation will be required before the file will be deleted. Modify File In FDP To MODIFY the attributes, download strategy or destination path of a file that is contained in the FDP, click on the desired file in the FDP dialogue. Then click the MODIFY button. The File Information dialogue will then be displayed allowing modification of the file attributes. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. Keystroke Playback The keystroke playback object instructs the upgrade responder agent to playback keystrokes that have been recorded using the keyboard capture utility, or Microsoft Recorder which is shipped with windows. When this object is selected, it creates a dialogue box for selecting the keyboard recording file to be played back. Select the file, then click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * INI File Modification * * This action object instructs the upgrade responder agent to modify the contents of a windows style INI file. The following information is requested by the INI file dialogue: File Name The name of the INI file to be edited, may contain wildcard characters. File Path The path where the INI file to be modified can be found. This path may contain any of the predefined path variables. Make Backup Instructs the upgrade responder agent to create a backup copy of the INI page 24 file before modifications are made. Ignore Read Only Files Instructs the upgrade responder agent to ignore files that have the read-only attribute set. Search Subdirectories Instructs the upgrade responder agent to search all subdirectories of the file path for matching files to be modified. Append To Existing Value Instructs the upgrade responder agent to append the contents of the value field to any existing data that is associated with the INI file entry. Remove Entry From File Instructs the upgrade responder agent to remove the entry from the INI file. Section The section of the INI file where the Entry is to be found. ie [windows] Entry The keyword portion of a section of the INI file, ie spooler= Value The value that should be assigned to the entry, ie on or off. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * Text File Editing * * The modify text file object allows text files to be modified in several ways, it provides several editing actions that may be performed on a group of files. The following information is requested by the Text Editing dialogue: File Name The name of the file to be edited. May contain wild card characters. Make Backup Copy Instructs the upgrade responder agent to create a backup of the file before it is edited. page 25 Case Sensitive Comparisons Instructs the upgrade responder agent to only match text on exact case scenarios, ie bat is not the same as BAT. Search Subdirectories Instructs the upgrade responder agent to search all subdirectories of the filepath for matching files to be edited. Ignore Read Only Files Instructs the upgrade responder agent to ignore files that have the read-only attribute set. File Path The path where the files to be edited are located. The path may contain any of the predefined path variables. * * Edit Actions * * Instructs the upgrade responder agent how to edit the file. The following seven edit actions have been defined: Replace Found Text - Searches the file for a matching string of characters and then replaces it with the specified replacement text. Insert Before Found Text - Inserts text in the file before the first occurrence of the matching text. Insert After Found Text - Inserts text in the file after the matching text. Insert Before And After Found Text - Encapsulates the matching text. Remove Found Text - Removes the matching text from the file. Prelude File With Text - Inserts the selected text at the beginning of the file. Append Text To File - Adds the selected text to the end of the file. Search For Specifies the text to search for. This may be a literal string of characters or may contain regular expressions. For a detailed explanation of regular expression matching techniques, please see the chapter on regular expressions. page 26 Replacement Text Specifies the text that is used for replacing or updating with any of the edit actions. This field may be a literal string of characters or it may instruct the upgrade responder agent to obtain the text from an external file. To have the upgrade responder agent load the text from an external file, the replacement text should begin with the @ sign and then continue with the name of the file. Example: @\\SRVR-1\VOL\DIR\FILE.NAM. In order for the upgrade responder agent to load the text from an external file located on a networked device, the file must be accessible to the userid that is currently logged-in. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or click CANCEL to ABORT. * * Move / Rename Files * * This action object will instruct the upgrade responder agent to move or rename files from a source to a destination path. The following information is required by the Move / Rename Files Dialogue: File Name The name of the file or files to be moved, may contain wildcard characters. Source Path The location where the files can be found to be moved from. This path may be a local path, network path, or may be one of Upgrade Express' predefined path variables. Target Path The location where the files will be moved to.This path may be a local path, network path, or may be one of Upgrade Express' predefined path variables. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * Program Manager / Shell Operations * * The program manager operations object provides a facility for creating and deleting program groups and items for MS-Windows Program Manager, Norton Desktop or Saber Lan Workstation shells. This object is only executable by the Windows Upgrade Responder Agent. The following fields are defined on the dialogue to create or modify the program manager operation object. When creating program items, the name of the program group where it is to be page 27 created is required. The program group specified must exist before the program item can be created. Operation A series of radio buttons that select the operation to be performed, create program item or group, delete program item or group display a window or exit program manager. Window Show Style Is used to specify how a window is to be shown when the Display Window operation is performed. Program Item Information Program item information describes in detail the program item that is to be created or deleted. Description The description for this program item. Command Line The command line to execute the program item. Working Directory The directory used for this program item, Shortcut Key A shortcut key that should be assigned to this program item. Program Group Information Description The description for this program group. Group File Name The name of the file to be used for this group. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * Setting File Attributes * * The set file attribute object instructs the upgrade responder agent to set attributes associated with the selected file, not all of the attributes page 28 listed on the dialogue are available to all platforms, some of them are only available to files located on NetWare volumes. The following information is requested by the File Update Information dialogue: File Name The name of the file to be updated, may contain wildcards to update multiple files. File Path The path where the files to be updated are located. This path may contain any of the path variables defined by Upgrade Express. Search All Subdirectories Instructs the upgrade responder agent to search any subdirectories below the file path for matching files to be updated. Ignore Read Only Files Instructs the upgrade responder agent to ignore files that have the read-only attribute set. Selected File Attributes A series of check boxes that define which attributes are to be set for the file(s). File Date Specifies the new date stamp to be applied to the file. If the field is left blank, no change to the date will be made. File Time Specifies the new time stamp to be applied to the file. If the field is left blank, no change to the time will be made. When all entries have been made, click the OK button to SAVE the object or CANCEL to ABORT. * * OS Commands * * The OS (Operating System) command strategy instructs the upgrade responder agent to execute the commands via the host operating system. Any commands that are executable by the OS may be entered here. Example: the upgrade responder agent under MS-DOS, would execute these commands as a BAT file. OS/2 machines would run this as a .CMD file. Novell servers would execute the commands as an .NCF file. page 29 When you have finished editing the command strategy, click the OK button. To abort saving any changes click the CANCEL button. [carlb start] **** Server Console Operations **** The server console operations object allows commands to be sent to and executed on the designated novell file server's console. This action object requires that Phantom Of The Console be installed on the designated file server, and that the PHANTOM.NLM be loaded. Listed on the Server Console operations dialogue are the following fields: Server Name: The name of the file server where this script should be run. Remember, this file server must have the PHANTOM.NLM loaded for the script to run. Server Script: This is a text editor field that allows the entry of a script to be executed by the PHANTOM.NLM on the designated file server. Script Assist: Lists all available Phantom Of The Console script commands for easy reference. For more information on how to write a Phantom Of The Console script, please review the Phantom Of The Console manual. Using this action object, provides a more sophisticated approach to executing commands on the server console, as opposed to using the OS Command action object. The Phantom scripting language allows access to all screens on the file server, and provides branching and decision making constructs. When finished writing the Server Console script, click the "Ok" button to save the object, otherwise click the "Cancel" button to discard it. [carlb end] page 30 * * CHAPTER 8 * * COMMON SOFTWARE DATABASE * * The common software database contains identifying information about commercial software packages that is used when the Upgrade Responder Agent performs a software inventory. The following information is stored in the Common Software Database; Software Title Identifying File Name File Size File Date and Time When the Upgrade Responder Agent performs a software inventory, it scans only the local drives of the requesting workstation for BAT, EXE and COM files and checks each matching file against the Common Software Database. If a match is found, the application title and the date that it was found is recorded for the requesting workstation's software inventory. If there are specific applications that are not registered in the Common Software Database that may be in use at your site, you may add them to the database. To access the common software database, click the common software database icon on the toolbar. The Common Software Database dialogue will appear, listing all software titles that have been defined. New software titles may be added by clicking the ADD button and entering the information specific to the software title. Changes may be made to the database by: click on the desired software title in the list and then click the MODIFY button. Software titles may also be REMOVED from the database by: click on the title in the list and then click the DELETE button. Confirmation will be required before the title is actually removed from the database. When all modifications are completed, click the OK button. page 31 * * CHAPTER 9 * * INSTALLED SOFTWARE DATABASE * * The installed software database allows network administrators to view a list of software installed on workstations. To VIEW the installed software for a particular workstation, click the Installed Software Database icon or select Database|Installed Software Database from the menu. The installed software dialogue screen will then appear. Click on the desired workstation to be viewed in the list, then click the VIEW button. The installed software report will be generated and displayed on the screen. To PRINT the report select File|Print from the report view screen. To CLOSE the report, select File|Close. page 32 * * CHAPTER 10 * * INSTALLED HARDWARE DATABASE * * The installed hardware database allows network administrators to view a list of hardware installed in a particular workstation. To VIEW the installed hardware for a workstation, click the Installed Hardware Database icon or select Database|Hardware Database from the menu. The installed hardware dialogue screen will appear. Click on the desired workstation to be viewed in the list. Then click the View button. The installed software report will be generated and displayed on the screen. To PRINT the report, select File|Print from the report view screen. To CLOSE the report, select File|Close. The following items are recorded when a hardware inventory is performed. BIOS Date BIOS Manufacturer Boot Drive Math Chip Display Adapter Monitor Type Extended Memory Hard Drives Drive Types Drive Characteristics CD Roms Mouse Information Parallel/Serial Port Information CPU Type Base ram Video Ram DOS Version EMS Memory XMS Memory LAN Driver Information. Keyboard Information Environment Information. page 33 * * CHAPTER 11 * * VIEWING UPGRADE DEFINITION STATUS * * When upgrade definitions are executed by the upgrade responder agents, the responder agent records detailed information regarding the upgrade execution process. To VIEW the status and details of the process, click on the Open icon on the toolbar or select File|Open from the menu. From the Available Upgrade Definition dialogue, click on the upgrade definition that you want to know the status of. Then click the View button. A list of all clients that have executed the upgrade definition will be displayed. The list will contain the workstation identifier, the status of the upgrade, either success or failed and the date/time the upgrade was performed. To VIEW the details for a particular machine, click on the machine in the list and then click the VIEW button. This report shows the exact steps that the upgrade responder took in performing the upgrade definition. To PRINT the detail status select File|Print from the browse window. To CLOSE the detail status, select File|Close from the browse window. If an Upgrade Express client failed while executing and upgrade definition it can be forced to run again by deleting the status information from the Upgrade Status List. To DELETE the status information, click on the workstation to be reset, then click the DELETE button. Confirmation will be required before the status information for that workstation is deleted. page 34 * * CHAPTER 12 * * VIEWING AGENT STATUS * * The Upgrade Express management console provides a facility for determining the state of any Upgrade Express agent connected to the warehouse server. By clicking the Agent Status icon from the toolbar, the agent status dialogue will be created. The agent status dialogue lists information regarding all known Upgrade Express clients. Each client has two lines of information, as follows: Workstation ID - The identifier of the client. Last Seen - The last time the client checked in to the server. Device Type - What type of client it is, DOS, Windows NLM etc. Current Status - IDLE, Active etc. Last Action - The last upgrade the device performed. When FINISHED viewing the agent status list, click OK page 35 * * CHAPTER 13 * * EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW * * The Upgrade Express management console provides up to the minute information regarding clients, and upgrade definition execution status through the executive overview dialogue. To ACCESS this dialogue, click the Executive Overview icon from the toolbar. The following information is displayed on the dialogue: Warehouse Name The name of the warehouse Warehouse Address The location of the warehouse. Total Devices The total number of devices or clients allocated to this warehouse. Active Devices The total number of devices that have checked in to the warehouse. Total Upgrades The total number of upgrade definitions located in the warehouse. Status Messages Important information submitted by the upgrade responder agents. Example: an upgrade definition failed etc. When finished, click the OK button to CLOSE the Executive Overview dialogue. [start carlb] * * Selecting Another Warehouse * * All Upgrade Express warehouses may be managed from one central location using the Upgrade Express Management Console. The currently managed warehouse is reflected in the status line at the bottom of the management console screen. To change warehouse locations, click on the "Warehouse" icon on the toolbar or select File|Change Location. A list of all known Upgrade Express warehouses will be displayed. Click on page 36 the desired warehouse, then click the OK button. After the selection has been made, the warehouse name in the status line of the management console will reflect the newly selected upgrade express warehouse. * * Viewing The Server Status Log * * The Server Status Log is maintained by the UPSERVE.NLM. Each time an upgrade definition is distributed to a remote server or other events occur, UPSERVE writes status messages with a date and time stamp to the log file. The name of the file is SERVER.LOG and it is located in the UE\LIB directory where Upgrade Express is installed. To view the log file click the "Server Status Log" icon on the tool bar or select "Warehouse Server Status Log" from the reports menu. If entries have been made to the log file it will be displayed in an browse window. The server status log may be printed from the browse window. To print the log file select File|Print from the Warehouse Server Log File Browse Window. The file will be printed to the currently selected printer. To change the printer setup, select File|Print Setup from the Warehouse Server Log file Browse Window. When finished viewing the log file select File|Close from the Warehouse Server Log File Browse Window. [end carlb] page 37 * * CHAPTER 14 * * THE UPGRADE EXPRESS SERVER AGENT FOR NETWARE * * The Upgrade Express server agent for NetWare is responsible for distributing upgrade definitions to other warehouse servers designated in the server distribution list of an upgrade definition. This agent is implemented as a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) and must be loaded from the file server console. The Upgrade Express server agent also contains a special server based Upgrade Responder Agent that is targetable using a Computer Profile and can execute Upgrade Definitions. To load the server agent, enter the following command at the file server console. LOAD [PATH_TO_THE_SRV_DIR]\UPSERVE LOAD SYS1:\EXPRESS\SRV\UPSERV After the NLM is loaded it creates it's own screen and command line. The following commands are available under the UPSERVE console. HELP ********************************************************** Description : Displays the help screen. Syntax : HELP ********************************************************** CONFIG ********************************************************** Description : Displays warehouse server name and address. Syntax : CONFIG ********************************************************** PING ********************************************************** Description : Test connection to remote warehouse Syntax : PING [WAREHOUSE$NAME] ********************************************************** LIST ********************************************************** Description : Display All Known Warehouses Syntax : LIST ********************************************************** CLS ********************************************************** Description : Clear the console screen Syntax : CLS ********************************************************** page 38 TRACE ********************************************************** Description : Display low-level diagnostic messages Syntax : TRACE ON|OFF Default : OFF ********************************************************** STATUS ********************************************************** Description : Display all upgrade definition status Syntax : STATUS ********************************************************** page 39 * * CHAPTER 15 * * REGULAR EXPRESSIONS * * Regular Expressions are used by the Text Editing action object to perform complex search and replace operations on a given text file. Regular Expressions are a method of string pattern matching. Like an arithmetic expression, a regular expression may have operators. Also like an arithmetic expression, a regular expression may be simple or complex and obscure. This method of string matching is powerful and has gained wide acceptance. This section does not attempt to explain the complete subject of regular expressions but present a useful subset. * * Metacharacters * * Regular expressions are made up of characters. Most any character, when used in regular expressions will match itself during pattern matching i.e. A matches A, b matches b etc.. Some characters however have special meanings in regular expressions. These characters known as metacharacters are: \ ^ $ . [ ] | ( ) { } * + ? < > Because of their special meanings, these characters will not ordinarily match themselves. To restore the literal meaning to one of these characters for matching, you must precede the character with a backslash. This is the special meaning given to the metacharacter \, it restores the literal meaning to any metacharacter, an action often referred to as quoting or escaping. Below is an example of how to express the literal meaning of each metacharacter. Example: \\ \^ \$ \. \[ \] \|  \{ \} \* \+ \? \< \> * * Using Metacharacters To Determine Position * * The metacharacters ^ and $ are used to indicate in what position on the line a string must be in order to match the regular expression. The up caret, ^, matches the beginning of a string or line; the dollar sign, $, matches the end. See the examples below: Example: Jack And Jill This regular expression will match itself anywhere within a line. Example: ^Jack And Jill This regular expression matches "Jack And Jill" only when the string appears at the beginning of a line. page 40 Example: Jack And Jill$ This regular expression matches "Jack And Jill" only when then string appears at the end of a line. Example: ^Jack And Jill$ This regular expression matches "Jack And Jill" when it is the only thing on the line. * * Matching Characters * * As stated previously, the letter A matches itself, the letter z matches itself, and so on. This type of matching is useful only if the string you are matching is very unambiguous. We also need a less specific method of matching characters. Use the period or dot character when you wish to match any single character. This gives you a capability that is quite useful, but what if you want to match some characters and not others ? For this we use something called a character class. Character classes look and work a lot like sets. They are enclosed in the square bracket metacharacters, [ and ]. Within a character class, most characters take on their literal meaning. Look at the example character class below and consider the exceptional characters. Example: [AEIOU] This class matches any of the characters, A, E, I, O or U. Example: [a-z] This class matches any of the lower case characters a through z. Since the dash or hyphen character is used to show a range, it does not always take on its literal meaning within a character class. It can take on its literal meaning, however, if it is not placed between two characters within the class. Example: [-A-Za-z0-9] This example class will match any alphanumeric character or dash. Another notable character is the up-caret. When placed at the first position within a character class, the ^ caret has a special meaning. It causes the character class to match any but the characters that follow it. Example: [^0-9] This example matches any character except a digit. page 41 Example: [0-9^] This example matches any digit or an up caret. Another character that does not always represent its literal meaning, when used in a character class is the backslash. Within classes, as elsewhere in regular expression, the \ character gives other characters special meaning. The use of the backslash is the only means of representing not-printing characters such as backspaces and carriage returns. Please see the table below: Escape Sequence Description \b backspace \f formfeed \n end of line \r carriage return \t tab \\ backslash One of the most common uses of these representations is to devise a character class that matches "white-space". Example: ^login[ \t] The example shown combines several of the concepts presented. It uses the up-caret, indicating that the matching text must be at the beginning of a line. Next a string of characters that match themselves literally,. These characters are followed by a character class, that matches either a space or a tab. The example shown above will match the string "login" whenever it is at the beginning of a line and is followed by a tab or a space. * * Summary * * Below is a table of patterns available an their corresponding meanings. The c is used to indicate a character. Pattern Meaning c Match any normal character \c treat c as a normal character ^ match beginning of line $ match end of line < match beginning of word > match end of word . match any char (except \n) .* match any string (except \n) a|b match a or b [abc] match any characters abc [^abc] match any characters except abc [a-z] match any character a-z page 42 * * CHAPTER 16 * * PULLING UPGRADE DEFINITIONS * * When an upgrade definition has been defined using the pull method, it must be manually initiated by the client. * * Pulling Upgrades Under DOS * * To initiate the upgrade process in the DOS environment users should execute the PULLUP program. This program is located in the BIN directory of the warehouse server. When the PULLUP program is executed, it builds a list of all upgrade definitions that have been targeted to the client. The user may then select to perform one of the available upgrades by, press enter or obtain further information regarding the upgrade definition by pressing the <F3> key. When the user selects an upgrade to be performed, the PULLUP program will execute the DOS Responder agent, instructing it which upgrade to perform. After the upgrade has completed successfully, the user is returned to the DOS prompt. If no upgrades are desired, press the ESCAPE key to exit the pullup program. * * Pulling Upgrades Under Windows * * From the Windows Upgrade Responder Agent, select Upgrade|Select Upgrade To Perform. A list of all available upgrades will be displayed, to perform an UPGRADE, click on the UPGRADE in the list then click OK. Confirmation will be required before the upgrade definition is executed. page 43 CHAPTER 17 MISCELLANEOUS Customer Support Server Sentry is backed by a customer support system designed to offer you prompt and courteous service. If you have exhausted all other HELP avenues and need a friendly voice to help you with your problem, follow these steps: ~ Try to duplicate the problem, keystroke by keystroke, to see exactly what was done. Document each move. ~ Be at your computer when you call Customer Support. Have your manual and license number handy. ~ If possible, fax us any details or pertinent information ahead of time which you feel may help us understand and resolve your problem. ~ Call Circuit Masters Software, Inc. on our direct technical support line at (409) 335-6126. Circuit Masters Software, Inc. offers a 24 hour BBS. This service contains fully functional demo packages, update documentation, product literature, etc.. Our BBS number is 409-335-4786. Product Updates If any changes have been incorporated into the software that are presently not reflected in the manual/documentation, a READ.ME file will be located on the original Server Sentry Installation Diskette and in the directory specified during the installation process. If applicable, you will have the opportunity to view this file upon the initial installation. The READ ME file will also be copied into the Server Sentry directory. ~ Print this file and attach it to your User's Manual. ~ To receive notices concerning product updates and new product releases, please fill out and mail back the User Registration Card. Mailing back this Card is the only method which will ensure that you are added to our mailing list. Other Products Phantom of The Console Order #PC5000. The Original Console Scheduler. This powerful scheduler NLM automatically monitors and executes any valid NetWare command, NCF file or Phantom Command File. Simple scripting language adds workstation capabilities to the server using If...Then, while & repeat loops, macros and user defined variables. Utilize commands in scripts like: attach, break, page 44 console, copy, date delete, delay, dir dspace, edit, echo, goto, help, killuser, login, walktree, xcopy (supports the DOS partition) and many more. Use a Phantom Command file to automate most any situation. Includes DOS & Windows Interface. Access job lists, server console or execute a job to run immediately. Fully automate back-up procedures (including back-up of the DOS partition) by automatically starting & stopping NLM's. Send keystrokes directly to NLM screens, automating SBACKUP and other menu driven NLM's. Run multiple processes simultaneously. Increased security includes password protection, encrypted batch files and control of volumes when not in use. Reporting utility documents date, time, description of the job, commands executed and job results. Automatically logoff users. Perform automatic file transfers routinely or based on pre-defined criteria. Move print jobs between queues. Send broadcast messages and much more. Phantom of The Console GOLD Order # PG5000. Includes all of the features of the Basic package and much more. Avoid potentially catastrophic network scenarios by automatically responding to NetWare O/S alerts, database messages & other network monitoring packages. Avoid downtime or loss of data on the network. Automatically resolve network problems as they occur using pre-defined solutions. The Gold offers file operations such as copy, move, delete, rename, flag, etc. on remote servers, as well as local servers. Harness the power of idle workstations. Execute jobs requiring DOS platforms like: database consolidation, produce reports, run client based applications, manipulate large database files, etc. Distribute an unlimited number of interactive tasks from a server to client workstations and control these tasks from the server. Schedule jobs on the workstation and the server. Includes 5 client agents. Phantom of The Console PLATINUM Order # PP5000. The ultimate network automation solution, including all of the features of the Gold and more. Includes 2 Server Sentry NLM's, 2 Volume Sentry NLM's, 2 CORA NLM's, 2 server agents with all of the features of the Gold, and 20 client agents. Server Sentry Order # SS4000. The Intelligent Server Uptime Tool. Document & respond to ABENDs as they occur. The only monitoring tool of it's kind providing immediate assistance without user intervention. Automatically re-boot the server. Generate a chronological history file containing: all O/S registers, current stack pointer, process running at the time of the ABEND, ABEND error code, ABEND descriptions, system date & time, NetWare ABEND message format and ALL active screen images. User defined parameters trigger pager notification that is compatible with both numeric & alpha pagers. User defines which key personnel will be called based on time of day, day of week or complexity of the problem. Engineers, managers and financial personnel get the information immediately, as Server Sentry generates detailed "downtime cost analysis reports". page 45 Volume Sentry Order # VS4000. Automate the volume repair process on NetWare file servers. When a volume cannot mount or is dismounted due to errors, Volume Sentry takes over and runs VREPAIR to repair and mount the defective volume. Volume Sentry will retry until the volume is mounted or until a user specified number of retries has been reached. All actions are recorded into a log file. StayUp Order # SU4000. Automatically reboot NetWare services 24 hours a day. No more running from machine to machine trying to re-establish connections with the file server. StayUp is a TSR utility program which automatically re- boots and re-establishes the network connection for : dedicated print servers, tape back-ups, fax servers, network bridges, mail gateways, E-Mail servers, dial-up gateways, CD-ROM servers, network gateways, unattended workstations, mainframe connections, BBS's, etc.. Runs on all versions of NetWare. Takes less than 2K of RAM. Z-Menu Order # ZM4000. The last word in menu systems. Features include: shadow menus, custom help screens, 39 programmable function keys, password support, desktop background configurable, customizeable menu borders-single & double, mouse support, moveable menu windows, customizeable menu header, converts Novell & Saber formats, compiled menus for added security, hotkeys access utilities anywhere within menu, desktop accessories & more. Runs on NetWare 286 V2.XX, NetWare V3,XX & V4.XX. 0K RAM overhead on item execution. CORA Order # CO4000. Console Output Recording Agent for Novell File Servers. This Netware Loadable Module will record any screen output on the file server to a log file. This information can then be reviewed later when network personnel are available. Useful for documenting boot sequences, error recording etc. Runs on Netware v3.x & 4.x. page 46 DID YOU KNOW ? WHAT ARE THE TOP FIVE PRIORITIES FOR NETWORK MANAGERS ? Increase productivity Reduce downtime Reduce computing/communications costs Fine-tune network performance Plan for a growing computing infrastructure WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE COST OF NETWORK DOWNTIME PER HOUR: 19% said between $ 5,000.00 and $ 10,000.00 per hour 24% said between $ 10,000.00 and $ $ 50,000.00 per hour 14% said between $ 50,000.00 and $ 100,000.00 per hour WHAT ARE YOUR COSTS ?