CLIENTUPDATE(1) General Commands Manual CLIENTUPDATE(1)
NAME
clientupdate - Xymon client update utility
SYNOPSIS
clientupdate [options]
DESCRIPTION
clientupdate is part of the Xymon client. It is responsible for updating an existing client installation from a central repository of
client packages stored on the Xymon server.
When the Xymon client sends a normal client report to the Xymon server, the server responds with the section of the client-local.cfg(5)
file that is relevant to this client. Included in this may be a "clientversion" value. The clientversion received from the server is com-
pared against the current clientversion installed on the client, as determined by the contents of the $BBHOME/etc/clientversion.cfg file.
If the two versions are not identical, clientupdate is launched to update the client installation.
OPTIONS
--level
Report the current clientversion.
--update=NEWVERSION
Attempt to update the client to NEWVERSION by fetching this version of the client software from the Xymon server.
--reexec
Used internally during the update process, see OPERATION below.
--remove-self
Used internally during the update process. This option causes the running clientupdate utility to delete itself - it is used during
the update to purge a temporary copy of the clientupdate utility that is installed in $BBTMP.
USING CLIENTUPDATE IN HOBBIT
To manage updating clients without having to logon to each server, you can use the clientupdate utility. This is how you setup the release
of a new client version.
Create the new client
Setup the new client $BBHOME directory, e.g. by copying an existing client installation to an empty directory and modifying it for
your needs. It is a good idea to delete all files in the tmp/ and logs/ directories, since there is no need to copy these over to
all of the clients. Pay attention to the etc/ files, and make sure that they are suitable for the systems where you want to deploy
this new client. You can add files - e.g. extension scripts in the ext/ directory - but the clientupdate utility cannot delete or
rename files.
Package the client
When your new client software is ready, create a tar-file of the new client. All files in the tar archive must have filenames rela-
tive to the clients' $BBHOME (usually, ~xymon/client/). Save the tarfile on the Xymon server in ~xymon/server/download/some-
file.tar. Dont compress it. It is recommended that you use some sort of operating-system and version-numbering scheme for the
filename, but you can choose whatever filename suits you - the only requirement is that it must end with ".tar". The part of the
filename preceding ".tar" is what Xymon will use as the "clientversion" ID.
Configure which hosts receive the new client
In the client-local.cfg(5) file, you must now setup a clientversion:ID line where the ID matches the filename you used for the tar-
file. So if you have packaged the new client into the file linux.v2.tar, then the corresponding entry in client-local.cfg would be
clientversion:linux.v2.
Wait for hobbitd to reload client-local.cfg
hobbitd will automatically reload the client-local.cfg file after at most 10 minutes. If you want to force an immediate reload, send
a SIGHUP signal to the hobbitd process.
Wait for the client to update
The next time the client contacts the Xymon server to send the client data, it will notice the new clientversion setting in client-
local.cfg, and will run clientupdate to install the new client software. So when the client runs the next time, it will use the new
client software.
OPERATION
clientupdate runs in two steps:
Re-exec step
The first step is when clientupdate is first invoked from the hobbitclient.sh script with the "--re-exec" option. This step copies
the clientupdate program from $BBHOME/bin/ to a temporary file in the $BBTMP directory. This is to avoid conflicts when the update
procedure installs a new version of the clientupdate utility itself. Upon completion of this step, the clientupdate utility automat-
ically launches the next step by running the program from the file in $BBTMP.
Update step
The second step downloads the new client software from the Xymon server. The new software must be packed into a tar file, which
clientupdate then unpacks into the $BBHOME directory.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
clientupdate uses several of the standard Xymon environment variables, including BBHOME and BBTMP.
SEE ALSO
xymon(7), bb(1), client-local.cfg(5)
Xymon Version 4.2.3: 4 Feb 2009 CLIENTUPDATE(1)