Upgrading client agents via device groups on Windows systems

Agents can be upgraded via device groups instead of individually. To use this type of upgrade, one or more Windows device groups must be created. While it is possible to create these groups during the upgrade procedure it, BMC recommends that you prepare them beforehand.

To upgrade client agents via device groups you need to execute the following two procedures:

1. Creating Windows target groups:
   For Windows systems, two different upgrade packages are available, one for 32 bit Windows and another for 64 bit Windows . Depending on the population of your network, you might therefore only need to create one of the following groups or both. These groups must contain all clients and relays that are running on the respective Windows operating system. To populate these groups, two queries must be created: One that finds all devices with the respective operating system version and a second one that finds either the clients or the relays. Both can be based on existing queries.
2. Upgrading the BMC Client Management agents on Windows devices via device groups.

This topic includes the following procedures:

To create the 32-bit Windows group

1. Go to the Queries node.
2. Select the folder Operating Systems .
3. Select the Windows folder.

4. Select the query 32 Bit Windows Devices .

   If you need to create a group for several types of Windows devices you can select more than one query in this folder by holding the CTRL key.

5. Click Edit > Create Device Group .
   The new group is automatically created directly under the Device Groups top node with the same name as that of the query, that is, 32 Bit Windows Devices .

6. Find the query Client Devices , duplicate it and give it a new name, for example, All Clients and Relays .

   This query is located either in the folder BMC Client Management Architecture or Numara Asset Management Platform Architecture , depending on which version you have currently installed.

   Note

   If you already have a query that collects all client devices and all relays you can skip the following procedure and continue directly with step 17 .

7. Select the new query and go to its Criteria tab.
8. Select OR as the Query Operator above the criteria table.
9. Select Edit > Add Criterion .
   The Select Criterion pop-up window appears.
10. Select the criterion Topology Type .
11. Click the Find button.
    The Search Criteria pop-up dialog appears.
12. Select the Relay topology type and click OK .
13. Change the Operator to Equal to .
14. Click the Add button to add the criterion to the list.
15. Click OK to confirm the new query content and to close the window.
16. Activate the query by selecting the green colored option active instead of the currently displayed red option inactive in the Query Status box above the table.
17. Go to the Device Groups top node and select the query_32 Bit Windows Devices_ .
18. Select its Dynamic Population > Queries subnode.
19. Click the Assign Query icon.
20. Find the newly created query All Clients and Relays or your existing query, select it and click OK .
    A Properties window appears.
21. Select the option Only Devices with an Agent as the Device Type and click OK .
    The second query is directly assigned to the group.

The new group is now created using both queries to find its population and is ready to be used for upgrading all Windows 32-bit agents.

To create the 64-bit Windows group

1. Select the query 64 Bit Windows Devices .
2. Click Edit > Create Device Group .
   The new group is automatically created directly under the Device Groups top node with the same name as that of the query, that is, 64 Bit Windows Devices .

3. Find the query Client Devices , duplicate it and give it a new name, for example, All Clients and Relays .

   This query is located either in the folder BMC Client Management Architecture or Numara Asset Management Platform Architecture , depending on which version you have currently installed.

   Note:

   If you already have a query that collects all client devices and all relays you can skip the following procedure and continue directly with step 14.

4. Select the new query and go to its Criteria tab.
5. Select OR as the Query Operator above the criteria table.
6. Select Edit > Add Criterion .
   The Select Criterion pop-up window appears.
7. Select the criterion Topology Type .
8. Click the Find button.
   The Search Criteria pop-up dialog appears.
9. Select the Relay topology type and click OK .
10. Change the Operator to Equal to .
11. Click the Add button to add the criterion to the list.
12. Click OK to confirm the new query content and to close the window.
13. Activate the query by selecting the green colored option active instead of the currently displayed red option inactive in the Query Status list box above the table.
14. Go to the Device Groups top node and select the group 64 Bit Windows Devices. 
15. Select its Dynamic Population > Queries subnode.
16. Click the Assign Query icon.
17. Find the query All Clients and Relays or your existing query, select it and click OK .
    A Properties window appears.
18. Select the option Only Devices with an Agent as the Device Type and click OK .
    The second query is directly assigned to the group.

The new group is now created using both queries to find its population and is ready to be used for upgrading all Windows 64-bit agents.

To upgrade the BMC Client Management agents on Windows devices via device groups

Now that all necessary groups have been created, the upgrade packages can be created, assigned and distributed to these target groups. Proceed as follows:

1. In the console select the Tools > Create Upgrade Packages menu item.
   One custom package ( .cst ) per .zip file is created in the same location together with its respective operational rule and is placed in a specifically created folder called Client Management Upgrade or BMC Client Management Oneoff under the Packages / Operational Rules top nodes.

   Note:

   If you performed previous upgrades, for example: 6.1.2 to 6.1.3 the operational rules and packages are placed under the previously created folder called, for example, PrecisionUpgrade , NumaraAssetManagementPlatformUpgrade or FootprintsAssetCoreUpgrade . No new folder is created.

2. Go to the Operational Rules > Client Management Upgrade node and select the operational rule to upgrade the agents, for example,
   • Win32Upgrade / Win32Oneoff for agents on 32-bit Windows devices
   • Win64Upgrade / Win64Oneoff for all agents installed on 64-bit Windows systems.
3. Go to the Assigned Objects > Device Groups node below the selected package.
4. Select the Edit > Assign Device Group icon.
   A pop-up window appears in which you can define if the operational rule is automatically activated with the default schedule.

5. Click Yes .

   If you select No here, the operational rule must be specifically activated afterwards.

   The Assign to Device Group pop-up window appears.

6. Click the All button in the left window bar.
   The list in the right part of the window now displays all available device groups of your infrastructure on which a BMC Client Management agent is installed.
7. Select the group of the operating system type and that require upgrading from the list, for example, 64 Bit Windows Devices for the Win64Upgrade rule.
8. Click OK to confirm the assignment and close the window.
   The device group is assigned with the default timer, which schedules the execution once and immediately.

9. Go to the Assigned Objects > Devices subnode.

   This view lists all devices that are a member of the assigned group and information on the upgrade process.

After the assignment process is finished and the upgrade package has arrived at the targets, the agents are automatically upgraded.

This is the case when the status is green and Executed displays in the Status box for the respective device.

The attributes Agent Version Major and Agent Version Minor should display the values 12 and 0 now. If you are applying a hotfix, the Agent Revision number should have increased by one.