Auto update Parablu agents on Windows and Mac devices

Updating the Parablu agent installed on registered endpoints is necessary and critical. The installed agent on a registered system is a vital element in ensuring efficient and effective backups and restores. It not only pulls and applies the latest policies on the endpoint, it also performs data backups based on these policies, is an important way for end-users to interact with the system for self-service activities such as restores.

But what if you need to update the Parablu agents on a large number of systems? Parablu offers the facility of remote updates and unattended upgrades that enable over-the-air and silent updates of the agent on one or more endpoints. And, the best part is that you can enable auto-update yourself using the Parablu management console for both Windows and Mac devices. This ensures that your endpoints always have the latest version of the agent installed, the latest features, along with up-to-date security patches.

How to set up Parablu agent auto update for Windows endpoints?

Here is how you can set up agent auto-updates for Windows devices:

1. Login to the Parablu portal

2. On the Parablu portal home, go to Settings

3. On the Settings page, click the Endpoint Agent Package Management link

4. On the Endpoint Agent Package Management page, go to the Windows tab

5. In the Windows tab, under EPA for Windows section, check the Auto Update Agent checkbox

6. Under the Upload Package section, select Package URL and enter the URL if you have hosted the new Parablu Agent package or choose Select File to upload a file.

7. Click Save to complete

Once done, whenever there is a new update available for the agent, it will automatically and silently get updated on the registered endpoints.

How to set up Parablu agent auto update for Mac endpoints

Note: This involves running commands on the Linux console. If you are using Parablu’s hosted services, or if you are not comfortable with the Linux command-line, or file editing using vim, please reach the Parablu tech support team at support@parablu.com or https://support.parablu.com for assistance.

Here are the steps you can perform on the Parablu server to enable agent auto-update on Mac devices:

1. Login to the Parablu server and access the Linux console. Perform a sudo operation to elevate yourself to root privileges if needed.

2. Download the mac agent from the URL provided to you by Parablu, and save it in the clients folder as shown below.

Location:

cd /var/lib/parablusys/clients

3. Create a downloads directory in the /var/www folder.

Location:

cd /var/www

mkdir downloads

cd downloads/

4. Next, download Parablu_EPA.zip to the Downloads folder

5. Download update.xmlto the Downloads folder

Note: Make sure that the Downloads folder has full access permissions. To make sure, use the following command:

chmod 777 downloads

6. Next, open the update.xml file in the Downloads folder. Use the following command to edit the file:

vim update.xml

7. Make the following changes in the update.xml file

enclosure url="$Current URL$/downloads/Parablu_EPA.zip"

• $CurrentURl

  This changes based on the the environment you are updating.  If you are the Parablu administrator, you will know this URL for your installation.

• Version

  Update the Mac agent version you are uploading in the Clients folder. Example -2.3.6.6

• length

  Run ls -l and get the size of the Parablu_EPA.zip file and input this value.

8. Once done, save and exit using the following command:

wq!

After successful completion of the steps above, the Parablu agent will be silently updated with the specified agent package on all registered Mac devices.

There are several other such built-in features in BluVault and each of them can be leveraged using a handful of simple steps as we have described above.

For details or if you wish to explore some more, get in touch with our experts and ask for a callback.

Write to us at info@parablu.com to learn more.