A customer with over 12,000 MC7094 devices running BSP39 (64RAM.128Flash) has expressed a desire to upgrade to WM6.1, but given the volume in the field the upgrade would have to deploy unattended via their device management software, Afaria, The last update from BSP 33 went flawlessly. However, upgrading to 6.1 introduces challenges as the process wipes out the entire flash memory and there is no SD cara installed (due to security concerns). Given that there is no non-volatile memory to persit the Afaria agent or some sort of trigger for re-provisioning the devices emerging from the upgrade, we came up with one possibility... use of a customized WM6.1 build. A build that would contain an auto provisioning trigger, but this raises a huge concern for the customer relative to Motorola support. We're wondering if there is somehow a way to circumvent this constrint. Perhaps someone (customer/partner) has thought of one.. We're also curious to know what other customers with large installs plan to do in this respect. Any feedback or comments is greatly appreciated.
MC7094 WM6.1 upgrade unattended// Expert user has replied. |
9 Replies
Hi Dino, The customer I referred to at the time of initial post has since also adopted the use of a SD card. This however required touching every device in the field in order to insert a card. If your customer has already the SD card deployed, then you could perform the OS upgrade remotely. I can share with you the script file they had developed using a 3rd party shareware program. You can leverage this or build another, but essentially you would remotely populate the SD card with all necessary files (OS upgrade files and application files or simply the device management client if one is used). Following the OS update, the auotrun option from the SD card is then utillized to launch the loading of applicaiton files or DM client. A final boot should have the application now running on WM6.1. Hope this helps.
Team, it would be helpful to know the various strategies being considered by other large accounts relative to WM6.1 upgrade. Specifically, we're looking for account name and their OS update strategy. Any feedback in this regard is greating appreciated.
Hello Peter G4S in the UK are using a script and SD card. They archive off various settings to SD card, application, static IP address etc.. Peform OS update, apply Fusion and BT patches and then re-create the Fusion profile + settings, install application, then apply the previous application settinngs. So that the terminal has the same settings prior to upgrade. This is all automated, just insert SD card and wait for complete message.
This is an old thread, but it still has value. I am in the same boat as the Peter Arcuri, but unlike Peter, I am allowed to use an SDCard. I have never used SymScript, so examples are very helpful. Question for Paul Hurford: Do you have an example or the actual script used for the UK upgrade? If so, I'd like to have a copy, then modify it specifically for our customer. Thanks. Dino
Allan, thanks for the info. I will reach out to Tier 2 and investigate this further... possibly an opportuntiy for MSP. However, for clarity purposes when you say build in MSP agent; do you mean RDclient or Abup30? Wouldn't a pre-configured/loaded abup30 be necessary on the device following the OS update? Is this achived through a custom Application hex image or through fusion memroy? I'm curious to know how a device essentially in an out-of-the-box state have the smarts to reconnect to its assigned RS and pull down predefined packages.
Since you can flash different partitions separately you might try this kind of trick: Save files you need somewhere to device flash. Flash the \Application partition Copy files from the device partition to the \Application partition (this can be automated on reboot) Flash everything else
Peter; It was a lot of work and done with the help of the team producing th OS. Essentially, the OS update was divided into 2 parts where the \Temp folder still existed after part 1 but the application partition was lost. We copied key stuff from \Application to \Temp before part 1, then copied that key stuff from \Temp to \Application after part 1. The trick was what to copy to make it just manageable enough when the OS update was finished. Allan
The UK have done something very similar for G4S in the UK using a SymScript Script. They archive settings (Fusion profiles, registry and application) to the SD card, install the OS, reinstall the application software then update the application settings. You will need to recreate the fusion profile and cannot use the .reg file - several ways to do this with a script. Contact jamie Glover for more info.
Peter; We have a solution for doing this with MSP, that is available on request from Tier 2 support. But doing it with Afaria is a totally different question. I suspect that doing so with Afaria would be very complicated and stand little chance of success, mostly because the Afaria agent is not built into the device OS, like the MSP agent is. If they can manage to save everything needed, including the Afaria agent, etc. and get it all reinstalled again following the OS update, using an SD card, then they may stand a chance. But if they don't have an SD card, then I wouldn't hold out much hope for their prospects. Anyway, this may be an opportunity to upsell MSP since with MSP they can get a complete and fully-supported solution for updating the OS on these devices. Allan