Difference between revisions of "Firmware Update (NTC)"

Revision as of 14:30, 23 May 2013

NoTouch Center can and should be used to manage and provide and the client operating system respectively the firmware images. (Note: If you want to update a device without NoTouch Center, please see here: Local Firmware Update)

NoTouch Center does not have an named feature to do firmware updates, instead NoTouch Center uses a much more elegant approach: You select which firmware image is to be used by a client or a group, and NoTouch Center makes sure that the affected devices will use exactly that image, no matter what is necessary to achive the goal (could be a downgrade as well).

When clicking on a group or a client, you will notice the "Image" parameter. It contains a list of all images that are available to NoTouch Center (please see below to see how to add images there). Set this parameter to specify which image should be used for the client or the group. (As always, we recommend to use group-based configuration).

Directly below is the "Image update mode" parameter. It controls the way how image updates are performed - there are three options:

• never. This is the default on a fresh installation but not the recommended value. This will disallow any updates.
• at announce. This would push out the update at next announce which can happen any time. This would interrupt user sessions so we don't really need recommend this setting.
• at reboot. This is the recommended setting. Only when a client boots will the new image be applied. This allows you to kindly ask your users to reboot the machine and get the update when they are ready. Of course you can always issue a remote reboot if users refuse to reboot.

Even when updating the device locally to a different firmware image (as system administrator you know the password and can do this), NTC will detect this is an reapply the image set in the system configuration.

Make client OS images available to NoTouch Center

Generally, NoTouch Center only distributes .lfi files. You get these .lfi firmware image files from the Stratodesk customer portal or directly from Stratodesk support. Should you need an account, please contact Stratodesk support.

1. Upload your image to NoTouch Center. There are a few different methods - pick one:
   • When using the Virtual Appliance, go to "OS Images" -> "Upload image" in the web-based VA configuration console, OR
   • In NoTouch Center, go to "Service Center" -> "Updates" and upload the image there (NoTouch Center 4.1.22 and newer), OR
   • Copy the image file into the images folder in the NoTouch Center installation
2. Click on "Service Center" in the main menu of NTC, and choose "Images" in the just-appeared menu in the upper-middle of the screen.
3. Click on "Activate" next to the newly-added image in the list of images.

From now on, you will find the image in the "Image" parameter.

Note: Please always double-check file size and preferably MD5 and SHA1 checksums to ensure file integrity. It happens once and again that a file gets corrupted during a download.

List of available images in NoTouch Center

To see a list of available images, please click on "Service Center" in the main menu of NoTouch Center, and choose "Client OS images" in the just-appeared menu in the upper-middle of the screen.

Delete images from NoTouch Center

An image that is not needed any longer can be removed by clicking on Delete next to the image in the Image List ("Service Center" -> "Client OS images")

Note: An image that is in use can not be deleted. Even if no clients are using this image any more, for example having this is image set in a group configuration, even if the group is empty, is considered "in-use" and thus the system would not allow you to delete the file.