Xythos Drive Special Feature Administration
This administrator guide provides instructions and information for configuring the Xythos Drive's Auto Update utility. The Auto Update feature allows the Xythos Drive to check for updated versions of the software, download and install them.
Each time the Xythos Drive is started, it checks the server for a new version. Version and Update information is stored on the server in the update-info.xml file. The location of the server's update-info.xml file is stored in the file xdconfig_customer.xml.
xdconfig_customer.xml
Each time Xythos Drive is started, it checks the server for a new version by looking to the xdconfig_customer.xml file which contains the <massUpdateUrl> tag. The value contained within the tag must point to the server's update-info.xml file. For example, http://myserver/mydirectory/update-info.xml. The xdconfig_customer.xml file is configured by the Xythos Drive administrator.
Within the Mass Config Admin Guide samples directory, there is a file named xdconfig_customer.xml -- this is the template for your xdconfig_customer.xml file. Modify the <massUpdateUrl> value to point to your update-info.xml file.
update-info.xml
The xdconfig_customer.xml file calls to update-info.xml for version information. Once the xdconfig_customer.xml file calls the server's update-info.xml file, the information in the <latest-version> tag is checked. The server's update-info.xml file contains the latest version information, whether or not to force the installation, and the location of the .exe file.
Within the Auto Update Admin Guide samples directory, there is a file named update-info.xml -- this is the template for your update-info.xml file. Modify the <location> value to point to your server's .exe file.
We look for the <xd-update>/<latest-version> tag, which contains all of the information required for detecting a new version of the XDNG application on the server.
The tag <version> supplies the version of the application on the update server. The URL for this new version is then expected to be the text value of the tag <location>. We compare the remote version and the current installed version. If a newer version is located, the user is prompted to download and install the new version.
The tag <force-install> will not prompt a user to download and install the new version, it will begin downloading and prompt the user to install the new version.
If the <force-downgrade> tag is specified, the current version whether it is lesser or greater than that of the server is not considered; the download and installation is offered as long as the version differs from the server.
Mass configuration options are also located in the update-info.xml file.
The new version is downloaded to the /tmp directory with the naming syntax of XythosDriveNameFromServer.exe.download. After the download has been successfully completed, the file name is reverted to the syntax of XythosDriveNameFromServer.exe. The Xythos Drive is installed just as any other standard .exe file is installed. If the installation is canceled or fails, the upgrade procedure will start over at the next start-up of the Xythos Drive software.
If the upgrade results in failure, verify that the update-info.xml is not malformed and that the execution of the installer did not fail. These are the two most likely causes for failure. If a user receives an error message which directs them to inform the administrator, check these two factors first.