How do you handle upgrading your K1000 server and agent?
I am relatively new to IT (about 3 years from "IT Assistant" to "Help Desk" to "Network/ Desktop Analyst".
I've recently been given the task of looking into making our current KACE system more useful. Right now we basically only are using the Help Desk and some inventory. I am hoping to get into software distrobution and patching. But first I want to upgrade both our KBox and agent to 5.5 and 5.4 respectively.( I beleive the most current).
What have you do to effectively plan and prepare for this. I am in the process of pouring through the documentation, but would like to see how a real IT person would go about it. I am planning on doing the server side first. What kind of planb have you found useful and maybe share an example.
Thank you from a very new ITNINJA.
Answers (3)
I have done serveral upgrades since our original deployment. I just follow the steps detailed here
https://www.kace.com/support/resources/kb/solutiondetail?sol=sol114344
and have never had a problem. I always change the IP address and reboot prior to the upgrade to assure no clients are connected during the upgrade, then change the IP address back when the upgrade is done. With this latest 5.5 upgrade, it took about 2 hours for me to see machines beginning to inventory again. Also, contact Kace support prior to the upgrade to get the latest hotfixes so you can apply them immediately following the upgrade.
It sounds like your machines already have the agent. Once you upgrade the K1000, you can download the latest Agent software to the K1000 and the force existing machines to updtae via the K1000 or set a Group Policy in Active Directory:
http://www.kace.com/support/resources/kb/solutiondetail?sol=SOL111244
There is a 5.5 agent version, not just 5.4. Don't hesitate to get KACE support involved, for both of our upgrades (5.4 and 5.5) support had to intervene to get the update to finish. Make sure you have SSH enabled prior to upgrading, that can be a lifesaver if there is any real issue.
1. be shure you have a valid backup offboard (never needed one but better you have one)
2. start the upgrade and after it started shut down the port of the KBox
why? the agents don't connect to the box because it is not avaiable
3. when finished, reopen the port
4. use the autoupdate of the agents
