Hello Everyone,
The Cisco VSM Software Assistant version 6.3.3 is here! In addition to assisting partners, customers, and Cisco personnel with installations and upgrades to the new 6.3.3 VSM software, it also supports installing and/or upgrading CIVS-ENC for the new 8 and 16 port encoding cards (CIVS-ENC-8P and CIVS-ENC-16P).
The Challenge
Not all VSM users and installers are proficient with Linux and I’ve always felt that it would be great if they could perform an installation or upgrade and not have to be concerned with what an RPM file is, or how to uninstall and/or install one. Not worry about Java, JRE, or symbolic links, and not forget to update the MySQL database, or worse, accidentally run the database_create script instead of database_update. An upgrade process that would verify that they have the necessary files on the server prior to launching the upgrade would be invaluable.
I'd even say that those proficient with Linux and the VSM environment would likely appreciate an easier upgrade process.
The Solution
With the attached script, you can simply download the necessary VSM software .zip files from Cisco.com and put them and the script in any directory on the server. You can then run the script and answer only a few simple YES or NO questions and feel comfortable that the installation or upgrade will be a success. The entire process is scrolled to the screen as well as logged to a file for analysis, if necessary, after the upgrade/install.
How to use the script to perform and install or upgrade
- Download the necessary .zip files from Cisco.com
- Copy them to the VSM server in any directory
- Copy this script to the same directory as the .zip files
- Make this script executable (chmod +x vsmSoftware633.sh)
- Run the script (./vsmSoftware633.sh)
- Answer simple questions when prompted.
Tips
- If the script errors out when you try to run it, then it may have been converted to DOS format during the transfer. The typical error if this happens is /bin/bash^M unrecognized interpreter. Try running the following command first, then run the script again
- dos2unix –k vsmSoftware633.sh
- If you need to e-mail the script to someone and it gets blocked by e-mail, then you can remove the .sh extension. The script file can have any file extension you want, or none at all. It will work.
Explanation
The script can do a clean install or an upgrade. The clean install will allow you to choose which VSM components you want to install, then verify that the necessary .zip files are present. Any existing components will be removed. If VSOM is being installed, then the database_create.sh script is called. When this is called, it will first check for an existing database (from a prior installation), and if one exists, it will ask you if you want to create a new one or not. If you choose no to this prompt, then you’ll need to manually update the database when finished.
If you choose the upgrade option when launching the script, then it will only upgrade VSM components that are currently installed on the system. If VSOM is installed, it will backup, then update the MySQL database as part of the upgrade.
Please use the script and I'd love to get your feedback here. Let me know what you like about it, what you don't like about it, and what suggestions you have for it. Of course, I also want to know if you run into any problems caused by the script. I can't fix it if I don't know it's brokien ;- ) This script is not officially supported by our developement team, but I will try to get updates out as soon as possible when a bug...er...newly discovered feature...is found.
