Package management
Introduction
The package management functionality can upload and execute installers via the NetXMS agent. This allows to perform centralized upgrade of the NetXMS agent, to install other software or upload and extract archive files onto target systems.
To access package management, open the Configuration perspective and select Packages. Software packages are first uploaded to the NetXMS server. In order to do this, select Upload to server and select a file.
For some types of packages, the additional dialog Edit Package Metadata is displayed. This allows to specify additional metadata for a package. Whenever possible, metadata information is filled in automatically based on information contained in file name.
You can open the metadata editor by double-clicking on a package in the list. In the metadata editor Name, Version and Description are just informative fields, they are not used in package processing.
Platform denotes for which platforms a package is applicable. The actual platform
of a node is compared to this field as string value using wildcard characters.
Two wildcard characters are supported: * - represents zero, one or multiple
characters. ? - represents any single character. Setting Platform to *
would mean any platform. Linux* would mean both 32 and 64 bit Linuxes.
Type defines package type. This defines how the agent should process the package when installing it. The meaning of the Command field depends on the package type. See information in the table below.
The following types of package files are supported by package management:
Package type |
Extension |
Description |
|---|---|---|
NetXMS Agent Package (agent-installer) |
.apkg |
Command is not used by this package type. |
Debian/Ubuntu Package |
.deb |
Command contains additional parameters passed to /usr/bin/dpkg |
Executable |
.exe |
Command is optional. If specified, it sets the actual command executed
by agent. |
Windows Installer Package |
.msi |
Command contains additional parameters passed to Windows installer API |
Windows Installer Patch |
.msp |
Command contains additional parameters passed to Windows installer API |
Windows Update Package |
.msu |
Command contains additional parameters passed to wusa.exe |
Red Hat Package |
.rpm |
Command contains additional parameters passed to /usr/bin/rpm |
NetXMS Package Info |
.npi |
Deprecated type of metadata file for NetXMS Agent Package. |
Compressed TAR Archive |
.tgz, .tar.gz |
Command is optional. If specified, it defines the path the archive should be extracted to. |
ZIP Archive |
.zip |
Command is optional. If specified, it defines the path the archive should be extracted to. |
To deploy a package, select one or several nodes from Infrastructure services or Entire Network. You can also select containers or subnets. Right-click on the selected items and select Deploy package…. Select the package and click OK.
During the package deployment process, the server will request the platform name from agent and check if it matches Platform from the package metadata. The deployment process is shown in the Package deployment monitor tab that is visible on all relevant containers, subnets and nodes.