Upgrading the Flexnet Inventory Agent Third Party

[a_cutler2]

When upgrading the FlexNet Inventory Agent to the newest version for an on-premise customer and not using the automatic upgrade option, but using SCCM instead - is the process the same as the original deployment of the agent for Windows and *nix machines, just with newer installation files? Or is there a separate upgrade process?

[nsimon1]

HI @a_cutler2, Is your question specific to our asset management solution? I want to make sure I get you in touch with the right resource

Nick

[a_cutler2]

Yes, this is in relation to FNMS 2018 R1, on prem.

[tbesse]

Hi Adam,

Just FYI, I moved this post from the Publisher side to this forum as it is a FlexNet Manager related question.

For third-party deployments you basically treat the agent package the same as any other deployment package. Using a third party tool like SCCM to deploy the agent may offer additional packaging & deployment options.

Agent updates a usually deployed as update packages that remove the former version and install the new one.

I hope this helps,

Thorsten

[BradAkers]

If you choose to use a third party tool the uninstall will say a reboot is needed. This is not needed for the auto-upgrade process. 

[ChrisG]

Yes, when using SCCM (or other third party tool) to deploy an agent upgrade, there is not normally any need to have a different process for doing a clean install vs doing an upgrade. (This generalization may not hold if you have some complex configuration or operational needs, but such situations would be unusual.)

As @BradAkers has noted, sometimes Windows Installer determines that it thinks a reboot may be appropriate after upgrading the agent. To avoid an unwanted reboot being triggered automatically, include REBOOT=ReallySuppress on the msiexec command line you use for installing or upgrading the agent.

[mark_robinson]

My organization is also currently planning an agent upgrade to coincide with the recent 2019 R1 upgrade (Cloud). It will be a managed, packaged deployment using SCCM for Windows and jamf for Macs - approximately 70,000 workstations and 14,000 servers. I'd be keen to know if there's a KB article on best practices for this, where the new agent can be downloaded from, should the beacons be upgraded first, any other points to consider etc.? Any input and past experiences appreciated. Thanks.

[mrichardson · Accepted solution]

Hi @mark_robinson,

I've started a new thread on just this topic -

https://community.flexera.com/xtqzp85664/board/message?board.id=FNMS-Discussion&message.id=663#M663

This is a very common request and there isn't much currently available but I've collated what I can find and put in that post and would like others to add to it so that we can help anyone with the same request.

[mrichardson]

Hi Adam,

Yes, the agent packages you download from FNMS includes the upgrade package as well.

I'm seeing a lot of requests like this recently coming through support on how to manage agent installations / upgrades through SCCM so I'm going to create a forum post that will include some information that we have already from official sources and will then open it up for others to reply on with their experiences.

Matt