Remote Agent Database De-coupling
- Nick Judson
Starting in 16.1, there has been a major change to how the remote agent database (and other dependencies) are deployed. In previous versions, the database and most dependencies were packaged directly into the Remote Agent installer. This tied each version of a remote agent to a specific database version, as well as added unnecessary size to the remote agent installer file.
In 16.1, we have introduced database packages. These packages allow MongoDb to be deployed without deploying a new version of the remote agent. As new versions and/or patches of MongoDb are released, they can easily be pushed to each Remote Integrator.
We have also added new functionality to automatically download the latest compatible MongoDb and Visual C++ runtime when a new Remote Integrator first connects. To enable this initial download-on-demand functionality, you must have the MongoDb and Visual C++ packages in your Gateway packages collection.
Database Packages
Database packages are published on the Remote Agent Packages page. These packages can be downloaded and added to the Bulk Deploy Packages dialog.
When a remote agent starts, it will detect all deployed database packages. If an upgrade path is detected, it will attempt to upgrade the database.
MongoDb databases can only be upgraded to the next major release. To upgrade from a 3.6 database to a 6.0 database, each intermediate major version must be deployed. The 3.6 database will be upgraded to 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, 5.0, and finally 6.0.
If a required intermediate package is missing, the upgrade will stop at the highest available intermediate package version.
MongoDb upgrades are currently one-way.
MSVC++ Runtime Package
MongoDb requires the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime to be installed. This software is a common dependency and is often already installed by other software packages. This package (posted here) can be added to the Deploy Installers dialog and subsequently pushed to remote agents.
For new remote integrator deployments, this package will be automatically downloaded and installed. It may require the host machine to restart.
