Use Tricentis Update Service
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Tricentis Update Service is in technical preview state and it is provided to you for evaluation, beta or release candidate purposes. Therefore, Tricentis doesn't guarantee full functionality of Tricentis Update Service in the current Tosca version; it's provided “AS IS” without indemnification, support, or warranty of any kind, express or implied, unless otherwise required by law. Tricentis Update Service shall terminate immediately upon notice in our sole discretion. By accessing, browsing, clicking on an Accept button, installing, copying or otherwise using Tricentis Update Service, you accept this pre-release testing Agreement. |
Tricentis Update Service provides a centralized distribution of verified Engines 3.0 fixes to end-user machines.
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Unlike patches, if you use Tricentis Update Service, you don't have to complete a full Tricentis Tosca installation to apply fixes for Engines 3.0. You only have to download the relevant update packages from the Tricentis Support Portal and the Tosca client unpacks the packages, applies, and loads the changes for your installed Tricentis Tosca version.
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The fixes that the update packages contain for Engines 3.0 will also be available as part of patches. However, if you don't need everything that a patch contains and only want to apply the fixes for Engines 3.0, you don't have to install the patch anymore.
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Since Tricentis Update Service doesn't require a Tosca installation to apply updates, rollback to an earlier update or to the installed version is smooth and easy.
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Tricentis Update Service only updates engines that are installed with Tricentis Tosca. Tricentis Update Service doesn't support custom engines. |
Supported Engines
You can use Tricentis Update Service with the following Engines 3.0:
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Baseline Engine 3.0
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DotNet Engine 3.0
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Excel Engine 3.0
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Excel UI Engine 3.0
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HOST Engine 3.0
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Java Engine 3.0
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PDF Engine 3.0
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PuTTY Engine 3.0
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Salesforce Engine 3.0
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SAP Engine 3.0
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TextStream Engine 3.0
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WinX Engine 3.0
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XBrowser Engine 3.0
Prerequisites
To use Tricentis Update Service, you must meet the following requirements:
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You are a Tricentis Tosca administrator.
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The engines you want to update are in their default Tosca installation folders.
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You have log-in credentials to the Tricentis Support Portal.
Use Tricentis Update Service
To use Tricentis Update Service, you have to follow the steps below:
Once you have completed this process, the Tosca client automatically applies the fixes.
Set up the environment to share update packages with Tosca clients
You can share updates with Tosca clients in one of the following ways:
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Through a shared folder that all clients can access.
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Through a package feed.
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Through deployment management tools.
Share update packages through a shared folder
To share update packages with Tosca clients through a shared folder, set up a shared folder as described in the Microsoft documentation.
The instructions vary based on which Windows version you use.
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Make sure to grant all clients read permission to the shared folder. |
Share update packages through a package feed
To share update packages with Tosca clients through a package feed, you can use your company's existing NuGet.Server, or you can create a new one.
For information on how to create a NUGet.Server to host package feeds, see the Microsoft documentation.
Share update packages through a deployment management tool
To share update packages with Tosca clients through a deployment management tool, appoint a folder (e.g. C:\Updates) on each client.
When an update package needs to be distributed, you can configure your deployment management tool to copy the update packages to the given folder on each machine. Tricentis Update Service will pick update packages from this local folder and apply fixes.
You can use Group Policy to create the variable on multiple clients.
Enable Tricentis Update Service
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If you use Engines 3.0 through Tosca Distributed Execution, you can't enable Tricentis Update Service during installation. For instructions on how to enable the feature for Distributed Execution Agents, see this section. |
To enable Tricentis Update Service, you have to configure the feature during installation. This entails the following:
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You accept the Terms and Conditions of using the feature.
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You provide the distribution path/address based on your preferred way of update package distribution.
Enable Tricentis Update Service with Tosca Distributed Execution
To use Engines 3.0 through Tosca Distributed Execution, you must enable Tricentis Update Service manually.
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By enabling the feature, you also accept the Terms and Conditions of using Tricentis Update Service in technical preview state. |
To do so, you must create a Windows system variable with the following information:
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Variable name: Enter TRICENTIS_UPDATESERVICE_REMOTELOCATION.
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Variable value: Based on how you chose to share update packages, enter one of the following values:
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If you use a shared folder, enter the path to the shared folder.
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If you use a package feed, enter the address of the Nuget v2 API of your NuGet.Server.
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If you use a deployment management tool, enter the path to the appointed folder.
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Download the update packages
Once you set up the environment to share update packages, you can download update package(s) from the Tricentis Support Portal. You can do this in one of the following ways:
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Manually if you don't need all updates for a certain version.
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Automatically with the Update Package Download Tool if you want to automatically get all updates for the version(s) you specify.
To guarantee the authenticity of update packages, Tricentis provides an SHA256 checksum for each. The SHA256 checksum verifies that the package is genuine and its contents haven't been altered in any way.
You can download the SHA256 files along with the update packages from the Tricentis Support Portal.
Download update package(s) manually
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Download the package(s) from the Tricentis Support Portal.
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Right-click the package and select Properties from the context menu.
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Go to the General tab and select the Unblock checkbox in the Security section.
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Save the package(s):
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If you use a shared folder, save the package(s) to the shared folder.
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If you use a package feed, save the package(s) to a folder of your choice.
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If you use a deployment management tool, save the package(s) to the appointed folder.
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If you use a package feed, upload the package(s) to the package feed as described in the Microsoft documentation.
Use the Update Package Download Tool
If you want Tricentis Update Service to download update packages automatically, you need the Update Package Download Tool, which is a Windows PowerShell script. To use it, follow the steps below:
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Download the Update Package Download Tool from the Tricentis Support Portal.
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Right-click the package and select Properties in the context menu.
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Go to the General tab and select the Unblock checkbox in the Security section.
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Open Windows PowerShell and run the cd command to navigate to the folder which contains the Update Package Download Tool.
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Copy the following example command from the Update Package Download Tool and paste it into PowerShell:
# usage: .\packageDownload.ps1 -username "USERNAME" -password ("PASSWORD" | ConvertTo-SecureString -AsPlainText -Force) -outputFolder OUTPUTFOLDER -versions "VERSION1"[, "VERSION2"]Note that you need to modify this command before it can run:
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Delete # usage: from the beginning of the command.
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Replace USERNAME with your Tricentis Support Portal user name.
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Replace PASSWORD with your Tricentis Support Portal password.
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Replace OUTPUTFOLDER with the path to the folder where you want to save your update package(s).
If you use a shared folder, this must be the path to the shared folder.
If you use a package feed, enter the path to a folder of your choice.
If you use a deployment management tool, enter the path to the appointed folder.
If the path contains spaces, place it between " quotation marks.
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Replace VERSION1 with the Tricentis Tosca version number you want to update.
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Optionally, if you want to download packages for more versions, replace [VERSION2] with another Tricentis Tosca version number. You can list multiple versions, separated by a comma; see Example 1.
If you only want updates for one Tricentis Tosca version, delete [, "VERSION2"]; see Example 2.
If your password in the Tricentis Support Portal password contains PowerShell-specific special characters, you must escape them to avoid special meaning. To do so, place a backtick (`) before each special character.
For example, if your password is Test"Pass`word, you must use Test`"Pass``word in the command.
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Run the script. The Update Package Download Tool downloads the specified packages to the specified folder.
If a package name still contains .download, that means the download of this package failed. In this case, run the script again. The Update Package Download Tool doesn't download successfully downloaded packages again, only the ones that failed.
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If you use a package feed, upload the package(s) to the package feed as described in the Microsoft documentation.
Apply the fixes
The Tosca client completes the process automatically:
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Tosca client automatically checks for compatible packages in the shared folder or the package feed.
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If the Tosca client finds a compatible update package, it downloads the package to %TRICENTIS_ALLUSERS_APPDATA%\UpdateService\Download.
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The Tosca client extracts the downloaded package to the %TRICENTIS_ALLUSERS_APPDATA%\UpdateService\Download\<PACKAGE_NAME> folder and deletes the package file.
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When you run an ExecutionList, Tricentis Tosca automatically detects whether a new update package is available in the UpdateService folder. If so, it displays a message in the Detail column of your execution results. To apply the new update package, shut down all your Tricentis services and open them again.
The next time the user opens the workspace, the client moves the new updates to %TRICENTIS_ALLUSERS_APPDATA%\UpdateService where they overwrite already existing engine update versions. Then, Tosca loads the updates.
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The Tosca client only considers update packages for the Tricentis Tosca version that is installed on the user's machine. |
Apply the fixes to your Tosca Distributed Execution Agents
If you have enabled Tricentis Update Service for Tosca Distributed Execution, you can apply the fixes to all your Agents simultaneously.
To do so, click the button Restart all in the right upper corner of the Agent View.
Once you click Restart all, all Engines 3.0 are restarted regardless of the current status of your Agents. This might interrupt your test execution. Before you use this feature, ensure that all Agents are ready to be restarted and all crucial test executions have finished.
Enable automatic update for Tosca Distributed Execution
Tosca Distributed Execution can automatically apply a new update package if it's available. To do so, it restarts all Engines 3.0 when your Tosca Distributed Execution Agents are in idle state.
To enable this feature, follow the steps below:
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Go to %TRICENTIS_HOME%\dll\Settings\XML and open the DefaultSettings.xml file.
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Under <Category name="Execution">, add the following line of code before the closing tag:
<Setting name="Enable Update Service auto updating" legacyPath="UpdateService.AutoUpdateEnabled">True</Setting>
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Save and close the file.
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Shut down all your Tricentis services and start them again.
Disable Tricentis Update Service
To disable Tricentis Update Service, you must modify the Tricentis Tosca installation and disable the feature.
If you use Engines 3.0 through Tosca Distributed Execution Agents, delete the TRICENTIS_UPDATESERVICE_REMOTELOCATION environment variable from all clients.