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VigorACS 2 - Upgrade Firmware Remotely

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DrayTek VigorACS uses the TR-069 protocol to manage CPEs (DrayTek Vigor routers and VigorAPs). Through this protocol, it can remotely upgrade Router and AP Firmware remotely, both for single CPEs and for groups (Networks) of CPEs.

The VigorACS Firmware Upgrade system can perform remote firmware upgrades immediately and at specified times / dates.

This guide demonstrates how to perform a firmware upgrade through VigorACS in two ways:

Upgrade Firmware on a single CPE	Use VigorACS to upgrade the firmware of one CPE (router, AP or switch) remotely, just like upgrading the firmware through the CPE's web interface.
Schedule Firmware Upgrades on Multiple CPEs	Use VigorACS to perform a firmware upgrade on a group of CPE at a specified time, for instance occurring overnight.

Upgrade Firmware on a single CPE

To upgrade firmware on a single CPE (router, AP or switch) remotely through VigorACS, download the desired firmware and extract it from its .zip file.

In VigorACS go to the CPE's [Device Menu] > [Configuration] > [System] > [Maintenance] menu, which has options for Firmware Upgrade.

On this page the current firmware information will be displayed:

Model Name	The router's model type, i.e. "Vigor 2860", "Vigor 2860Vac" etc
Modem Firmware Version	If the CPE has a DSL modem, this will display the currently active modem code, this uses a different display format than the CPE's Web UI. For example "05-07-09_0F_01_07" is equivalent to "579F17" (the Vector 4 modem code)
Firmware Version	Displays the currently running firmware version
Choose a Firmware File from	Local File - Select this to send firmware through the browser Shared Folder - Select this to send firmware from the VigorACS File System, managed from VigorACS [System Menu] > [Maintenance] > [File Manager]

Select which location to send the firmware from. In this example the firmware will be sent through the web browser, using the Local File option.

Click Browse to select a firmware file. Select the required firmware file and click Open:

Click Upgrade Now to start the upgrade procedure and click Yes to confirm.

Important Note
This will immediately perform the firmware upgrade task, which will send firmware to the CPE, perform the upgrade and restart the CPE with the new firmware version.
If this operation needs to be scheduled to occur at a specific time, refer to the Multi CPE section of this guide.

VigorACS will display these messages when performing the firmware upgrade.

Wait a few minutes for the CPE to perform the upgrade and restart. When the unit restarts VigorACS may display an refresh error while it is unable to contact the CPE, this is normal.

If the CPE uses ADSL / VDSL for its Internet connection, the CPE's DSL modem will need additional time to re-sync the line.

After a few minutes, the CPE will be accessible and should now be operating with the upgraded firmware version:

The status and details of the CPE firmware upgrade are recorded in the VigorACS [Device Menu] > [Monitoring] > [Logs] section for that CPE, which occur in this order:

Download

The VigorACS system has instructed the CPE to download the required firmware and perform an upgrade

Inform

When the CPE has completed the ugprade and reconnected to the Internet. The Inform message from the CPE notifies the VigorACS system that the CPE is back on-line.

In this example, there is a 3 minute delay, during which the CPE upgraded the firmware, restarted with the new firmware and reconnected to its ADSL Internet connection.

Transfer Complete

This signifies on the VigorACS system that the upgrade has completed successfully.

Schedule Firmware Upgrades on Multiple CPEs

To upgrade firmware on multiple CPEs in one go, or to schedule the upgrade process for a specific time window (1am to 4am, for instance) or date, follow these steps.

Important Note
When upgrading firmware remotely with multiple CPEs, perform a firmware upgrade on a single unit through VigorACS first, before increasing the scope.
This simplifies the configuration of the Firmware Upgrade Job, because VigorACS will then be aware of the new firmware version and have the firmware file available in the VigorACS file system.

To access the VigorACS management interface and go to [System Menu] > [Maintenance] > [Firmware Upgrade]. This page displays the VigorACS system's Firmware Upgrade Job List, which is used to perform firmware upgrades on CPEs that match the criteria specified, determined by:

Model	Must match the exact Model of the specific Vigor Router or VigorAP to upgrade, such as "Vigor2860" or "Vigor2860n"
Modem Version	Must match the exact DSL Modem Code of CPEs to upgrade (can be a wildcard "*" to ignore this)
Firmware Version	Must Not match the CPE's current Firmware Version string This should be set to the Firmware Version that VigorACS will be upgrading to and is used by VigorACS to check if the firmware upgrade was successful If this field matched the firmware currently running on the CPE then no upgrade will be attempted
Device(s) to Upgrade	CPEs and Networks selected to apply the Firmware Upgrade Job to
Exclude Devices	Specify the MAC address(es) of CPEs that VigorACS will not perform Firmware Upgrades on
Schedule	The schedule can be set to Any or a time period. If it's set to a time period then the upgrade will only occur during the period

Firmware Upgrade Job Criteria

VigorACS will upgrade firmware on a CPE ONLY where that CPE satisfies ALL of the above criteria for a Firmware Upgrade Job.

Create a Firmware Upgrade Job

To create a Firmware Upgrade Job, select the required User Group that the CPEs/Networks are a member of and click +Add:

In the Firmware Upgrade Job Settings, the criteria for the upgrade job, the firmware to upgrade to and the timing of the job are configured:

The VigorACS system pre-populates the Model, Modem Version and Firmware Version drop-down boxes with the details from CPEs already connected to the system:

Configuring Firmware Upgrade Job Criteria

Name

Specify an identifier for the Firmware Upgrade Job

Model

Select the specific router model to be upgraded.

A "Vigor2860" Firmware Upgrade Job will upgrade only Vigor2860 routers.

Create additional Firmware Upgrade Jobs to upgrade "Vigor2860n" and other router models.

Modem Version

Select the DSL Modem Code (can be a wildcard "*") of CPEs to upgrade. Specify a "*" if the CPE model has no DSL modem.

Firmware Version

This string must match the Firmware Version displayed with the new firmware.

Determine this by upgrading one CPE and copy the Firmware Version string exactly, or if VigorACS is already aware of the new firmware version to upgrade to, simply select the New "Firmware Version" from the drop-down list.

Router Web Interface Dashboard	VigorACS CPE Dashboard

File Path

Click this to open the VigorACS file selection window, select the required firmware file (note the ".all" extension) with the correct version and modem code.

To upload files, go to VigorACS [System Menu] > [Maintenance] > [File Manager]

If one CPE has been upgraded through VigorACS, the VigorACS file system will have the firmware file in the SharedFirmware directory:

Status

This specifies whether the Firmware Upgrade Job is active or not. If this is set to Disable, the Firmware Upgrade Job will not begin until this is changed to Enable.

Time Interval

The time window in which the Firmware Upgrade Job is allowed to perform upgrades on CPEs. To configure upgrades to occur overnight, this could be set to 1am until 4am.

If set to Any, the Upgrade Job will begin immediately.

Specify Start Date

If this is enabled, the Firmware Upgrade Job will not begin until the specified date.

Device(s) to Upgrade

Select the CPEs and Networks to apply the Firmware Upgrade Job to.

Once configured, the Firmware Upgrade Job Settings should look like this, click Save when done:

The Firmware Upgrade Job List will now contain the new task.

This will take effect from the Time Interval and Start Date configured and apply only to the selected CPEs and Networks that match the Firmware Upgrade Job's criteria.

The VigorACS server will instruct CPEs to perform this task when the CPE sends a Periodic Inform message (default interval is 900 seconds / 15 minutes) to the VigorACS server, or when the CPE is restarted.

If a CPE's Firmware Version string already matches the Firmware Upgrade Job's Firmware Version string, no update will be performed on that CPE.

Checking Firmware Upgrade Task Progress

To view the progress of this task, go to VigorACS [Device Menu] > [Monitoring] > [Logs].

In the VigorACS [Device Menu] > [Monitoring] > [Logs] section for that Network or individual CPE, the following log entries will be present for a completed firmware upgrade on a single CPE: