Documentation forNetwork Configuration Manager
Managing network configurations is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Advanced edition. Network Configuration Manager (NCM) is also available in a standalone module.

Simultaneous firmware upgrade operations

When a firmware upgrade operation runs, the nodes targeted by that operation are upgraded one at a time, sequentially. But you can run multiple firmware operations at the same time. To speed up the process of applying a firmware upgrade to a large number of nodes, you can create multiple firmware upgrade operations that each target a unique set of nodes, and then schedule those operations to run simultaneously.

Requirements

Firmware upgrade operations can run simultaneously if the following conditions are met:

  • The firmware upgrade templates used in the operations must enable simultaneous firmware upgrade operations.

    All firmware upgrade templates shipped with NCM except the EtherWAN template enable simultaneous firmware upgrade operations.

    Custom firmware upgrade templates enable simultaneous operations if they include the ${SubFolder} macro in the following commands: 

    If you attempt to run firmware operations simultaneously but the associated templates do not enable it, the firmware upgrade operations run sequentially.

  • The operations must target different nodes.

    If NCM detects that simultaneous operations are attempting to upgrade one or more of the same nodes, the operation that started first continues to run. NCM stops all other operations and displays an error message. If this occurs: 

    1. Click the icon in the History column to open the Firmware Upgrade Report for the failed operation. Use this report to identify the nodes that are included in multiple operations.
    2. Re-execute each operation and remove the redundant nodes.

  • The number of firmware upgrade operations running simultaneously cannot exceed the maximum number specified in Upgrade Settings.

    If you attempt to run more than the maximum number of operations, NCM runs only the maximum number of operations. Other operations are queued to start after the first operations finish.

Specify the maximum number of firmware upgrade operations

By default, a maximum of five firmware upgrade operations can run simultaneously. You can increase or decrease this value based on your needs and the capacity of your server.

Running a large number of firmware upgrade operations simultaneously can strain server resources.

If you increase this value, make sure that the SCP or TFTP root folder has enough free space to temporarily store that many copies of the firmware upgrade image. For example, if the firmware upgrade image is 500 MB and you schedule 10 operations to run simultaneously, the SCP or TFTP root folder must have 5,000 MB of free space.

  1. Click Settings > All Settings.
  2. Under Product Specific Settings, click NCM Settings.
  3. In the Firmware Upgrade section, click Upgrade Settings.
  4. Under Upgrade Settings, change the value of the Maximum number of simultaneous upgrade operations setting.