How To Apply a Patch to the SME File Fabric Appliance

Patches are small code changes that are confined to one or a few pieces of the File Fabric's code. They are almost always issued for the purpose of resolving an issue that is affecting one or a small number of customers. The patches are only provided to the affected customers; customers who are not affected by the issue that a patch resolves need not concern themselves with the patch.

SME seldom issues patches, preferring to combine sets of changes into service packs which we release frequently. On those occasions when we do see fit to issue a patch, the changes included in the patch are always included in a subsequent service pack. In most cases this will be the next service pack to be released after the patch was developed.

• If you want to familiarise yourself with the changes introduced by a patch prior to deploying the patch to production, install it first in a non-production environment and test it there.
• Patch your system during a service window when users are not permitted to use the system.
• During the service window and prior to patching the system, backup the appliance itself and, if the database is external, backup the database as well. (If you have a a multi-node (HA) system, it is only necessary to back up one node.)
• Confirm that the system is working correctly after applying the patch and prior to ending the service window.
• If you are unable to confirm that the patched system is working properly, contact SME Support or roll back the patch prior to ending the service window. (Roll-back instructions are provided later in this document.)

If a patch is appropriate for your File Fabric then SME will provide you with a link to a compressed tar file <patch_name>.tgz containing the patch.

Note that these steps should be completed for each appliance in a multi-node (HA) system.

ssh into the File Fabric host as smeconfiguser, then:

su -

cd /var/www/smestorage/patches

wget https://storagemadeeasy.com/files/2956165a966c1dc7576483f90927cd84.tgz -O <patch_name>.tgz

chown smestorage:smestorage <patch_name>.tgz.tgz

su smestorage

./patch -patch <patch_name>.tgz

exit

reboot

If you encounter any issues during these steps please contact SME Support.

• To roll back a patch it is necessary to reverse both the appliance changes made by the patch and any database changes made by the patch (often there won't be any).
• If your database is internal to your appliance you can reverse all of the changes by restoring the appliance backup you made prior to applying the patch.
• If your database is external then you need to restore the appliance backup and restore the database backup.