Pharos Blueprint 5.2 Service Pack 1: Release Notes
  • 08 Mar 2024
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Pharos Blueprint 5.2 Service Pack 1: Release Notes

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Article summary

This Service Pack should be applied to all machines hosting Blueprint server components, i.e. the Analyst, Collector or Administrator. This will bring the patched files up to version 5.2.9116. Updated Print Scout packages (version 6.7.0.1302) should subsequently be distributed to all workstations and print servers hosting the Print Scout (or the Blueprint Tracker, if you’re upgrading an older system).

Notes

  • To take advantage of new features and improvements, we recommend using the Print Scout package shipped with this Service Pack to install or upgrade the Trackers on any workstation or print server.

Enhancements

  • The Print Center has been optimized to work on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices with different screen sizes.

  • Support for Pharos MobilePrint 2.1

  • Microsoft® Windows 10 support for the Workstation Print Scout

For more information, please refer to the Blueprint Enterprise 5.2 Service Pack 1: New Features document.

How to apply this Service Pack

Warning: Blocked Files

Depending on how this Service Pack or its files were copied to the target machine, some of the files may have been 'blocked' by Windows. Trying to update a Blueprint component with a blocked file will most likely prevent that component from working correctly. To check whether a file is blocked and/or unblock it, right-click the file in Windows Explorer and select 'Properties'.

Warning: In use Files

Under some conditions, the upgrader may be unable to replace files because they are in use. If this happens,

  1. Stop IIS using the command line iisreset /stop

  2. Run the upgrade again.

  3. Start IIS using the command line iisreset /start

Updating Analyst or Collector

  1. If updating the Analyst, make sure you have an up to date backup of the psbprint and psreports databases.

  2. Close the Printers window (if it's open). Close any Pharos applications (e.g. Troubleshooter, Blueprint Administrator) that are open.
    NOTE: you do not need to stop the Pharos Services. The Service Pack installer will do this automatically.

  3. Open an elevated Windows command prompt and run Patcher.exefrom the command line.  No additional parameters are necessary.                     

    • The Service Pack installer does not create a log file. It is recommended that you run DebugView (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647) to capture the output of the installer. This output will include error messages if the installer fails.               

    • Also, the existing Blueprint files will be backed up to BP52-SP1 in the Temp directory, before they're replaced with the updated versions.

    • If the Service Pack installer fails, you can correct the cause of the error and run Patcher.exe again. Alternatively, you can contact Pharos for manual upgrade instructions, or you can manually recover the files from the BP52-SP1 backup directory.

    • Upon completion, the Patcher may automatically force a restart. Follow the remaining instructions after the restart.

  4. On the Analyst, open the Blueprint Analyst, go to Reporting > Publications and click Publish to Data Warehouse on the toolbar.

Automated Deployment to Collectors

Customers with a large number of collectors may want to deploy this Service Pack using an automated software deployment tool (e.g. IBM's Tivoli).

To help with this process, the Patcher can be configured to send an e-mail at the end of the patching process indicating the patching attempt's success or failure. The configuration is held in the file Patcher.xml. Modify the file as follows:  

  1. Change the <automated> element from "false" to true.

  2. Enter the e-mail address you want the notification sent to.

  3. Enter the e-mail address you want the notification to claim it was sent from.

  4. Set smtpServerHost to the FQDN of the mail server.

  5. Leave smtpServerPort alone, unless the mail server is using a non-standard port. Or unless you want the communication encrypted using SSL.

  6. If the mail server and its host are configured to support SSL, you can change useSSL to "true" and smtpServerPort to the SSL port (usually 465).

  7. Set smtpUserName and smtpPassword to the user and password needed to use the mail server.

  8. If you do not want to put an unencrypted password in the Patcher.xml file, you can put the password as encrypted text into smtpEncryptedPassword. You can encrypt the password by calling Patcher.exe from the command line with the flag "/encrypt:" For example, if your mail server password is "MySecretPassword".      

    1. Open a command prompt and type in patcher /encrypt:MySecretPassword

    2. Patcher.exe will return your encrypted password. In this example, it will be EncryptedPassword:L9EMZX9r1CkvI8rNybP/dikf09zwBPLMfl6OMk7/nXOCgZQpaePQDoGDULN3eAbe

    3. Set smtpEncryptedPassword="L9EMZX9r1CkvI8rNybP/dikf09zwBPLMfl6OMk7/nXOCgZQpaePQDoGDULN3eAbe"

  9. If your deployment tool will run the patcher under an account that has permission to send e-mails, then you can set useDefaultCredentials to "true" and leave smtpUserName, smtpEncryptedPassword and smtpPassword blank.

Updating standalone installations of the Blueprint Administrator

If the Workstation Tracker is installed along with Blueprint Administrator, applying the Service Pack will NOT update the Tracker.

  1. Close the Window's Printers window (if it is open).

  2. Open an elevated Windows command prompt and run Patcher.exe from the command line. No additional parameters are necessary.
    Note: The Service Pack installer does not create a log file. It is recommended that you run DebugView (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647) to capture the output of the installer. This output will include error messages if the installer fails.

  3. A reboot might be required after the Service Pack is run. This is done automatically so make sure you save any open files prior to applying the Service Pack.

  4. If the Service Pack installer fails, you can correct the cause of the error and run Patcher.exe again. Alternatively, you can contact Pharos for manual upgrade instructions.

Updating Tracker on Print Servers

On all the Windows Print Servers where tracking is required, use the Blueprint Print Scout package contained in the Tracker directory to install or upgrade the Tracker.  

Updating Tracker on Windows Workstations

  1. Print Scout packages should be distributed to all workstations hosting the Blueprint Tracker, so you can take advantage of the new features and improvements.

Integrations

Pharos Print Center

For the Pharos Print Center Integration to work with this Service Pack the following order of install is recomended:

  1. Apply Service Pack1 to all Blueprint server components (this can be done in stages).

  2. Upgrade Pharos Print Center to the version distributed with this Service Pack (2.4.2).

  3. If Mobile Print Integration is present, upgrade to version 2.1.

  4. Restart IIS (on the server where the Pharos Print Center Integration is installed).

All other Integrations (VPSX and HP e-Print) released with 5.2 will work after SP1 is applied.


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