Author Topic: Headless CO5 Uploads  (Read 7955 times)

njlaw

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Headless CO5 Uploads
« on: March 30, 2021, 10:54:34 AM »
Hello All,

I'm wondering if anyone else would benefit from a headless (no GUI) CO5 uploader or a uploader library that we could call from our own code?  As we see the demand for IIoT grow among our customers, the ability to self-manage updates from a web console has been requested a number of times.  "I can update my smart speaker at home from the office.  Why can't I update our equipment myself?  Why do we have to call you and schedule a time to create a remote connection to our equipment to perform an update?  Our equipment is all Internet connected anyway.  I should be able to update with the click of a button."

It would definitely be helpful from our end too.  E.g., yesterday we discovered a bug that presents itself under rare circumstances.  We would like to update all our customers' equipment with the fixed version.  We now have to call all our customers and schedule a separate upgrade time for each of their units since I have to create a network tunnel, launch the CO5Uploader, click Reset, and click close.  If we were able to avoid the GUI, we could simply display an alert on our web portal that tells our customers an update is available for their equipment: "Click here to update.  The update will take up to 10 minutes during which your equipment will not be operable.  View the CHANGELOG here."  We already have a small headless PC running with every PLC we have deployed that can manage retries, rollbacks, etc.  But to do that programmatically, we need to be able to upload without a GUI.

Best regards,

Nathanael Law

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Re: Headless CO5 Uploads
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2021, 08:08:25 PM »
What version of CO5uploader do you have? Since version 2.3 that had been launched in 2016, the CO5uploader can be operated from the command line. Please see the command line user guide:

http://www.tri-plc.com/CO5UploaderSoftware/CO5Uploader-Command_Line_User_Guide.pdf

Hopefully this works for you.

In the next product that will be launched later this year the PLC will be able to download a CO5 file from a webserver to upgrade its own software with auto rollback in case of unsuccessful upgrade.

If you like some preliminary information about the new product please contact support@triplc.com for more details.
Email: support@triplc.com
Tel: 1-877-TRI-PLCS

njlaw

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Re: Headless CO5 Uploads
« Reply #2 on: March 31, 2021, 07:14:43 AM »
What version of CO5uploader do you have? Since version 2.3 that had been launched in 2016, the CO5uploader can be operated from the command line. Please see the command line user guide:

http://www.tri-plc.com/CO5UploaderSoftware/CO5Uploader-Command_Line_User_Guide.pdf


Hopefully this works for you.

Unfortunately, even when run from the command line, it requires a GUI, so we can't run in on our headless (no GUI) computers that are deployed alongside the PLCs.  From the Command Line User Guide:
Quote from: CommandLineUserGuide
This is a semi automatic process that requires the user to both manually click 'Reset' and close CO5 Uploader after each transfer completes.

In the next product that will be launched later this year the PLC will be able to download a CO5 file from a webserver to upgrade its own software with auto rollback in case of unsuccessful upgrade.

If you like some preliminary information about the new product please contact support@triplc.com for more details.

Thank you!  I will reach out to your e-mail!