3.2 Upgrade Utility Parameters

The following table includes the details of the command line parameters you can use with the PlateSpin.ForgeUpgrade.exe utility. There are four types of parameters:

  • Mandatory: Parameters that must be included in the command line.

  • Optional: Parameters that can be optionally included in the command line.

  • Hidden: Parameters that are not included in the list of commands via the /help parameter, but can be used for troubleshooting.

  • Debug: Parameters that are used by PlateSpin Development to debug and test the utility.

Parameter

Type

Description

/help

Displays help for the utility.

/backup

Backs up all contracts from the specified server.

/restore

Restores previously backed up contracts to the specified server.

/psserver

Mandatory

Specifies the address of the PlateSpin Server:

  • The PlateSpin Server is the Forge Server that is running on the Forge Management VM.

  • The address can be specified as IP, hostname, or FQDN.

  • The value should be specified on the configuration worksheet as the Forge Mgmt VM network settings (Item 5).

/username

Mandatory

Specifies the username used to connect to the PlateSpin Server:

  • Use IP address only.

  • The value can be specified as username, DOMAIN\username or username@DOMAIN.

  • The value should be specified on the configuration worksheet as the Local Administrator Password (Item 9).

/esx_address

Mandatory

Specifies the address of the ESX Server.

  • The value should be specified as IP only.

  • The value should be specified on the configuration worksheet as the Appliance Host Network Information (Item 2).

/esx_username

Mandatory (for Backup only)

Specifies the username used to connect to the ESX Server.

  • The default value is forgeuser. For the Restore function, this value (forgeuser) is hard coded.

  • The value should be specified on the configuration worksheet as Forge Host Credentials (part of Item 3).

/debugmode

Optional

This parameter prompts the user for the execution of each step of the upgrade.

You can choose the next step to execute from the ESX task.

/esx_pwdfile

Optional

Use this parameter to specify the path to a file with the ESX server password in its first line.

  • You can find the /esx_pwdfile value on the configuration worksheet as Forge Host Credentials (part of Item 3).

/esx_rootpwdfile

Optional

Use this parameter to specify the path to a file with the ESX server root password in its first line.

  • You can find the /esx_rootpwdfile value on the configuration worksheet as Forge Superuser/root (part of Item 1).

/outputfolder

Optional

Specifies the location where all generated and collected files are to be stored.

If you do not use this parameter or if you use it and do not add a value for the parameter, the upgrade utility’s location is used as the output location.

/pwdfile

Optional

Use this parameter to specify the path to a file with the PlateSpin Server password in its first line.

  • You can find the /pwdfile value on the configuration worksheet as the Local Administrator Password (part of Item 9).

/vmPrompt

Optional

Use this parameter to specify the VMs that are to be backed up and restored from USB storage.

This parameter applies to VMs on the local datastore.

/zipfile

Optional

This parameter specifies the path to export (that is, back up) or to import (that is, restore) protection contracts.

For the backup function, the utility creates the file. For the restore function, the file should already exist.

/noninteractive

Hidden

Use this parameter when you are scripting or redirecting console output. The following is a list of characteristics of this mode when applied to the utility:

  • When typed, passwords are not hidden.

  • The progress indicator is suppressed.

  • The mode is not precisely “non-interactive,” though that is its name: you are still prompted for action during the process.

/usehttps

Hidden

Use this parameter when you use the HTTPS protocol to connect to the PlateSpin Server.

The utility applies the parameter when you add it. For example, if you are constructing a URL to the Protect Web services for the purpose of pausing all contracts before export.

/skipesx

Debug

Use this parameter to skip the ESX task in the upgrade workflow.

/skiperversioncheck

Debug

Use this parameter to skip the version check of the Forge Server.

/skipforge

Debug

Use this parameter to skip the Forge task in the upgrade workflow.

WARNING:Applying this parameter might delete the contracts .zip file. For example, when you are prompted that the file will be overwritten, and you answer yes, the file is deleted. A new file is not created because the Forge part is skipped

/process

Optional

Use this parameter to specify whether to process checksums asynchronously (async) or synchronously (sync) as the files are being downloaded. Depending on the total size of the files, this could save some time. The default value is asynchronously.

/protocol

Optional

Use this parameter to specify whether to use SCP (scp) or SFTP (sftp) for file transfers. SCP is the default.

/skipformat

Optional

Use this parameter to skip formatting the USB devices on backup. Skipping the formatting allows re-running the backup process in the event of a failure without having to re-download all of the virtual machine files.