Manually Populating Database Templates and Software Updates

If you have deployed VMware Data Services Manager in an air-gapped environment (an environment with no internet connectivity), you are responsible for manually checking for updates and populating new database templates and software updates in the Provider Repo.

You are required to periodically check VMware Tanzu Network or VMware Customer Connect for new VMware Data Services Manager database templates and updates. If any new database templates or software updates are available, you must download the Air-gap Environment Repository distributed in the release and manually populate the Provider Repo, preserving the existing directory structure.

Step 1: Examine Tanzu Network or VMware Customer Connect and download a new VMware Data Services Manager release
Step 2: Populate the Provider Repo

Examining Tanzu Network and Downloading a New Release

The database templates and software updates in a VMware Data Services Manager release are available as a separate, single download from VMware Tanzu Network and VMware Customer Connect . The download file is a .zip file that unpacks to the required Provider Repo directory structure.

Perform these steps to download the air-gapped deliverable:

Navigate to VMware Data Services Manager on VMware Tanzu Network or VMware Customer Connect, locate and select Air-gap Environment Repository, and download the file.

The format of the download file name is:
```
air_gap_deliverables.zip
```
Make note of the directory to which the file was downloaded.

Populating the Provider Repo

You must populate the Provider Repo bucket with the contents of the air_gap_deliverables.zip file that you downloaded from Tanzu Network, retaining the existing directory structure.

Note: The Provider expects that the zip file is unpacked, as-is, in the root level of the bucket. Do not introduce intermediate folders or change the directory structure.

Prerequisites

Before you begin populating the Provider Repo, ensure that you:

Have created and can identify the name of the bucket configured for the repo.
Have the keys to the S3-compatible object storage on hand.
Have access to a CLI or GUI fronting the S3 repository.

Procedure

After you have downloaded the air_gap_deliverables.zip file from the VMware Tanzu Network or VMware Customer Connect, perform the following procedure to unpack the file into the Provider Repo:

Recall the file system location of the downloaded air_gap_deliverables.zip file.
Unpack the file locally:
```
user@host$ mkdir airgap
user@host$ cd airgap
user@host$ unzip <path_to_file>/air_gap_deliverables.zip
```
The command unpacks the database templates, software updates, and supporting files for the VMware Data Services Manager release to the current working directory.
Copy the unpacked files to the Provider Repo bucket:
- For example, if you are using a CLI and your Provider Repo is in AWS:
```
user@host$ cd ..
user@host$ aws s3 cp --recursive ./airgap/ s3://<bucket_name>/
```
- If you are using a GUI front-end, use the tool to copy the files.
Verify that the S3 bucket includes the following files and directories:
```
 db-templates/
 dms-control-plane/
 manifests.zip
```

Note: The new software will be visible and available to the Provider when it next checks for updates (at 12:00 AM according to the NTP server configured for the Provider VM).

Populating the Provider Repo to Upgrade

You must populate the Provider Repo bucket with the contents of the air_gap_deliverables.zip file that you downloaded from Tanzu Network, retaining the existing directory structure.

Note: The Provider expects that the zip file is unpacked, as-is, in the root level of the bucket. Do not introduce intermediate folders or change the directory structure.

Prerequisites

Before you begin populating the Provider Repo, ensure that you:

Have created and can identify the name of the bucket configured for the repo.
Have the keys to the S3-compatible object storage on hand.
Have access to a CLI or GUI fronting the S3 repository.

Procedure

After you have downloaded the air_gap_deliverables.zip file from the VMware Tanzu Network or VMware Customer Connect, perform the following procedure to unpack the file into the Provider Repo:

Copy the contents of db-templates, and db-templates/database-templates, and dms-control-plane directories of the new release and place it in the corresponding directories in the Provider Repo.
Replace the existing manifests.zip in the Provider Repo with the manifests.zip file of the new release.
(Optional) After all the appliances and databases (db-agent-core, adapter, OS and Engine) are updated to the new release version, delete the files of the old release from db-templates, db-templates/database-templates and dms-control-plane directories in the Provider Repo.

Note:

The new software will be visible and available to the Provider when it next checks for updates (at 12:00 AM according to the NTP server configured for the Provider VM).

Ensure that none of the artifacts related to the current release are deleted while deleting files of the older release from the db-templates, db-templates/database-templates and dms-control-plane directories in the Provider Repo.

Next Steps

Read up on how VMware Data Services Manager handles software updates: