Avocent DSView 3 23

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CHAPTER

23 Plug-ins

A plug-in provides support for a specific appliance type (model) in the DSView 3 software. A

plug-in is packaged into a single archive file that can be shipped and added independently of the

DSView 3 software. You may add plug-ins to the DSView 3 software version 3.3 or later.

Although plug-ins are created independently, a particular DSView 3 software release may include

one or more plug-ins that have already been added to the software. The release notes will indicate if

any plug-ins are included. If a plug-in is included, you will not need to add it to the hub or

spoke servers.

This chapter describes how to add and manage plug-ins in the DSView 3 software. Once you

successfully complete the sequence for adding a plug-in, you may add appliances of that type and

initiate other operations from the DSView 3 software that are supported in that plug-in.

NOTE: You must have DSView 3 software administrator access rights to view, add and manage plug-ins.

Plug-ins are created using the Plug-in API in the DSView 3 Software Development Kit (SDK).

To add or upgrade a plug-in:

1. Ensure that scheduled replication will not occur during the adding or upgrading of plug-ins -

you may need to change the replication schedule temporarily.

2. Perform a replication operation on every spoke server. See Replication on page 71.

3. Perform a backup of the DSView 3 software database. See Backing up and Restoring Hub

Servers Manually on page 65.

4. Add or upgrade the plug-in on the hub server.

• To add a plug-in, see Adding Plug-ins on page 320.

• To upgrade a plug-in, see Upgrading a plug-in on page322.

5. Add or upgrade the plug-in on each spoke server. All spoke servers should have the same

plug-ins at the same version.

6. Perform a replication operation on every spoke server.

7. Perform a backup of the DSView 3 software database.

8. If you changed the replication schedule in step 1, you may change it back to its original values.