You may occasionally need to program new firmware on your devices. You can remotely update the entire system through Remote Manager. To do so, create an update package and upload it to the device through Remote Manager.

1. Create the update package

To learn how to create the update package, see Create and build projects.

2. Upload the package

The procedure to update the firmware using Remote Manager depends on the size of the update package.

Upload the full package and update

Once you have created the update package, upload it to Remote Manager to start the update process.

  1. Log in to your Remote Manager account (https://remotemanager.digi.com).

  2. Go to the Device Management tab and select Devices.

  3. Right click on your device, select Firmware > Update Firmware.

  4. In the Update Firmware window, select the .swu file of the update package and click Update Firmware. The firmware update process starts.

The package is downloaded to the configured path in the setting firmware_download_path of the /etc/cc.conf configuration file. By default, it is the update partition, mounted on /mnt/update. See Wipe the update partition for information on how to wipe this partition.

You must have enough space in the configured firmware download path (setting firmware_download_path of the /etc/cc.conf file) for the .swu package.

Fragment the update package and update

Remote Manager does not upload files larger than 100 MB, so if your update package exceeds that limit you must split it into several fragments, upload them to the device, and proceed with the firmware update. To do so, follow these steps:

Split the update package

  1. Download the latest version of the Firmware Fragmenter Tool and uncompress it.

  2. Run the following command in a shell:

    java -jar FirmwareFragmenter-<x.y.z>.jar -d <device_directory> <update_package.swu>

    In this command, <x.y.z> is the version of the Firmware Fragmenter tool.

    • <update_package.swu> is the path to the .swu file to fragment.

    • <device_directory> is your device’s directory where the fragments are going to be located. It can be an internal directory, e.g. /mnt/update, or the mount point of any external storage device, e.g. /run/media/sda1.

By default, the application generates fragments of 40 MB and you have to store them to the specified device’s directory as it is explained in the next step. You can change this behavior by using the -s <max_fragment_size_mb> to create fragments of a different size.

The application generates the fragments inside the out directory along with a manifest file.

Upload the fragments to the device

Once you have fragmented the update package, you can transfer the fragments to the device automatically using Web Services (see Automate operations with web services) or manually:

  1. Log in to your Remote Manager account (https://remotemanager.digi.com).

  2. Through the File Management tool, upload all the fragments except the manifest file to the location you specified when fragmenting the package (by default, the device’s internal storage). To learn how to use this tool, see Access the filesystem.

Update the firmware of your device

Once the fragments are uploaded to the device, the firmware process can be automated (see Automate operations with web services) or launched manually:

  1. Go to the Device Management tab and select Devices.

  2. Right click on your device, select Firmware > Update Firmware.

  3. In the Update Firmware window, select the manifest file of the update package and click Update Firmware. The firmware update process starts.

The manifest is downloaded and the update package assembled inside the configured directory in the setting firmware_download_path of the /etc/cc.conf configuration file. By default, it is the update partition, mounted on /mnt/update. For more information on wiping this partition, see Wipe the update partition.

You must have enough space in the configured firmware download path (setting firmware_download_path of the /etc/cc.conf file) for the assembled .swu package.