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Version: V3

Update TCAdmin

When a new version of TCAdmin is released you can update your whole cluster — the master and every remote server — straight from the control panel. From TCAdmin 3.8 onwards there's a built-in System Update page that downloads, installs, applies any database changes and restarts the services for you, one server at a time. No command line required.

If you're still on a version older than 3.8, or you simply prefer the terminal, you can also update with a single command — see Update from the command line.

Game servers stay running

Updating only restarts the TCAdmin management services (Monitor and Web). Your actual game servers keep running, so players aren't disconnected.

Update from the web​

Open System → System Update in the control panel. This page is the home for everything to do with updating your cluster.

Who can do this

You need an administrator account with permission to manage system updates to open this page and start an update.

At the top of the page a banner tells you where you stand:

  • You're up to date — every server is running the newest version on your channel.
  • Update available — a newer version is ready, and the banner shows which version it is.

Start an update​

  1. Go to System → System Update.
  2. Click Update Now. (If you're already on the latest version but want to repair an install or re-run database changes, the same button instead reads Reinstall current version.)
  3. Confirm in the dialog. The update starts straight away.

Here's what happens, in order:

  1. The master server updates first. It downloads and installs the new version, applies any database changes, and restarts. The web interface will be unavailable for a minute or two while this happens — the page shows a Reconnecting… badge and comes back on its own.
  2. Once the master is healthy, your remote servers roll out. They all update to the exact same version and channel as the master. You watch each one move through Queued → Updating → Done live on the page.
The master always goes first

Remote servers are only touched after the master has fully updated, migrated and come back healthy. If the master doesn't come back within about 20 minutes the update stops and no remote servers are changed.

A server that is offline when the rollout reaches it is marked Skipped and left untouched — you can update it later once it's back.

When a server fails or is skipped​

A finished update may show some servers as Failed or Skipped (offline). Each of those rows gets a Retry button — bring the server back online, then click Retry to update just that one. When you've finished reviewing the results, click Dismiss to clear the completed update.

Update a single server​

You don't have to update the whole cluster at once. In the Servers list at the bottom of the page, each remote server has its own button:

  • Update — shown when the server is behind the master (it also gets a Behind tag). Click it to bring that server up to the master's version.
  • Reinstall — shown when the server already matches the master. Click it to reinstall the same version.

The button is greyed out for servers that are offline. The master server has no button here — update it with Update Now at the top of the page.

Updating many servers at once​

If you run a lot of servers, the Max concurrent remotes box next to the Update button controls how many update at the same time. Leave it at the default, or set it to 0 to update every remote at once. TCAdmin remembers your choice for next time.

Choose your update channel​

A channel decides which stream of builds your cluster receives. You set it once, and every server in the cluster follows the same channel.

To change it, open System → System Update and find the Update Channel card:

  1. Pick a channel from the dropdown:
    • Beta — the default channel, with the latest releases. This is the recommended channel.
    • Custom — choose this to type the exact name of a specific channel, for example a build your provider asked you to use. Channel names are case-sensitive, so Dev-Fix and dev-fix are not the same channel.
  2. Click Save.

The channel is saved for the whole cluster, and the version status refreshes to show the latest build on your new channel.

note

The channel must already exist on the update server (a build must have been published to it) or the save is rejected. If you entered a custom name, double-check the spelling and capitalisation.

Stable channel

You may notice a Stable option in the list. It isn't selectable yet — Beta is currently the channel for everyone.

Change the channel from the command line

On the master server you can also view or set the channel without running an update:

tca channel            # show the current channel and the latest version on it
tca channel Beta       # switch the whole cluster to a channel

Update from the command line​

Prefer the terminal, or updating a server that's still older than 3.8? You can run the updater directly. It does the same work — download, install, database changes and restart — for the machine you run it on.

Open PowerShell or Command Prompt as Administrator and run:

tca update

If tca is not recognized (meaning it's not in your PATH), navigate to the CLI directory first:

cd "C:\Program Files\TCAdmin3\cli"
.\tca update

Running the command updates the machine you run it on. On the master it also applies the database changes; on a remote server it just updates that server's files and services.

Update a single run on a specific channel

Add --channel to update from a particular channel just for this run, without changing your saved channel:

tca update --channel Beta

After updating​

If you updated from the web, the page shows each server reaching Done when it's finished — there's nothing else to do.

If you updated from the command line, you can confirm the services came back up:

Get-Service TCA3Monitor, TCA3Web

Both should show a status of Running.

Then open your control panel in the browser to confirm everything is working. You can check the version number on the System Update page or in the panel footer.

Something went wrong?

If a service doesn't start after updating, run it in Console Mode to see the error messages and figure out what happened.