Manually Installing/Upgrading JSSDatabaseUtil.jar on Linux

If your JSS runs on Linux, maybe due to some circumstance beyond your control the automated JSS Installer isn't a viable option, and all of your upgrades are done manually. Maybe your organization's VM templates are created by the sort of people who hold fast to their beliefs about security through obscurity. Whatever the reason, if you find yourself in a situation where you want to manually change versions of JSSDatabaseUtil.jar for testing, upgrades, or a rollback, you can selectively pull that component (and others) out of jssinstaller.run.

Quick disclaimer: This was tested with RHEL 6.5 and JSS 9.25, just because those builds were handy.

1.) Check what version of the JSS Database Utility is installed. Your path to JSSDatabaseUtil.jar may vary, but the default is /usr/local/jss/bin/JSSDatabaseUtil.jar: http://resources.jamfsoftware.com/documents/products/documentation/Casper-Suite-9.2-JSS-Installation-Guide-for-Linux.pdf

1sudo java -jar /usr/local/jss/bin/JSSDatabaseUtil.jar version
2JSS Database Utility 8.62
3version=8.62

2.) Download the desired version of the JSS Installer for Linux from JAMF Nation. The current Linux installer is hidden in My Assets under "Show alternative downloads", and older versions are under "Show previous releases". You'll find jssinstaller.run in ./JSSInstallerLinux/JSS Installation/jssinstaller.run -- Upload this file to your JSS. For the example, I staged mine in /tmp/.

3.) Extract items from jssinstaller.run:

1sudo /tmp/jssinstaller.run --confirm --target /tmp/jssinstaller/

--target sets a directory to retain extracted items, --confirm sets the installer to verbose mode, which will prompt before extraction:

1About to extract 69804 KB in /tmp/jssinstaller/ ... Proceed ? [Y/n] + read yn
2y
3Uncompressing JSS Installer............

And before execution. Take this opportunity to decline (n) so the JSSInstallDriver.sh script doesn't get the chance to run.

1OK to execute: bash JSSInstallDriver.sh   ? [Y/n] + read yn
2n

4.) Confirm that you've successfully extracted dbbackupinstaller.run:

1ls /tmp/jssinstaller/
2ArgsParser.sh
3**dbbackupinstaller.run**
4installInitScript.sh
5jcetest.jar
6JSSInstallDriver.sh
7jsswebappinstaller.run
8logger.sh
9test64bitRequirements.sh
10testJavaRequirements.sh
11testTomcatRequirements.sh
12tomcatinstaller.run

5.) Extract the JSSDatabaseUtil.jar from dbbackupinstaller.run using the same commands from step 3:

1sudo /tmp/jssinstaller/dbbackupinstaller.run --confirm --target /tmp/jssinstaller/jssdatabaseutil/
2Creating directory /tmp/jssinstaller/jssdatabaseutil/
3Verifying archive integrity... OK.
4About to extract 156 KB in /tmp/jssinstaller/jssdatabaseutil/ ... Proceed ? [Y/n] 
5y
6Uncompressing Database Back-up Installer......
7OK to execute: bash DBBackupInstallDriver.sh   ? [Y/n] 
8n

6.) JSSDatabaseUtil.jar should be extracted and ready to copy:

1ls /tmp/jssinstaller/jssdatabaseutil/
2ArgsParser.sh
3DBBackupInstallDriver.sh
4installInitScript.sh
5**JSSDatabaseUtil.jar**
6logger.sh

(Check out DBBackupInstallDriver.sh for more info about the automated upgrade)