Updating the Session Manager Component

How to update the PAM Session Manager module.

At times, PAM updates its core Session Manager module to implement new functionality or to address new security protocols.

As these updates are infrequent, they are not included as part of the weekly PAM software updates.

The procedure outlined in this article should be used to update the Session Manager module when updates are released.

As of December 2023, the latest Web Session Manager component is version 1.5.3-20231215.

Windows Server

  1. Update your PAM software to the latest available version before updating your Session Manager component.

  2. Login to the Windows host server where the Session Manager module is deployed.

  3. Download the latest version of the Session Manager component from here: https://bin.xtontech.com/product/pam-session.zip

  4. Extract the .zip file to a temporary location on this host server. For example, extract to c:\tmp resulting in the folder c:\tmp\guacd.

  5. Stop the PamSession service.

  6. Rename the folders:

    $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin to $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin0

    $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib to $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib0

    $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr to $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr0

  7. From within the extracted archive,

    • move the folder c:\tmp\guacd\bin to $PAM_HOME\guacd. This will create the new folder $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin
    • move the folder c:\tmp\guacd\lib to $PAM_HOME\guacd. This will create the new folder $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib
    • move the folder c:\tmp\guacd\usr to $PAM_HOME\guacd. This will create the new folder $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr

  8. Start the PamSession service.

  9. Test the new update by starting a new in-browser PAM session.

  • If the test is successful, you can then delete the temporary folder c:\tmp\guacd and the old binaries at $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin0, $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib0, $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr0
  • If the test is unsuccessful, you can rollback the update to the previous version by stopping the PamSession service, delete the new $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin, $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib, $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr directories, rename the backup from:
    • $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin0 to $PAM_HOME\guacd\bin,
    • $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib0 to $PAM_HOME\guacd\lib,
    • $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr0 to $PAM_HOME\guacd\usr and finally starting the PamSession service.

Linux Server (x86 or ARM)

  1. Update your PAM software to the latest available version before updating your Session Manager component.
  2. Login to the Linux host server where the Session Manager module is deployed.
  3. Download the latest version of the Session Manager component using the appropriate link below:

  4. Extract the archive file to a temporary location on this host server. For example, extract to /tmp resulting in the folder /tmp/guac.

  5. Stop the pamsession service.

  6. Rename the folder $PAM_HOME/guac to $PAM_HOME/guac0.

  7. Move the folder /tmp/guac to $PAM_HOME.

  8. Copy the folder with two security keys inside from $PAM_HOME/guac0/etc/ssl to $PAM_HOME/guac/etc so that newly copied folder $PAM_HOME/guac/etc/ssl will contain both public and private keys.

  9. Run shell command $PAM_HOME/guac/setup/setup.sh.

  10. Start the pamsession service.

  11. Test the new update by starting a new in-browser PAM session.

    • If the test is successful, you can then delete the temporary folder c:/tmp/guac and the old binaries at $PAM_HOME/guac/bin0, $PAM_HOME/guac/lib0, $PAM_HOME/guac/usr0.

    • If the test is unsuccessful, you can rollback the update to the previous version by stopping the pamsession, delete the new $PAM_HOME/guac directory, rename the backup from $PAM_HOME/guac0 to $PAM_HOME/guac and finally starting the pamsession service.

To print the version of WEB Session Manager execute the following command from the deployment folder where the application is installed:

  • Windows: .\guacd\bin\guacd -v

  • Linux: ./guac/sbin/guacd -v