You do not need to initiate an upgrade of the PN proxies on your vCenter/ESXi server(s) because onQ does this for you automatically if the vCenter/ESXi server(s) are available. onQ regularly checks—prior to each backup—the proxy version and, if needed, will update the proxy to latest. If vCenter/ESXi server(s) aren’t available, onQ is persistent and continues to retry the upgrade process.

There is no way to disable automatic upgrades of the PN proxies. However, you can use the alternative method outlined in To re‑enroll a proxy PN: if your PN proxies are in a state that requires a manual upgrade as onQ may not be able to back up your PNs otherwise.

During an upgrade, vCenter indicates that the PN’s proxy, Linux PN proxy (LPY_<onQhostname>_<ESXhostname>) and Windows PN proxy (WPY_<onQhostname>_<ESXhostname>), are shutting down and the replacement PN proxies are being deployed.

After an onQ software upgrade and a protection restart, onQ automatically upgrades all proxies, both Windows and Linux, on the ESXi hosts, if needed. Also, all proxies deployed from a specific onQ across vMotion‑clustered ESXi hosts are upgraded, if needed, when the onQ software is upgraded.

The DASHBOARD tab > PROTECTED NODES page > Connection Status icon, indicates the upgrade in progress:

You know that the proxy upgraded successfully by browsing the onQ Event log in real‑time: the log shows the change in proxy versions before and after the proxy upgrade.

Also, onQ sends alerts about the upgrade. If you aren’t a recipient of such alerts, you can generate the Event Log for a given PN; this log shows the coordination that transpired between the onQ and PN proxies on the ESXi/ESX server.

All PNs on a given ESXi server and having the same operating system (Linux or Windows) will share a common PN proxy. Therefore, when a PN proxy that is common to all PNs is being upgraded, the onQ Event log indicates that all the PNs are being upgraded. Also, the Connection Status icon provides the same aforementioned status for all the PNs.