Veritas Appliance Management Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.1.2)

Managing appliance software upgrades

The Upgrade software page lets you manage and deploy software upgrades for multiple appliances, simultaneously.

Note:

The Appliance Management Console does not support upgrades for the NetBackup Virtual Appliance or the appliances (nodes) in a high availability (HA) setup. To upgrade these appliances, use the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu.

The top of the page provides a description of each required task. As you complete a task and continue to the next one, the page refreshes with details and new column headings for the next step.

The following describes the details column headings for each task:

1 Confirm appliance selection

  • Selected appliances (n) The host name of each appliance and the total number of selected appliances.

  • Role The configured role for the selected appliance.

  • Master The name of the associated master server for the selected appliance.

  • Version The current software version on the selected appliance.

2 Select upgrade package

  • Applicable packages The full name of each compatible upgrade package that resides in the Repository.

  • Type The package type; Upgrade.

  • Version The software version of each listed upgrade package.

3 Check readiness

  • Selected appliances (n) The host name of each appliance and the total number of selected appliances.

  • Version The current software version on the selected appliance.

  • Selected package The name of the selected upgrade package for the appliance.

  • Status The progress of the readiness check and the result after completion.

  • Additional requirements Any requirements that are needed for a specific appliance, before the upgrade. Click Next to see the details.

4 Additional requirements

  • Appliances with additional requirements (n) The host name of the affected appliance and the total number of affected appliances.

  • Master The name of the associated master server for the selected appliance.

  • Requirements (confirmation) A description of any required tasks to perform before the upgrade.

  • Requirements (input) A data entry field to provide any required information.

5 Start upgrades

  • Selected appliances (n) The host name of each appliance and the total number of listed appliances.

  • Version The current software version of the appliance.

  • Selected package The name of the selected upgrade package for the appliance.

Guidelines for multiple appliance upgrades

Use the following guidelines when planning for multiple appliance upgrades:

  • Before you begin the upgrade process, download the appropriate upgrade package and add it to the Repository.

  • When selecting the appliances to upgrade, select only those that use the same software version.

  • Select only one upgrade package to deploy for all selected appliances. Simultaneous upgrades of different version upgrade packages are not supported.

  • Appliances that use software versions 2.7.3 and 3.0 are also supported for upgrades through the Appliance Management Console. To upgrade appliances with versions 2.7.3 or 3.0 from the Appliance Management Console, you must first apply specific EEBs on those appliances. Check this link for more information.

  • Consider a scenario where you are trying to upgrade an existing agent to version 3.1.2 by using a 3.1.1 AMS. Before upgrading your agents to 3.1.2, upgrade the appliance software version on the AMS to 3.1.2 from the NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu. See the NetBackup Appliance Upgrade Guide for information about upgrading the appliance software version on the AMS.

Upgrading appliance software

Before you start any upgrades, make sure that you have already done the following:

  • Completed any required pre-upgrade tasks as described in the Veritas NetBackup Appliance Upgrade Guide.

  • Added the appropriate upgrade package to the Repository.

    See Managing the Repository.

Use the following procedure to upgrade the appliance software.

To upgrade appliance software

  1. On the Home page, select the appliances that you want to upgrade. All selected appliances must use the same software version. After completing the appliance selections, click Manage > Upgrade software.
  2. On the Upgrade software page (1 Verify appliance selection), review and verify the displayed information for the appliances that you selected on the Home page. If the list is correct, click Next.

    To make any changes, go back to the Home page and make them. Return to this page to verify your selections and click Next.

  3. On the refreshed page (2 Select upgrade package), select the appropriate upgrade package in the Applicable packages column and click Next.

    Note:

    Only one package can be selected.

  4. On the refreshed page (3 Check readiness), click Check readiness to initiate the preflight upgrade check.

    Note:

    Do not click Back, Next, or try to refresh the page during this task.

    Watch the Status column for the progress and the results of the preflight check for each appliance. To see the detailed status of a single appliance, click on the down arrow next to the appliance name to expand that row.

    After the preflight check has completed, the result for each appliance appears in this column. The Additional requirements column may also indicate if other action is needed. The following results are possible:

    • Successful

      The appliance has passed the readiness check and is ready for an upgrade.

    • Successful, Click Next for details.

      The appliance has passed the readiness check, but other tasks are required before the upgrade.

    • Failed

      The appliance has failed the readiness check and is not ready to upgrade.

      Click Next.

  5. On the refreshed page (4 Additional requirements), review the information for any additional requirements.
    • For appliances that require a certificate, a token, or both, steps to obtain these items appear above the table on the page. The following describes the steps.

      Log in to the NetBackup command line on the master server and proceed as follows:

      • 1 - To view the certificate, run the following command: nbcertcmd -listCACertDetails

      • 2 - Verify that the SHA1 fingerprints match on both interfaces.

      • 3 - To generate a token, run the following command: nbcertcmd.

      • 4 - Copy the token from the NetBackup command line and paste it below.

        Enter a valid token for each appliance that needs one.

        Note:

        A valid token can only be obtained from the master server and it cannot be modified. An error appears if an invalid token is entered for any appliance and prevents you from clicking Trust and continue.

    • For appliance master server upgrades from software versions 3.1.1 and earlier, you are required to obtain a customer registration key for the Veritas Smart Meter feature. To obtain a key, follow the onscreen prompts as described below:

      • Log in to the Veritas Smart Meter site with your VEMS credentials and go the Registration Keys page to download a customer registration key file.

      • Open the downloaded file in a text editor, then copy and paste the entire contents in the Requirements (input) column under Smart Meter Customer Registration Key.

    After you have entered the information on this page, click Trust and continue.

  6. On the refreshed page (5 Start upgrades), click Start upgrades.

    The Activity monitor appears so that you can watch the upgrade progress for all of the selected appliances. Expand the row of any appliance during the upgrade progress to see the step by step progress, as follows:

    Step 1 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Performing the preflight check---
    Step 2 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Performing the pre-upgrade self-test---
    Step 3 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Creating the pre-upgrade checkpoint---
    Step 4 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Performing the pre-upgrade tasks---
    Step 5 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Upgrading the appliance software---
    Step 6 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Upgrading NetBackup---
    Step 7 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Performing the post-upgrade tasks---
    Step 8 of 8: hh:mm:ss, Performing the post-upgrade self-test---
  7. For any appliance that shows the state as Paused, expand that appliance row for complete details about how to proceed. A message prompts you to log in to the IPMI console and select one of the following options:
    • Press the A key to attempt the self-test again.

    • Press the R key to roll back the appliance to the previous software version.

      If you press A and the self-test fails again, press R to roll back to the previous version, or contact Technical Support for assistance.

      Note:

      A rollback occurs automatically after one hour if you do not log in to the IPMI console and make a selection.