How to upgrade the Veritas Access 3340 Appliance to version 7.4.2.200

Article: 100046753
Last Published: 2020-10-19
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Product(s): Appliances

Description

Use these instructions to download and upgrade the Access Appliance from version 7.4.2 or 7.4.2.100 to version 7.4.2.200.

Product dependencies

Run the software self-test on each of the appliance nodes to verify the status of the appliance software components. Ensure that you run a self-test on each of the appliance nodes that you want to upgrade. The self-test must complete with a PASS status. For detailed instruction on how to run a self-test, refer to the Access Appliance Upgrade Guide.

Before you upgrade

Ensure that the following prerequisites are completed before you upgrade:

Uninstall the EEB (Etrack 3985885)

If the Emergency Engineering Binary (EEB) to resolve security vulnerabilities for Veritas InfoScale (Etrack 3985885) is installed on Access Appliance version 7.4.2 or 7.4.2.100, uninstall the EEB (Etrack 3985885) from the Access Appliance. The fix to resolve the issue is included in the 7.4.2.200 software update.

Install the Veritas Access license to avoid warning messages about installing a separate Veritas InfoScale perpetual license

If a perpetual Veritas Access license is installed on your system, install the license again to suppress the warning messages about installing a separate Veritas InfoScale perpetual license. These messages are displayed because of keyless licensing of Veritas InfoScale products. 
Important: Though the warning messages related to keyless license are displayed, the Veritas InfoScale functionality is not affected and the product continues to work as expected.  

To install the Veritas Access license again:

1. Open an SSH session and log on to the appliance as an administrator using the Access Appliance shell menu.   
The Main_Menu view is displayed

2. To open an interactive shell menu, in the Access Appliance shell menu, enter the following command
   Support > Maintenance
   Enter the password for the Maintenance user account.

3. In the command shell, run the following command to find the node where the Access GUI is running:
hastatus -sum | grep -| ManagementConsole

4. Log on to the node where the ManagementConsole is ONLINE and go to the Access command-line interface:
/opt/VRTSnas/clish/bin/clish -u admin

5. In the Access command-line interface, run the following commands to find the licenses installed on your system:
system license list
Note the Access base license key (.slf file) that is in the Active state. If you have multiple Access Base license keys that are active, choose any one of the keys.  
logout

6. To install the license, run the following command:
/opt/VRTS/install/installaccess -license
Continue till you are prompted for the license. When prompted for a license, specify the first option:

1)  Enter a valid perpetual or subscription license key file
2)  Skip licensing and continue with current licenses

How would you like to license the systems? [1-2,q,?] (2) 1

7. Specify the location where the .slf license key is stored and continue to follow the prompts.

Verify the MaxStartups attribute in the sshd configuration file

Ensure that the MaxStartups attribute in the OpenSSH Daemon (sshd) configuration file (etc/ssh/sshd_config)  is set to a value that is greater than the number of service groups running on the system. 

A rolling upgrade to version 7.4.2.200 might fail with the following message displayed in /log/upgrade_upgrade_log_7.4.2.*_yyyy_mm_dd if the MaxStartups attribute of sshd is set to a value that is smaller than the number of service groups running on the system:
upgrade.upgrade_comm.py - DEBUG - Return value is: 255. Output is: ssh_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

During an upgrade, when switching the services between the nodes, the system tries to retrieve the status of the service groups from the other node using the SSH daemon. The  MaxStartups attribute defines the maximum number of concurrent unauthenticated connections to the SSH daemon. If  the value of this attribute is less than the number of service groups, the SSH daemon blocks the additional connections and is unable to retrieve the status of all the service groups, which results in an upgrade failure.

To verify that the MaxStartups attribute is set to a value that is greater than the number of service groups running on the system:

1. Check the number of  service groups in the cluster:
    a. Open an SSH session and log on to the appliance as an administrator using the Access Appliance shell menu.
        The Main_Menu view is displayed
     b. To open an interactive shell menu,  in the Access Appliance shell menu, enter the following command
          Support > Maintenance
      c. Enter the password for the Maintenance user account.
      d. In the command shell, run the following command:
          hagrp -list Enabled=1 | cut -f 1 | uniq | wc -l

  2. Check the value configured for the MaxStartups attribute. In the command shell, run the cat /etc/ssh/sshd_config | grep MaxStartups command.

  3. Update the MaxStartups attribute if its value is  less than the number of service groups running on both the nodes: 
       a. Open the etc/ssh/sshd_config file.
       b. Set the MaxStartups attribute to value that is greater than the number of service groups.
       c. Restart the  sshd service by running the following command 
           systemctl restart sshd
            For example, if the value of the MaxStartups is set to 25 and the number of service groups is 36, update the value of MaxStartups to a value that is greater than 36.

Check all the VCS service groups

The parallel service groups must be either online or offline on both the nodes. Each of the active-passive service groups must be online on one of the nodes and offline on the other node. Run the following commands: 

hastatus -summ | grep -e cfsmount -e cvm -e Phantom -e "CIFS " -e NFS -e CanHost -e Monitor -e OBJECTGW -e Reconfig -e TCPCon -e appdb_data  
hastatus -summ | grep -v -e cfsmount -e cvm -e Phantom -e "CIFS " -e NFS -e CanHost -e Monitor -e OBJECTGW -e Reconfig -e TCPCon -e appdb_data

About the Veritas Access 3340 Appliance upgrade

Veritas Access 3340 Appliance supports the following upgrade methods:

  • Rolling upgrade: Use this method if the Veritas Access 3340 Appliance is configured and the appliance nodes are part of the Veritas Access cluster.
  • Node-by-node upgrade: Use this method if the appliance nodes are in factory state.

Note: The appliance nodes that are in the Not in Access cluster state cannot be upgraded. You can reset a node to the default factory settings, and then upgrade the node.

Downloading the appliance software release updates

Appliance software updates can be downloaded by using the Access Appliance shell menu or manually through a share. Updates must be downloaded to the appliance before you start the upgrade.

  • For a rolling upgrade, download the software upgrade package to one of the nodes in the cluster.
  • For a node-by-node upgrade, download the software upgrade package to each node that you want to upgrade.

Downloading software updates directly to an Access 3340 appliance node using the Access Appliance shell menu

Use this procedure to download the VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm to the appliance node:

  1. If not already done so, open an SSH session and log on to the appliance as an administrator using the Access Appliance shell menu.
    The Main_Menu view is displayed.
     
  2. To determine if a software update is available from the Veritas Support website, enter the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > List AvailablePatch
    The software release update that is available for installation is displayed. Note the name of the software release update package. For example, VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm  
     
  3. To download the available software update, enter the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > Download update_name
    where update_name is the name of the software release update package.
    For example:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > Download VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm
     
  4. To verify that the software update has downloaded successfully, enter the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > List Downloaded
    The downloaded software update is validated and details such as the patch name, size, and version are displayed.

Downloading software updates to an Access 3340 appliance node using a client share

Use this procedure to download the software release update to an appliance node using a CIFS or an NFS share. You can download the software update from the Veritas Support website (https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US). See "Download link for Access Appliance software updates". You must sign in with your Veritas account credentials to download the release update.  

  1. If not already done so, open an SSH session and log on to the appliance as an administrator using the Access Appliance Shell Menu.
     
  2. To open an NFS or a CIFS share, enter the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > Share Open
    Note: If you experience a 'time-out' or 'denied' error when mounting the NFS share on your client computer, refer to the Veritas Access 7.3.2 Release Notes (SORT website) for details about how to bring the NFS server online.
     
  3. Mount the appliance share directory as follows.
    For a Linux NFS share:

    mkdir -p /mount/Node_management_IP
    mount Node_management_IP:/inst/patch/incoming /mount/Node_management_IP

    where Node_management_IP is the IP address that is assigned to eth1 of each node.

    For a Windows CIFS share:
    \\Node_management_IP\incoming_patches
    where Node_management_IP is the IP address that is assigned to eth1 of each node.
    Note: Use the appliance admin user credentials to map a share directory for CIFS.
     
  4. Download the upgrade package and the SHA256 checksum.
    •    Release update: Refer to the link in the "Download link for Access Appliance software updates" to download the release update (VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm) from the Veritas Support website.
    •    SHA256 checksum: Copy the text file that contains the SHA256 checksum. The checksum is displayed when you click the VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm release update.
     
  5. Run the following command to compute the checksum of the rpm file:
    sha256sum VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64.rpm
    Verify that the SHA256 checksum matches the checksum that you downloaded from the Veritas Support website.
     
  6. Copy this release update to the mounted share.
    Note: To avoid any issues, ensure that you do not run commands on the appliance nodes when you copy the update.
     
  7. Unmount the shared directory after copying the update.
     
  8. Close the NFS and the CIFS shares by using the command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > Share Close
     
  9. List the downloaded files by using the command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > List Downloaded
    The downloaded update is validated and details such as the patch name, size, and version are displayed.

Upgrading Access 3340 Appliance to 7.4.2.200

  • For a rolling upgrade, install the software update on the node where you downloaded the upgrade package.
  • For a node-by-node upgrade, install the software update on each node that you want to upgrade.

If you have exported an NFS share, ensure that the NFS server is started before you perform the upgrade.

To install the downloaded software release update, complete the following steps:

  1. Connect to the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) console of the node where you downloaded the software update package.

    Note: Veritas recommends that you log in using the Access Appliance Shell Menu from the IPMI console instead of an SSH session. The IPMI console is also known as the Veritas Remote Management Console. For details about how to access and use the Veritas Remote Management Console, refer to the Veritas Access Appliance Initial Configuration Guide.
     
  2. Log in to the Access Appliance Shell Menu.
     
  3. To install the software release update, run the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > Install patch_name 
    where patch_name is the name of the software release update that you want to install.
    A summary of the upgrade changes is displayed and you are prompted for confirmation. Review the details and type yes to continue.
     
  4. Monitor the preflight check and check if any Check failed messages are displayed. After the preflight check completes, you have the following options:
    • If Check failed messages are not displayed and the preflight check completes successfully, the Pre-flight check finished successfully message is displayed and you are prompted to continue to the next step.
    • If a Check failed message is displayed, the upgrade cannot continue. You must resolve the reported failures, and then install the update again (see step 3) so that the preflight check can verify that the failures have been resolved. For information about how to resolve the reported issues, refer to the technical articles corresponding to the displayed UMI codes (V-409-xxx-xxxx)
     
  5. When the following message is displayed and you are promoted for confirmation, type yes to continue:
    This software update requires a reboot of the appliance after the installation process completes. Do you want to continue? (yes/no)
     
  6. To check the upgrade status, run the following command:
    Main_Menu > Manage > Software > UpgradeStatus
    The details about the completed tasks and the completion status are displayed.

    If the upgrade fails at any point in time, error messages and the details about possible solutions are displayed and a rollback operation is initiated automatically. After the rollback is completed successfully, the Completed the rollback operation. Run the 'Support> Test Software' command to verify if all the services are up. message is displayed.

    If the software update is installed successfully, the following message is displayed:
    This appliance node is not in upgrade state.

    To ensure that the appliance is upgraded successfully, run the Main_Menu > Appliance > Status command and verify the Access version and the appliance version.

Download link for Access Appliance software updates

Click the following link to download the Access Appliance software version 7.4.2.200 updates:

VRTSaccess-app-update-7.4.2.200-1.x86_64

 

References

JIRA : IA-20206

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