Pre Upgrade checks / verifications

[Brian_Galante]

This will be the first upgrade I'm doing myself, I would like to see if anyone can look at my plan and let me know if I'm missing anything.

Hardware - (11) Simplivity Gen 10, split into 2 clusters, (8 node, and 3 node) All in one VMWare datacenter.

Current Software Versions:

Firmware from about 3/2019, Omnistack 3.7.9_279, ESXi 6.7 U1 (build 10302608) and Vsphere 6.7 U1 (Build 10244857)

I plan to upgrade to Omnistack 4.0.1 U1 , ESXi 6.7 U3 , and VCSA 6.7 U3f, Firmware SVTSP-2019 0903.01

Would appreciate a verification the above software versions look correct.

Thenm the order I want to use:

1. Manually upgrade the firmware on all 11 Simplivity's by booting to the ISO and doing the automatic upgrade as outlined inthe video on this site.

2. Upgrade the arbiter and the VCenter Plugin.

3. Upgrade Upgrade VCSA to 6.7 U3

4. Upgrade Omnistack to 4.0.1 U1

5. Upgrade ESXi to 6.7 U3

If you guys can let me know if that order looks good with the versions etc, that would be really helpful to me, very much appreciated!

[AnkiN]

Hi @Brian_Galante ,

Thanks for using HPE SimpliVity Forum.

The plan looks good. However we may need to upgrade the HPE SImpliVity plugin post vCenter upgrade.

[Brian_Galante]

@AnkiN 

Thank you so much! Yes that makes sense...

I have one more question about the timing, I have 11 servers, so that will take a long time to do in one session.

Do you have a recommendation how I can split that up, should I do the 3 node cluster 1st, then do the 8 node cluster the next day? 

I was planning to do step 4 (OVC) and step 5 (ESXi) simultaniously via the Upgrade manager. Is it ok to split the upgrade in two parts like I described?

[AnkiN]

Hi @Brian_Galante,

Thank you for using HPE SimpliVity Forum.

Sure, you can split the firmware activity. As you have a federation with 3+8 nodes you can perform the activity for upgrading the firmware manually on Day1 with 3 nodes in cluster 1 and few nodes from cluster 2. And on Day2 doing the remaining node's firmware upgrade.

Post that you can use the upgrade manager or the separate phases of upgrading the remaining part of the upgrade.

Additionally, at the very end, I would recommend you to upgrade the firmware to the latest Build of SVTSP-2020_0701.03. 
Do remember we require minimum ESXi version 6.5 Update 3 Patch 04 (build 15256549) or 6.7 Update 3 Patch 01 (build 15160138) for this firmware.

Details can be collected using the Interopt guide at this link.

[Brian_Galante]

Yes, I didn't mention that but I will defniitly upgrade the firware again at the very end.

Thank you very much, your help is appreciated!

[Brian_Galante]

Hold On I think I made a mistake and need to switch step 3 & 4.

I'm on OVC 3.7.9 now so I can't upgrade my VCSA to 6.7U3 until I have OVC 4.0.1U1, I just saw that in the ineropt guide.

So I would end up in this order:

1. Manually upgrade the firmware on all 11 Simplivity's by booting to the ISO and doing the automatic upgrade as outlined inthe video on this site.

2. Upgrade the arbiter and the VCenter Plugin to 4.0.1 U1.

3. Upgrade Omnistack to 4.0.1 U1 

4. Upgrade Upgrade VCSA to 6.7 U3 (And the vcenter plugin again)

5. Upgrade ESXi to 6.7 U3

6. Upgrade firmware again to latest version Nov 2020.

[AnkiN]

Hi @Brian_Galante,

Looks good.

Requesting to upgrade to ESXi  6.7 Update 3 Patch 01 (build 15160138)  at step 5.

Also please make sure that you have all the required credentials such as iLO password, ESXi root password before the upgrade.

[Stefano Colombo]

Hello

if you're at 3.7.9 you cannot upgrade to the latest firmware because is not supported , is supported starting from 3.7.10U1

You must first upgrade simplivity to a versione that is still compatible with your current firmware release

HTH

[Brian_Galante · Accepted solution]

Thank you Stefano, that's correct, for the initial firmware upgrade I will install SVTSP-2019_0903.01.iso, That version will cover my existing 3.7.9 and up to 4.0.1U1. 

Once I upgrade everything else, I will do another firmware upgrade to the latest version (SVTSP-2020_0701.03.iso) so long as I am meeting the minimum ESXi requirement at that point. (ESXi version 6.5 Update 3 Patch 04 (build 15256549) or 6.7 Update 3 Patch 01 (build 15160138).)

Appreciate your input, thank you!