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Patrick_Brown_7's avatar
Patrick_Brown_7
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Aug 06, 2013

9.4.8 to 10.2.4 upgrade (partitions vs volumes)

I need to upgrade a pair of 3400 boxes to 10.2.4 in the next week or two, It seems that 9.4.8 is end of life at the end of this month. I have partitions right now. Should I convert to volumes?

 

This is my plan assuming I convert to volumes.

 

  • backup config i.e. ucs file (bigpipe config save /config.ucs)
  • disconnect unit from pair
  • re-activate license
  • im BIGIP-10.2.4.577.0.iso
  • image2disk --format=volumes BIGIP-10.2.4.577.0.iso
  • reboot
  • verify if config can be loaded properly. if there is any issue, u may run 'b load' which will display the error

     

Going to volumes means that I can't go back to 9.x if there is a problem. Right?

 

10.2.4 is the last image these boxes will ever see and we'll be swapping them out for new hardware by the end of the year.

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Patrick

 

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  • nitass's avatar
    nitass
    Icon for Employee rankEmployee
    Aug 06, 2013
    Should I convert to volumes?if i were you, i would.

     

     

    Going to volumes means that I can't go back to 9.x if there is a problem. Right?yes.

     

     

    by the way, i think it would be useful to also prepare bootable usb thumbdrive and/or cdrom in case you have to do clean installation.

     

     

    these are some known issue i found from askf5.

     

     

    sol13115: The BIG-IP 3400 platform may fail to complete the boot up process after upgrading to BIG-IP version 10.1.x or 10.2.x

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/13000/100/sol13115

     

     

    sol12873: Upgrading BIG-IP 1500 or 3400 platform with 1GB of RAM from BIG-IP version 9.4.x to BIG-IP version 10.2.0 may fail

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/12000/800/sol12873

     

     

    sol4456: BIG-IP 3400 switch appliances that use the revision G BIOS may hang and reboot

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/4000/400/sol4456.html

     

     

    hope this helps.
  • Patrick_Brown_7's avatar
    Patrick_Brown_7
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Aug 12, 2013

    Thanks for the links. They are helpful. I'm planning my upgrade for this Saturday and am trying to get as much info as possible prior to the big event. There does seem to be a lot of risk with this procedure.

     

    I do have a third 3400 on hand that runs 9.4.8. It is not capable of a 10.x upgrade due to a memory shortage. It probably could serve as a back out means if the 10.2 upgrade completely fails.

     

    One more question - can I do this upgrade remotely? These boxes have the serial cable failover link and I do have a terminal server for console access. I'm hoping to upgrade the standby unit while the active unit maintains the system and then switch over and repeat the job on the primary.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Patrick

     

  • JRahm's avatar
    JRahm
    Icon for Admin rankAdmin
    Aug 12, 2013

    remote shouldn't be a problem, just confirm and confirm again you have console access. Confirm a third time. :)

     

  • Patrick_Brown_7's avatar
    Patrick_Brown_7
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Aug 13, 2013

    Okay. I think I'll start with my remote data center. There are a pair of 3600 boxes running 9.4.8. It should be the same procedure.