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julien_21453's avatar
julien_21453
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Mar 21, 2011

Best Way for downgrading an appliance in version 9.4.x

Hello,

 

 

I will have a new mission on my F5 LTM 6900 which, today, is in version 10.2.0 (clean installation).

 

We have to downgrade this unit with the version 9.4.8 for a few time.

 

 

So I just want to be sure of the way to do that :

 

 

1) Backup the configuration in an UCS file

 

 

 

2) revert the LVM of Version 10 and use disk partition scheme

 

(SOL9745) => this solution create two partition HD1.1 and HD1.2 and one of this will keep the version 10.

 

 

But this solution have some troubles :

 

- if version 10.x is installed on HD1.1 partition, install of version 9.4 software may fail => (sol11283)

 

- if we revert the LVM with version 10.1.0, there must be a bootloader corrupt => (sol 11063)

 

 

So we have to use version 10.2.0 or later for reverting LVM and using disk partition scheme and we have to use HD1.2 for installing version 10.2.0 software.

 

image2disk --instslot=HD1.2 --format=partitions BIGIP-10.2.0.iso

 

 

But with version 9.4.x we may have MOS disappeared in the grub Menu.

 

 

 

3) downgrade and make a clean installation on the second partition HD1.1 => SOL9447 display all the method :

 

- Network Boot (or through a PXE Server)

 

- USB CD-ROM => SOL9589

 

- Local Installation

 

- Remote Installation

 

 

4) choose the version 9 at the boot :

 

switchboot -b HD1.1

 

 

 

- About the UCS file we have created in the first step, can we use it on version 9 ? I think not but not sure..

 

- About the licensing, if we downgrade on version 9 (with a version 10 on the other partition) we have to re-activate the license on version 9 ? And if we choose in few days to use the version 10 (we will probably make a clean install), the same license can be used and re-activate ?

 

 

Thank you very much for your reply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  • Chris_Miller's avatar
    Chris_Miller
    Icon for Altostratus rankAltostratus
    Mar 21, 2011
    Here's the SOL I've used when doing this:

     

     

    https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/9000/700/sol9745.html

     

     

    The same license can be used - yes. Just make sure you've saved it off of your box as I'm pretty sure it (and the config) get wiped when going from 10.x to 9.x. It's been awhile though so I could be mistaken. When in doubt, call support.
  • julien_21453's avatar
    julien_21453
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    Mar 22, 2011
    Thank you for your answer chris.

     

    I will try this way of downgrade.

     

    The bigip.license file is the file to save and bigip.RegKey ?

     

    In fact, if I save all the /config files, that must be suffisant ?

     

     

    Julien

     

  • Chris_Miller's avatar
    Chris_Miller
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    Mar 22, 2011
    If you grab the UCS, that should have the license info in it but I'd open it up just to be sure. The /config directory should definitely have it too.
  • julien_21453's avatar
    julien_21453
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    Mar 22, 2011
    Thank You Chris,

     

     

    Just to be sure, the UCS create with version 10.2.0 could not be used on version 9.4.8 ?

     

     

    Julien

     

     

  • Chris_Miller's avatar
    Chris_Miller
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    Mar 23, 2011
    julien - From what I've seen, a UCS from one version cannot be used on any other version. BIG-IP will throw an error when you try restoring it. It can be frustrating especially if you're going between minor revisions or aren't even taking advantage of anything that changes between versions - but it is what it is.
  • hooleylist's avatar
    hooleylist
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Mar 23, 2011
    I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.

     

     

    Aaron
  • Chris_Miller's avatar
    Chris_Miller
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    Mar 23, 2011
    Posted By hoolio on 03/23/2011 08:46 AM

     

    I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.

     

     

    Aaron As in you can restore a 9.x UCS to a 10.x volume/partition without any errors?!

     

     

  • Michael_Yates's avatar
    Michael_Yates
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    Mar 24, 2011
    Your kidding.

     

     

     

    I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.

     

     

    Aaron

     

     

     

    I wish I would have known that a 6 months ago. I upgraded one of my v9's and used the --nomoveconfig command to clear out the ASM Database. The instructions said "Warning: Do not use the --nomoveconfig option described in the following procedure on systems with existing, running installations of Application Security Manager. Doing so removes all content from the associated database." which is what I was after. That command actually took the config in the target partition and used it, reverting the device to its settings from so far back that I couldn't upgrade it back to v10 or to a version of v9 where I could use the config files I had backed up.

     

     

    I had to blow it all away.

     

     

    Note to everyone "--nomoveconfig" is evil.

     

  • julien_21453's avatar
    julien_21453
    Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
    Mar 26, 2011
    Hello everybody,

     

     

    I have made my downgrade on my 6900 unit. My system had 3 mirroring partition called MD1.1, MD1.2, MD1.3.

     

    For downgrading, I have create two Single Partitions called HD1.1 and HD1.2.

     

    I have installed v 10.2.0 on HD1.2. with the image2disk installation command.

     

    I have download v 9.4.8 im file on my unit and then perform the 9.4.8 installation. My bigip.license on v10 was reused for re-activate the unit.

     

     

    But I didn't use the --nomoveconfig on my unit when I installed 10.2.0 on HD1.2 and my config was kept. Nothing to change. Have you ever see that ?

     

     

    Julien