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dragonflymr's avatar
dragonflymr
Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
Feb 05, 2015

Configuration import and updates

Hi,

 

I was reading plenty of SOL and man pages but still have some doubts how configuration import during update is working. Let's consider scenario when there is VE with two boot locations: 1. Active with 11.2.0 2. Inactive with 11.5.1

 

Active is full configured, 11.5.1 has some old configuration. Goal is to update 11.2.0 to 11.2.1 without need to override 11.5.1 location.

 

I wonder what is the best way to do it. I tested some scenarios and I am not still sure if there is better way to do that. Scenario 1 1. Create UCS on 11.2.0, store it off device (or in /shared) 2. Optional step - I had to perform it because those VE are test systems with temporary license, license on 11.5.1 was long expired) - use cpcfg to copy configuration from 11.2.0 to 11.5.1. Maybe it was not necessary but I doubt those two locations are sharing same license file? 3. Set 11.5.1 as active location, system reboots, all looks good 4. Perform 11.2.1 install (plus hotfixes) using GUI on 11.2.0 location 5. Set 11.2.1 as active (without checking copy configuration as it causes error related to applying newer version configuration to older version) 6. After reboot I have 11.2.1 with default configuration, license and management setup preserved but all previous configuration of 11.2.0 is gone. It surprised me a bit - is that normal that when updating location with existing config (at least via GUI) old config is wiped out - if it is not possible to transfer config from active location used during update? 7. Now things got quite wrong. I tried to restore UCS created in 11.2.0 in 11.2.1 - plenty of errors, not working config etc. I just gave up - probably it was possible to fix but... should be easy process but turned out not so much.

 

Scenario 2 1. Installed 11.2.1 on newly created location 2. Set 11.2.1 location as active 3. After reboot whole config was correctly transferred from 11.2.0 to 11.2.1

 

Scenario 2 looks like easier one (at least in my case) but I would like to find a way how to perform Scenario 1 without loosing config and restoring from UCS - in situation when location that has to be used when updating has newer version than location being updated. Scenario 2 as well requires free HD space what sometimes can not be so easy.

 

Doing it via GUI seems to be no solution: 1. Can't transfer config from newer version to older version 2. Without transfer from active location updated location have config reset to default, so ucs restore necessary.

 

Wonder if it can be done using image2disk or if there is some other way I am not aware of? Will such scenario work: 1. Activate 1.5.1 location 2. use image2disk --nomoveconfig when updating 1.2.0 location 3. or change liveinstall.moveconfig to disable and use GUI install or install command in tmsh 4. Change boot location to just updated 11.2.1 5. After reboot configuration of 11.2.0 is applied to 11.2.1, no UCS import required

 

Is above scenario valid?

 

Piotr

 

application delivery
availability
deployment
LTM
TMOS
TMSH

6 Replies

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  • Brad_Parker's avatar
    Brad_Parker
    Icon for Cirrus rankCirrus
    Feb 12, 2015

    Install the new version to a new volume. In the volume set name drop down, just type 3(or any other number that doesn't currently exist). This will create a new volume for you.

     

    • dragonflymr's avatar
      dragonflymr
      Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
      Feb 12, 2015
      Well, scenario with new volume is quite obvious and I used it (as mentioned in question). I was trying to find out if there is a way to install update of older version from active partition with newer version without loosing config existing on updated location. Piotr
  • Brad_Parker_139's avatar
    Brad_Parker_139
    Icon for Nacreous rankNacreous
    Feb 12, 2015

    Install the new version to a new volume. In the volume set name drop down, just type 3(or any other number that doesn't currently exist). This will create a new volume for you.

     

    • dragonflymr's avatar
      dragonflymr
      Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
      Feb 12, 2015
      Well, scenario with new volume is quite obvious and I used it (as mentioned in question). I was trying to find out if there is a way to install update of older version from active partition with newer version without loosing config existing on updated location. Piotr
  • StephanManthey's avatar
    StephanManthey
    Icon for MVP rankMVP
    Feb 12, 2015

    Hi Piotr,

    please check the following hidden settings to control the installation process: 
    tmsh list sys db liveinstall.* one-line  
sys db liveinstall.checksig { value "disable" }
sys db liveinstall.longmode { value "enable" }
sys db liveinstall.moveconfig { value "enable" }
sys db liveinstall.movelicense { value "enable" }
sys db liveinstall.packageset { value "default" }
sys db liveinstall.saveconfig { value "enable" }
sys db liveinstall.savelicense { value "enable" }

    Settings can be manipulated i.e. as follows: 

    tmsh modify sys db liveinstall.saveconfig value disable

    Please do not use image2disk, even you probably see in the process list while running an installation.

    For installing from .ucs the "no-license" switch will be your friend.

    I used to have a copy of the /config/bigip.license in the /shared/directory/. Same with .ucs files (typically stored in volume´s local /var/local/ucs/ directory).

    There is an easy way described to access another partition in this article.

    Thanks, Stephan
  • StephanManthey's avatar
    StephanManthey
    Icon for MVP rankMVP
    Feb 13, 2015

    Hi Piotr, yes. That´s it. In case of moving the configuration the settings above (stored in /config/BigDB.dat) will be transferred as well.

    They can be reset to default as follows, ie.: 
    tmsh modify sys db liveinstall.moveconfig reset-to-default

    As Brad already wrote, it´s best practice to delete the target volume and to recreate for installation.

    This avoids uncertainty about conflicting settings and preferences.

    Btw, hotfix installation will always involve installing the base image first (of course it has to be available in /shared/images/).

    You can save one step, i.e. for installing v11.5.1 HF7 to HD1.3: 
    tmsh delete sys software volume HD1.3
cd /shared/images/
ls -lat
tmsh install sys software hotfix Hotfix-BIGIP-11.5.1.7.0.167-HF7.iso volume HD1.3 create-volume reboot
watch -d 'tmsh show sys software'

    Thanks, Stephan