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Upgrade Nutanix Software using Direct Upload (dark site)


Hi all, greetings from me🙋🏻

We scheduling to upgrade the AHV and AOS to the latest version, but i have some questions as below :

1. could direct upload (dark site) method upgrade the bundle files at the same time or it should perform one by one bundle files upgrade, in this case is AHV and AOS bundle files ?
2. if we upgrade it sequentially, what happen after one of the software is upgraded ? will it trigger an alert ? because what i know is the AHV and AOS version need to be same (compatible). regardless, after that we will still upgrade the version to a compatible version.

i already read this documents, In the document, it is not explained that we can upgrade AOS and AHV at the same time using direct upload method; it only explains each component separately
https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/details?targetId=Life-Cycle-Manager-Dark-Site-Guide-v2_4:Fetching%20LCM%20Software%20Update%20Bundles%20with%20Direct%20Upload

Thank you, I hope to receive the best answers from all of you who are experienced.

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12 replies

Userlevel 5
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Hi there,

Hope you’re well.

Uploading the bundles doesn’t trigger an update etc, it just makes them available to LCM the same as if it scanned and downloaded them from the portal.

You’re fine to upload AOS + AHV (latest LCM too!) and then run an LCM inventory and it’ll make an update plan based on what’s available :)

Once AOS is done, AHV can be done.

Cheers,

Kim

 

Badge +1

Hi thank you for your response, ok got it…..but my questions is, after i complete uploading the ahv and aos bundle on direct upload method, can i run the upgrade by selected both files (ahv and aos), it will trigger the upgrade or it should upgraded one by one ? 

Userlevel 5
Badge +7

Hi there,

No worries, you run the AOS update first through LCM.

Then you run AHV once AOS is finished. (because LCM will re-run inventory and confirm against your new AOS version you need a new AHV version)

Take note of these processes here

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/solutions/details?targetId=TN-2122-Nutanix-Upgrades:aos-upgrades.html

https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documents/solutions/details?targetId=TN-2122-Nutanix-Upgrades:ahv-upgrades.html

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Thank you for the answer, i will read the linked documents first, once i got the answer i will update it to you 🙏🏼

Userlevel 5
Badge +7

No worries :)

It’ll be fine, make sure when you run the lcm inventory and note down the software it finds that you obtain the updated download for it (the lcm one) for any other bits you may be using, like Foundation, etc so you can tidy it all up at once. (they can be scheduled ahead of AOS too so its tidy)

 

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In conclusion, we need to perform an inventory first before upgrading to the latest version to see which software we need to upgrade?

Then my next question is, when using the direct upload method (dark site), is there an order in which the software components should be upgraded first? Or can we upgrade them in any order? For example, there are 4 software components that need to be upgraded: first AHV, second Foundation, third NCC, and fourth AOS. which software should i upgrade first ?

Userlevel 5
Badge +7

Hi there,

Inventory process does two things, it looks at what is installed on the hosts/platform itself to prepare a nice list - secondly it then looks at what is ‘available’ (i.e. what has been directly upoaded, what is available online, what is available in darksite webserver) and then marries the two together to give you options.

An inventory after each upgrade helps you shape what happens next.

It is important to make sure if you’re using direct upload / dark site that you make sure you ‘give it’ the relevant downloads for each product otherwise it will have less of a happy experience than what it would have got if it had internet access to look for things itself.

 

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its clear now for the LCM flow, but it seems that I have not yet received the main answer. My core question is... lets say I have finished uploading 5 Nutanix software bundle files in the direct upload menu. Can I upgrade all those bundles simultaneously by clicking the upgrade button, or do I need to click on each component individually and upgrade them one by one for the remaining 4 bundle files?

I'm sorry if my question confused you

Userlevel 5
Badge +7

Hello,

Your question is fine, but the answer is not as simple as one by one or 4 bundles. It depends.

Multiple can be ticked at the same time and LCM will make a plan based on this for you if it is possible.

In some cases it is not possible e.g. you wouldn’t schedule a firmware upgrade of your servers at the same time as upgrading AOS.

People tend to tread carefully, in my case I do most things together but separate out AOS, AHV and firmware.

Foundation, NCC, etc can be done all together ticking multiple bundles.

I hope this helps.

 

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in my case, i want to upgrade AHV and AOS,

the AOS version is 6.5.3.x and lets say the LCM suggest me to upgrade it to 6.5.5.7 

the AHV version is 20220304.xxx and lets say the LCM suggest me to upgrade it to 20220304.480 or .488 

and let say after running LCM support suggest me to only upgrade the AHV & AOS 

the question is,
1. if im using direct upload method on PE, which component should i upgrade first ? AHV or AOS ? 
2. after upgrade completed one of it, is it will trigger an alert on my cluster because the version between the AHV and AOS is already different after upgrade is success either the AOS completed first or AHV completed first ?
3. is everything will depends to LCM before we upgrading the software or firmware, i mean, i not be able to upgrade all the components after i got the confirmation which version should i upgrade from LCM that already taking perform inventory, is it true ?

Userlevel 5
Badge +7
  1. The direct upload method is irrelevant, as I said before, upload all of the bundles first - it doesn’t ‘do’ anything, it doesn’t do an upgrade as part of the upload it just adds the bundle into the database of ‘choices’

    Update AOS first, then AHV. 
     
  2. Yes, exactly this, once you update AOS, an alert will be generated that says AHV is not the ideal version, this is when you update AHV (you always update AOS first).
     
  3. Yes, LCM is the master, you can upload how many bundles you like, even bundles that are not relevant, you could upload 4x different AOS and AHV bundles if you like, it will just give you more version choices when you run LCM.

 

We’re overcomplicating the approach here

 

  1. Run an LCM inventory right now and this will show you current versions for anything you have installed
  2. Download the updated LCM bundles for those products identified ^^^^^ and then upload them using direct upload
  3. Run inventory again, it will detect the uploaded bundles, vs the current inventory and offer you upgrade options
  4. Tick the relevant boxes you want to upgrade, and it will make the plan
  5. Execute the plan
  6. Once it is complete, run another inventory so it updates LCM to know the ‘new’ versions and compare to the uploaded bundles to see if you have further updates to make
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Awesome, now its clear,,,,Thank you so much for the best answer!

can i ask you more questions, the questions is still relevant regarding to this topic ?🙏🏻