Hi Folks,
For Nutanix product, Is it a best practice to have the latest software version (e.g AOS,NCC) installed, No matter first-time installation, or upgrade.
Some venders may advise just install the slightly lower version then the newest.
My real user case: we installed NX 2 months ago, and plan to put it into produciton these days, but two new AOS version has been available on Portal.nutanix.com, So Can I update AOS to the newest one ?
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I'll give you my 2 cents on this.
Having come from a multi petabyte (10+ PB) traditional FC-SAN shop, as well as spending many years in consulting before coming to Nutanix, I've had it burned into my brain that going to the "bleeding edge" absolute latest code is generally not something most enterprises should do.
This was in the days where code releases from old FC-SAN vendors or other vendors would come out no sooner than quarterly, sometimes longer than that, so if you were on a buggy release, it could be a painful few weeks or few months.
With Nutanix, my view has completely changed on this. Given that we release so fast, and we greatly reduce the amount of components that need to interoperate with each other, its easier to be more flexible with what code you run.
HOWEVER, THAT SAID, for most customers, we recommend going to the "dot zero" releases, such as 4.6.0, 4.7.0, 5.0 whenever that comes out ... if you either need/want a feature that was released, or it contains a bug fix per release notes or per support. These are what we call "Feature" releases that contain a ton of new things at once.
That doesn't mean that feature releases aren't stable, it just means we recognize a lot has changes, so we want people to be cognizant of that.
Otherwise, for most "steady state" customers, we recommend sticking with the "dot one or above" releases, such as 4.6.1, 4.6.2, and so on. These are maintenance releases, and tend to contain a lot of great bug fixes.
Basically, bottomline, I'd go with 4.6.2 for most new deployments and only go to 4.7 if you need some feature thats in there.
Having come from a multi petabyte (10+ PB) traditional FC-SAN shop, as well as spending many years in consulting before coming to Nutanix, I've had it burned into my brain that going to the "bleeding edge" absolute latest code is generally not something most enterprises should do.
This was in the days where code releases from old FC-SAN vendors or other vendors would come out no sooner than quarterly, sometimes longer than that, so if you were on a buggy release, it could be a painful few weeks or few months.
With Nutanix, my view has completely changed on this. Given that we release so fast, and we greatly reduce the amount of components that need to interoperate with each other, its easier to be more flexible with what code you run.
HOWEVER, THAT SAID, for most customers, we recommend going to the "dot zero" releases, such as 4.6.0, 4.7.0, 5.0 whenever that comes out ... if you either need/want a feature that was released, or it contains a bug fix per release notes or per support. These are what we call "Feature" releases that contain a ton of new things at once.
That doesn't mean that feature releases aren't stable, it just means we recognize a lot has changes, so we want people to be cognizant of that.
Otherwise, for most "steady state" customers, we recommend sticking with the "dot one or above" releases, such as 4.6.1, 4.6.2, and so on. These are maintenance releases, and tend to contain a lot of great bug fixes.
Basically, bottomline, I'd go with 4.6.2 for most new deployments and only go to 4.7 if you need some feature thats in there.
Hello Jon,
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Basically I should deploy 4.6.2 release, and even if there`s not explicit new feature requirements (e.g ABS,AFS,container) currently, I`d like to have 4.7.0 installed now, Who knows new requirements come from user suddenly someday. users just don`t like to update AOS ,while running production application on it, even thought update can be done online theoretically.
Thanks for sharing your insight.
Basically I should deploy 4.6.2 release, and even if there`s not explicit new feature requirements (e.g ABS,AFS,container) currently, I`d like to have 4.7.0 installed now, Who knows new requirements come from user suddenly someday. users just don`t like to update AOS ,while running production application on it, even thought update can be done online theoretically.
Interesting feedback ... User's dont like to update AOS? I have never heard that from a customer in the last 2 years I've been here. Can you elaborate?
AOS updates are always online, with very, very little exceptions.
Most customers will be a bit skeptical the first run through, but subsequent ones they usually do somewhere around 2pm on a Thursaday afternoon, since they are incredibly low maintenance.
Anyhow, if you want to run 4.7, go for it. I like the idea of doing it day one, since if there were to be any problems, you'd be able to control it pretty quickly before many applications are moved to the system.
AOS updates are always online, with very, very little exceptions.
Most customers will be a bit skeptical the first run through, but subsequent ones they usually do somewhere around 2pm on a Thursaday afternoon, since they are incredibly low maintenance.
Anyhow, if you want to run 4.7, go for it. I like the idea of doing it day one, since if there were to be any problems, you'd be able to control it pretty quickly before many applications are moved to the system.
Hello Jon,
There are different customers with different conditions or circumstances. also not the same standpoint and viewpoint.
I have seen some users who wouldn`t like to update os/software/firmware of production systems , if the system is running well now. I think it`s mainly for stable running currently, for unplanded outage occured some times indeed, no matter caused by Technical personnel mistakes or vender update bug.
They will update the system, only if have to use a new feature or encouraged by vender there`s an important bug in the current release have a high possibility to hit, even if after hitting a bug making system down.
I think doubts will be eliminated after some successful cases in their environment.
There are different customers with different conditions or circumstances. also not the same standpoint and viewpoint.
I have seen some users who wouldn`t like to update os/software/firmware of production systems , if the system is running well now. I think it`s mainly for stable running currently, for unplanded outage occured some times indeed, no matter caused by Technical personnel mistakes or vender update bug.
They will update the system, only if have to use a new feature or encouraged by vender there`s an important bug in the current release have a high possibility to hit, even if after hitting a bug making system down.
I think doubts will be eliminated after some successful cases in their environment.
Hi,
I think staying up-to-date should be the way to go while talking about Software-Defined...It's not only the featureset or the bug fix which comes with a new release, there will be a lot of fine-tuning as well.
Compare the IOPS from a 4.5 to a 4.6 system. It increased immensely...
just my 2 cents
I think staying up-to-date should be the way to go while talking about Software-Defined...It's not only the featureset or the bug fix which comes with a new release, there will be a lot of fine-tuning as well.
Compare the IOPS from a 4.5 to a 4.6 system. It increased immensely...
just my 2 cents
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