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Perform the upgrade

Contributors netapp-lhalbert
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You can upgrade to StorageGRID 11.9 and apply the latest hotfix for that release at the same time. The StorageGRID upgrade page provides the recommended upgrade path and links directly to the correct download pages.

Before you begin

You have reviewed all of the considerations and completed all of the planning and preparation steps.

Access StorageGRID Upgrade page

As a first step, access the StorageGRID Upgrade page in the Grid Manager.

Steps

  1. Sign in to the Grid Manager using a supported web browser.

  2. Select MAINTENANCE > System > Software update.

  3. From the StorageGRID upgrade tile, select Upgrade.

Select files

The update path on the StorageGRID Upgrade page indicates which major versions (for example, 11.9.0) and hotfixes (for example, 11.9.0.1) you must install to get to the latest StorageGRID release. You should install the recommended versions and hotfixes in the order shown.

Tip If no update path is shown, your browser might not be able to access the NetApp Support Site, or the Check for software updates checkbox on the AutoSupport page (SUPPORT > Tools > AutoSupport > Settings) might be disabled.
Steps

  1. For the Select files step, review the update path.

  2. From the Download files section, select each Download link to download the required files from the NetApp Support Site.

    If no update path is shown, go to the NetApp Downloads: StorageGRID to determine if a new version or hotfix is available and to download the files you need.

    Note If you needed to download and install an RPM or DEB package on all Linux hosts, you might already have the StorageGRID upgrade and hotfix files listed in the update path.

  3. Select Browse to upload the version upgrade file to StorageGRID: NetApp_StorageGRID_11.9.0_Software_uniqueID.upgrade

    When the upload and validation process is done, a green check mark appears next to the file name.

  4. If you downloaded a hotfix file, select Browse to upload that file. The hotfix will be automatically applied as part of the version upgrade.

  5. Select Continue.

Run prechecks

Running prechecks allows you to detect and resolve any upgrade issues before you start upgrading your grid.

Steps

  1. For the Run prechecks step, start by entering the provisioning passphrase for your grid.

  2. Select Download recovery package.

    You should download the current copy of the Recovery Package file before you upgrade the primary Admin Node. The Recovery Package file allows you to restore the system if a failure occurs.

  3. When the file is downloaded, confirm that you can access the contents, including the Passwords.txt file.

  4. Copy the downloaded file (.zip) to two safe, secure, and separate locations.

    Caution The Recovery Package file must be secured because it contains encryption keys and passwords that can be used to obtain data from the StorageGRID system.

  5. Select Run prechecks, and wait for the prechecks to complete.

  6. Review the details for each reported precheck and resolve any reported errors. See the StorageGRID software upgrade resolution guide for the StorageGRID 11.9 release.

    You must resolve all precheck errors before you can upgrade your system. However, you don't need to address precheck warnings before upgrading.

    Caution If you have opened any custom firewall ports, you are notified during the precheck validation. You must contact technical support before proceeding with the upgrade.

  7. If you made any configuration changes to resolve the reported issues, select Run prechecks again to get updated results.

    If all errors have been resolved, you are prompted to start the upgrade.

Start upgrade and upgrade primary Admin Node

When you start the upgrade, the upgrade prechecks are run again, and the primary Admin Node is automatically upgraded. This part of the upgrade can take up to 30 minutes.

Note You will not be able to access any other Grid Manager pages while the primary Admin Node is being upgraded. Audit logs will also be unavailable.
Steps

  1. Select Start upgrade.

    A warning appears to remind you will temporarily lose access to the Grid Manager.

  2. Select OK to acknowledge the warning and start the upgrade.

  3. Wait for the upgrade prechecks to be performed and for the primary Admin Node to be upgraded.

    Note If any precheck errors are reported, resolve them and select Start upgrade again.

    If the grid has another Admin Node that is online and ready, you can use it to monitor the status of the primary Admin Node. As soon as the primary Admin Node is upgraded, you can approve the other grid nodes.

  4. As required, select Continue to access the Upgrade other nodes step.

Upgrade other nodes

You must upgrade all grid nodes, but you can perform multiple upgrade sessions and customize the upgrade sequence. For example, you might prefer to upgrade the nodes at site A in one session and then upgrade the nodes at site B in a later session. If you choose to perform the upgrade in more than one session, be aware that you can't start using the new features until all nodes have been upgraded.

If the order in which nodes are upgraded is important, approve nodes or groups of nodes one at a time and wait until the upgrade is complete on each node before approving the next node or group of nodes.

Note When the upgrade starts on a grid node, the services on that node are stopped. Later, the grid node is rebooted. To avoid service interruptions for client applications that are communicating with the node, don't approve the upgrade for a node unless you are sure that node is ready to be stopped and rebooted. As required, schedule a maintenance window or notify customers.
Steps

  1. For the Upgrade other nodes step, review the Summary, which provides the start time for the upgrade as a whole and the status for each major upgrade task.

    • Start upgrade service is the first upgrade task. During this task, the software file is distributed to the grid nodes, and the upgrade service is started on each node.

    • When the Start upgrade service task is complete, the Upgrade other grid nodes task starts, and you are prompted to download a new copy of the Recovery Package.

  2. When prompted, enter your provisioning passphrase and download a new copy of the Recovery Package.

    Caution You should download a new copy of the Recovery Package file after the primary Admin Node is upgraded. The Recovery Package file allows you to restore the system if a failure occurs.

  3. Review the status tables for each type of node. There are tables for non-primary Admin Nodes, Gateway Nodes, and Storage Nodes.

    A grid node can be in one of these stages when the tables first appear:

    • Unpacking the upgrade

    • Downloading

    • Waiting to be approved

  4. When you are ready to select grid nodes for upgrade (or if you need to unapprove selected nodes), use these instructions:

    Task Instruction

    Search for specific nodes to approve, such as all nodes at a particular site

    Enter the search string in the Search field

    Select all nodes for upgrade

    Select Approve all nodes

    Select all nodes of the same type for upgrade (for example, all Storage Nodes)

    Select the Approve all button for the node type

    If you approve more than one node of the same type, the nodes will be upgraded one at a time.

    Select an individual node for upgrade

    Select the Approve button for the node

    Postpone the upgrade on all selected nodes

    Select Unapprove all nodes

    Postpone the upgrade on all selected nodes of the same type

    Select the Unapprove all button for the node type

    Postpone the upgrade on an individual node

    Select the Unapprove button for the node

  5. Wait for the approved nodes to proceed through these upgrade stages:

    • Approved and waiting to be upgraded

    • Stopping services

      Note You can't remove a node when its Stage reaches Stopping services. The Unapprove button is disabled.

    • Stopping container

    • Cleaning up Docker images

    • Upgrading base OS packages

      Note When an appliance node reaches this stage, the StorageGRID Appliance Installer software on the appliance is updated. This automated process ensures that the StorageGRID Appliance Installer version remains in sync with the StorageGRID software version.

    • Rebooting

      Note Some appliance models might reboot multiple times to upgrade the firmware and BIOS.

    • Performing steps after reboot

    • Starting services

    • Done

  6. Repeat the approval step as many times as needed until all grid nodes have been upgraded.

Complete upgrade

When all grid nodes have completed the upgrade stages, the Upgrade other grid nodes task is shown as Completed. The remaining upgrade tasks are performed automatically in the background.

Steps

  1. As soon as the Enable features task is complete (which occurs quickly), you can start using the new features in the upgraded StorageGRID version.

  2. During the Upgrade database task, the upgrade process checks each node to verify that the Cassandra database does not need to be updated.

    Note The upgrade from StorageGRID 11.8 to 11.9 does not require a Cassandra database upgrade; however, the Cassandra service will be stopped and restarted on each Storage Node. For future StorageGRID feature releases, the Cassandra database update step might take several days to complete.

  3. When the Upgrade database task has completed, wait a few minutes for the Final upgrade steps to complete.

  4. When the Final upgrade steps have completed, the upgrade is done. The first step, Select files, is redisplayed with a green success banner.

  5. Verify that grid operations have returned to normal:

    1. Check that the services are operating normally and that there are no unexpected alerts.

    2. Confirm that client connections to the StorageGRID system are operating as expected.