Ontap Upgrade Advise

[murdock01]

I am planning an upgrade of a couple different clusters in our environment. We are currently on OT 9.3p10. I am planning on upgrading to 9.7p16. I have my AIQ upgrade advisor plans, and I have been working through a check list of items like making sure firmware versions are up to date, to make the upgrade as smooth as possible.
I was wondering if anyone has had any suggestions to make this as painless as possible? Or is anyone has had any issues with the upgrade that I might need to consider before pulling the trigger?

I have done a few upgrades in the past, but this will be my first dual upgrade (i.e., 9.3 to 9.5 to 9.7) and my first 4 node upgrade.

[Fabian1993]

That is fine, if you had checked the AIQ Plan you are ready. The Update from 9.3 to 9.7 worked without any problems. Which AFF/FAS you are updating?

[murdock01]

Our archival cluster is an FAS2552, and then our prod cluster which is an AFF8040 and a FAS8200.

Thanks for the reply

[paul_stejskal · Accepted solution]

The 2552 doesn't have AES-NI, so in 9.6 we enabled CSM encryption for SnapMirror. Just be aware if you upgrade and suddenly CPU jumps on the 2500. Same for anything else using AES. https://kb.netapp.com/Advice_and_Troubleshooting/Data_Storage_Systems/FAS_Systems/High_HOST_CSM-BTLS_Slow_SnapMirror_on_FAS2500_ONTAP_9.6_or_higher

[murdock01]

Thanks Paul, this is the kind of thing I am looking for. I have not seen this KB before.