Upgrading from NetApp release 9.1P3, 9.3P3 and 9.4P3 (respectively) to 9.6

[NetApp_Journeyman]

Hello

I previously made a thread inquiring on whether an upgrade to 9.6 would be ideal, and the overwhelming response suggested that yes, it's ideal. My next question is, where can I find instructions on how to upgrade my ONTAP software? I'm afraid the last upgrade was performed by a NetApp employee, and I would like to potentially pitfalls in the upgrade process. 

Best regards,

[CHRISMAKI · Accepted solution]

Head over to ActiveIQ, put in your serial number, then once you have the cluster in question open in AiQ, click on the "Upgrade Recommendation" near the top of the screen.

[TMACMD]

Exactly! As long as your systems are in fact reporting to NetApp AutoSupport!

also, your upgrade should be:

9.1x -> 9.3x -> 9.5x -> 9.7

You should give yourself at least 24 hours between upgrades and make sure the upgrade finishes.

[NetApp_Journeyman]

Unfortunately, ActiveIQ isn't an option for us; we have a sandbox network, and thus can't receive autosupport / connect to external networks.

I was wondering how to proceed in spite of that

[CHRISMAKI]

Follow TMAC's upgrade path using the instructions found here then.

[NetApp_Journeyman]

I've been following that guide for a while now and it's quite comprehensive, though i'm unsure of a few things. It requires the use of external software like perfstat and config advisor, tools that I can't make use of since I don't have the permission to run them on my work computer.

Would using the auto-update be dangerous without those tools?

[TMACMD]

Perfstat is a tool to check the performance of your cluster to know that you can safely takeover a controller without a performance impact. You may be able to view some details by watching System Manager or through Unified Manager if you have that installed.

Config Advisor should have been used at install time to validate the installation. You should see about getting authorization to use it on your work computer. It can save a lot of headaches due to human error.

Of course, if your systems have taken-over and given-back in bother directions in the past, you are likely OK. We all like to run sanity checks before upgrading ONTAP controllers!

[NetApp_Journeyman]

Thanks for the extended response everyone.  I've decided to opt against using perfstat for now, but I've downloaded Active_IQ Config Advisor and currently need permission from my supervisors before I can run the program. Will it directly connect to my systems and suggest a proper update path for me?

Thank you

[CHRISMAKI]

You really don't have to run ConfigAdvisor, it's only going to check for cabling errors and if this cluster has been running for a while, it's probably fine. However, it doesn't hurt to have it installed, so maybe proceed anyway.

Config Advisor does indeed connect to your systems directly, via ssh, but it will not provide an upgrade path. That path previously provided by TMAC is the right way to go.

[paul_stejskal]

It sounds like you've done a lot of reading. Since we have perf archives from before, you are probably ok. Just make sure you open a support case the first day as there is only a 28 day retention on perf archives if we need to compare before and after.

Hopefully you can upload perf archives. It might be useful to get approval to send ASUPs if possible, but I understand if you can't. ONTAP does support HTTPS over authenticated proxy.

[CHRISMAKI]

If you think it'll help your case for Autosupport submissions, you can set it so that the data is anonymized prior to sending.