Net App Hci installation

[Mrfall]

Hello Folks!

i am close to deploy Net App HCI. We already had three compute H410c and four  storage H410S. Before i deploy it, i need to upgrade the firmware to last version. Can you guide me to get this done. 

[elementx]

You don't say what's your current version and what version you want to get to, so we can only guess about that.

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/hci/docs/concept_hci_upgrade_overview.html tells you how to do it in general: if you're on a vSphere 6.x (up to latest 6.7) you can update HCC.

Specific to firmware, there's a step (link) on this page https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/hci/docs/task_hcc_upgrade_all.html

I'd suggest to simply gather what you have now (vSphere, SolidFire, HCC version) and ask Support what to do next.

[Mrfall]

Thanks for your reply. First of all i didn't deploy the cluster yet so i don't have vcenters or API to access.

The Firmware on two Storage nodes is : Firmware Revision : 03.25

Another Storgae nodes has Firmware version : Firmware Revision : 03.26

All the Compute has : Firmware Firmware Revision: 06.71.18

My questions before I deploy I need to match Firmware on storage Nodes. How i can do that

Thanks so Much for help

[elementx · Accepted solution]

If you power on either the storage or compute nodes and if there's DHCP on the RJ45 ports, you can go to https://${address} to see what NDE (deployment engine) version and ISO version is on each node.

In all likelihood for Storage Nodes, you'll very likely get NDE 1.8P1, which is the latest. NDE 1.8P1 will deploy vSphere 6.7U3 I think.

Compute: depends when you bought those. If you both them in the past 2-3 months they likely have very recent firmware but some updates may still be available (which, you can find in HCC change log). The ISO also can be downloaded, you could get the latest for 1.8P1.

In any case, the way to update is to deploy first, using NDE 1.8P1 and then run upgrade from HCC:

https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/hci/docs/task_hcc_upgrade_all.html

> My questions before I deploy I need to match Firmware on storage Nodes. How i can do that

To deploy you need to have all storage nodes on the same version of SolidFire/Element OS. That's usually the case but sometimes they can have different versions.

You'd see (NDE would stop telling you one or more nodes have a different version) when you begin deployment but to eliminate uncertainty you can download Storage Node ISO from Support pages and flush nodes regardless.

Or boot all storage and compute nodes (doesn't have to be at the same time) with RJ45 connected to a DHCP network and see if they're all the same version, and then decide if you need to get Compute & Storage node ISOs.

If you haven't started installing anything, just get the latest ISO version for both compute (> 15GB) and storage (< 5 GB) nodes and flush all respective nodes before you install with NDE. Then after the storage and VMware cluster is up and running, you can do one more refresh with HCC (it has more recent updates, anything that came after NDE 1.8P1).

[Mrfall]

I really appreciate your Help. After i checked The Software versions on all Compute and Storage. All nodes using 1.8 even the Firmware is Different. So what i understand to Avoid lose the remote Access to nodes beacuse I do the work remotely. I will deploy the Vcneters and the clusters  then Apply the update by using HCC. the deployment will work because they are matching versions : 1.8.

After Deployment i will upgrade to last 1.8P1 for last update

Thanks So much 

[elementx]

> All nodes using 1.8 even the Firmware is Different. 

NDE should work if all nodes have the same version, but if you have time you can check if it's 1.8 or 1.8P1 and flush them remotely (and take care of firmware with HCC later).

To flush ISOs, download the ISOs to a nearby Win or Lin OS and update nodes via IPMI.

IPMI lets you mount local ISOs via IPMI Java KVM console (can be better for Windows, if you have RDP connection to Windows) and, if you use HTTP console, via SMB mounts (I like this for Linux, because you can create anonymously accessible SMB share for IPMI, which on Windows is almost impossible these days).

With Linux - if you can configure SMB share and put the ISOs on them - you don't need X-Windows, once SMB is configured you just mount the SMB share from IPMI (HTTPS) and can install. It's slow (10 MB/s) and you have to use one IPMI session at a time (they force others to log out, if you use the same browser) so it's sequential operation, one node at a time.

1.8P1 fixes some deployment edge cases, so you'd increase the chances of success at first try.

> I will deploy the Vcneters and the clusters then Apply the update by using HCC. the deployment will work because they are matching versions : 1.8.

Yes, if you get paste NDE and install, after that it's all HCC. At 3 minute mark here you can see how HCC works:

https://tv.netapp.com/detail/video/6211800219001/element-hci-hcc-solidfire-hcc---ui-driven-element-upgrades