Forum Discussion
julien_21453
Nimbostratus
NimbostratusBest Way for downgrading an appliance in version 9.4.x
Hello,
I will have a new mission on my F5 LTM 6900 which, today, is in version 10.2.0 (clean installation).
We have to downgrade this unit with the version 9.4.8 for a few time.
So I just want to be sure of the way to do that :
1) Backup the configuration in an UCS file
2) revert the LVM of Version 10 and use disk partition scheme
(SOL9745) => this solution create two partition HD1.1 and HD1.2 and one of this will keep the version 10.
But this solution have some troubles :
- if version 10.x is installed on HD1.1 partition, install of version 9.4 software may fail => (sol11283)
- if we revert the LVM with version 10.1.0, there must be a bootloader corrupt => (sol 11063)
So we have to use version 10.2.0 or later for reverting LVM and using disk partition scheme and we have to use HD1.2 for installing version 10.2.0 software.
image2disk --instslot=HD1.2 --format=partitions BIGIP-10.2.0.iso
But with version 9.4.x we may have MOS disappeared in the grub Menu.
3) downgrade and make a clean installation on the second partition HD1.1 => SOL9447 display all the method :
- Network Boot (or through a PXE Server)
- USB CD-ROM => SOL9589
- Local Installation
- Remote Installation
4) choose the version 9 at the boot :
switchboot -b HD1.1
- About the UCS file we have created in the first step, can we use it on version 9 ? I think not but not sure..
- About the licensing, if we downgrade on version 9 (with a version 10 on the other partition) we have to re-activate the license on version 9 ? And if we choose in few days to use the version 10 (we will probably make a clean install), the same license can be used and re-activate ?
Thank you very much for your reply.
- Chris_Miller
Altostratus
Here's the SOL I've used when doing this:
https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/9000/700/sol9745.html
The same license can be used - yes. Just make sure you've saved it off of your box as I'm pretty sure it (and the config) get wiped when going from 10.x to 9.x. It's been awhile though so I could be mistaken. When in doubt, call support. 
julien_21453Thank you for your answer chris.
I will try this way of downgrade.
The bigip.license file is the file to save and bigip.RegKey ?
In fact, if I save all the /config files, that must be suffisant ?
Julien- Chris_MillerIf you grab the UCS, that should have the license info in it but I'd open it up just to be sure. The /config directory should definitely have it too.
- julien_21453Thank You Chris,
Just to be sure, the UCS create with version 10.2.0 could not be used on version 9.4.8 ?
Julien - Chris_Millerjulien - From what I've seen, a UCS from one version cannot be used on any other version. BIG-IP will throw an error when you try restoring it. It can be frustrating especially if you're going between minor revisions or aren't even taking advantage of anything that changes between versions - but it is what it is.
hooleylistCirrostratus
I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.
Aaron- Chris_MillerPosted By hoolio on 03/23/2011 08:46 AM
I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.
Aaron As in you can restore a 9.x UCS to a 10.x volume/partition without any errors?! 
Michael_YatesYour kidding.
I was surprised to find out that you can install a 9.x UCS on a 10.x slot. The older config format is converted to current 10.x syntax. This is not supported in 9.x though.
Aaron
I wish I would have known that a 6 months ago. I upgraded one of my v9's and used the --nomoveconfig command to clear out the ASM Database. The instructions said "Warning: Do not use the --nomoveconfig option described in the following procedure on systems with existing, running installations of Application Security Manager. Doing so removes all content from the associated database." which is what I was after. That command actually took the config in the target partition and used it, reverting the device to its settings from so far back that I couldn't upgrade it back to v10 or to a version of v9 where I could use the config files I had backed up.
I had to blow it all away.
Note to everyone "--nomoveconfig" is evil.- julien_21453Hello everybody,
I have made my downgrade on my 6900 unit. My system had 3 mirroring partition called MD1.1, MD1.2, MD1.3.
For downgrading, I have create two Single Partitions called HD1.1 and HD1.2.
I have installed v 10.2.0 on HD1.2. with the image2disk installation command.
I have download v 9.4.8 im file on my unit and then perform the 9.4.8 installation. My bigip.license on v10 was reused for re-activate the unit.
But I didn't use the --nomoveconfig on my unit when I installed 10.2.0 on HD1.2 and my config was kept. Nothing to change. Have you ever see that ?
Julien
