My first BIG-IP upgrade

Hi R23,

 

 

If you're upgrading from 10.2.0 to 10.2.3, you can just upload the base ISO and hotfix to /shared/images and then install it on a non-active slot. If you want to preserve the existing slots, you can create a new slot to install to under System | Software Management | Volume Management. Once you have a volume to install to, you can go to Image List (or hotfix list if you're going to install a hotfix), select the image and click Install. The installation will be done in the background. If you have uploaded the base ISO and hotfix, you can install just the hotfix. The base ISO will be installed during the process.

 

 

For an HA pair, you can perform the same process on the peer unit. Once the installation completes you can boot to the newly installed slot on the standby unit, fail over and then boot the peer unit to the 10.2.3 slot. The only downtime you should see is during the failover.

 

 

You can do all of this from the command line using tmsh. For details, you can check the tmsh guide.

 

 

Aaron

Sorry i double posted - browser error again.

 

Hey , I think I double posted due to a browser error. How can I close the previous question ? Or do i have to ask a moderator to remove it ?

 

 

Thanks for the reply Aaron.

 

What about mirroring , failing over and testing ?

 

 

Also , can I try this out in an F5 lab ? Or maybe in VMware/Virtual Box ?

I wouldn't worry about the double post.

 

 

Sure, you can test this using LTM VE on VMware. You can download the 10.2.0 and 10.2.3 ISOs and 10.2.3 cumulative hotfix. Just ask your F5 or partner SE for a couple of 45 day eval keys.

 

 

Aaron

One thing to note if you do try testing on VE is that VE doesn't support serial failover. So if your production pair is configured for serial failover, the test will be slightly different as it will use network failover.

 

 

Aaron

No , I don't think I have serial failover, I mean I have a VLAN named peer or heartbeat or something like that , so I'm guessing they are using network for failover. But I will double check.

 

 

 

As for tmsh I will browse the tmsh command guide and ask if I have issues.

 

Thanks hoolio/Aaron.

Posted By hoolio on 01/30/2012 10:47 AM

 

I wouldn't worry about the double post.

 

 

Sure, you can test this using LTM VE on VMware. You can download the 10.2.0 and 10.2.3 ISOs and 10.2.3 cumulative hotfix. Just ask your F5 or partner SE for a couple of 45 day eval keys.

 

 

Aaron

 

 

Aaron,

 

 

I can't find any LTM VE for 10.2.0 or 10.2.3 only for 10.1.0 , I mean one that works with VMware.

 

I only find .ova files that work with VMware ESX version.

 

 

Could I do this with plain .iso images and force them to boot as a Linux device ?

 

Or do I need to get my hands on VMware ESX version ?

 

10.2.3 virtual edition manual says it is supported only on esx/esxi.

 

 

Manual Chapter: Getting Started with BIG-IP Virtual Edition

 

http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/ve_setup_guide_1022_vmware/1.htmlconcept

 

 

anyway, i have seen some discussion topic saying it also works on others.

 

 

What Hypervisors have you tried LTM VE in?

 

http://devcentral.f5.com/Community/GroupDetails/tabid/1082223/asg/42/aft/1168249/showtab/groupforums/Default.aspx

I still run my 11.0 on vmware fusion. I havent triedvparallels rcently, but as long as you can migrate the .ova file you should bevable to run it on pretty much any vmware hypervisor.

 

 

H

Ok , I downloaded both the installation files for both physical and virtual for 10.2.0 and 10.2.3

 

 

The virtual is a .ova file which I got running in Virtual Box. Only problem is I can;t upgrade it. I tried both the 10.2.3 .iso and .ova files but with no luck. I looked at a VE edition manual and it says to upgrade from 10 VE to 11 VE you need to download the .iso. I didn;t get that , the VE download section seems to only host a .ova file. I can convert a .ova file to a .ovf file with a VMware tool but not to a .iso format.

 

 

VMware prooved useless to run either .ova or .ovf files.Maybe I made in error in conversion.

 

@Hamish - How did you run the .ova file in Fusion ? Did you convert or something ? And if so , to what format and using what options ?

 

 

 

So far I see I need the following :

 

1.Copy image to /shared/images prior to install

 

2.Save UCS

 

tmsh save sys ucs /config/Myconfig.ucs

 

2.On standby

 

tmsh install sys software image BIGIP-10.2.3.112.0.iso volume HD1.3

 

-not sure how to view progress in CLI other than looking at /var/logs/liveinstall.log

 

3.tmsh reboot HD1.3

 

4.b version

 

5.tmsh failover sys force-active en

 

6.Repeat procedure on active

 

7.Failover again

 

Did I understand correctly ? Or did I miss something ?