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vj_singh_177738's avatar
vj_singh_177738
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Dec 27, 2014

need to upgrade f5 ltm from 11.4.1HF5 to 11.5.1 HF7

Hi,

 

Please share any document or step to upgrade version from 11.4.1 to 11.5.1 which I can refer.

 

I am using 4200 and 3600 device.

 

Do I need to reactivate the license before upgradation.

 

9 Replies

  • there isn't a true document except from a small section in the release notes

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/releasenotes/product/relnote-ltm-11-5-1.html

     

    section Installation overview, which points to the general active-standby / active-active upgrade documentation which in my opinion still seems to focus on 10 to 11 upgrades and not the 11 to 11 upgrades.

     

    https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/products/big-ip_ltm/manuals/product/bigip-upgrade-active-standby-11-3-0.html

     

    beyond that you should read the release notes and check for any possible issues and tackle those before the upgrade.

     

  • for major release you should have valid support, for hotfix a valid support is not required

     

  • I would like to know whether 11.5.1 HF7 is supported in LTM 3600 series as it has 2 CPU and 3.8 G memory.

     

    Memory Used(bytes) Current Average Max

    Total Phys Memory 3.8G 3.8G 3.8G OS Used Memory 3.8G 3.8G 3.8G TMM Alloc Memory 2.9G 2.9G 2.9G TMM Used Memory 1.0G 1.0G 1.0G

     

    Sys::Host Memory (bytes)

    Host: 0 Available 3.8G Used 3.8G

     

  • As there were changes to the default SSL cipher set between the specified TMOS versions I would closely monitor this aspect after running the upgrade. Especially if you are using your BIG-IP in a "closed environment" some clients may still rely on SSLv3 (now these ciphers are now disabled by default).

     

    Heartbeat is compatible between both software versions. That´s why you can expect units to remain in active/standby even if they are temporarily on different software versions.

     

    From my perspective it is best practice to bring a device in forced offline mode before doing the reboot for better control. (Be careful in case of vCMP deployments with the "forced offline" mode! All TMOS interfaces of the offline guest will become unavailable.) Monitor re-established device-group communication (tail -f /var/log/ltm) after the reboot before running the "release from offline".

     

    Config sync will not work for units with different software versions.

     

    I prefer to re-license the unit first and validate the service check date in license file (/config/bigip.license) before running the upgrade.

     

    To avoid confusion about moving / copying configuration/license data I prefer installation to a "clean" installation volume.