Forum Discussion

kfriend_50715's avatar
kfriend_50715
Icon for Nimbostratus rankNimbostratus
Jun 26, 2012

On upgrades

Hello all.

 

 

 

I've got a pair of LTM's running Big IP version 10 and I vaguely remember upgrading them from version 9 and it was one of the more painful experiences I've had working in Information Technology.

 

 

I remember having to install Linux on a laptop to correctly format and setup a disk, maybe it was a thumb-drive or something...it's all quite vague and it took way longer than it should have.

 

 

 

I'm wondering if anyone can point me towards an "Upgrade Big IP for Dummies" type of thing so I don't have to suffer through figuring this all out again, only to forget it in a few years when I decide to upgrade yet again.

 

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Ken

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Hamish's avatar
    Hamish
    Icon for Cirrocumulus rankCirrocumulus
    Sounds like you had a trashed disk or something... You normally don't need to boot from USB or external device except in extreme circumstances ( remember having to do it exactly once, and that was a net boot).

     

     

    The SOL note for it is

     

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/10000/800/sol10819.html?sr=22278002

     

     

     

    Normally when installing v10 and above it's as easy as running the image2disk utility with the appropriate parameters. THen watch and wait... The exact sequence is normally described in the release notes for the version you're installing.

     

     

    H

     

     

  • Are you on volumes or partitions for v10? Which version are you planning on upgrading to?

     

     

    If you're already on volumes the upgrade to v11 or a step upgrade to a later version of v10 is dead easy. You can do it through the GUI by installing to a second slot. Your original v10 installation is preserved so you can always boot back to it.

     

     

    There have been some issues upgrading to v11 particularly with APM and WAM enabled. If after upgrading the config fails to load, run '/usr/libexec/bigpipe daol', resolve any config file issues and then run '/usr/libexec/bigpipe daol' again.

     

     

    The release notes have more complete info. Holler if you have more specific questions.

     

     

    Aaron
  • Thank you both for taking the time to respond. I didn't have any problems with my disks, if I recall, the upgrade from 9 to 10 was just crazy and I'm amazed now that I managed to stumble through it.

     

     

    @Hoolio-

     

    I know this is going to sound horrible, but how do I know whether I am on Partitions or Volumes? I'm really not super-great when it comes to this LTM. Like everything here it was a situation where it was a device that did what we needed it to do and management purchased it and tossed it on my desk and I figured out how to get it to function.

     

     

    Looking through the GUI-->software management I have "Volume Management" if that counts for anything.
  • how do I know whether I am on Partitions or Volumes?i think you are using volumes.

     

     

    sol10817: Determining the disk-formatting scheme used by a BIG-IP version 10.x system

     

    http://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/10000/800/sol10817.html
  • Thank you Nitass and others for the assistance. I'll do some checking. I want to go to the data center and bring the passive LTM back to my office and bang on that rather than sit up at the datacenter trying to figure this crap out...I'm sure you'll hear more from me. =)
  • some of it is coming back to me now...If I recall, when I went to upgrade this thing last time, it didn't want to play nicely with the USB DVD that I had, therefore I had to make the USB thumbdrive and I couldn't do it from windows, I had to make it from linux....ahhh yes. I've got a different USB DVD on hand now, maybe with some luck it will work.
  • I guess I'm running volumes:

     

     

    [root@ltm00:Active] config lvscan

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/dat.share.1' [30.00 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/dat.log.1' [7.00 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.1.root' [256.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.1._usr' [1.34 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.1._config' [512.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.1._var' [3.00 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.2.root' [256.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.2._usr' [1.34 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.2._config' [512.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.2._var' [3.00 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.3.root' [256.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.3._usr' [1.25 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.3._config' [512.00 MB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/set.3._var' [3.00 GB] normal

     

    ACTIVE '/dev/vg-db-sda/dat.maint.1' [200.00 MB] normal

     

  • Upgrade went well...and I found out that my (previous) manager didn't renew our support contract last year so I'm at a standstill until that gets resolved. Thank you all for the assistance!