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LyonsG_85618's avatar
LyonsG_85618
Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
Jun 25, 2012

Upgrade HA pair from 10.2.1 to 10.2.3

Hi guys.

 

 

We recently upgraded a HA pair that were previously 10.2.1 to 10.2.3. We had been made aware that when the standby device was upgraded it would NOT be able to form a pair until the active box was upgraded.

 

 

However - after installing 10.2.3 and booting into that partition the box booted up ok and then formed an HA pair with the 10.2.1 box.

 

 

Can anyone advise us whether this is normal?

 

 

Also - to upgrade the standby device we forced it offline. We were under the impression when it rebooted it would come back in an offline mode? As it came back online i assume out understanding was wrong?

 

 

 

Thanks (in advance) for the help!

 

 

application delivery
availability
LTM
TMOS
  • hooleylist's avatar
    hooleylist
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Jun 25, 2012
    Hi Graham,

     

     

    Typically the HA communication (network failover, connection/persistence mirroring) doesn't change within minor releases (10.2.x for example). Here's a solution which describes the network failover over the versions:

     

     

    sol9057: Service port and protocol used for BIG-IP network failover

     

    https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/9000/000/sol9057.html

     

     

    And connection/persistence mirroring:

     

     

    sol7225: Transport protocol used for BIG-IP connection and persistence mirroring

     

    https://support.f5.com/kb/en-us/solutions/public/7000/200/sol7225.html

     

     

    Also, if you're using hardwire failover, you don't need to worry about any potential changes to network failover across versions. The standby unit will stay standby.

     

     

    If you want to be safe, you can always disable the switch ports on a standby device while you're upgrading it. If you're using VLAN or gateway failsafe, you can disable it temporarily while the switch ports are down to prevent the unit from restarting/rebooting.

     

     

    Aaron
  • LyonsG_85618's avatar
    LyonsG_85618
    Icon for Cirrostratus rankCirrostratus
    Jun 26, 2012

    Thanks Aaron

     

    I guess it was just the fact that the boxes actually formed an HA pair when we had been told specfically that you could NOT form a HA pair between boxes at different code levels.

     

     

    One thing we didnt try was synchonisng between boxes. I guess this is where the potential dangers lie? i.e. forcing synch from 10.2.1 to 10.2.3 would maybe overwrite some files that 10.2.3 relied upon?