Upgrading BIG-IQ Version 6.0 with a Data Collection Device Cluster
to Version 6.1.0 with Minimal Downtime
Manual Chapter :
Upgrading BIG-IQ Version 6.0 with a Data Collection Device Cluster
to Version 6.1.0 with Minimal Downtime
Applies To:
Show Versions
BIG-IQ Centralized Management
6.1.0
Upgrading BIG-IQ Version 6.0 with a Data Collection Device Cluster
to Version 6.1.0 with Minimal Downtime
What is a minimal
downtime upgrade?
The minimal downtime upgrade process (also referred to as
rolling upgrade
) significantly reduces the amount of time your
system is offline while you are upgrading to the latest version. The degree to which your BIG-IQ
system and DCD cluster can maintain complete online function during upgrade depends on which
BIG-IP services you manage, and what kind of data you collect.
Operators using the BIG-IQ
system to review alerts and events might notice slightly slower performance during the upgrade.
Data might take a bit longer to refresh, and searches might take a little more time to run.
You should not lose any
ASM events or FPS alerts during the upgrade.
You should maintain almost
all of your AFM events during the upgrade.
Statistics data is not
collected during the upgrade.
There is a brief downtime
(approximately 5 seconds) when the primary BIG-IQ system is upgraded.
There is another short
downtime (less than a minute) when the secondary BIG-IQ is paired with the primary BIG-IQ.
Upgrading BIG-IQ version 6.0 with a data collection device cluster
to version
6.1.0
with minimal
downtime
What BIG-IQ setup does this upgrade process
support?
The following upgrade process to BIG-IQ Centralized management
version
6.1.0
is for system
setups that currently have version 6.0.x installed, and include a data collection
device cluster with at least three devices. If your system is not currently running
version 6.0.x or does not include a data collection device cluster with three or
more devices, refer to
Supported Upgrade Processes to
BIG-IQ Version
6.1.0
.
What happens during a BIG-IQ upgrade to version
6.1.0
?
This figure represents a BIG-IQ setup
that includes a high-availability (HA) pair of BIG-IQ systems and a data collection
device (DCD) cluster that contains three devices. Each device in the DCD cluster
continues to collect data until you start the upgrade process. Data collection for
all devices resumes only after all devices in the DCD cluster are upgraded and
restarted. For this example, there are three data collection devices: one has
already completed the upgrade to version
6.1.0
, one is undergoing an upgrade to version
6.1.0
, and one is still
collecting data as version 6.0.
This upgrade
procedure with minimal downtime supports BIG-IQ system setups that include a
minimum of three data collection devices.
BIG-IQ pre-upgrade checklist
To ensure that your upgrade goes smoothly, F5 recommends that you
perform a few system checks. Perform this test at least a day or so before you upgrade
in case you discover any issues that take longer than expected to resolve. Going through
this list ahead of time gives you a chance to resolve any issues before the clock is
ticking on your upgrade window.
Verify that the software version of the BIG-IP devices managed
by the BIG-IQ you are updating are at or beyond the minimum supported version. (For
details on how to do this, refer to the AskF5 article K34133507 on
support.f5.com
.)
If you plan to gather performance analytics for the BIG-IP
devices managed by the BIG-IQ you are updating, confirm that the managed devices are
at or beyond version 13.1.1, and provisioned with the AVR service.
Check that you have sufficient disk space for the upgrade. To
calculate the disk space you need, make sure you include the space your current
installation consumes and the extra amount needed for the upgrade.
If the
var
partition for any of the devices in your cluster was
extended before you upgraded, you must extend the
var
partition for that device
before the upgrade can succeed.
(For details on how to do this check,
refer to
Check the volume sizes on your current BIG-IQ
installation
and
Check the volume sizes
required by the software you want to install
in
F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management Disk Space
Management
on
support.f5.com
. For details on how to extend a disk volume, refer to
Resizing VE Disk Volume Workflows
in
F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management Disk Space
Management
on
support.f5.com
).
Verify that your BIG-IQ VE has sufficient memory and CPUs for
the configuration that you plan to deploy. (For details on how to do this, refer to
Determine the resources required for
deployment
in
Planning and Implementing a
BIG-IQ Centralized Management Deployment
on
support.f5.com
).
Examine the health of the devices you plan to upgrade. Make sure
to inspect the BIG-IQ primary and secondary devices as well as each DCD in the
cluster. (For details on how to do this, refer to
Check
the health of devices in a DCD cluster
in
Planning and Implementing a BIG-IQ Centralized Management Deployment
on
support.f5.com
).
Re-activate the licenses on the devices you plan to upgrade to
make sure that the service contract date is up to date. Make sure to do this for the
BIG-IQ primary and secondary devices, as well as each DCD in the cluster. (For
details on how to do this, refer to the F5 Knowledge Center article
K15365
on
support.f5.com
).
Confirm the zone configuration of the DCDs that you plan to
upgrade and for the devices managed by the BIG-IQ systems you plan to upgrade. If a
device is configured to be in a zone that does not have DCDs in it, statistics for
that device will not be collected after the upgrade.
To view the zone configuration for a DCD, navigate to
System
BIG-IQ DATA COLLECTION
BIG-IQ Data Collection
Devices
and note the zone.
To view the zone configuration for a device, navigate to
Devices
, click
the name of the device, then click
STATISTICS COLLECTION
and
note the zone.
Summary of tasks
to upgrade a BIG-IQ system with Data Collection Devices with minimal downtime
The upgrade process can take up to several hours
depending on how many BIG-IP devices you are managing.
The rolling upgrade process consists of the following phases, where each phase includes a series of tasks.
Preparing for an upgrade:
Download the BIG-IQ software image from the F5 Downloads
site.
Upload the BIG-IQ software image to BIG-IQ.
Confirm alerts and events can be sent to an alternative
device in the Data Collection Device cluster.
Upgrade the BIG-IQ systems and Data Collection Devices to the latest version:
Upgrade the primary BIG-IQ and the data collection devices
to the latest version.
Upload the software image to the secondary BIG-IQ
system.
Manually upgrade the secondary BIG-IQ system.
Complete post-upgrade process
Add the secondary BIG-IQ system back to the primary BIG-IQ
system.
Re-discover devices and re-import services.
If you plan to deploy applications to a VMware cloud
environment, install the vCenter host root certificate on BIG-IQ.
