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Manual Chapter : Software Installation and Upgrade Overview

Applies To:

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F5OS-C

  • 1.6.1
Manual Chapter

Software Installation and Upgrade Overview

Software installation and upgrade for F5OS on
VELOS
 platforms

F5
VELOS
 platforms are a modular (chassis and blade) form factor, designed to meet the needs of large enterprise networking environments that require the ability to scale and process a large volume of increasing application workloads.
VELOS
 introduces a new platform layer called
F5OS
, which is made up of a system controller component and a chassis partition component
. Your
VELOS
 system comes with a default version of
F5OS
 software pre-installed. To use new features and software fixes, you will want to periodically upgrade the software on your system.

F5OS software image layers

There are
three
 layers of
F5OS
 software images for
VELOS
 systems.
System controller layer
This software runs on the system controllers only. It is subdivided into operating system (OS) and platform services components.
Chassis partition layer
This software does not run exclusively on the blades; it runs on the controllers as well. It is subdivided into operating system (OS) and platform services components.
Tenant layer
Tenants are guest systems running software on the system (for example, a
BIG-IP
 system).
F5
 provides different tenant images for different uses.

Installation and upgrade types

There are four types of
F5OS
 software installation/upgrades for
VELOS
 systems.
Full system release
Contains everything needed for the platform layer
(that is, the system controllers and the chassis partitions)
 for a system.
Full component release
Contains the full installation for a specific platform layer
(controller.iso and partition.iso)
, including both host and service components.
Partial component release
Contains sub-components of a specific platform layer (host.os or services.img). Partial component releases contain all containers for that release.
Patch/Hotfix release
Contains a subset of services/container packages specific for a component (specific os patches or service containers).

Appliance mode

The
VELOS
 system can be run in
appliance mode
. Appliance mode adds a layer of security by allowing users access only to the system command line interface (CLI) and removing user access to root and the Bash shell. When enabled, the root user cannot log in to the device by any means, including from the serial console.
For greater security, it is highly recommended that you configure the system
controllers and chassis partitions
to run in appliance mode.
For more information on configuring appliance mode, see
VELOS Systems: Administration and Configuration
 in the
F5OS
 Knowledge Center at support.f5.com/csp/knowledge-center/software/F5OS.

VELOS image server

The
VELOS
 system controllers include a built-in image server/PXE server that stores imported software images. You use this server when you update a system controller or blade using PXE boot. This enables you to install an upgrade to a system controller or blade when those components either do not have an image or need to have software completely re-installed.

Show a list of available images on the system from the CLI

You can display a list of available images on the system from the CLI.
  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system controller or chassis partition using an account with admin access.
    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.
  2. Display a list of available images.
    show image [ [ partition | controller ] [state [ controllers controller <
    sys-controller-num
    > ] ] [
    iso
     |
    os
     |
    service
     ]]
    In this example, you show a list of all ISO images on system controller 1: 
    syscon-1-active# show image controller state controllers controller 1 iso
VERSION
ISO                                         IN
CONTROLLER  CONTROLLER  STATUS  DATE        USE
---------------------------------------------------
1.6.0-7890  1           ready   2022-12-01  false

Show the currently running image on system controllers from the CLI

You can see which image is currently running on the system controllers from the CLI.
  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system controller or chassis partition using an account with admin access.
    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.
  2. View the currently-running image on system controllers.
    You can use the optional arguments to limit the output of the command to software on a specific system controller (that is, controller 1 or 2). In a properly-functioning chassis, both controllers will have the same images running on them. You can also limit the output to image components (that is, iso, os, or services versions).
    show system image state
    A summary similar to this example displays: 
    syscon-1-active# show system image state controllers
                    SERVICE     ISO      INSTALL
NUMBER  OS VERSION  VERSION     VERSION  STATUS
--------------------------------------------------
2       1.6.0-7890  1.6.0-7890  -        none
    Available options for the INSTALL STATUS column are:
    none
    An upgrade installation has not yet been performed.
    pending
    An upgrade was initiated, and the system controller is waiting to start the installation.
    in-progress
    The system controller is in the process of updating to the new versions.
    in-progress-firmware
    The system controller has updated to the new software version, and core system controller firmware in installing.
    success
    The system controller has installed and is running the new versions.
    failed
    The system controller failed to install the new software version and should be running the original versions.

Show the image currently running on partitions from the CLI

You can see which image is currently running on the chassis partitions from the CLI.
  1. Log in to the command line interface (CLI) of the system controller using an account with admin access.
    When you log in to the system, you are in user (operational) mode.
  2. View the image currently running on chassis partitions.
    This command sequence displays, for every image type (ISO, OS, and Service), the chassis partitions with which the image is referenced.
    show running-config partitions partition <
    partition-name
    >
    In this example, you show which images are currently running on a chassis partition named "abc": 
    syscon-1-active# show running-config partitions partition abc
partitions partition abc
config enabled
config os-version 1.6.0-7890
config service-version 1.6.0-7890
config pxe-server internal
config mgmt-ip ipv4 address 192.0.2.100
config mgmt-ip ipv4 prefix-length 20
config mgmt-ip ipv4 gateway 192.0.2.254
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