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  4. F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Upgrading a 5.2 Data Collection Device Cluster to Version 5.3 With Minimal Downtime
  5. Upgrading BIG-IQ Centralized Management with Data Collection Devices to Version 5.3
Manual Chapter : Upgrading BIG-IQ Centralized Management with Data Collection Devices to Version 5.3

Applies To:

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BIG-IQ Centralized Management

  • 5.3.0
Manual Chapter
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What you need to do before you upgrade BIG-IQ from version 5.x to 5.3

Before upgrading F5® BIG-IQ® Centralized Management, perform the following tasks.

Tasks Additional information
Create a backup of the BIG-IQ system's current compressed user configuration set (UCS) and store it on a remote server. The UCS file includes: system-specific configuration files, license, user account and password information, and SSL certificates and keys. You can use this backup in the event you want to restore to the previous version of BIG-IQ.
Decide which disk volume you want to install the upgrade on. You must have at least two volumes to upgrade BIG-IQ. If the machine you are upgrading does not have two volumes, you must create one using a sequence of tmsh commands. The upgrade task provides options for either case.
Deploy any staged configuration changes to your managed devices.

This step is required only if you are going to use the script to re-discover and re-import BIG-IP devices and services after the upgrade (as outlined in the section titled, Re-discover devices and re-import services in bulk using a script).

You must deploy configuration changes you have staged for your devices if you use this script, because they'll be overwritten on BIG-IQ after you run the script. If you'd rather re-discover devices and re-import services from the BIG-IQ user interface (instead of in bulk) so you can address any potential configuration conflicts for each BIG-IP device, refer to the section titled, Re-discover devices and re-import services from the user interface.

If you're currently running a version of BIG-IQ prior to version 5.0, you must first upgrade to version 5.0 before you can upgrade to version 5.3. For more information, refer to the guide titled, F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Upgrading BIG-IQ to Version 5.0.

If you're upgrading BIG-IQ Data Collection Device clusters, refer to the guide titled, F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management: Upgrading Data Collection Device clusters to version 5.3.

Remove the secondary (version 5.2) BIG-IQ from the HA pair

If the F5® BIG-IQ® Centralized Management system is configured in an HA pair, you must remove the secondary BIG-IQ system before you upgrade it.
Note: Perform this task only if you are upgrading from version 5.2 to version 5.3.
  1. Log in to the primary BIG-IQ with your admin user name and password.
  2. At the top of the screen, click System.
  3. On the left, click BIG-IQ HA.
  4. Click Remove Secondary.
    A dialog box opens, prompting you to confirm that you want to remove the HA secondary device from this group.
  5. Click Remove to confirm that you want to take the HA secondary device out of the group.
    The system logs you out of the BIG-IQ while it removes the secondary device.
  6. Log back in to the primary BIG-IQ with your admin user name and password.
    For a while, both the primary and the secondary BIG-IQ devices continue to display. After a few minutes, the screen updates to display a single standalone device.

Upload the BIG-IQ version 5.3 software image to the secondary (5.2) BIG-IQ

Before you can upload the software image to your secondary BIG-IQ® system, you must have first downloaded it from the F5 Downloads site.

Upload the BIG-IQ version 5.3 software image to your secondary BIG-IQ system to make it available for this upgrade.

Note: Perform this task only if you are upgrading from version 5.2 to version 5.3.
  1. At the top of the screen, click System.
  2. On the left, expand THIS DEVICE > Software Management , then click Available Images.
    The Available Images screen lists the software image files that are available for install on this BIG-IQ.
  3. Click the Upload Image button.
  4. Click the Choose File button and go to the location to which you downloaded the image, and click the Open button to upload it to BIG-IQ.
  5. Click the Upload button.
    The screen refreshes to display the progress of the upload.
When the image is done uploading, it shows in the Available Images list.

Install version 5.3 on the peer 5.2 BIG-IQ system

Note: If the machine you are upgrading does not have two volumes, you must create one using a sequence of tmsh commands. The following steps provide options for either case.
Install version 5.3 on the peer BIG-IQ system so it will be running the same version as the primary BIG-IQ system you are about to upgrade.
  1. Log in to the system you are going to establish as the secondary BIG-IQ system's command line as root and type the following command: /usr/bin/clear-rest-storage.
    While this step is not required, it clears the database storage on the system so the upgrade goes more quickly. After you upgrade both peer systems and re-establish the HA pair, the peer BIG-IQ synchronizes its database with this BIG-IQ system and repopulates the database.
  2. Log in to the system you are going to establish as the secondary BIG-IQ system's user interface.
  3. If you ran the clear-rest-storage command, complete the setup wizard. Otherwise, continue to step 4.
  4. At the top of the screen, click System.
  5. On the left, expand THIS DEVICE > Software Management , then click Available Images.
    The Available Images screen lists the software image files that are available for install on this BIG-IQ.
  6. Select the check box for the image you want to install and click Install.
  7. From the Target Volume list, select the volume you want to install the image on.
    Note: If the Target Volume list is empty, the machine you are upgrading does not have a second volume available for you to install the upgrade. You must create one to proceed.
    • If you selected a target volume, complete the remaining steps to finish the upgrade.
    • If you do not have a second volume, use the following sequence of tmsh commands to install the upgrade for this machine:
      • Use SSH to log in to the machine you want to upgrade. You must log in as root to perform this procedure.
      • Navigate to the folder where you install software using the command: cd /shared/images
      • Install the upgrade to a new volume using one of the following commands:
        • If you are upgrading a virtual machine: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume hd1.2 create-volume reboot
        • If you are upgrading a BIG-IQ 7000 series platform: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume md1.2 create-volume reboot
      • While the system installs the upgrade to the new volume, you can check on the status of the upgrade using the command: tmsh show sys soft.
      • When the upgrade finishes installing, the machine reboots. Proceed to the next to the last (login) step in this task.
  8. To prompt BIG-IQ to reboot into the new software installation volume, select the Reboot into Target volume check box.
  9. Click the Install button.
    A confirmation dialog box appears.
  10. Click the Continue button.
  11. Wait while BIG-IQ loads the new software and reboots.
    Depending on your configuration and the number of devices you are managing, this could take up to an hour. During this time, it is important that you not interrupt the installation process by restarting services or the server.
  12. Log in to the primary BIG-IQ to confirm that the upgrade succeeded.
  13. If needed, extend the /var partition.
    The default size of the /var file system in a newly installed node is 10 GB. This volume size might be insufficient to store your data. You can see how to extend this file system to a larger size in knowledge article K16103. refer to: K16103: Extending disk space on BIG-IQ Virtual Edition at support.f5.com/csp/article/K16103. Because upgrading a node requires at least two volumes, you must ensure that both volumes can have their /var file system extended to the same size, or upgrades might fail.

Upload the BIG-IQ version 5.3 software image

Before you can upload the software image to the BIG-IQ® system, you must have first downloaded it from the F5 Downloads site.

Upload the BIG-IQ version 5.3 software image to the primary BIG-IQ system to make it available for this upgrade.

  1. At the top of the screen, click System.
  2. On the left, click THIS DEVICE > SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT > Available Images .
  3. Click the Upload Image button.
  4. Click the Choose File button and go to the location to which you downloaded the image, and click the Open button to upload it to BIG-IQ.
  5. Click the Upload button.
    The screen refreshes to display the progress of the upload.
When the image is done uploading, it shows in the Available Images list.

Upgrade 5.2 primary BIG-IQ to version 5.3

Note: If the machine you are upgrading does not have two volumes, you must create one using a sequence of tmsh commands. The following steps provide options for either case.
Before upgrading the primary BIG-IQ in a DCD cluster you must:
  1. Prepare the DCD cluster for upgrade.
  2. Update the DCDs in the cluster.
  3. Upgrade the secondary BIG-IQ.
  4. Download the BIG-IQ version 5.3 .iso image from the F5 downloads site

Upgrade the BIG-IQ primary to take advantage of the newest functionality and features.

  1. Log in to the primary BIG-IQ system with your admin user name and password.
  2. At the top of the screen, click System.
  3. On the left, expand THIS DEVICE > Software Management , then click Available Images.
    The Available Images screen lists the software image files that are available for install on this BIG-IQ.
  4. Select the check box for the image you want to install and click Install.
  5. From the Target Volume list, select the volume you want to install the image on.
    Note: If the Target Volume list is empty, the machine you are upgrading does not have a second volume available for you to install the upgrade. You must create one to proceed.
    • If you selected a target volume, complete the remaining steps to finish the upgrade.
    • If you do not have a second volume, use the following sequence of tmsh commands to install the upgrade for this machine:
      • Use SSH to log in to the machine you want to upgrade. You must log in as root to perform this procedure.
      • Navigate to the folder where you install software using the command: cd /shared/images
      • Install the upgrade to a new volume using one of the following commands:
        • If you are upgrading a virtual machine: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume hd1.2 create-volume reboot
        • If you are upgrading a BIG-IQ 7000 series platform: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume md1.2 create-volume reboot
      • While the system installs the upgrade to the new volume, you can check on the status of the upgrade using the command: tmsh show sys soft.
      • When the upgrade finishes installing, the machine reboots. Proceed to the next to the last (login) step in this task.
  6. To prompt BIG-IQ to reboot into the new software installation volume, select the Reboot into Target Volume check box.
  7. Click the Install button.
  8. Click the Continue button.
  9. Wait while BIG-IQ loads the new software and reboots.
    Depending on your configuration and the number of devices you are managing, this could take up to an hour. During this time, it is important that you not interrupt the installation process by restarting services or the server.
  10. Log in to the primary BIG-IQ to confirm that the upgrade succeeded.
  11. If needed, extend the /var partition.
    The default size of the /var file system in a newly installed node is 10 GB. This volume size might be insufficient to store your data. You can see how to extend this file system to a larger size in knowledge article K16103. refer to: K16103: Extending disk space on BIG-IQ Virtual Edition at support.f5.com/csp/article/K16103. Because upgrading a node requires at least two volumes, you must ensure that both volumes can have their /var file system extended to the same size, or upgrades might fail.
Even though you can log in to this BIG-IQ system after the software is installed, the system continues some database re-indexing processes in the background. For larger configurations, that can take up to an hour. If you perform any searches on objects before it's done re-indexing, BIG-IQ might not return the expected results. During this time, you can continue with the rest of the upgrade process.

Confirm that the upgraded primary BIG-IQ system is back in service

After you upgrade the primary BIG-IQ® system as part of the minimal downtime workflow, confirm that it is back in service before you proceed.

  1. Use SSH to log in to the primary BIG-IQ system.
    You must log in as root to perform this task.
  2. Determine whether the DCD cluster service restarted by running the following command:
    bigstart status elasticsearch
    In the following example, the DCD cluster has been up and running for less than an hour. 
    elasticsearch run (pid 5110) .5 hours
  3. Determine whether the primary BIG-IQ system rejoined the DCD cluster using the following command:
    curl localhost:9200/_cat/nodes?v
    In the following example, the recently upgraded BIG-IQ system (10.144.73.126) has rejoined the cluster (four DCDs, the primary BIG-IQ, and the secondary BIG-IQ). 
    curl localhost:9200/_cat/nodes?v
host          ip            heap.percent ram.percent load node.role master name                                                                                                                                                              
10.11.0.96    10.11.0.96               2          63 0.01 d         m      d6211
10.11.0.97    10.11.0.97               2          63 0.01 d         m      d6212
10.11.0.98    10.11.0.98               2          63 0.01 d         m      d6213
10.11.0.99    10.11.0.99               2          63 0.01 d         m      d6214
10.144.73.126 10.144.73.126           22          45 0.04 -         *      09020 b0c-7021-458f-89f4-5e89faf64670
10.144.73.127 10.144.73.127           22          45 0.05 -         m      09020 c0c-2235-234a-54b2-2f45fab3233b
"?>
  4. If the primary BIG-IQ system did not rejoin the cluster, restart the cluster service using the following command:
    bigstart restart elasticsearch
    The cluster service restarts and the primary BIG-IQ system rejoins the cluster. Repeat step 3 to confirm.
  5. Log in to the BIG-IQ system primary again with your admin user name and password.
  6. At the top of the screen, click System.
  7. On the left, expand BIG-IQ DATA COLLECTION and then select BIG-IQ Data Collection Devices.
    The BIG-IQ Data Collection Devices screen opens to list the data collection devices in the cluster.
  8. Click Settings.
    The Properties screen for the DCD cluster opens.
  9. Note the Data Cluster Status icon color. Do not proceed until it turns green.
    When the icon turns green, it indicates that data is again distributed to all members of the DCD cluster.
    Note: If the DCD cluster status icon does not turn green, refer to Troubleshooting Minimal Downtime Upgrade Issues. There are several common issues that you can resolve by following the recommended actions.
The DCD cluster is now fully restored to service.
Now you need to upgrade the statistics agent so that the upgraded DCD can start collecting data again.

Upgrade the statistics agent

If you collected statistics in version 5.2, then when you finish upgrading the primary BIG-IQ to version 5.3, you need to upgrade the statistics agent on each BIG-IP device that had statistics enabled before the upgrade.

Note: Perform this task on the primary BIG-IQ that manages the DCD cluster.
  1. At the top of the screen, click Devices.
  2. Select all of the BIG-IP devices managed by this DCD cluster by selecting the check box next to Status.
  3. Click More , and then select Update Stats Agent.
    The Statistics Collection Agent Upgrade screen opens.
  4. For Modules/Services, select the check box next to the services that you collected statistics for in version 5.2.
  5. For Frequency select how often you want the DCD to collect statistics for these services.
  6. Click the Continue button.
  7. Wait while the stats collection agent for each BIG-IP device is upgraded.
    Depending on the number of devices in your cluster, this could take several minutes to complete.
    When the agent is upgraded on each BIG-IP, the status icon turns to green.
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