topic Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA in Wireless

Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 21:22:03 GMT

Hi Community,

An upgrade of 2 Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controllers in HA is going to be performed and it manages APs both in remote sites and in the central site. The current version is 17.6.4 and it is going to be upgraded to version 17.9.5. I have the following questions:

Can the upgrade be performed directly from 17.6.4 to 17.9.5? Or should previous jumps be made?

What would be the appropriate procedure for the upgrade?

If we upgrade to version 17.9.5, does this affect or modify any service or feature that we have in our current WLC?

When upgrading the WLC version, does this affect in any way the synchronization that we have with the AP equipment located in remote sites?

regards
Electronic

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Scott Fella — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 23:10:42 GMT

I think your questions can be answered by reviewing the release notes. This is something everyone looks at to ensure the upgrade path and any new caveats and resolved caveats.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/wireless/controller/9800/17-9/release-notes/rn-17-9-9800.html#Cisco_Concept.dita_59a2987f-2633-4630-8c7b-a8e8aecdeaf7

Typically you would test if you had another controller to validate everything works fine with the configuration you have and the environment you have.

Read the release notes so you are familiar and see if you still have any questions. What works well for one might not work well for others. That is why testing is very important and allows one to test the upgrade depending if you have one controller, SSO or N+1.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Scott Fella — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 23:14:07 GMT

Also, if you have a valid support contract, you can open a TAC case and have them on a call during your upgrade. That might help you if you are not comfortable, or if this is the first upgrade you are doing on this environment.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Leo Laohoo — Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:22:24 GMT

Direct upgrade, from 17.6.X, to 17.9.5 is supported -- Upgrade the ROMMON while it is possible.

Are both controllers in a Mobility Group?

Do the controllers have SMU/APSP/APDP installed?

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 14:45:02 GMT

Hi @Leo Laohoo

Both controllers are in HA, this is their configuration:

I don't think there is one, but could you give me a brief explanation of what SMU, APSP and APDP mean and what function they have?

regards

Electronic20

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Mark Elsen — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 16:43:12 GMT

@Electronic20 FYI : https://www.cisco.com/web/Cisco_IOS_XR_Software/pdf/SMU_FAQ.pdf

+ An APSP is an AP Service Pack
APDP: Support for new AP models without introduction of new hardware or software capabilities.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 20:28:35 GMT

Hi Community:

Apart from upgrading WLC 17.6.4 to 17.9.5, is it also necessary to load SMU, APSP and APDP? And if so, what improvement would it bring?

regards

Electronic20

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Leo Laohoo — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 22:36:17 GMT

If the controllers are in an HA SSO, then there is no way to "minimize the downtime". The controllers will reboot (around 7 minutes) and the APs will reboot (another 7 minutes).

If the two controllers were in an N+1 and both units are in the same Mobility Group, there is a way to "minimize the downtime" by using a feature called Hitless Upgrade. This following scenario is how Hitless Upgrade (we've used it several times on 9800-80 & 9800-L and we have not seen any issues) works:

NOTE:

Assume WLC-1 is Active and WLC-2 is Hot Standby.
Assume all APs are in WLC-1 and WLC-2 has ZERO AP count.
WLC-1 & WLC-2 are in a Mobility Group.

1. Upgrade the WLC-2 firmware first.

2. Once Hitless Upgrade is initiated in WLC-1, WLC-1 will start to move APs (from WLC-1) to WLC-2 in "batches" based on the Iteration selected (5%, 15% or 25%). APs joining WLC-2 will download the new firmware and reboot. When WLC-2 confirms these APs have joined WLC-2 and on the correct firmware, the next batch of APs are moved to WLC-2 until all APs have joined WLC-2 and are on the correct firmware.

3. As soon as WLC-1 has no more APs, WLC-1 will reboot to the desired firmware version.

4. When WLC-2 confirms that WLC-1 is running the same firmware (as WLC-2) and WLC-1 has joined the Mobility Group, WLC-2 will reverse the process and send all the APs back to WLC-1.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 01:49:06 GMT

Hi @Leo Laohoo

You mention updating RMON, how do I update it and where do I download that firmware?

Is it necessary to update SMU, APSP and APDP?

en mi caso no es un Mobility Group ni esta en N+1, la solución que se tiene es un HA.

regards
Electronic20

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 02:48:44 GMT

@Electronic20 wrote:
You mention updating RMON, how do I update it and where do I download that firmware?

ROMMON upgrade and firmware upgrade can be done in one reboot. I do it all the time.

@Electronic20 wrote:
Is it necessary to update SMU, APSP and APDP?

Do not go blindly installing SMU/APSP/APDP if there is no operation requirements, like fixing a bug, because applying APSP/SMU/APDP, guaranteed, will introduce a new level of bugs. One of those bugs can cause the WLC to boot into ROMMON because the switch/WLC is unable to automatically remove previous SMU installed.

@Electronic20 wrote:
en mi caso no es un Mobility Group ni esta en N+1, la solución que se tiene es un HA.

Keep monitoring the control-plane memory utilization due to HA SSO.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 03:01:38 GMT

Hi @Leo Laohoo

Thank you,

I have a question about the ROMMON update, to confirm, when I update the WLC IOS, is the ROMMON automatically updated?

regard

Electronic20

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 03:06:57 GMT

ROMMON is a manual upgrade.

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 03:31:37 GMT

Hi @Leo Laohoo

Cual seria el procedimeinto de actualizar el ROMMON en un 2 WLC en HA SSO?

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Leo Laohoo — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 04:18:18 GMT

upgrade rom-monitor filename bootflash:ROMMON_filename all upgrade rom-monitor filename bootflash:ROMMON_filename chassis standby 0 upgrade rom-monitor filename bootflash:ROMMON_filename chassis standby F0 upgrade rom-monitor filename bootflash:ROMMON_filename chassis standby R0

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Mark Elsen — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 05:38:35 GMT

>...Apart from upgrading WLC 17.6.4 to 17.9.5, is it also necessary to load SMU, APSP and APDP?
- Normally not , unless there are specific SMU , APSP and APDP attached or provided with 17.9.5.
The decision to install these or not depends on reviewing the (release) notes of those and check
for specific circumstances and conditions that may apply to your environment ,

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 00:48:40 GMT

Hi Community,

Before upgrading, how do I backup the configuration of the 2 WLCs in HA:

Is it just saving the show running-config?

Is the HA configuration of the 2 WLCs contained in the show running-config?

Regarding the IOS upgrade of the 2 WLCs in HA, if some functionality does not work, how do I perform the rollback to take it to the old IOS?

regards

Electronic20

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Mark Elsen — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 07:43:47 GMT

- Just save the running configuration to an external repository, syncing to HA partner is handled internally.
Regarding functionalities before and after ; use this procedure (CLI) show tech wireless and feed the output from that Wireless Config Analyzer
do not use a simple show tech for this procedure
(and to be done ,before and after the upgrade)

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:27:57 GMT

Hi @Mark Elsen

If for any reason the upgrade to the new IOS of the WLC C9800 does not work correctly.

What would be the rollback procedure? Would it be to return to the old IOS?

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Mark Elsen — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:58:09 GMT

- There is no special rollback procedure needed ; the controller will stay at the current version,

Re: Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller Upgrade in HA

Electronic20 — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:45:21 GMT

Hi @Mark Elsen

I change my question, how would a downgrade of the WLC be?, just upgrade the old IOS?

regards

Electronic20