APIC Upgrade

[nsmwella]

Hi all,

I am having a requirement for upgrading an existing APIC cluster to the current recommended version.Physical appliances are going to upgraded as per the requirement as a Physical APIC cluster or Virtual APIC cluster or in Hybrid mode.Currently the Multi Site model is controlled via the MSO and plan is to move to NDO.

I need to prepare the migration plan for this. For that I need to check the compatibility and the limitations for the current APIC,Spines,Leafs hardware and the OS versions.

Can you suggest the procedure for this and the recommended documents and tools to refer for this ?

[AshSe]

Hello @nsmwella 

As a first step, please check and analyse the bugs in the current  version.

Step2) Please run “ACI-Pre-Upgrade-Validation-Script” on APIC controller and provide output to Cisco Tac for further analysis, for all possible parameters based on the current configuration to mitigate before the upgrade. https://github.com/datacenter/ACI-Pre-Upgrade-Validation-Script

Hope This Helps!!!

AshSe

Community Etiquette: 

1. Insert photos/images inline - don't attach.

2. Always mark helpful and correct answers, it helps others find what they need.

3. For a prompt reply, kindly tag @name. An email will be automatically sent to the member.

[nsmwella]

Hi @AshSe ,

Thanks for the response.

What about running APIC physical appliance and the Virtual Appliance together in a cluster as hybrid mode (2x Physical Appliances + 1 Virtual Appliance). Is it recommended. Any official guide for this scenario ?

Thanks

[AshSe]

Hello @nsmwella 

Generally, no, it is not recommended for production environments. While technically possible in some scenarios, a hybrid physical/virtual APIC cluster introduces complexities and potential drawbacks that outweigh the benefits in most cases. Cisco strongly recommends homogeneous clusters (either all physical or all virtual) for production deployments.

Hope This Helps!!!

AshSe

Community Etiquette: 

1. Insert photos/images inline - don't attach.

2. Always mark helpful and correct answers, it helps others find what they need.

3. For a prompt reply, kindly tag @name. An email will be automatically sent to the member.

[Wassim Aouadi]

Hello @nsmwella,

What are the current versions of ACI software and MSO you have?

[ftsns]

Hi @Wassim Aouadi  ACI 4.2(7) , MSO 2.1

[Remi-Astruc]

Hi @ftsns ,

The situation and upgrade scenario you describe has waaay more considerations and caveats than what can be stated in some posts here.

Either read carefully all the related upgrade procedures and release notes, or involve your Cisco Account team to engage CX services to support you on that journey...

Regards

[Wassim Aouadi]

I agree with @Remi-Astruc  for the following reasons:

- I don't know the complete list of hardware running your ACI Multi-Site network,

- I don't find enough official documentation to support your complete upgrade path. Your MSO version is way end of life. It seems that you need to upgrade to Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator then consider upgrading your ACI software, because Nexus Dashboard supports ACI fabrics starting with 5.2x. But before that, it is not guaranteed that MSO configured objects will translate directly to NDO. 

Here are some interesting links:

Cisco Nexus Dashboard Orchestrator Release Notes, Release 3.4(1) - Cisco

Cisco ACI Multi-Site Orchestrator Release Notes, Release 3.0(3) - Cisco

Cisco ACI Multi-Site Orchestrator Installation and Upgrade Guide, Release 3.0(x) - Cisco

So try to involve Cisco in your upgrade action.

I hope this helps.

(edited to add some links)