Cross-version restore from 2.3 to 2.6

[dodgerfan78]

I have an ISE deployment with 2.3 (no patch). Looking to get to 2.6. Instead of upgrading I am looking at deploying 2 new VMs and then restoring a backup config . Other option would be to patch and upgrade existing VMs. What would be the best/easiest/quickest way? Has anyone done the 2.3 > 2.6 upgrade?

If I just do new VMs and restore - what are the caveats to look out for? I assume the IP addresses would be the same so I need to make sure I isolate the new nodes to not cause issues.

Trying to weigh the pros and cons.

Thanks.

[Damien Miller]

You can restore a backup from 2.3 straight to 2.6 most of the time. There are fringe cases where something configured isn't compatible. You could run the URT bundle on the secondary node to help verify it will restore.

Patching the 2.3 deployment, then upgrading the nodes inline isn't really that bad an idea. I have had success doing inline upgrades via the cli. I also patch from the cli to save time.


Since you have two nodes, you are likely HA with nads. You could decommission the secondary node, isolate, upgrade or redeploy, then join a new 2.6 node to it. There is no one way that suits all deployments.


With two nodes, I would patch then inline upgrade.