Centos 7 still being deployed with CSPC 2.11

[oscar-eriksson]

I was planning on deploying the lastest version of CSPC at 2.11 then patching it directly to 2.11.03 but see attached picture of the hostOS which is centos 7 that has been deprecated. According to the cisco releasenotes the hostOS has been changed which the .ovf does not align with.

When will Cisco release a updated version of the .ova using Alma linux? Same hostos is used on Collector-2.11-B-16_SHA1_signed.ova

My next question is if its possible to go from 2.11.0 to 2.11.03 directly. The upgrade manual on https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/support/docs/cloud-systems-management/common-services-platform-collector-cspc/CSPC-Upgrade-Guide.pdf is only for 2.11.02

Thanks 

Br Oscar

[jofrumki]

Hello @oscar-eriksson 
The CSPC 2.11.x runs on Alma Linux 9.x, please see the output from the most up-to-date release. Please let me know if you have any doubts.

admin# show version -d
        Build-name   : Collection Platform Software

        Package-type : ServicePack
        Version      : sp-30.4.0-3-0-lnx64
             Component : CSPC Base
             Version   : 2.11.0.3
        Package-type : JeOS
        Version      : jeos-30.4.0-3-lnx64
             Component : CASP
             Version   : 2.11.0.3
             Component : ConcsoTgw
             Version   : 1.8.5
             Component : AdminShell
             Version   : 1.9.8
             Component : LCM
             Version   : 1.9.8
             Component : Alma Linux
             Version   : 9.4
admin# exit
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/*release*
AlmaLinux release 9.4 (Seafoam Ocelot)
NAME="AlmaLinux"
VERSION="9.4 (Seafoam Ocelot)"
ID="almalinux"
ID_LIKE="rhel centos fedora"
VERSION_ID="9.4"
PLATFORM_ID="platform:el9"
PRETTY_NAME="AlmaLinux 9.4 (Seafoam Ocelot)"
ANSI_COLOR="0;34"
LOGO="fedora-logo-icon"
CPE_NAME="cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:9::baseos"
HOME_URL="https://almalinux.org/"
DOCUMENTATION_URL="https://wiki.almalinux.org/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.almalinux.org/"

ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT="AlmaLinux-9"
ALMALINUX_MANTISBT_PROJECT_VERSION="9.4"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT="AlmaLinux"
REDHAT_SUPPORT_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.4"
SUPPORT_END=2032-06-01
AlmaLinux release 9.4 (Seafoam Ocelot)
AlmaLinux release 9.4 (Seafoam Ocelot)
cpe:/o:almalinux:almalinux:9::baseos

[adias · Accepted solution]

To complement the explanation of my colleague,  at the time of release of the ova 2.11 .. The alma linux option was  still not available on Vmware, and the dev just left the legacy centos Linux tag on the ovf file as OS tag  option.  With that said some installations may fail with that flag on OVA because of that reference on the OFV file. So you would need to change that on the OVF file to the compatible version of redhat to make it work of ESXI HOST or VCENTER depending on version and configuration. We will push for the new releases of CSPC either have the correct OS if available or the compatible OS rhel8_64Guest as a workaround top avoid failures on some deployments.

<OperatingSystemSection ovf:id="80" ovf:version="8" vmw:osType="rhel8_64Guest">
<Info>The operating system installed</Info>
<Description>Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit)</Description>
</OperatingSystemSection>

[Beazle]

@adias 

Forgive me but I am a little confused. Are you saying that we can copy and paste the following below into the OVA so that the guest OS is red hat linux 8 rather then the EOS centos 7?

<OperatingSystemSection ovf:id="80" ovf:version="8" vmw:osType="rhel8_64Guest">
<Info>The operating system installed</Info>
<Description>Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit)</Description>
</OperatingSystemSection>

[adias]

are you having problems installing the ova as it is ?

[Beazle]

Sorry, I found that VSphere was reporting the guestOS as centos7 but within the cspc server it was reporting that it was running AlmaLinux. Little confusing!

[adias]

The reported vsphere is just a label not the actual OS - a priori is not a problem the actual installation and deployment is on the new alma linux  - that line is to determine the guess os prior to install. and now it should be alma Linux but that is not existent yet on VMware options. In most deployments it will not be affected, in some instances however VMware environment may have rules for instance that say do not allow ( prior to actual installation) centos deployments. so the file inside of that ova can as an exception be modified  to another linux and most close related is the redhat one. but if you do not have that problem you can just ignore

[oscar-eriksson]

Thanks for the explanation and workaround, regarding my other question. Is it safe to upgrade directly from 2.11.0.0 > 2.11.0.3, the upgrade documentation needs to be updated for 2.11.0.3 since it is redirecting to the documentation for 2.11.0.2

 https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/support/docs/cloud-systems-management/common-services-platform-collector-cspc/CSPC-Upgrade-Guide.pdf 

or am i looking at the wrong place?

Br Oscar

[Milenko Tomich · Accepted solution]

Hi @oscar-eriksson 

You can upload to 2.11.0.3 directly from 2.11.0.0 . the documentation needs to be updated; and the upgrade has a known issue (CSCwe95589 – LCM upgrade is not working via UI, use CLI (admin shell) option for upgrade) so the process needs to be completed manually from the CLI. The guide covers the steps on Chapter 2 Manual Upgrade, under page 5