upgrade hyperflex esxi 6.5 to 6.7

[alanraczek11]

Hi-

Completely new to Hyperflex and I am looking into upgrading the ESXi 6.5 to 6.7 U3. vCenter was upgraded to v6.7U3 and that is up and running. Having not worked on Cisco Hyperflex before leads me to a lot of questions. Documentation I am going over seems a little confusing:

1. Is there a customized version of ESXi I should be using for Hyperflex?

2. I don't see anything in the vCenter UI that pertains to Hyperflex, such as Hyperflex Maintenance Mode. Is there a plugin I am missing?

I am pouring over some upgrade guides but I need to see information match up with what I am seeing. I have not logged into the UCS yet, not even sure what that does for me

So a beginner with Hyperflex. 

...AR

[Kirk J]

Greetings.

So you need to use a Hyperflex customized offline upgrade bundle for ESXi that is available on the Cisco Hyperflex downloads related software area.  https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286305544/type/286305994/release/3.5(2h)  A sample name of one esxi upgrade package is: CISCO HX Custom Image for ESXi 6.7 U3 EP13 Offline Bundle for Upgrading from prior ESXi versions

You generally upgrade in this order:

• UCSM infrastructure
• Hyperflex
• UCS server firmware
• ESXi/Vcenter

You need to check the release notes to make sure you are choosing a recommended version of ESXi and UCSM.

Currently 3.52h HX is matched up with 4.04g UCSM and 6.5 U3 or 6.7 U3 versions of ESXi.  These version recommendations will change over time as newer versions of UCSM and ESXi are released.

If you are running Hyperflex 3.51 or higher, then Hyperflex upgrade UI has the ability to orchestrate the ESXi upgrade as well, the advantage being that the HX GUI is aware of the Hyperflex cluster health, and will correctly put nodes into HX maintenance mode, apply the ESXi upgrade, and then reboot, wait for node to come back online, out of maint mode, become Healthy, repeat....

Highly recommend downloading and running the HX preupgrade health checker script at : https://github.com/CiscoDevNet/Hyperflex-Hypercheck  (the green 'Clone or download' link)

Instructions on how to copy it to HX connect node, and run it are shown at: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/hyperconverged-infrastructure/hyperflex-hx-data-platform/214101-hypercheck-hyperflex-health-pre-upgr.html

You will want to take the output report and open a ProActive TAC case to have them confirm the ESXi nodes and Hyperflex nodes are not experiencing any conditions that might cause upgrade issues.

Thanks,

Kirk...

[alanraczek11]

Kirk-

Thank you! I have been pouring over documentation and your info lines up with what I am reading, fo thank you for  putting in the effort to elaborate. Last Friday I studied on UCS and how it all basically works: fabrics, I/O nodes, VEX's, etc. So I have a little better understanding of what I am looking at.

Be well. Wash hands!

[alanraczek11]

Kirk,

Is there a matrix of supported firmware/software from where you derived the upgrade paths? I know there are the tools I can use but I could have sworn I saw a printed table I could cross reference but I can't seem to find it now. 

HDXP version: 3.52e

UCS Manager: 4.0(2d)

ESXi: 6.5U3

[Kirk J]

The release notes usually have table like: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/hyperconverged_systems/HyperFlex_HX_DataPlatformSoftware/Cisco_HXDataPlatform_RN_4_0.html#id_119691

 or https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/hyperconverged_systems/HyperFlex_HX_DataPlatformSoftware/Cisco_HXDataPlatform_RN_3_5.html#id_112989

The below table applies for all of the following VMware vSphere Editions: Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus, ROBO.

 HyperFlex VersionVMware ESXi VersionsVMware vCenter Versions

4.0(2a)1	6.0 U3, 6.5 U3, 6.7 U3	6.0 U3, 6.5 U3, 6.7 U3
4.0(1b)	6.0 U3, 6.5 U3, 6.7 U22	6.0 U3, 6.5 U3, 6.7 U2
4.0(1a)	6.0 U3, 6.5 U2, 6.7 U23	6.0 U3, 6.5 U2, 6.7 U2

HyperFlex ReleaseM5 Recommended Server Firmware

4.0(2a)	4.0(4g)
4.0(1b)	4.0(4e)
4.0(1a)	4.0(4e)

The recommended UCS firmware is changing from 4.04g to 4.04h later today, so the tables just listed should reflect that shortly.

Kirk...

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[alanraczek11]

Sorry I keep bugging you!

I saw an "order to upgrade" as a little different in the 'Cisco Hyperflex Systems Upgrade Guide for VMware ESXI, Release 3.5".

Would your order be the best one?

I might be overthinking this but I am trying to wrap my head around terminology:

1. Upgrade Cisco UCS Infrastructure - I assume this is: UCS Infrastructure Software Bundle

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/283612660/type/283655658/release/4.0(4g)

2. Upgrade Cisco HX Data Platform - I assume this is: Cisco Hyperflex Data Platform Installer for ESXi

https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286305544/type/286305994/release/3.5(2h)

3. Upgrade Cisco customized VMware ESXi - self explanatory

4. Upgrade Cisco UCS Firmware - Is this included in #1 or a separate download? Then how would you do them separately?

What also gets confusing is the HX Data Platform downloads have "Related Software" which includes UCS software. Which one would think is the associated UCS SW needed to match up to the HFx.DPI.

...Alan

: 

Short Explanation on each would help. Sorry. With all the moving parts and never being exposed to this system it's a little daunting.

[Kirk J · Accepted solution]

The UCS (bios, cimc, hba, driver firmware, sas expander, etc) server firmware is generally the longest step, has the most components to upgrade.  You could definitely swap the ESXi and UCS firmware steps, but recommend keeping UCS server firmware step separate.

The UCSM/Infrastructure upgrade needs to be done at the beginning as the HX upgrade looks at the UCSM version to decide if it falls within HCL guidelines, and it is expected/required that you will upgrade the UCS server firmware in subsequent steps to match the UCSM.

In addition to the original Infrastructure (A) firmware (that matches your FI series), you need to stage the B and C series server "UCS" firmware packages.  The HX upgrade UI option for 'UCS' will poll/scan your UCSM to see what available packages are there, and let you choose one.  Once it is chosen, the HX upgrade process will modify the Host Firmware Policy tied to your Hyperflex servers, to reference the newer firmware.  The HX upgrade UI process will then reboot each of the hosts, allowing the UCS firmware to upgrade, wait for the host to come back online, exit maint. mode, cluster becomes healthy, etc,etc.

Kirk...

[alanraczek11]

Thanks for all the help, I have successfully upgraded all components of this hyperflex system!