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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540

Systems
Software and Firmware
Upgrade Guide

Document revision 1.0

January 2016
VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide Contents

Contents
Revision history..........................................................................................................................................3

Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 4

When to use this guide...............................................................................................................................5

Accessing VCE documentation.................................................................................................................6

Upgrade prerequisites................................................................................................................................7

Upgrade best practices and planning.......................................................................................................9

Estimating upgrade time.......................................................................................................................... 10

Upgrading VCE System releases............................................................................................................ 12

Monitoring component upgrades............................................................................................................16

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 Revision history VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

Revision history
Date Document revision Description of changes

January 2016 1.0 Initial version

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide Introduction

Introduction
This document describes how to upgrade VCE Systems to the current software releases. These
upgrade instructions apply to the following VCE Systems:

Vblock System 540

VxBlock System 540

This guide supports the following VCE software releases:

VCE System release Is based on

6.0 VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 6.0

5.0 VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.5, AMP VMs with Microsoft Windows Server
2012 R2, and Cisco UCS version 2.2.x

The VCE Glossary provides terms, definitions, and acronyms that are related to VCE Systems.

To suggest documentation changes and provide feedback on this book, send an e-mail to
docfeedback@vce.com. Include the name of this book, the topic name where your comment applies, and
your feedback.

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 When to use this guide VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

When to use this guide

Use this guide to incrementally upgrade from one release to another.

Note: Upgrading from release 6.0.1 to 6.0.next is supported on VCE Systems that include the VMware
vSphere Distributed Switch or the Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch.

From this release To this release On these VCE Systems

6.0.x 6.0.x Vblock System 540

Vxblock System 540

5.0.x 5.0.x Vblock System 540

Vxblock System 540

For information about upgrading to other releases on other platforms, refer to the VCE Systems Upgrade
Roadmap.

For information about upgrading VCE Vision Intelligent Operations software, refer to the VCE Vision
Intelligent Operations Upgrade Guide.

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide Accessing VCE documentation

Accessing VCE documentation

Select the documentation resource that applies to your role.

Role Resource

Customer support.vce.com
A valid username and password are required. Click VCE Download Center to access the
technical documentation.

Cisco, EMC, VMware partner.vce.com

employee, or VCE A valid username and password are required.
Partner

VCE employee sales.vce.com/saleslibrary

or
vblockproductdocs.ent.vce.com

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 Upgrade prerequisites VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

Upgrade prerequisites
The following sections explain the prerequisites before upgrading.

Prerequisite skills

You should have the following knowledge and skills:

Understand VCE Systems concepts and terminology

Can troubleshoot VCE Systems

Are an experienced Microsoft Windows administrator or Linux system administrator, as required

by your system architecture

Understand virtual machine technology and datacenter operations

Note: Ensure that you understand the entire upgrade process before you upgrade the VCE System.
Complete all of the planning and preparation requirements before you begin the upgrade.

EMC component prerequisites

Upgrading some EMC components requires the assistance of EMC Customer Support. Use the EMC
Procedure Generator for upgrade instructions and engage EMC Customer Support when necessary.

VMware vSphere 6.0 Prerequisites

When upgrading a VCE System with Cisco Nexus 1000v and vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.0, the minimum
required version of Cisco Nexus 1000v supported by vSphere 6.0 is 5.2(1)SV3(1.4). Ensure the Cisco
Nexus 1000v is upgraded to this version before proceeding with vSphere 6.0 upgrade. Refer to the Cisco
Nexus 1000V Installation and Upgrade Guide, 5.2(1)SV3.(1.4) for further information.

For VMware vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.0 upgrade, refer to the VCE Systems Upgrade Guide from
VMware vSphere 5.5 to VMware vSphere 6.0.

Computer prerequisites

You should have access to the following:

Network access to the VCE Systems and the management systems

The utilities ping, traceroute, SSH, TFTP server, and telnet

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide Upgrade prerequisites

Prerequisite tasks

Review the release notes and complete any required actions.

Ensure that the appropriate security policies are applied to the VCE Systems. Upgrades do not
modify VCE System security.

Note: Baseline security standards for VCE Systems are available in VCE Systems security
documents.

Plan for the upgrade.

Calculate the upgrade time.

Schedule adequate downtime for system maintenance.

Ensure that all safety checks have been completed.

Confirm that all components are in a ready state with no alarms.

Related information

Accessing VCE documentation (see page 6)

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 Upgrade best practices and planning VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

Upgrade best practices and planning

Use the following guidelines to ensure minimum impact on the production traffic.

Perform the upgrade during scheduled maintenance windows or non-disruptively when virtual
machines are running. The best practice is to upgrade one component per maintenance window.
Monitor the upgraded component for at least one day before you upgrade the next component.

Reboot the EMC VNXe storage processors in the AMP before upgrading the storage software.

Before upgrading, confirm the overall status and software version of each component. Verify that
the component is in the ready state and is not generating any alarms or errors.

For components in a cluster configuration, such as fiber interconnects, network switches, and so
on, upgrade the subordinate component before you upgrade the primary component. Verify the
subordinate component status and path. Then upgrade the primary component and verify the
status and paths of the components again to ensure that there are no new alarms.

For the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) Blade Servers, ensure that all service profile
maintenance policies for reboot are set so that the user must acknowledge each reboot
(USERACK).

When upgrading Cisco UCS Blade Servers, migrate virtual machines to another server in the
VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi cluster before rebooting the Cisco UCS Blade Server.

Create a configuration backup file for each VCE System component before you begin the
upgrade.

Do not change your system configuration during the upgrade.

Upgrade best practices for EMC VNXe software

Before upgrading EMC VNXe software, note the following best practices:

You can perform upgrades while the system is in normal operation but it is recommended that
you minimize system I/O or quiesce the system, if possible, to ensure the shortest upgrade time.

Run the Health Check before the upgrade to ensure that the system is in a good state for the
upgrade.

Reboot the EMC VNXe storage processors in the AMP before upgrading the storage software.

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide Estimating upgrade time

Estimating upgrade time

Plan your upgrade using the minimum time that it takes to upgrade the software on each component. The
minimum time estimates do not include the time for preparation, configuration, VM migration, backup, and
download.

Review the list of the components and determine the upgrade time for the components in the system. If a
component is not in the system, do not estimate the upgrade time for that component. For cluster
configurations, include the primary and the subordinate components.

Order Component Upgrade time Notes

1. Cisco UCS Manager components: 2 hours Do not reboot the Cisco

Cisco UCS Manager UCS blade servers at
this time. Reboot during
Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects
the VMware ESXi host
Cisco UCS Series Fabric Extenders IOMs upgrades.

2. EMC XtremIO Storage Array 1 hour Contact EMC Customer

support.

3. EMC Recoverpoint 1 hour Contact EMC Customer

support.

4. EMC VPLEX 1-2 hours Contact EMC Customer

support.

5. EMC Isilon 1 hour

6. EMC Avamar and Data Domain (for RCM 3.5 and 2-3 hours
higher releases)

7. Cisco MDS 9100 switches 1 hour

8. Cisco Fabric Manager, EMC PowerPath Viewer or 1 hour

Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for
SAN

9. EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) 1 hour

10. EMC VNXe 2 hours

11. Element Manager applications 1 hour

VMware vSphere Client
EMC Unisphere Service Manager
EMC Unisphere
EMC VNXe Connection Utility

12. Cisco Nexus 3000, 5000, or 9000 Series Switches 1 hour

13. Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches (VSM) 1 hour

14. Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers 1 hour

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 Estimating upgrade time VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

15. VMware vSphere Infrastructure Management 2-3 hours

(VIM) components:
VMware vCenter Single Sign-On Server
VMware Platform Services Controller 6.0 1
(PSC-1) and 6.0 2 (PSC-2)
VMware vSphere Web Client
VMware vCenter Inventory Service
VMware vCenter Server
VMware vSphere Client
VMware Client Integration Plug-In
VMware vSphere Update Manager Server
VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi Dump
Collector
VMware vSphere Syslog Collector
EMC XtremIO Management Server
VMware vSphere Update Manager Client Plug-in

16. Cisco UCS Blade Server firmware and VMware 45 minutes per blade
vSphere Hypervisor

17. EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance or EMC 1 hour

PowerPath/VE Electronic License Management
Server (ELMS)

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Upgrading VCE System releases
Guide

Upgrading VCE System releases

Upgrade the software and firmware on the VCE System and on the AMP in the order listed in the
following table.

Note: Before upgrading, read the release notes and the release certification matrices for the
VCE System release on your VCE System.

Some VCE System components are optional or specific to a customer environment. If the
VCE System that you are upgrading does not have a component listed in the following
table, skip that component and proceed with the next component.

Order Component

1. Cisco UCS Manager (Infrastructure)

Cisco UCS Manager
Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects
Cisco UCS Series Fabric Extenders IOMs
Upgrade guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/products-
installation-guides-list.html
Software: Flexnet

Note: Reboot the Cisco UCS blade servers during the VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi upgrades.

See the following Cisco issues, caveats, and limitations for Cisco UCS versions 2.1
and 2.2:
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/
UCS_28313.html
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/
ucs_2_2_rn.html

2. EMC XtremIO Storage Array

Upgrade guide: https://support.emc.com/search/?text=XtremeIO&searchLang=en_US

Software: Contact EMC Customer Support to perform the upgrade.

3. EMC Recoverpoint

Upgrade guide: https://support.emc.com/products/1249_RecoverPoint-SE, https://support.emc.com/

products/27704_RecoverPoint-EX and https://support.emc.com/products/1226_RecoverPoint-CL
Software: Contact EMC Customer Support to perform the upgrade.

4. EMC VPLEX

Upgrade guide: https://support.emc.com/products/29384_VPLEX-Series

Software: Contact EMC Customer Support to perform the upgrade.

Note: You can upgrade EMC RecoverPoint before or after upgrading EMC VPLEX. Verify EMC
VPLEX and EMC RecoverPoint versions for version discrepancy (N-1, N, and N+1). During the
EMC VPLEX upgrade, put the RPAs into maintenance mode.

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 Upgrading VCE System releases VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

Order Component

5. EMC Isilon

Upgrade guide: http://www.emc.com/collateral/TechnicalDocument/docu50235.pdf

Software: Contact EMC Customer Support to perform the upgrade.

6. EMC Avamar and Data Domain(optional) (for RCM 3.5 and higher releases):

You can upgrade the VCE Integrated Data Protection solution that contains EMC Avamar or EMC
Avamar and EMC Data Domain independently of the VCE System. It does not matter whether you
upgrade the VCE Integrated Data Protection solution that contains EMC Avamar or EMC Avamar and
EMC Data Domain before or after you upgrade the VCE System.
Upgrade guide EMC Avamar: https://support.emc.com/docu59595_Avamar-7.2-Installation-and-
Upgrade-Documentation-Portfolio.pdf?language=en_US
Upgrade guide EMC Data Domain: https://support.emc.com/products/32697_DD-OS
Software: Contact EMC Customer Support to perform the upgrade.

7. Cisco MDS 9100 Switches

Upgrade guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/storage-networking/mds-9000-series-multilayer-

switches/products-installation-guides-list.html
Software: Flexnet

8. Cisco Fabric Manager or EMC PowerPath Viewer

Upgrade guide Fabric Manager: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/

mds9000/sw/5_0/release/notes/fm/fm_rel_notes_501a.html#pgfId-602424
Upgrade guide PowerPath Viewer: https://www.emc.com/collateral/TechnicalDocument/PowerPath-
Viewer-1.0-install-admin-guide.pdf
Software: Flexnet

Cisco DCNM for SAN

Upgrade guide: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9369/index.html

Software: Flexnet

9. EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS)

Upgrade guide: https://support.emc.com/products/31755_ESRS and https://support.emc.com/products/

37716_ESRS-Virtual-Edition
Software: Flexnet

10. EMC VNXe

Upgrade Guide: https://support.emc.com/products/8864_VNXe1-Series
Software: Flexnet

See the following for EMC VNXe 32xx known issues and limitations: http://
www.emc.com/collateral/TechnicalDocument/302-000-195.pdf

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Upgrading VCE System releases
Guide

Order Component

11. Element Manager applications

VMware vSphere Client
EMC Unisphere Service Manager
EMC Unisphere
EMC VNXe Connection Utility
Upgrade guide: N/A
Software: Flexnet

12. Cisco Nexus 3000, 5000, or 9000 Series Switches

Upgrade guide Cisco Nexus 3000 Series Switches: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/

nexus-3000-series-switches/products-installation-guides-list.html
Upgrade guide Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/
nexus-5000-series-switches/products-installation-guides-list.html
Upgrade guide Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/
nexus-9000-series-switches/products-installation-guides-list.html
Software: Flexnet

13. Cisco Nexus 1000V Series switches (VSM)

To upgrade the Cisco Nexus 1000V from release 4.2(1)SV2(2.1a) to release 5.2(1)SV3(1.2), refer to the
VCE Systems Upgrade Guide from Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch Release 4.2(1)SV2(2.1a) to
5.2(1)SV3(1.2).
For all other Cisco Nexus 1000V releases, refer to http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/switches/
nexus-1000v-switch-vmware-vsphere/products-installation-guides-list.html
Software: Flexnet

14. Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

Upgrade guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-

servers/products-installation-guides-list.html
Software: Flexnet

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 Upgrading VCE System releases VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Guide

Order Component

15. VMware vSphere Infrastructure Management (VIM) components

VMware vCenter Single Sign-On Server

VMware Platform Services Controller 6.0 1 (PSC-1) and 6.0 2 (PSC-2)
VMware vSphere Web Client
VMware vCenter Inventory Service
VMware vCenter Server
VMware vSphere Client
VMware Client Integration Plug-In
VMware vSphere Update Manager Server
VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi Dump Collector
VMware vSphere Syslog Collector
EMC XtremIO Management Server
VMware vSphere Update Manager Client Plug-in
vSphere 5.5 documentation: http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-55/index.jsp
vSphere 6.0 documentation: https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp
Software: Flexnet

See the following upgrade issues for vSphere 6.0: http://pubs.vmware.com/

Release_Notes/en/vsphere/60/vsphere-vcenter-server-60u1-release-notes.html

Note: VMware compatibility comparison tool: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/

search.php

16. Cisco UCS Blade Server firmware and VMware vSphere Hypervisor

Upgrade guide for Cisco UCS Blade Servers: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-

computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/tsd-products-support-install-and-upgrade.html
Upgrade guide for VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do. Enter KB2008939 in the search box.
Software: Flexnet

17. EMC PowerPath Virtual Appliance or EMC PowerPath/VE Electronic License Management Server
(ELMS)

Upgrade guide: https://support.emc.com/docu58429_PowerPath-VE-for-VMware-vSphere-6.0-

Installation-and-Administration-Guide.pdf?language=en_US
Software: Flexnet

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VCE Vblock and VxBlock 540 Systems Software and Firmware Upgrade Monitoring component upgrades
Guide

Monitoring component upgrades

About this task

After you upgrade the software and firmware, monitor the performance of the upgraded component
before you upgrade the next component. Monitor the system to ensure that the upgraded component
does not degrade performance.

Procedure

1 Upgrade the software and firmware on a component. See the component upgrade documentation
for detailed upgrade instructions.

2 Monitor the upgrade logs and the system logs.

3 Verify that the component is upgraded successfully.

4 Remove the VM snapshots.

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www.vce.com

About VCE

VCE, an EMC Federation Company, is the world market leader in converged infrastructure and converged solutions. VCE
accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that reduce IT costs while
improving time to market. VCE delivers the industry's only fully integrated and virtualized cloud infrastructure
systems, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating, and managing IT
infrastructure. VCE solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical
industry offerings, and application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead
of integrating, validating, and managing IT infrastructure.

For more information, go to http://www.vce.com.

Copyright 2016 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. VCE, VCE Vision, VCE Vscale, Vblock, VxBlock, VxRack, and the
VCE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company LLC. All other trademarks used herein are the
property of their respective owners.

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