In this video, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of upgrading the Dell Technologies Data Domain Operating System. We’ll cover everything from logging in to the Data Domain Server to performing pre and post-upgrade checks.
Welcome to Dell EMC Data Domain How-to Series. Upgrading Data Domain. Reference: Dell EMC Knowledge Base Article number # 545332. This video was created to: Demonstrate the Data Domain upgrade process. This is to make upgrades easier to accomplish. Note that this procedure is not for DDHA. This video presents the following: How to log in to the Data Domain server. Download and upload the code version upgrade packages. Perform pre- and post-upgrade health checks. And the upgrade commands. Before you start: Make sure you read the KB article carefully. Also, check the compatibility and if an MDU upgrade will be needed.
Before you start: Download the target code upgrade file, then upload it to the server. To do this: Open the Dell Support website and log in with your username and password. Search for the target code version. Under the “Resources” pane, select “Downloads & Drivers,” then click on the Data Domain operating system of the target code version. In this video, we are upgrading Data Domain to version 6.2.0.35. Scroll down to the last page, then click “I Accept.” It will open a new page. Scroll down to the last page. Click on the RPM file to start download. Once the download is complete, open the Data Domain Manager. Use “sysadmin” as your username, then type your password to log in. Navigate to the “Maintenance” tab. Click on “Upload Upgrade Package.” Select “Browse,” locate and select the file, then click “OK.” Open a PuTTY session.
Type the IP address or the host name of the Data Domain server. Log in using the “sysadmin” account. First, validate the serial number and the host name of the Data Domain server. Do this by running the “system show serialno” and “hostname” commands, as indicated. Confirm you have the correct IP address of the server to be upgraded. Confirm this Data Domain is not part of an IDPA. If it is part of an IDPA, it should be upgraded within the IDPA upgrade. Check the current code version installed by running the “system show version” command. Check if any alerts were discovered. If yes, determine whether it can be cleared or if an action needs to be taken. Double-check to make sure the error is not a showstopper for the upgrade.
Now, check the file system status. And make sure it states, “The filesystem is enabled and running.” Confirm the post-comp partition has at least 10% free space by running the “df” command. Check if the cleaning process is running. If yes, stop the cleaning process before proceeding with the upgrade. Check if cloud tier is enabled. If yes, stop any data movement or running cloud cleaning processes. Check the replication configuration using the “replication show config” command. If it shows zero in the CTX column, it means its mirroring and both servers need to be upgraded at the same time. To check if any jobs are running, run the replication show stats command. If initialization is in progress, it needs to be stopped before proceeding with the upgrade.
If only replication jobs are running, we can proceed with the upgrade normally. Check for disk reconstructions or failed disks and perform a disk reliability check. Please note that the disk reliability check is not valid for DDVE. Check the network traffic and ensure that no backups or restores are running. Then press “Ctrl-C” to exit the loop. Check for any running NFS or CIFS jobs and stop them. Now log in to the SE mode. The default password for the SE mode is the serial number. Check the registry is healthy by running the “reg check” command to validate or pass, as indicated. Finally, check that the upgrade file is correctly placed in the “/ddr/var/releases” directory. Now, it is time to reboot the system before we start the upgrade.
To monitor the system, open a “Command Prompt.” And pin the Data Domain IP address. Pin the host IP. When the host is back online, restart the PuTTY session and log in using the “sysadmin” account. Run “system show serialno.” Check that the system state is good after the reboot. List the content of “/ddr/var/releases” to get the code version upgrade file. The last step before starting the upgrade is to run the upgrade precheck. The upgrade precheck validates the integrity of the package. Do not run the upgrade if issues are detected which may cause the upgrade to fail. Once the upgrade precheck is done, make sure it states “Upgrade precheck found no issues.” Now, the upgrade can be started. To start the upgrade, type “system upgrade start”.
Then copy and paste the upgrade RPM file. When the upgrade starts, it runs the upgrade precheck again. Then it installs the code version. Finally, it reboots the Data Domain. After the upgrade precheck is done, the workflow starts the installation. Monitor the workflow until it reboots the server. Now, it prepares the system to reboot, shutting down the file system. To monitor the file system, pin the host through command line. Once the system is online, restart the PuTTY session, then log in.
Monitor the upgrade by using the “system upgrade watch” command. When completed, the message “Upgrade successfully completed” will be displayed. The last step is to validate the installed version is the correct upgraded version, and also check the file system status and alerts. Validate all checks passed.
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