Upgrading the vSphere Plugin

Upgrading an existing installation of the IBM Storage Ceph Plugin for vSphere is a concurrent procedure. The upgrade retains registered storage systems and configuration. All datastores remain manageable by the vSphere Plugin post-upgrade.

Before you begin

Before you begin, make sure that you have the following prerequisites in place:
  1. Download the required upgrade package from IBM® Fix Central.
  2. Ensure the package format is as follows, updating the name, if necessary. 
    ibm-storage-ceph-plugin-upgrade-YYYY_MM_DD-XXXX.tar.gz

About this task

You can upgrade the vSphere plug-in by using one of the following methods:

Upgrading the vSphere Plugin through the dashboard

Procedure

  1. From the vSphere Client, go to the plug-in dashboard from the vSphere Client main menu and click IBM Storage Ceph.
  2. From the dashboard, click UPGRADE THE PLUGIN.
    The Upload a new version of the Plugin dialog opens.
  3. Select the previously downloaded upgrade package.
  4. Click UPGRADE.

Results

After the vSphere Plugin is successfully deployed a successful deployment message appears in both a banner and within a temporary notification. In addition, in Recent Tasks there are now tasks for both Download plug-in and Deploy plug-in with Completed status.

What to do next

Click REFRESH BROWSER on the banner to complete the vSphere Plugin activation.
Important: Refreshing the browser is necessary to help ensure the plug-in activation.
Note: When connecting to an IBM Storage Ceph 8.0.0 or later cluster that has been upgraded from an earlier version, it is best practice to fill in the NVMe-oF service group name for any empty group name. For more information, see Updating an NVMe-oF service with a gateway group name.

Manually upgrading the vSphere Plugin

Procedure

  1. Securely copy the previously downloaded upgrade package to the /tmp directory of the plug-in appliance.
    Copy the package by using scp, or other similar tool.
  2. Install the package file on the plug-in appliance. 
    ibm-install /tmp/ibm-storage-ceph-plugin-upgrade-YYYY_MM_DD-XXXX.tar.gz
    Note: This upgrade path migrates the internal plug-in database, by default. If database migration fails, you can either exit the plug-in upgrade and contact IBM Support, or reset the database to continue with the plug-in upgrade.

    Resetting the database indicates that any registered storage systems are no longer managed by the vSphere Plugin. The storage systems will need to be readded to the plug-in after the upgrade operation.

    No data from existing datastores will be lost.

Results

After the vSphere Plugin is successfully deployed a successful deployment message appears in both a banner and within a temporary notification. In addition, in Recent Tasks there are now tasks for both Download plug-in and Deploy plug-in with Completed status.

What to do next

Click REFRESH BROWSER on the banner to complete the vSphere Plugin activation.
Important: Refreshing the browser is necessary to help ensure the plug-in activation.
Note: When connecting to an IBM Storage Ceph 8.0.0 or later cluster that has been upgraded from an earlier version, it is best practice to fill in the NVMe-oF service group name for any empty group name. For more information, see Updating an NVMe-oF service with a gateway group name.