Upgrading IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps on OpenShift

Upgrade an existing online or offline deployment of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.10.0 or later to 4.11.1.

You cannot use these instructions to upgrade deployments of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.9.1 or earlier.

If IBM Netcool Operations Insight is deployed on the same cluster as IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, ensure that Netcool Operations Insight is at version 1.6.13 or later before you upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps. Failure to do so may result in a broken Netcool Operations Insight deployment, as the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps upgrade process updates a shared component that is used by both applications.

To streamline the upgrade flow, the console upgrade topic is removed from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps v4.10.0 onwards.

Upgrade paths

IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps uses a versioning system of X.Y.Z, where X=version, Y=release, and Z=patch. For example, IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.11.1 is version 4, release 11, patch 1. IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps upgrades can be release upgrades or patch upgrades.

You can upgrade by a maximum of one release at a time. If the release that you want to upgrade from is more than one release behind the release that you are upgrading to, then you must upgrade sequentially. For example, you cannot upgrade directly from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.6.0 to v4.11.1, you must use the following sequence:

  1. Use the v4.7.1 documentation to upgrade from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.6.0 to v4.7.1.
  2. Use the v4.8.1 documentation to upgrade from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.7.1 to v4.8.1.
  3. Use the v4.9.1 documentation to upgrade from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.8.1 to v4.9.1.
  4. Use the v4.10.1 documentation to upgrade from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.9.1 to v4.10.1.
  5. Use this documentation to upgrade from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.10.1 to v4.11.1.

Upgrade when a patch exists between the current and target release

When you upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, some IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps services and dependencies might upgrade to a patch in the current channel before they proceed to the target release in the target channel.

It is important to understand how the catalog works in IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps deployments. The catalog includes the channel for the current release and the channel for the previous release, and each release channel points to the latest patch that it has available. Both channels are needed so that upgrade paths can be resolved. For example, a catalog that uses the digest for v4.11.1 points to:

  • The latest patch (v4.11.1) for the current release channel (v4.11)
  • The latest patch (v4.10.1) for the previous release channel (v4.10)

After you deploy IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, new patches might be added to your deployment's current channel. This means that when you update your catalog to a higher target channel as part of the upgrade procedure, the current channel might now point to a new latest patch (head). If a newer patch is available for the current channel, IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps upgrades to the latest patch in the current channel, even though you updated the catalog to use a channel for a higher release and did not change the subscription. This is because:

  • Updating the catalog to use a higher channel makes the latest patch in the current channel available (which was not available at the time of your original deployment).
  • IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps always updates to the newest patch that it has available for its current channel.
  • Upgrade to a higher channel does not occur until the operator subscription is set to the new higher channel.

For example, consider upgrading from IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps v4.10.0 to v4.11.1:

  1. You have v4.10.0 installed. The catalog uses the v4.10.0 digest, and points to the v4.9.1 and v4.10.0 CSVs.
  2. You want to upgrade to 4.11.1. You update the catalog to the v4.11.1 digest, which points to the v4.10.1 and v4.11.1 CSVs.
  3. You are still subscribed to the v4.10 channel, so IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps upgrades from v4.10.0 to the latest patch in that channel, v4.10.1.
  4. Upgrade to v4.11.1 does not occur until you change your operator subscription channel from v4.10 to v4.11.

Guidance for upgrades that require an Red Hat OpenShift upgrade

Before you upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps, ensure that you are on a version of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform that your current and target versions of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps both support. This helps to ensure compatibility and avoid potential issues caused by platform API changes.

If you already have a version of Red Hat OpenShift that your current and target versions of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps both support but you want to upgrade Red Hat OpenShift, then complete the IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps upgrade before you upgrade Red Hat OpenShift.

Example upgrade scenario

You have IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.7.0 deployed on Red Hat OpenShift 4.13, and you want to upgrade to IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.11.1 on Red Hat OpenShift 4.19.

The following table shows the supported Red Hat OpenShift versions for your current and target versions of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps:

IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps version Supported Red Hat OpenShift versions
4.7.0 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16
4.8.1 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17
4.9.1 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18
4.10.1 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18
4.11.1 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19

The upgrade steps for this example upgrade scenario are:

  1. Upgrade Red Hat OpenShift 4.13 to v4.16.
  2. Upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.7.0 to v4.8.1.
  3. Upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.8.1 to v4.9.1.
  4. Upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.9.1 to v4.10.1.
  5. Upgrade IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps 4.10.1 to v4.11.1.
  6. Upgrade Red Hat OpenShift to v4.19. For advice on upgrading Red Hat OpenShift, see Upgrading an Red Hat OpenShift cluster that is hosting IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps.

For advice on upgrading Red Hat OpenShift, see Upgrading an Red Hat OpenShift cluster that is hosting IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps.

Upgrade procedure

The following upgrade procedures are available for deployments of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps on Red Hat OpenShift. Use the upgrade method that matches your deployment type from the following list:

For more information about online and offline deployments, see Installing IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps.

The Online upgrade of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps (CLI method) topic can be used to upgrade a starter or production deployment of IBM Cloud Pak for AIOps.