Updating the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server

Use the IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus administrative console to update the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server in a virtual appliance environment. Updating IBM Spectrum Protect Plus can be run offline or online.

Before you begin

Migration to RHEL 8 required for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus in a virtual appliance environment:

To update to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.12, all existing IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and vSnap server virtual appliance deployments must be migrated to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 8). CentOS 7 and RHEL 7 are no longer supported.

In addition, all IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server versions 10.1.9 or earlier must be updated to 10.1.10 or later before you can update to 10.1.12.

If you are upgrading IBM Spectrum Protect Plus servers from version 10.1.10 to 10.1.12, follow the steps in technote 6618689 to update to 10.1.12. The steps in this technote preempt the instructions that are in this section.

If you are upgrading IBM Spectrum Protect Plus servers from version 10.1.11 to 10.1.12, follow the instructions provided in this section.

You can update IBM Spectrum Protect Plus directly from two previous versions (n-2) to the current version (n). If you are using an older version, you must update at least to (n-2) version and then update to the current version.

Before you begin the update process, complete the following steps:
  1. Ensure that your IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment is backed up. For instructions, see Backing up the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus catalog.
  2. For offline updates, download the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus update package that is named <part_number>.iso to a directory on the computer that is running the browser for the administrative console. The update file is installed first.
  3. Ensure that no jobs are running before starting the update procedure. Pause the schedule for any jobs that have a status of IDLE or COMPLETED. For instructions, see Pausing and resuming jobs.
  4. Take a snapshot of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance so that in the event of an update failure, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus VM can be reverted.

For a list of download images, including the required operating system update for the virtual appliance, see technote 6603663.

About this task

If you have access to the internet, you can choose to run the update procedure online. If you do not have internet access, you can run the update procedure offline.

Procedure

To update the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance, complete the following steps:

  1. From a supported web browser, access the administrative console by entering the following address: 
    https://hostname:8090/

    where hostname is the IP address of the virtual machine where the application is deployed.

  2. In the login window, select one of the following authentication types in the Authentication Type list:
    Authentication Type Login information
    IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

    To log on as the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus superuser, enter the username and password. The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus superuser is the user who is assigned the SUPERUSER role.
    System (recommended) To log on as a system user, enter the serveradmin password. The default password is sppDP758-SysXyz. You are prompted to change this password during the first logon.
  3. Click Updates and Hotfix Management to open the updates management page.

    If you have access to the FTP site, public.dhe.ibm.com, the administrator console checks for available updates automatically and lists them. 

  4. Click Run Update to install the available updates. 
    • When the updates are installed successfully, go to Step 6.
    • If you are planning to install an update from an ISO file, click Click Here to run the offline updates. Go to Step 5.
    Note: If you want to run online updates but can see only the offline mode, check your internet connectivity and reattempt to access the FTP site, public.dhe.ibm.com.
  5. Choose the update that you want to run, as follows:
    • Online mode: Updates are listed automatically in the repository when they are made available. Click Run Update.
    • Offline mode: Click Choose file to browse for the downloaded file. The file has an iso or rpm extension like this example, <filename>.iso. Click Upload Update Image (or) Hotfix. You can select only one update file at a time.
      Important: There must be at least 4.2 GB of disk space available in the /tmp directory of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server.
    If the update fails during the prerequisite check, you must either correct the error found and then reboot the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance before re-attempting the update or revert the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus appliance, correct the prerequisite issue, and then re-attempt the update. When the update is completed, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus automatically restarts.
    Important: After the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus update is completed, you must update the external vSnap and VADP proxy servers in your environment. For instructions see Updating vSnap servers and Updating VADP proxies.
  6. Clear the browser cache.
    HTML content from previous versions of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus might be stored in the cache.
  7. Start the updated version of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
  8. In the navigation panel, click Jobs and Operations, and then click the Schedule tab.
    Find the jobs that you paused.
  9. Click the actions menu icon the actions icon for the job, and then click Release Schedule.