Upgrading Red Hat Linux and ProtecTIER version 3.4.x for servers at version 3.3.x

This information provides instructions for upgrading Red Hat Linux and ProtecTIER® on existing servers at ProtecTIER version 3.3.x.

About this task

Important:
  • For the 3958 DD6 neither an external DVD ROM nor the micro HDMI to VGA adapter is part of the IBM ship group. These need to be supplied by the customer.
  • Before you can upgrade the ProtecTIER software to 3.4.x from 3.3.x, you must first upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.11. Do not try to start the upgrade from the PT_MD_TS7650G_v3.4.x.x.x86_64.tar packet before you complete the upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or you get the following error message:

    The kernal version check found kernal 2.6.18-238.40.1.el5
    This version of ProtecTIER requires kernel 2.6.18-398.el5 to be installed.

    Please upgrade to RH5.11 with latest PT iso retry

  • Due to licensing and copyright restrictions Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.11 is only available to registered customers via the Entitled Systems Support site. http://www-304.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/OpenServlet.wss.

    To download the Red Hat Enterprise Linux software, register at the above link by supplying your software customer number or ProtecTIER system serial number. For help registering or downloading the software please refer to the "Contacts" page at the website for assistance (http://www-304.ibm.com/servers/eserver/ess/OpenServlet.wss?NO_SCRIPT=YES&show_page=ess_contact_info.jsp&command=ShowPageCommand).

  • The upgrade procedure is not concurrent. You must complete the Red Hat Linux version 5.11 first, and then complete the ProtecTIER version 3.4.x upgrade. In a dual node cluster environment, both software upgrades must be completed on Server A, then completed on Server B.
  • The upgrade of Red Hat Linux version 5.11 and ProtecTIER version 3.4.x can take up to four hours total to complete in a dual node cluster environment.
  • You can run the upgrade procedure on existing servers with ProtecTIER version 3.3.x. If your server is at a ProtecTIER version 3.2.x or earlier, you need to upgrade it to version 3.3.x before you can continue. See Upgrading the ProtecTIER software to 3.3.x from version 3.1.8 or higher using ProtecTIER Manager.
  • If your server is at a ProtecTIER version earlier than 2.4, you need to upgrade it to version 2.4 before you can continue. Use the IBM System Storage TS7650 ProtecTIER V2.4 Software Upgrade and Replication Enablement Guide, IBM form number GC53-1196 to run this upgrade.
  • Verify that any attached storage is problem free. If any problems are present, such as failed DDM’s or other errors, you need to resolve them before you can continue with the ProtecTIER upgrade.
Attention: If your code upgrade fails, you are directed when to go to Recovering from a failed upgrade, which provides instructions on how to troubleshoot and resolve your problems with the code upgrade.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the server on which you plan to upgrade Red Hat Enterprise Linux v5.11. In a dual node cluster environment, the first time through these steps work with Server A
    Important:
    • In a dual node cluster environment, run all procedures for both the upgrade to Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.11 and the upgrade to ProtecTIER version 3.4 on Server A (the bottom server) first. Then, repeat these procedures on Server B. To avoid complications, including unnecessary system restarts, you must start with Server A.
    • In a dual node cluster environment, when you are upgrading Server A power off Server B. If Server B is still powered on during the ProtecTIER code upgrade on Server A, the automatic restart on Server A also restarts Server B. Restarting Server B with a lower version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux results in a failure.
  2. Restart node A and insert the IBM System Storage ProtecTIER Maintenance and Recovery Disk (which includes Linux Red Hat V5.11) into the DVD/CD-ROM drive.
  3. Log in to Server B by typing ptconfig at the logon prompt and pressing Enter. At the password prompt, type ptconfig and press Enter. The system displays the ProtecTIER Service menu: 
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
   ProtecTIER Service Menu running on rasap 1 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
   1) ProtecTIER Configuration (...) 
   2) Manage ProtecTIER services (...) 
   3) Health Monitoring (...) 
   4) Problem Alerting (...) 
   5) Version Information (...) 
   6) Generate a service report 
   7) Generate a system view 
   8) Update ProtecTIER code 
   9) ProtecTIER Analysis (...) 

   E) Exit 
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
   >>> Your choice?
  4. From the ProtecTIER Service menu, select Manage ProtecTIER services (...). The system displays the Manage ProtecTIER services (...) menu:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
 ProtecTIER Service Menu running on rasap 1                             
 Manage ProtecTIER Services (...)                                  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
  1) Display services status                                 
  2) Start all services
  3) Stop all services  
  4) Stop ProtecTIER services only (including GFS) 
  5) Stop VTFD service only                                                   
  6) Poweroff This Node                                                       
  7) Reboot This Node                                                         
                                                                              
  B) Back                                                                     
  E) Exit                                                                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Your choice?
  5. From the Manage ProtecTIER Services (...) menu, select Poweroff This Node. When the power off process is complete, the power LED on the server's front panel flashes steadily to indicate that the server is in standby node.
  6. Log in to Server A by typing ptconfig at the logon prompt and pressing Enter. At the password prompt, type ptconfig and press Enter. The system displays the ProtecTIER Service menu: 
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ProtecTIER Service Menu running on rasap 1 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1) ProtecTIER Configuration (...)    
  2) Manage ProtecTIER services (...)                                         
  3) Health Monitoring (...)                                                  
  4) Problem Alerting (...)                                                   
  5) Version Information (...)																			      
  6) Generate a service report                                                
  7) Generate a system view										                             
  8) Update ProtecTIER code                                                   
  9) ProtecTIER Analysis (...)       
                                                                              
  E) Exit   
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Your choice?
  7. From the ProtecTIER Service menu, select Manage ProtecTIER services (...). The system displays the Manage ProtecTIER services (...) menu:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ProtecTIER Service Menu running on rasap 1                                   
            Manage ProtecTIER Services (...)                                  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1) Display services status                                                  
  2) Start all services                                                       
  3) Stop all services                                                        
  4) Stop ProtecTIER services only (including GFS)                            
  5) Stop VTFD service only                                                   
  6) Poweroff This Node                                                       
  7) Reboot This Node                                                         
                                                                              
  B) Back                                                                     
  E) Exit                                                                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Your choice?
  8. From the Manage ProtecTIER Services menu, select Stop all services.
  9. After the services are stopped (which can take up to an hour or more), select Reboot This Node to restart the server.
    1. When the IBM logo screen appears during the start sequence, press the F12 key to open the Select one time Boot Device window. The selection window looks similar to the screen:
    2. Select the CD/DVD ROM drive as the Boot Device.
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 splash screen
  10. Select Option 2 to upgrade your version of Red Hat.
    1. Follow the prompts on the screen. 
      ATTENTION:
                This is an UPGRADE. The information stored on the local
                hard drive will not be overwritten.

If this is what you intended to run,
please type YES and [Enter] to continue (NO to poweroff):
    2. Type: YES and press Enter. Upgrading Red Hat takes about 30 minutes and you may receive progress information such as
      Checking dependencies in packages selected for installation...
      The server restarts automatically at the end of the Red Hat upgrade.
    3. When prompted to accept the software license agreement, press Enter to view the license agreement. Press Enter to read the next page, repeating until you reach the end of the license agreement. Type yes to accept the license agreement. Press Enter to continue.
  11. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux upgrade begins. The upgrade takes approximately 15 minutes to an hour to complete.
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation progress screen
    Attention: If a server power loss interrupts the Red Hat Linux v5.11 upgrade before it is completed, the upgrade fails. To recover from the failed upgrade and prevent problems in future Red Hat Linux v5.11 upgrades, take the following steps:
    1. Allow the server to restart normally from the power loss on the server to recover the server from the failed Red Hat Linux v5.6 upgrade.
    2. When the server is back online, go to step 12
  12. The server restarts automatically at the end of the upgrade process. Remove the IBM® ProtecTIER Maintenance and Recovery Disk from the DVD drive during the restart. If you see any Buffer I/O error messages, they are not critical errors and you can continue with the procedure.
  13. At the login: prompt, log in to Server A with the ID ptconfig and the password ptconfig.
Parent topic: Maintaining and Upgrading the TS7650G (Gateway), ProtecTIER V3.4.3

What to do if the Red Hat kickstart exec is not found

Procedure

  1. Depending on how you access the Red Hat Enterprise Linux V5.11 upgrade, you may encounter one of the following messages.
    • If you are using the IBM System Storage ProtecTIER Maintenance and Recovery Disk and the following message appears, click OK to access the backup software.
    • If you downloaded the Red Hat Enterprise Linux v5.11 code from IBM Entitle Systems Support (ESS) site and the following message appears, click OK to access the backup software.
  2. In either case, DO NOT cancel out of the menu. If you cancel, any of the following screens might appear. They all mean the upgrade has failed. Stop Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation and start over again.