Product Lifecycle
Abstract
This customer product communiqué announces a change in the support status of the IBM Data ONTAP® 7.3.x release family. Customers running Data ONTAP 7.3.x on their N series systems are urged to consider this information and take any necessary action.
Content
IBM remains committed to supporting the Data ONTAP 7.3.x release family; however, Data ONTAP 7.3.7, currently available on the IBM Support site, is the last maintenance release of the Data ONTAP 7.3.x release family. Further, effective November 30, 2013:
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Through June 30, 2014:
New maintenance and patch releases on the Data ONTAP 7.3.x release family will be delivered on an
"as-needed" basis. Critical software fixes for issues found on N series systems running Data ONTAP 7.3.x will continue to be delivered as per the guidelines communicated on March 8, 2013.
If the issue is on a N series system that:
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After June 30, 2014:
Requests for bug fixes on the Data ONTAP 7.3.x release family will no longer be accepted.
IBM Strongly-Recommends that customers upgrade to Data ONTAP 8.2.x as soon as possible.
It is important to note that doing an upgrade from 7-mode to cluster mode is not supported.
Note: N3300 and N3600 machines that can not be upgraded to Data ONTAP 8.x. Data ONTAP 7.3.7P2 will be the terminal release an is recommended that customers upgrade as soon as possible. Upgrading to Data ONTAP 7.3.7P2 will be necessary to receive limited service and support (i.e, workaround solutions, no software patches).
Upgrading Data ONTAP:
Release family upgrade requirements
Each Data ONTAP release family introduces new features. Most issues are resolved automatically in
the Data ONTAP software, but a few issues require manual configuration.
Major and minor upgrade types
When you upgrade Data ONTAP, you must select one of two upgrade types: a
major upgrade between release families, or a minor upgrade within a release family. In a major upgrade, one between release families, the release number x.y.z changes in the x or y
components from the original to the target release. For example, an upgrade from 8.0.2 to 8.1, or
from 7.3.5 to 8.1, is an upgrade between release families. In a minor upgrade, one within a release family, the release number x.y.z does not change in the x or y components, but only in the z components of the release number. The following are examples of upgrades within release families:
- 8.1.1 to 8.1.2P2
- 8.1 to 8.1.1P2
Understanding upgrades between release families
A new release family usually includes major changes in infrastructure and subsystems.
When you upgrade from one release family to another, one or more of the following might have been
introduced on your platform:
- Fundamental infrastructure changes—for example, changes to WAFL or RAID operation
- Version number changes requiring a file system upgrade—for example, in RAID, WAFL,
- New system firmware
For these reasons, upgrades between release families sometimes take longer, involve more steps, and
interrupt storage system services longer than upgrades within a release family.
Nondisruptive upgrades to releases in the Data ONTAP 8.2 release family are supported from any
8.1.x release.
Required intermediate upgrades
If you want to upgrade to a Data ONTAP 8.2.x release from a release earlier than 8.1.x, you must
perform an intermediate upgrade (also known as a multi-hop upgrade) to the latest Data ONTAP
8.1.x release before upgrading to the target 8.2.x release.
In addition, if you are running a Data ONTAP 7.2 release earlier than 7.2.3, you must perform a
minor NDU to the latest 7.2.x release before performing an intermediate major NDU to the latest
7.3.x release.
Attention:
After performing an intermediate upgrade, you must wait at least 10 minutes before
proceeding to the final upgrade (or to an additional intermediate upgrade) to ensure that all
upgrade processes have finished.
Upgrades within a release family
Upgrades within a release family are usually simpler and involve less service disruption than
upgrades between release families.
This is because major changes are not usually introduced within a release family. Rather, these
releases usually include bug fixes and minor feature enhancements.
To view more information on Data ONTAP upgrades refer to IBM System Storage N series Data ONTAP 8.2 Upgrade and Revert/Downgrade Guide for 7-Mode or IBM System Storage N series Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 Upgrade and Revert/Downgrade Guide
Replacement or Lost License Keys
Customers that has lost or will require replacement for license key will need to contact the Manufacturing Quality Hotline to open a support ticket to retrieve a copy of license keys.
Contact Information:
Email: atssghot@us.ibm.com
US & Canada 1-800-442-6773
IBM Tie line World Wide 648-8459
Long Distance Direct 770-858-8459
Please provide the following information:
Customer name
Ship to address:
Machine type
Serial number
Order number
Detail description of the issue
If you have questions relating to this customer product communiqué, contact IBM Customer your local IBM representative
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Modified date:
15 December 2021
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ssg1S1004497