DELL PowerStore X Upgrading Software Instructions

DELL PowerStore X Upgrading Software

Product Information

• Product: Dell PowerStore X model
• Software Upgrade Guide: 3.2.x
• Revision: May 2023 Rev. A00

Notes, Cautions, and Warnings:

• NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
• CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
• WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

As part of an improvement effort, revisions of the software and hardware are periodically released. Some functions that are described in this document are not supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use. The product release notes provide the most up-to-date information about product features. Contact your service provider if a product does not function properly or does not function as described in this document.

Where to get help
Support, product, and licensing information can be obtained as follows:

• Product information
  For product and feature documentation or release notes, go to the PowerStore Documentation page at https://www.dell.com/powerstoredocs.

• Troubleshooting
  For information about products, software updates, licensing, and service, go to https://www.dell.com/support and locate the appropriate product support page.

• Technical support
  For technical support and service requests, go to https://www.dell.com/support and locate the Service Requests page. To open a service request, you must have a valid support agreement. Contact your Sales Representative for details about obtaining a valid support agreement or to answer any questions about your account.

PowerStore non-disruptive software upgrades

Upgrade the software, drive firmware, or Language pack on your PowerStore cluster.
This document describes the process for upgrading PowerStore X. For instructions on upgrading PowerStore T, see the PowerStore T model Software Upgrade Guide.

General upgrade considerations
Before preparing for an upgrade, review the following considerations:
NOTE: Not all PowerStoreOS versions can be directly upgraded to the latest PowerStoreOS version. For the latest information on supported upgrade paths for your model, see KB article 000175213 PowerStoreOS Matrix.

• Performing a non-disruptive upgrade (NDU) on a PowerStore cluster does not stop I/O. The I/O requirements of the PowerStore cluster can be met by a single node on each appliance in the cluster. The NDU process ensures that only one node of the cluster is taken offline at any given time. Taking a node offline does not cause host I/O disruptions when the hosts have redundant data access paths present and the best practices are configured for the host operating system.
• During the NDU, you cannot perform configuration changes or management operations on the PowerStore cluster.
• When the PowerStoreOS is upgraded and the PowerStore VASA provider is offline, the I/O and availability of the vVol-based VMs served from the PowerStore cluster are not impacted. However, management operations such as creating VMs, rebooting VMs, migrating VMs to other ESXi hosts, and taking VM snapshots cannot be performed on vVol-based VMs while the VASA provider is offline.
• Review the host connectivity recommendations in the the E-Lab Host Connectivity Guides at https://elabnavigator.dell.com/eln/hostConnectivity.
• Check the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix to ensure your host HBA driver and firmware are supported.
• PowerStore NDU is supported with Solaris native MPxIO starting at Solaris 11.4 SRU 35. Contact your service provider for PowerStore NDU support on earlier Solaris versions or Solaris updates.
• When the PowerStoreOS upgrade is complete, wait five to ten minutes for the status of the PowerStore VASA provider to change to Online in vCenter Server before creating storage containers or performing management operations on vVol-based VMs.
  NOTE: Within this document, PowerStore software refers to the software upgrade package for a PowerStore system and PowerStoreOS is the operating system that runs on the nodes of a PowerStore cluster.

Topics:

• Types of update packages
• Upgrade preparation overview
• Automatic downloads of upgrade packages

Types of update packages
PowerStore has several types of update packages that you can install on the system. Each package serves a different function. It is recommended to always upgrade to the latestPowerStoreOS, drive firmware, and Health Check packages for optimal system health and successful upgrades.
Table 1. Update Package Types

NOTE: System Checks comprehensively check the overall system health. It is recommended that you run System Checks periodically, including before and between upgrades, to address any overall system issues. System Checks can be run from the Monitoring page in PowerStore Manager. See KB article 000198084 PowerStore: How to use the System Check feature for more information.

Upgrade preparation overview
Preparing for a software upgrade requires the following steps:

• Get the latest PowerStoreOS and upload it to the system (if automatic download is not enabled).
• Review the release notes.
• Run the Pre-Upgrade Health Check and other necessary system health check tools.
• Install the Pre-Upgrade package (PowerStore X model systems only).
• Ensure that host connectivity is redundant for both nodes.
• Complete configuration changes or management operations ahead of the upgrade as these are not available while the upgrade is in-progress.

Automatic downloads of upgrade packages
For systems with Support Connectivity enabled, update packages can be automatically downloaded to the system when they become available on Support. The update packages are securely transferred to your system through the Support Connectivity secure tunnel. Automatic downloads apply to software update packages, drive firmware update packages, applicable Language packs, and compatible Health Check packages. This feature prevents the need for you to manually search for and download the latest upgrade packages from Support. When a newer compatible package becomes available for each update package type (PowerStoreOS, Health Check package, Language pack, and drive firmware), the latest automatically downloaded package overwrites any older packages that were previously ready for installation under Software Packages on the Upgrades page. You receive an alert notification in PowerStore Manager when a new upgrade package is available on your system. To enable automatic downloads, select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section. Enable automatic downloads. When Support Connectivity has not been configured, the status is shown as Automatic download is disabled.

NOTE: Automatic download does not install any update packages on your system–it downloads them from Support to your system to be installed manually. You must select a specific downloaded package, and then select the Upgrade button to install it.

PowerStore X software upgrades

Topics:

• Disable alert notifications before a software upgrade
• PowerStore X upgrade overview (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later)
• Upgrading the ESXi version on internal PowerStore X model hosts (2.x and later)

Disable alert notifications before a software upgrade
Manually disable notifications to prevent call home alerts from being sent to Support during a software upgrade. About this task
NOTE: For upgrades from any 3.0.x and 3.2.0.x PowerStoreOS version, the system does not automatically disable call home alerts during the software upgrade. Call home alerts must be manually disabled for each appliance. See the PowerStore Release Notes for your PowerStoreOS for more information.

Steps

1. On the Settings page, select Disable Support Notifications in the Support section.
2. Select the appliance for which you want to suspend notifications and click Modify.
3. In the Modify Maintenance Mode slide-out panel, select the Enable Maintenance Mode option and specify the number of hours in the Maintenance Window Duration field. For a PowerStore X model cluster, specify 4 hours to suspend notifications during the upgrade window. Support notifications are automatically reenabled after the specified window.
4. Click Apply. Optionally view the End Time (Cluster Time) for maintenance mode in the table.
5. Repeat this process for any other appliances in the cluster.

PowerStore X upgrade overview (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later)

Prerequisites
CAUTION: Use these instructions only when upgrading from PowerStoreOS 2.0.x or later. Not all upgrade paths are supported. For the latest information on supported software upgrade paths, see KB article 000175213 PowerStoreOS Matrix.

About this task
When upgrading a PowerStore X cluster, use only Dell-qualified software that is downloaded from https://www.dell.com/support. Use the information in KB article 000175213 PowerStoreOS Matrix to determine which upgrade packages are available or required for PowerStore X. Ensure that the PowerStore X model system has enough free space to perform the upgrade (a minimum of 300 GB).
NOTE: Some versions of the PowerStoreOS support multiple ESXi versions on the internal nodes of the cluster. To view a list of supported ESXi versions, see the VMware Licensing and Support for PowerStore X table in the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix, which can be located on https://www.dell.com/powerstoredocs.

Steps

1. Download the latest PowerStore X upgrade package .zip file. For instructions on downloading upgrade packages from Support, see Download the PowerStore upgrade packages.

2. Extract the PowerStore X Pre-Upgrade package and PowerStoreOS upgrade package from the upgrade package .zip file.

3. Upload the Pre-Upgrade package and PowerStoreOS upgrade package to the cluster.

   • a. In PowerStore Manager, select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.

   • b. Select Upload Package.

   • c. Select the Pre-Upgrade package and select Open.
     NOTE: Do not close or refresh the browser while the Pre-Upgrade package is uploaded to PowerStore Manager. For 2.x releases, the uploaded Pre-Upgrade package is displayed as a Hotfix package type in the Software packages table.

   • d. Repeat the previous two steps to upload the PowerStoreOS upgrade package to the cluster.

4. Carefully review and perform the steps in KB article 000183630 How to prepare for a PowerStore Non-Disruptive Upgrade (NDU) before upgrading PowerStore X.
   NOTE: Perform the steps outlined in KB article 000183630 at least a week before the planned upgrade date to allow enough time to correct any system issues that must be addressed before the upgrade.

5. Perform the upgrade steps in the following order: If you have already performed one of upgrade steps that are listed below, you can skip that step.

   • a. Update internal ESXi hosts – Resizing the private VMFS datastores can take over one hour to complete. Updating the node firmware and internal ESXi hosts takes approximately 30 minutes to complete per node.
   • b. Upgrade the PowerStoreOS – Upgrading the PowerStoreOS takes approximately one hour to complete.

6. Following a successful software upgrade, upgrade the drive firmware if a new firmware bundle is available. See Drive Firmware upgrades for more details on upgrading the drive firmware.

Results
If the upgrade process fails, check and resolve all critical alerts and retry the upgrade.

Install the Pre-Upgrade package (PowerStore OS 2.0.x and later)
Use PowerStore Manager to install the Pre-Upgrade package on PowerStore X.

Prerequisites
Ensure that a Pre-Upgrade Health Check has been performed at least seven days before installing the Pre-upgrade package.
NOTE: If you are upgrading from PowerStoreOS 2.1.x to a later version of the PowerStoreOS, ensure that the Upgrade Extensions Health Check has been run within one hour of performing the upgrade.

Steps

1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
2. Select the Pre-Upgrade package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.
   NOTE: For 2.x releases, the Pre-Upgrade package is displayed as a Hotfix package in the Software packages table. The installation of the Pre-Upgrade package takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Results
Installing the Pre-Upgrade package stages the following files on the PowerStore X model cluster:

• Node firmware update
• Dell custom VMware .VIB files
• Dell ESXi 7.0 update
• Service script for resizing the ESXi VMFS datastore (svc_esxi_helper) (not applicable for upgrades from PowerStoreOS 2.1.1.x to a later version)
  Installing the Pre-Upgrade package also causes the Pre-Upgrade Health Check to run, which checks for the following issues:

Next steps
Go to Update the PowerStore internal ESXi hosts (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later).

Update the PowerStore internal ESXi hosts (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later)

Prerequisites
Refer to the PowerStore Support Matrix for the latest information on compatible ESXi and vCenter versions for internal PowerStore X model hosts.
CAUTION: Use these instructions only when upgrading a PowerStore X model cluster from a PowerStore 2.x version to a later version. For instructions on upgrading a PowerStore X model cluster to PowerStore version 2.0.x, see Upgrading PowerStore X model clusters (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).
NOTE: Resizing the VMFS datastore is not required for PowerStore 2.1.1.x upgrades to 3.2.x or later.

About this task
Perform the following steps to update the internal ESXi host on the node of a PowerStore X model cluster:
NOTE: Some management operations that involve vVols may be unavailable during the upgrade.

Steps

1. Identify the primary appliance and the primary and secondary nodes on the primary appliance of the cluster.

   • a. In PowerStore Manager, select the Settings icon, and then select Properties in the Cluster section.
   • b. Record the name of the appliance in the Primary Appliance field.
   • c. Record the name of the primary node in the Primary Node on Appliance field. The other node on the appliance is the secondary (peer) node by default.

2. Identify the primary and secondary nodes of the other appliances in the cluster.

   • a. For the other appliances in the cluster, select the Hardware > Appliances > appliance name > Components card in PowerStore Manager.
   • b. Select the Internal View tab.
     The text (primary) is displayed next to the primary node of the appliance; the secondary node is the other node. For example, if the text (primary) is displayed for Node B, the secondary node is Node A.

3. Identify the management IP addresses of all the appliances and host nodes in the cluster.

   • a. Select Settings > Network IPs in PowerStore Manager.
   • b. Record the Management Appliance IP address for of each appliance in the cluster.
   • c. Record the Host Node IP address, Appliance name, and Node letter of each node in the cluster.

4. Use the information collected from PowerStore Manager to identify the IP addresses of the ESXi hosts on the primary and secondary nodes of the primary appliance.

5. To upgrade a single-appliance cluster, perform the following steps starting with the ESXi host on the secondary node of primary appliance. To upgrade a multi-appliance cluster, perform the following steps starting with the ESXi host on the secondary node of the non-primary appliances first and the primary appliance last.

6. Put the ESXi host on the secondary node of an appliance in the cluster into maintenance mode.

   • a. Log in to the vCenter Server using the vSphere Client. To start the vSphere Client from PowerStore Manager, select Compute > vCenter Server Connection and select Launch vSphere.
   • b. Ensure that the ESXi host on the other node of the appliance has enough system resources to run the user VMs that are migrated to it when the ESXi host on the secondary node is placed into maintenance mode. If the CPU and memory utilization on each ESXi host is greater than 75%, migrate the VMs to another ESXi host in the vCenter Server using vMotion or power off the user VMs before continuing.
   • c. Place the ESXi host on the secondary node of the appliance into maintenance mode. User VMs automatically migrate to the other node in the appliance. After all user VMs are migrated, the controller VM automatically shuts down and the ESXi host enters maintenance mode.
     NOTE: Some user VMs may not migrate due to local dependencies or lack of resources. User intervention may be required to manually power off these user VMs to allow the ESXi host to enter maintenance mode. See ESXi and VM considerations (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x) for more information.
     CAUTION: Do not manually power off the controller VMs, which are named PSTX-- . The controller VMs are automatically powered off when an ESXi host is placed into maintenance mode.
     CAUTION: Do not manually migrate or power off the vCLS VMs on the ESXi hosts. The vCLS VMs are automatically migrated when an ESXi host is placed into maintenance mode.

7. [Upgrades from 2.0.x only] Resize the VMFS datastore on the ESXi host:

   • a. Open an SSH client and connect to the management IP address of the appliance that contains the ESXi host that is in maintenance mode.
     NOTE: External SSH management access must be enabled on the appliance.

   • b. Enter the username and password of the service account to log in to the appliance.

   • c. Run the following service command to resize the VMFS datastore on the ESXi host.

8. Reboot the ESXi host on the secondary node of an appliance to update the node firmware and install ESXi updates.

   • a. In the vSphere Client, right-click the ESXi host and select Power > Reboot. After a few minutes, the status ESXi host should change to Not responding, which indicates that the host is rebooting.
     NOTE: The following alert is displayed in PowerStore Manager while the controller VM is shut down: Node has been physically removed or shut down
     b. Monitor the ESXi host reboot.
     NOTE: The ESXi update takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. The status changes back to Maintenance Mode after the reboot is complete.

   • c. Exit maintenance mode on the ESXi host after the reboot is complete. The controller VM should automatically start when the ESXi host exits maintenance mode.

   • d. Ensure that the ESXi host and controller VM are operating normally before continuing.

   • Monitor the Protocol Endpoint (PE) paths in vCenter to identify when the paths to the ESXi host are Active before continuing.

   • Monitor the alerts in PowerStore Manager to identify when the node is up. Then, wait 15 minutes after the alert is cleared before continuing.

9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 to update the ESXi host on the primary node of the appliance.

10. Migrate the VMs back to the preferred node in the cluster using vMotion.

11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 to update the ESXi hosts on the nodes of the other appliances in the cluster.
    Results
    The ESXi hosts on the nodes of the cluster are now powered on and running the updated version of ESXi. The version of ESXi that the ESXi hosts are running is visible on the Upgrades page in PowerStore Manager.

    • If the ESXi versions on the nodes of an appliance do not match, an alert is generated.
    • If the ESXi versions on the appliances in the cluster do not match, an alert is generated.

Next steps
Go to Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x or later).

Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x or later)

Use PowerStore Manager to upgrade the PowerStoreOS.

Prerequisites
Perform a final Pre-Upgrade Health Check before upgrading the PowerStoreOS on the PowerStore X model cluster.
NOTE: If you are upgrading from PowerStoreOS 2.1.x to a later version of the PowerStoreOS, ensure that the Upgrade Extensions Health Check has been run within one hour of performing the upgrade.

About this task
Perform the following steps to upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the appliances of the cluster:

Steps

1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.

2. Select the PowerStoreOS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.
   NOTE: The PowerStoreOS upgrade package is displayed as a Software Release package in the Software packages table.
   The PowerStoreOS upgrade takes approximately one hour to complete.

3. After you are returned to the login screen, close the browser session and open a new session before logging in again to refresh the UI.
   NOTE: Following the upgrade, if you do not open a new browser session before logging in again, PowerStore Manager will still display the UI for the previous PowerStoreOS version, and new features will not be available.

Results
The PowerStore X model cluster temporarily stops recording performance metrics when the primary node on the primary appliance reboots during the ESXi update. When the primary node on the primary appliance reboots, the primary node fails over to the secondary node and you are disconnected from PowerStore Manager. You can log back in to PowerStore Manager after the failover process is complete.

Next steps
Use the vSphere Client to manually rebalance the VMs in vCenter or allow VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to automatically rebalance the VMs . When a new version of the PowerStoreOS is installed, the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager tables reset to their default layout. Changes to the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager do not persist when the PowerStoreOS is upgraded.

Upgrading the ESXi version on internal PowerStore X model hosts (2.x and later)
Upgrade the VMware ESXi version of the internal hosts between PowerStoreOS software upgrades using VMware Lifecycle Manager (LCM).

About this task
When new ESXi versions are released by VMware, Dell qualifies those versions with PowerStore X model systems. Once qualified, these upgrade bundles can be found on the Drivers & Downloads page for your PowerStore X model on Dell Support. For instructions on upgrading the ESXi hosts as part of a PowerStoreOS upgrade, see Update the PowerStore internal ESXi hosts (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later).

Steps

1. Refer to the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix for the latest ESXi version compatibility information, including the ESXi versions included in each PowerStoreOS bundle for PowerStore X model systems.
2. Download the latest Dell-qualified VMware ESXi version bundle from the Drivers & Downloads page for your PowerStore X model model on Dell Support, from the VMware website, or use the version automatically downloaded to LCM.
3. Follow the VMware documentation for detailed instructions on upgrading your ESXi version using LCM. PowerStore

Drive Firmware upgrades

Periodically, new drive firmware becomes available for your PowerStore cluster. As a best practice, upgrade the drive firmware to the latest version following a successful software upgrade, and periodically between software upgrades. This chapter covers the procedure for upgrading the drive firmware on a PowerStore cluster. If your cluster has Support Connectivity with automatic download enabled, your system will download any new and applicable drive firmware automatically. It is highly recommended to install this new drive firmware as it becomes available on the Upgrades page in PowerStore Manager.

Topics:

•  Disable alert notifications before a drive firmware upgrade
• Update the drive firmware on the PowerStore cluster

Disable alert notifications before a drive firmware upgrade

Disable notifications during drive firmware upgrades to prevent call home alerts from being sent to Support.

Steps

1. On the Settings page, select Disable Support Notifications in the Support section.
2. Select the appliance for which you want to suspend notifications and click Modify.
3. In the Modify Maintenance Mode slide-out panel, select the Enable Maintenance Mode option.
4. Specify 2 hours in the Maintenance Window Duration field to suspend notifications during the drive firmware upgrade. Support notifications are automatically reenabled after the specified window.
5. Click Apply. Optionally view the End Time (Cluster Time) for maintenance mode in the table.
6. Repeat this process for any other appliances in the cluster.

Update the drive firmware on the PowerStore cluster

Use PowerStore Manager to update the drive firmware on a PowerStore cluster.

Prerequisites
As a best practice, always update the drive firmware to the latest available version following a software upgrade. Before starting the drive firmware update process, temporarily disable alert notifications as described in Disable alert notifications before a drive firmware upgrade to prevent unnecessary alerts.
NOTE: Most drive firmware bundles are backwards-compatible with multiple PowerStoreOS versions. Refer to the detailed description of the drive firmware bundle on Support for more compatibility information. If you attempt to install a drive firmware bundle that is not compatible with your system, the system will return a warning message and not proceed with the installation.

Steps

1. Download the latest drive firmware update package from Support.
   The drive firmware update package contains firmware updates for the drives in the PowerStore cluster. For instructions on downloading PowerStore upgrade packages, see Download the PowerStore upgrade packages.

2. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.

3. Select Upload Package.
   NOTE: For clusters with Support Connectivity and automatic download enabled, new applicable drive firmware packages are automatically downloaded to your system and will appear on the Upgrades page. The Choose File to Upload dialog box is displayed.

4. Select the drive firmware update package, and select Open. The drive firmware update package is uploaded and displayed in the Software packages table.
   NOTE: Do not close or refresh the browser while the drive firmware update package is uploaded to PowerStore Manager.

5. Select the drive firmware update package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.

Results

• To verify the drive firmware package version currently installed on your system, use one of the following methods:
  • Run the following REST API call: curl -kv –user admin:xxxxx -X GET https://:443/api/rest/software_package?select=* |python-mjson.tool
  • Run the following CLI command: $ pstcli -d xx.xx.xx.xx -u -p software_package show -output nvp |egrep “name|software_package_type|release_version”
• To verify the drive firmware version for individual drives in a PowerStore cluster, go to the Hardware > Appliances > appliance > Components > Drives page in PowerStore Manager.
• To verify the drive firmware version for all the drives in a PowerStore cluster, run the service command svc_diag list –show_drives. For more information, see the PowerStore Service Scripts Guide.

Language Packs

Language packs modify the display language of the PowerStore Manager interface to that of your preferred language, including event, alert, and error messages. Language packs are downloaded and installed the same way as software upgrade packages.
PowerStore 3.x and later supports the following languages:

• French
• German
• Latin American Spanish
• Russian
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Japanese
• Korean
• Simplified Chinese

When you upgrade the PowerStoreOS, your Language Pack settings will be preserved, including the selected language and preferred time format. These settings will persist until the next Language Pack is installed on your system.

Topics:

• Installing language packs

Installing language packs

Prerequisites
Language packs are separate localized software bundles that can be downloaded from Dell Support and uploaded to the PowerStore system.

About this task
The default language selected for the language pack is set based on the default language preferences in your user preferences. Additionally, the time and date format, as well as the time zone format for the language pack, are set based on your User Preferences. The initial User Preferences are set based on your browser preferences for the browser you are using to access PowerStore Manager. These preferences can be changed at any time.

Steps

1. Download the latest language pack from Dell Support. If you have automatic download enabled and have previously installed a language pack on the system, the latest language pack will be automatically downloaded to your system. Proceed to step 4 to install it.
2. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
3. Select Upload Package to manually upload the locally downloaded language pack to PowerStore Manager.
4. Once the upload is complete, select the language pack software from the list and click Upgrade.
5. Select your preferred language from the drop-down list.
6. Optionally, enable the language to be automatically detected based on the browser settings.
7. Select the preferred date and time format.

PowerStore X model Upgrades from OS 1.x

If you are upgrading a PowerStore X model model cluster from a 1.x version, follow the steps in this section.

Topics:

• Upgrading PowerStore X model clusters (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)

Upgrading PowerStore X model clusters (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
A PowerStore X model cluster running PowerStoreOS 1.0.x cannot be directly upgraded to PowerStore 2.1.x or later. You must upgrade the cluster to PowerStoreOS 2.0.x first, and then upgrade it to PowerStoreOS 2.1.x.

Prerequisites
CAUTION: Use these instructions only when upgrading from PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x. For instructions on upgrading from PowerStoreOS 2.0.x to 2.1.x, see PowerStore X upgrade overview (PowerStoreOS 2.0.x and later).

About this task
When upgrading a PowerStore X model cluster, use only Dell-qualified software that is downloaded from https://www.dell.com/support. Use the information in the PowerStore Release Notes to determine which update packages are available or required for a PowerStore X model cluster. Ensure that the PowerStore X model cluster has enough free space to perform the upgrade. The minimum amount of space required to perform the upgrade is 300 GB.
NOTE: Some versions of PowerStoreOS support multiple ESXi versions on the internal ESXi nodes of the cluster. To view a list of supported ESXi versions, see the VMware Licensing and Support for PowerStore X table in the PowerStore Simple Support Matrix, which can be downloaded from https://www.dell.com/powerstoredocs.
Perform the following steps to upgrade a PowerStore X model cluster:

Steps

1. Download the latest PowerStore X model upgrade package .zip file as described in the Installation and Upgrade Considerations section of the PowerStore Release Notes. For instructions on downloading upgrade packages from the Dell Support Site, see Download the PowerStore upgrade packages.

2. Extract the individual upgrade packages from the PowerStore X model upgrade package .zip file.

3. Upload the software update packages to PowerStore Manager.
   NOTE: Do not upload ESXi update package to PowerStore Manager.

   • a. In PowerStore Manager, select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.

   • b. Select Upload Package.

   • c. Select the PowerStore X model software update package to upload and select Open.
     NOTE: Do not close or refresh the browser while the software update package is uploaded to PowerStore Manager. When the PowerStore X model software update package finishes uploading, it is displayed in the Software packages table.

   • d. Repeat the previous two steps to upload all the PowerStore X model software update packages to the PowerStore X model cluster.

4. If an ESXi update is available or required, import the ESXi update package to vSphere Update Manager or vSphere Lifecycle Manager.

   • a. In PowerStore Manager, select Compute > vCenter Server Connection and select Launch vSphere to start the vSphere Client.
   • b. In the vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server.
   • c. Import the Dell-qualified ESXi .zip file into vSphere Update Manager or vSphere Lifecycle Manager. For more information about importing ESXI updates, see the VMware vSphere documentation.

5. Carefully review and perform the steps in KB article 000183630 How to prepare for a PowerStore Non-Disruptive Upgrade
   (NDU) before upgrading a PowerStore X model cluster.
   NOTE: Perform the steps outlined in KB article 000183630 at least a week before the planned upgrade date to allow enough time to correct any system issues that must be addressed before the upgrade.

6. Perform the PowerStore X model appliance upgrade steps in the following order: If you have already performed one of software upgrade steps that are listed below, you can skip that step. You can also skip an upgrade step if the associated software update package is not available.

   • a. Install preupgrade package – Installing the preupgrade package takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
   • b. Install node firmware update – Installing the node firmware update package takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
   • c. Update internal ESXi hosts – Updating the internal ESXi hosts takes approximately one to two hours to complete per node.
   • d. Upgrade PowerStoreOS – Upgrading the PowerStoreOS takes approximately one hour to complete.

Results
If the PowerStoreOS upgrade process fails, check for and resolve all critical alerts on the cluster and retry the upgrade.

ESXi and VM considerations (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
During the software upgrade process, vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) attempts to migrate the VMs on one node of a PowerStore X model cluster to the other node of the cluster. However, manual intervention may be required when one of the following conditions exists:

• If VMs or VM disks are stored on the local VMFS datastores of the internal ESXi hosts, manually migrate the VMs or VM disks to a PowerStore vVol datastore.
  NOTE: The local VMFS datastores on the internal ESXI hosts are intended only for internal PowerStore system components.

• If the total amount of memory or CPU usage across the VMs exceeds the amount available on a single node, migrate the user VMs to other available ESXi hosts or power off the user VMs.

• If the VMs cannot be migrated automatically because of a different reason, power off the user VMs on the ESXi host.
  NOTE: Any VMs that are migrated as a part of the software upgrade process are not automatically migrated back to their original location after the upgrade is complete.

Minimizing internal ESXi host failover occurrences (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
Updating an ESXi host on the internal node of a PowerStore X model cluster requires placing the ESXI host into maintenance mode. When the ESXi host that is running the PowerStore hardware enters maintenance mode, management services for the cluster, including access to the PowerStore Manager and VASA provider services, are temporarily unavailable until the failover process between the nodes is complete.

About this task
Perform the following steps to identify the IP addresses of the internal ESXi hosts on the primary and secondary nodes of the primary appliance:

Steps

1. In PowerStore Manager, select the Settings icon, and then select Properties in the Cluster section.

2. Record the name of the appliance in the Primary Appliance field. This appliance is the primary appliance of the cluster.

3. Record the name of the primary node in the Primary Node on Appliance field. The secondary node of the appliance is the opposite of the primary node.
   NOTE: For example, if Node A is displayed in the Primary Node on Appliance field, the secondary node is Node B.

4. Identify the IP addresses of the internal ESXi hosts on the nodes of the primary appliance.

   • a. Select Settings > Network IPs in PowerStore Manager.
   • b. Record the Host Node IP address, Appliance name, and Node letter of the nodes on the primary appliance. The Host Node IP addresses are the IP addresses of the internal ESXi hosts on the primary and secondary nodes of the primary appliance.

Install the PowerStore X model Pre-Upgrade package (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
Use PowerStore Manager to install the Pre-Upgrade package on a PowerStore X model cluster.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that the Pre-Upgrade package has been uploaded to PowerStore Manager.
• Ensure that a Pre-Upgrade Health Check has been performed at least seven days before installing the Pre-Upgrade package on the PowerStore X model appliance.

About this task
Perform the following steps to install the Pre-Upgrade package on the PowerStore X model cluster:

Steps

1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
2. Select the Pre-Upgrade package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.
   NOTE: The Pre-Upgrade package is displayed as a Hotfix package in the Software packages table. The installation of the Pre-Upgrade package takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Results
The Pre-Upgrade package is not applied to the PowerStore X model cluster until the nodes of the cluster are rebooted. However, the nodes do not automatically reboot after a Pre-Upgrade package is installed. The nodes of the cluster are rebooted when ESXi updates are installed on the internal ESXi hosts, as described in Update the internal ESXi hosts on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x). If ESXi updates are not installed, you must reboot the nodes of the cluster during the PowerStoreOS upgrade, as described in Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

Next steps
If a PowerStore X model node firmware upgrade is available or required, go to Install the node firmware update package on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x). If a PowerStore X model node firmware upgrade is not available, go to Update the internal ESXi hosts on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

Install the node firmware update package on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
Use PowerStore Manager to install the node firmware update package on the PowerStore X model cluster.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that the node firmware update package has been uploaded to PowerStore Manager.
• Ensure that a Pre-Upgrade Health Check has been performed at least seven days before installing the node firmware package on the PowerStore X model cluster.

About this task
Perform the following steps to install the node firmware update package on the PowerStore X model cluster:

Steps

1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
2. Select the node firmware update package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.
   NOTE: The node firmware update package is displayed as a Hotfix package in the Software packages table. The installation of the node firmware update package takes approximately 10 to 15 minutes to complete.

Results
The node firmware updates are not applied to the PowerStore X model cluster until the nodes of the cluster are rebooted. However, the nodes do not automatically reboot after a firmware update package is installed. The nodes of the cluster are rebooted when ESXi updates are installed on the internal ESXi hosts, as described in Update the internal ESXi hosts on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x). If ESXi updates are not installed, you must reboot the ESXi hosts on the nodes of the cluster during the PowerStoreOS upgrade, as described in Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

Next steps
If ESXi updates are available or required, go to Update the internal ESXi hosts on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x). If ESXi updates are not available, go to Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

Update the internal ESXi hosts on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
Use the vSphere Client to update the ESXi hosts on the nodes of a PowerStore X model cluster. For more information about updating ESXi hosts, see the VMware vSphere documentation.

Prerequisites
Ensure that the ESXi update package has been imported into vSphere Update Manager or vSphere Lifecycle Manager. For instructions, see Upgrading PowerStore X model clusters (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).
CAUTION: The internal nodes of a PowerStore X model cluster can only use ESXi updates that are qualified by Dell. Do not use ESXi updates that are obtained from VMware or any other source.

About this task
Perform the following steps to update the ESXi hosts on the PowerStore X model cluster:
NOTE: Some management operations that involve vVols may be unavailable during the upgrade.

Steps

1. Identify the primary appliance and identify the IP addresses of the internal ESXi hosts on the primary and secondary nodes of the appliance. For instructions, see Minimizing internal ESXi host failover occurrences (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

2. If there are multiple appliances in the cluster, perform the following steps to collect information about the other appliances:

   • a. Select Settings > Network IPs in PowerStore Manager.
   • b. Record the Host Node IP address, Appliance name, and Node letter of each node in the cluster.
   • c. For the other appliances in the cluster, select the Hardware > Appliances > appliance > Components card in PowerStore Manager.
   • d. Select the Internal View tab. The text (primary) is displayed next to the primary node of the selected appliance, and the secondary node is opposite of the primary node. For example, if the text (primary) is displayed for Node A, the secondary node is Node B.
   • e. Use the collected information to identify the IP addresses of the internal ESXi hosts on the primary and secondary nodes of the other appliances in the cluster.

3. In PowerStore Manager, select Compute > vCenter Server Connection and select Launch vSphere to start the vSphere Client.

4. In the vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server and open vSphere Update Manager or vSphere Lifecycle Manager.

5. Create a baseline for the update using the Patch content type.

   • a. On the Select Patches Automatically page, clear the Automatically update this baseline with patches that match
     the following criteria checkbox to prevent unqualified VIBs from being installed on the ESXi hosts.

   • b. On the Select Patches Manually page, select the filter icon in the ID column to display the filter field.

   • c. In the filter field, type the ESXi update package name (without the .zip extension) listed in the PowerStore Release Notes, and select the ESXi package to add it to the baseline.
     NOTE: For vSphere 7.0 and later, type the package ID (8-digit build number) rather than the name.

6. Stage the baseline to all the internal ESXi hosts in the PowerStore cluster.

7. Before placing the ESXi host on one node of an appliance into maintenance mode, ensure that system resources are available on the other ESXI host to run the migrated user VMs. If the CPU and memory utilization on each ESXi host is greater than 75%, migrate the VMs to another ESXi host in vCenter Server using vMotion or power off the user VMs.

8. Place the ESXi host on the secondary node of the primary appliance into maintenance mode. User VMs automatically migrate to the other node in the appliance. After all user VMs are migrated, the controller VM automatically shuts down and the ESXi host enters maintenance mode.
   NOTE: Some user VMs may not migrate due to local dependencies or lack of resources. User intervention may be required to manually power off these user VMs to allow the ESXi host to enter maintenance mode. See ESXi and VM considerations (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x) for more information.
   CAUTION: Do not manually power off the controller VMs, which are named PSTX-- . The controller VMs are automatically powered off when an ESXi host is placed into maintenance mode.

9. On the Updates tab, select the baseline that is attached to the ESXi host on the secondary node of the primary appliance and select Remediate to update the ESXi host. The ESXi update takes approximately 30 minutes to one hour to complete per node. The amount of time that an ESXi update takes depends on whether preupgrade and node firmware packages are applied when the ESXi host reboots.

10. Ensure that the remediation process has completed for the ESXi host on the secondary node, and then exit maintenance mode. The controller VM automatically starts when the ESXi host exits maintenance mode.

11. Ensure that the ESXi host and controller VM are operating normally before continuing.

    • Monitor the Protocol Endpoint (PE) paths in vCenter to identify when the paths to the ESXi host are Active before continuing.
    • Monitor the alerts in PowerStore Manager to identify when the node is up. Then, wait 15 minutes after the alert is cleared before continuing.

12. Repeat steps 7 through 10 for the ESXi host on the primary node of the appliance.
    NOTE: PowerStore Manager temporally stops displaying performance metrics when the primary node of the primary appliance reboots during the ESXi update.

13. Migrate VMs back to the preferred node using vMotion.

14. Repeat steps 6 to 12 to perform ESXI updates on the nodes of the other appliances in the cluster.

Results
The ESXi hosts on the nodes of the cluster are now powered on and running the updated version of ESXi. The version of ESXi that the ESXi hosts are running is visible on the Upgrades page in PowerStore Manager.

• If the ESXi versions on the nodes of an appliance do not match, an alert is generated.
• If the ESXi versions on the appliances in the cluster do not match, an alert is generated.

Next steps
Go to Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x).

Upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the cluster (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x)
Use PowerStore Manager to perform a PowerStoreOS upgrade.

Prerequisites
Perform a final Pre-Upgrade Health Check before upgrading the PowerStoreOS on the PowerStore X model cluster.

About this task
Perform the following steps to upgrade the PowerStoreOS on the appliances of the cluster:

Steps

1. If you installed a Pre-Upgrade package or upgraded the node firmware, but you were not required to perform ESXi host updates, you must reboot the internal nodes on the cluster to apply the Pre-Upgrade package and firmware upgrades. Rebooting the nodes to apply the Pre-Upgrade package and firmware upgrade package takes approximately 35 to 60 minutes per node. To reboot the nodes of the cluster:
   • a. Identify the primary and secondary nodes on the primary appliance of the cluster. See Minimizing internal ESXi host failover occurrences (PowerStoreOS 1.0.x to 2.0.x) for more information.
   • b. In the vSphere Client, reboot the ESXi host on the secondary node. For instructions, see the PowerStore Power Down and Reboot Procedures Guide.
   • c. If the ESXi host on the secondary node does not automatically exit maintenance mode after rebooting, manually exit maintenance mode on the secondary node.
   • d. Repeat the previous steps for the ESXi host on the primary node.
   • e. Repeat the previous steps on the other appliances in the cluster.
2. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
3. Select the PowerStoreOS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and select Upgrade.
   NOTE: The PowerStoreOS upgrade package is displayed as a Software Release package in the Software packages table.

The PowerStoreOS upgrade takes approximately one hour to complete.

Results
The PowerStore X model cluster temporarily stops recording performance metrics when the primary node on the primary appliance reboots during the ESXi update. When the primary node on the primary appliance reboots, the primary node fails over to the secondary node and you are disconnected from PowerStore Manager. You can log back in to PowerStore Manager after the failover process is complete.

Next steps
Use the vSphere Client to manually rebalance the VMs in vCenter or allow VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to automatically rebalance the VMs . When a new version of the PowerStoreOS is installed, the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager tables reset to their default layout. Changes to the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager do not persist when the PowerStoreOS is upgraded.

Adding an Appliance to a Cluster

When adding an appliance to a cluster, the cluster and appliance must be on the same PowerStoreOS version. Clusters on PowerStoreOS 3.0.x and later automatically detect if there is a mismatch between OS versions and provide the option to synchronize during the Add Appliance wizard. For clusters on PowerStoreOS 2.x and earlier where the appliance is running a later version of the PowerStoreOS than the cluster, upgrade the cluster prior to adding the new appliance. For clusters on 2.x and earlier where the cluster is running a later version of the PowerStoreOS than the appliance, the appliance should be installed in the same rack and use the same switches as the existing cluster, and configured into its own separate cluster. Then, upgrade the OS of the separate cluster. Log in to Support and refer to KB article 000133192 (PowerStore Manager prevents “Add an appliance to an existing cluster” operation from succeeding if code version of appliance to be added does not match…) for more information. For clusters and appliances on 3.0.x or later, the unconfigured appliance PowerStoreOS version is automatically updated to match the PowerStoreOS version of the cluster during the reinitialization step when the appliance is added to the cluster. For more information about adding appliances, refer to the PowerStore Manager Online Help and the PowerStore Installation and Service Guide for your model.

Download the PowerStore upgrade packages

The PowerStore upgrade packages, including PowerStoreOS, drive firmware, language packs, and Health Check packages, are available for download from Support. However, the upgrade packages can only be accessed when you are logged into Support using an account that is associated with the PowerStore cluster.

About this task
This procedure only applies to clusters without automatic downloads enabled. If your cluster has Support Connectivity and automatic download enabled, applicable upgrade packages for the PowerStoreOS, drive firmware, language packs, and Health Check packages will be automatically downloaded to your system based on telemetry data. For more information, see Automatic downloads of upgrade packages.

Steps

1. Access the Support site by opening a browser and going to https://www.dell.com/support.
2. Sign into your support account that is associated with the PowerStore cluster.
3. Go to the product page for your system, and then go to Drivers & Downloads.
4. Identify the PowerStore upgrade package to download by carefully reading the package description.
5. Click Download to download the PowerStore upgrade package.

References

• Submit Form
• PowerStore: PowerStoreOS Matrix | Dell US

Read User Manual Online (PDF format)

Read User Manual Online (PDF format)  >>

Download This Manual (PDF format)

Download this manual  >>