NetApp E2760 - upgrade

Upgrade NetApp E-Series

On the E-Series Storage System arrays in the E2700 series, we independently upgrade several components. The main one is the upgrade of the SANtricity OS Controller Software (also referred to as Controller Firmware - CFW), i.e., the upgrade of the controllers, which also includes the upgrade of the Controller NVSRAM, and possibly the ESM firmware (Environmental Card - cards in the expansion shelves) if we have multiple disk shelves. On the administration station, we need to upgrade the management application SANtricity Storage Manager. The recommended procedure is to first update the SANtricity Storage Manager and then the SANtricity OS. And we should keep everything at a common (compatible) version. A separate part is the upgrade of the disk firmware.

Upgrade SANtricity Storage Manager

First, we need to download the new version, so we'll go to mysupport.netapp.com - Downloads - Software, where in the E-Series SANtricity Storage Manager section we choose All Platforms and click Go! Here we select the available version (currently the latest 11.30.0X00.0017) and download the installer for the given OS, e.g., SMIA-WinX64-11.30.0300.0017.exe for 64-bit Windows.

The installation guide describes the steps in detail and emphasizes that we should first check the compatibilities. A brief installation procedure on Windows:

• Run the installer
• It prepares the installation and detects that an older version is present in the system, so it offers an upgrade
• It performs the uninstallation of the previous version
• Installation begins, we accept the license, the path
• We choose the installation type - Typical (Full Installation) is recommended
• If it installs, we will be asked if the Storage Manager Event Monitor service should start automatically for AutoSupport and alerts
• We confirm the installation
• We start the application and check that everything is working

Note: After the upgrade, the Enterprise Management reported version 11.30, but the Array Management was still in the original 11.20 version (the same version was also on the Summary tab in the Management Software Version). Only after the OS upgrade did this version increase.

Collecting AutoSupport Data (CASD)

Before we start the upgrade, it is recommended to save the diagnostic information - Collect AutoSupport Data (CASD), which contains various information that may be useful in case of problems.

• Start the SANtricity Storage Manager Client and connect to the array (the Array Management window will open)
• Menu Monitor - Health - Collect Support Data Manually
• Choose the path and name where we want to save the compressed data

Upgrading SANtricity Operating System (OS) and NVSRAM

First, we need to download the new version, so we'll go to mysupport.netapp.com - Downloads - Software, where in the E-Series SANtricity OS Controller Software section we choose our model and click Go! Here we select the main version (currently the latest 8.30.10.01) and download the package for our model, e.g., E27XX_08301001.zip (the package contains SANtricity OS, ESM firmware, and NVSRAM).

• Start the SANtricity Storage Manager Client and connect to the array (the Array Management window will open)
• Choose Upgrade - Controller Firmware - Upgrade
• We'll get the information that pre-upgrade checks must be performed (they take several minutes), confirm OK and we must enter the admin password
• If the check does not find a problem, a dialog appears for entering the Controller Firmware (OS) file, which can be RC_08301001_m1_e10_830_2701.dlp, and optionally also the NVSRAM (it is recommended to do this), for Dual Controller it can be N2701-830834-D02.dlp

• Click the Transfer button
• We get a warning if we really want to start the upgrade (and that hosts must be connected using two paths if the upgrade is done online)
• After confirming, the Downloading window appears, which briefly displays the progress, it takes a long time before anything seems to happen, first the transfer takes several minutes, then the activation of one and the other controller (again several minutes each)

• Finally, we get the information that the upgrade is complete and that we must use the corresponding version of the Management SW
• For several minutes after the upgrade, the array status was reported as Needs Attention, but after a while everything was resolved

Upgrading ESM Firmware

Next, we should proceed with the upgrade of the ESM (Environmental Services Module) firmware.

• Choose Upgrade - ESM Firmware
• Select the first Tray and find the correct file, which could be esm039E.esm
• Click the Start button and enter yes in the confirmation dialog

• After completing the first Tray (after many minutes), proceed with the others (depending on how many disk shelves we have)

Upgrading Disk Firmware

Disk firmware does not come out very often, but in some cases it can fix critical errors. NetApp states that drive firmware upgrades can be done online during operation (then the upgrade is done one disk at a time, the other option is offline, then it's parallel for all disks), so it should be a Non-disruptive firmware upgrade. In practice (we've only done it once), however, the disk was disconnected, which was not pleasant. Now on the firmware download page, NetApp reports problems with the Online upgrade and there is a link to an article that should address this, but the link leads to non-existent content.

Upgrading Firmware (OS) and NVSRAM from the Command Line (script)

When we want to upgrade the Controller Firmware, the Pre-upgrade check must always be performed first. If a minor error is found (such as some logged information in the Event log), we can check Allow upgrade when the pre-upgrade check fails. If it's a more serious problem, we can't start the upgrade.

I ran into a problem where a Data Validation Error was displayed. I dealt with this with NetApp Support and after various attempts, they instructed me to perform a forced upgrade. This must be done using the commands I will list below. We should never do this unless support leads us to! My problem is described in the article Data validation error on E-Series storage array during firmware upgrade. But based on the current experience, I recommend opening a case with support and not trying to solve it directly.

• Open the SANtricity Enterprise Management (EMW - first application window)
• Right-click on our array and choose Execute Script
• Enter the commands in the top window, where we specify the path to the NVSRAM and OS update files, for example

download storageArray NVSRAM file="C:\upgrade\N2701-840834-D03.dlp" forcedownload=true;
download storageArray firmware file="C:\upgrade\RC_08400003_ga_e10_840_2701.dlp" forcedownload=true;

• In the Tools menu, select Verify and Execute
• A window appears with only a message that the script is running (which takes a long time and we don't get any information about the progress), in the lower script window only a brief progress is displayed

Performing syntax check...
Syntax check complete. 
Executing script...
Firmware download performed. Obtaining new script engine...
Restarting script.
Executing script...
Script execution complete.

Subsequently, we can check the controller version and possibly look in the Monitor - Reports - Event log.