Manual Chapter : Upgrading BIG-IQ from Version 5.2 or 5.3

Applies To:

Show Versions Show Versions
Manual Chapter

Upgrading BIG-IQ from Version 5.2 or 5.3

Remove the secondary BIG-IQ system from the HA pair

If the F5 BIG-IQ Centralized Management system is configured in an HA pair, you must remove the secondary BIG-IQ system before you upgrade the primary BIG-IQ.
  1. At the top of the screen, click System.
  2. On the left, click BIG-IQ HA.
  3. Click Remove Secondary.
    A dialog box opens, prompting you to confirm that you want to remove the HA secondary device from this group.
  4. Click Remove to confirm that you want to take the HA secondary device out of the group.
    The system logs you out of the BIG-IQ while it removes the secondary device.
  5. Log back in to the primary BIG-IQ.
    For a while, both the primary and the secondary BIG-IQ devices continue to display. After a few minutes, the screen updates to display a single standalone device.

Upgrade primary BIG-IQ to the latest version

Note: If the machine you are upgrading does not have two volumes, you must create one using the command line interface. The following steps provide options for either case.
Before upgrading the primary BIG-IQ in a DCD cluster you must:
  1. Prepare the DCD cluster for upgrade. See Prepare for Data Collection Device Upgrade on support.f5.com.
  2. Update the DCDs in the cluster.
  3. Download the latest BIG-IQ version software image from the F5 downloads site.

You upgrade the BIG-IQ primary to take advantage of the newest functionality and features.

  1. Log in to the primary BIG-IQ system with your admin user name and password.
  2. At the top of the screen, click System.
  3. On the left, expand THIS DEVICE > Software Management , then click Available Images.
    The Available Images screen lists the software image files that are available for install on this BIG-IQ.
  4. Select the check box for the image you want to install and click Install.
  5. From the Target Volume list, select the volume you want to install the image on.
    Note: If the Target Volume list is empty, the machine you are upgrading does not have a second volume available for you to install the upgrade. You must create one to proceed.
    • If you selected a target volume, complete the remaining steps to finish the upgrade.
    • If you do not have a second volume, use the following procedure to install the upgrade for this machine:
      • Use SSH to log in to the machine you want to upgrade. You must log in as root to perform this procedure.
      • Navigate to the folder where you install software using the command: cd /shared/images
      • Install the upgrade to a new volume using one of the following commands:
        • If you are upgrading a virtual machine: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume hd1.2 create-volume reboot
        • If you are upgrading a BIG-IQ 7000 series platform: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume md1.2 create-volume reboot
      • While the system installs the upgrade to the new volume, you can check on the status of the upgrade using the command: tmsh show sys software status.
      • When the upgrade finishes installing, the machine reboots. Proceed to the next to the last (login) step in this task.
  6. To prompt BIG-IQ to reboot into the new software installation volume, select the Reboot into Target Volume check box.
  7. Click the Install button.
  8. Click the Continue button.
  9. Wait while BIG-IQ loads the new software and reboots.
    Depending on your configuration and the number of devices you are managing, this could take up to an hour. During this time, it is important that you not interrupt the installation process by restarting services or the server.
  10. Confirm that the upgrade completed successfully.
    1. At the top of the screen, click System.
    2. On the left click SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT > Installations .
    3. Under Last Upgrade, click the name of the just completed upgrade to open the properties screen.
    4. On the properties screen for the upgrade, under General Properties, note the Status. If there is a green icon and the words Successfully completed the upgrade appear, then the upgrade is complete and successful.
  11. If needed, extend the /var partition.
    The default size of the /var file system in a newly installed or upgraded node is 30 GB. This amount of available storage might not be enough to store your data. If you previously extended your disk space, you'll need to do it again after you upgrade. For information about how to do that, refer to: K16103: Extending disk space on BIG-IQ Virtual Edition And remember, upgrading a node requires at least two volumes, so be sure you can extend the /var file system on both volumes to the same size, or upgrades might fail.
Even though you can log in to this BIG-IQ system after the software is installed, the system continues some database re-indexing processes in the background. The time required re-indexing varies, depending on the size of your system configuration. If you perform any searches on objects before it's done re-indexing, BIG-IQ might not return the expected results. During this time, you can continue with the rest of the upgrade process.
Warning: During the period of re-indexing, do not restart the BIG-IQ system until you confirm a successful upgrade.

Upload the latest version of the software image to the version 5.2 or 5.3 secondary BIG-IQ

Before you can upload the software image to the secondary BIG-IQ system, you must have first downloaded it from the F5 Downloads site.

You upload the BIG-IQ version software image to the secondary BIG-IQ system to make it available for this upgrade.

  1. At the top of the screen, click System.
  2. On the left, click Software Management > Installed Images .
  3. Click the Upload Image button.
  4. Click the Choose File button and go to the location to which you downloaded the image, and click the Open button to upload it to BIG-IQ.
  5. Click the Upload button.
    The screen refreshes to display the progress of the upload.
When the image is done uploading, it shows in the Available Images list.

Upgrade secondary BIG-IQ to the latest version

Note: If the machine you are upgrading does not have two volumes, you must create one using the command line interface. The following steps provide options for either case.
You install the latest version of the BIG-IQ software on the peer BIG-IQ system so it will be running the same version as the primary BIG-IQ system you are upgrading. After you upgrade the secondary BIG-IQ, you can re-establish their connection and synchronize their configuration for high availability.
CAUTION:
Use the following command only in very specific circumstances, such as this one, since it clears the majority of a BIG-IQ system's configuration. Before you run the command, be sure you are on the secondary BIG-IQ system. This command removes all stored data. If you run this command from the primary BIG-IQ system, you'll permanently lose all of your saved data.
  1. Log in as root to the system you are going to establish as the secondary BIG-IQ system's command line and type the following command: /usr/bin/clear-rest-storage.
    While this step is not required, it clears the database storage on the system so the upgrade goes more quickly. After you upgrade both peer systems and re-establish the HA pair, the peer BIG-IQ synchronizes its database with this BIG-IQ system, and repopulates the database.
  2. Log in to the system you are going to establish as the secondary BIG-IQ system's user interface.
  3. At the top of the screen, click System.
  4. On the left, click Software Management.
    • If you're upgrading from BIG-IQ version 5.4.0 or 6.0.0, click INSTALLATION button, and then click the Upgrade button.
    • If you're upgrading from BIG-IQ version 5.2.0 or 5.3.0, click Available Images, select the image, and click the Install button.
  5. Select the Back up the BIG-IQ system before upgrade check box.
  6. From the Target Volume list, select the volume you want to install the image on.
    Note: If the Target Volume list is empty, the machine you are upgrading does not have a second volume available for you to install the upgrade. You must create one to proceed.
    • If you selected a target volume, complete the remaining steps to finish the upgrade.
    • If you do not have a second volume, use the following procedure to install the upgrade for this machine:
      • Use SSH to log in to the machine you want to upgrade. You must log in as root to perform this procedure.
      • Navigate to the folder where you install software using the command: cd /shared/images
      • Install the upgrade to a new volume using one of the following commands:
        • If you are upgrading a virtual machine: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume hd1.2 create-volume reboot
        • If you are upgrading a BIG-IQ 7000 series platform: tmsh install sys software image <full name of the iso file> volume md1.2 create-volume reboot
      • While the system installs the upgrade to the new volume, you can check on the status of the upgrade using the command: tmsh show sys software status.
      • When the upgrade finishes installing, the machine reboots. Proceed to the next to the last (login) step in this task.
  7. To prompt BIG-IQ to reboot into the new software installation volume, select the Reboot into Target Volume check box.
  8. Click the Install button.
  9. Click the Continue button.
  10. Wait while BIG-IQ loads the new software and reboots.
    Depending on your configuration and the number of devices you are managing, this could take up to an hour. During this time, it is important that you not interrupt the installation process by restarting services or the server.
  11. Log in to the BIG-IQ that will be the secondary BIG-IQ system to confirm that the upgrade succeeded and complete the setup wizard.
    To complete the setup task, you must supply a master key pass phrase that all devices in the DCD cluster must share. Make note of the phrase you use. Each logging node, as well as the primary and secondary BIG-IQ systems must use this phrase before they can join the cluster.
  12. If needed, extend the /var partition.
    The default size of the /var file system in a newly installed or upgraded node is 30 GB. This amount of available storage might not be enough to store your data. If you previously extended your disk space, you'll need to do it again after you upgrade. For information about how to do that, refer to: K16103: Extending disk space on BIG-IQ Virtual Edition And remember, upgrading a node requires at least two volumes, so be sure you can extend the /var file system on both volumes to the same size, or upgrades might fail.