MOP Upgrade VCMP.

docx - Method of
Procedure
Method of Procedure Document BIG-IP
system software upgrades Software 12.1.2
to [Link]

Customer Name—MTN Uganda

[Link] the health

[Link] system CPU usage

tmsh show sys cpu

[Link] traffic-group active/standby mapping

tmsh show cm traffic-group

3 Check connection mirror process

tmsh show sys ha-mirror

4 Check sync status

tmsh show cm sync-status
5 Check how many current connections are up in every
VS in all partitions
tmsh show ltm virtual /*/* | grep "Ltm::Virtual\|Availability\|Current
Connections"

6 tmsh show sys connection // check current open

connections

7 tmsh show ltm persistence persist-records // Check

persist records

8 tmsh show sys traffic // check statistics of traffic

9 tmsh show sys tmm-traffic // check statistics of traffic at TMM

10 tmsh show sys pva-traffic // check statistics of traffic at PVA

11. tmsh show sys ip-stat // check statistics of IP traffic

12. tmsh show sys icmp-stat // check statistics of ICMP traffic

13. tmsh show sys performance // check statistics of performance

14. tmsh show sys mcp-state // show status of MCP

15. tmsh show sys proc-info // check info of processes

16. tmsh show sys log // check logs (ltm, apm, gtm, audit,...)

17. tmsh show net arp // show ARP table

18. tmsh show net route // show Routing table

19. tmsh show sys ip-address // show IP configured in BigIP

20. tmsh show sys memory // Check memory usage

21. tmsh show sys cluster // Check status of slots from a guest

22. tmsh show cm failover-status // Check failover status

23. tmsh show sys disk // Check disk

24. tmsh show sys raid // Check raid

25. tmsh show sys hardware // Here you have info about status of power
supply

[Link] the latest ucs file and qkview from

the node.
By default, the BIG-IP system saves the UCS archive file with a .ucs extension, if you do not
include the extension in the file name. You can also specify a full path to the archive file, and
then the system saves the archive file to the specified location. If you do not include a path,
the system saves the file to the default archive directory, /var/local/ucs. Archives that you
locate in a directory other than the default directory do not appear in the list of available
archives when you use the Configuration utility or the list /sys ucs command in tmsh to
create or restore a UCS archive. To easily identify the file, F5 recommends that you include
the BIG-IP host name and current time stamp as part of the file name. For example:
tmsh save sys ucs $(echo $HOSTNAME | cut -d'.' -f1)-$(date +%H%M-%m
%d%y)

Using qkview command-line options

Impact of procedure: Performing the following procedure should not have a negative impact on
your system.

1. To view the list of qkview command line options, enter the following command:

qkview -h
For example, to reduce the performance burden of qkview, you can run qkview at the
lowest possible priority by entering the following command:
nice -n 19 qkview
Note: For heavily loaded systems, qkview may take a long time to finish running when
using the nice -n 19 option.

2. To run the qkview command and specify the file size allowed, use the qkview -s option.

For example, to specify no file size limit, enter the following command:
qkview -s0
Perform the upgrade.
1. Log in to the Configuration utility with administrative privileges.
2. To upload the necessary ISO files, go to System > Software Management.
3. Select Import.
4. Select Browse to select the file to upload from your local computer.
5. Select Import.

Alternatively, you can use the Secure Copy (SCP) protocol from a remote device to transfer
images to the /shared/images/ directory on the BIG-IP system. For more information, refer
to K175: Transferring files to or from an F5 system.
Images automatically appear in the Configuration utility when the system completes the
upload and verifies the internal checksum.

6. If you are installing a point release, go to System > Software Management > Image list.

If you are installing a hotfix, go to System > Software Management > .

Note: The BIG-IP system automatically installs the base image before installing the hotfix to
the new software volume.

7. Select the check box next to the point release image or the hotfix image you want to install.
8. Select Install.
9. For Select Disk, select an available disk.
10. For Volume Set Name, select an empty volume set or enter a new volume set name.

Note: You can use any combination of lowercase alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9) and the
hyphen (-). The volume set name can be from 1 to 32 characters in length but cannot be
only one 0 (zero) character (for example HD1.0 or MD1.0). For instance, if the HD1 disk is
active and you enter Development into Volume set name, the system creates a volume
set named [Link] and installs the specified software to the new volume set.

11. Select Install.

Note: If the string you enter does not match an existing volume set, the system creates the
volume set and installs the software.
To see the installation progress, view the Install Status column of the Installed
Images section of the page. For VIPRION systems, verify that the new software is installed
on all blades before booting to the new boot location.

Performing a clean software installation

Optionally, you can perform a clean installation using a prepared USB mass storage device. This
method wipes all data on the system and restores the BIG-IP system to factory defaults. After this
process is complete, you can load a previously saved UCS archive to restore the configuration.
For more information about:

 Performing a clean installation, refer to K13117: Performing a clean installation of BIG-IP 11.x -
16.x.
 Backing up and restoring BIG-IP configuration files, refer to K13132: Backing up and restoring
BIG-IP configuration files with a UCS archive.
Rebooting to the newly upgraded software volume
Impact of procedure: If this is a standalone system, F5 recommends that you perform this
procedure during a maintenance window.
Note: The first time you restart and boot to the new volume, the process can take up to 30 or more
minutes, depending on the size of the configuration. If the installation fails, the tmsh load /sys
config command may show an error, which helps troubleshooting. For more information refer
to K02091043: Error Message: The configuration has not yet loaded. If this message persists, it may
indicate a configuration problem. During upgrades, the devices in the device group report
as Disconnected while the standby unit boots to the new volume; this is due to the devices running
different versions.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility with administrative privileges.

2. Go to System > Software Management > Boot Locations.
3. Select the boot location containing the newly upgraded software volume.
4. To restart the system and boot to the specified location, select Activate.

Note: If there have been no changes since you performed the upgrade, you do not need to
set Install Configuration to Yes when activating the new volume. When the option is set
to No, the system transfers the existing volume's configuration to the target volume, rolling
over the configuration. By default, during the upgrade process, the BIG-IP system imports
the current, running configuration from the active volume into the target volume. To prevent
the system from importing the configuration during the upgrade process, refer to K13438:
Controlling configuration import when performing software installations.

5. If you modified the BIG-IP configuration after you upgraded the system, you can update the
target software volume before you boot the system. To do so, using the Configuration utility,
go to System > Software Management > Boot Locations > <boot location name>, and
then configure the Install Configuration option. For more information, refer to K14704:
Installing a configuration when activating a boot location.
6. To close the confirmation message, select OK.

Checking and testing your upgrade

Verifying the configuration
Impact of procedure: Since this procedure interrupts traffic during failover, F5 recommends that
you perform the procedure during a maintenance window.

1. To verify that the expected objects appear in the shared and non-shared portions of the
configuration, go to Local Traffic > Pools.
2. Confirm that the expected objects are present.
3. Go to Network > VLANs.
4. Confirm that the expected objects are present.
5. To verify that the pool health status matches other BIG-IP systems in an HA configuration,
go to Local Traffic > Pools.
6. Optionally, you can use the qkview utility to create a QKView diagnostic file and review it in
the iHealth Diagnostics section for currently known issues.
7. Force the active BIG-IP system into standby mode to move the upgraded system to the
active role.
 Note: This step interrupts traffic while the system fails over. If you encounter any problems
with the newly upgraded system, you must perform another failover to the previously active
system.

8. Test the client traffic to the upgraded BIG-IP system to confirm that the system is processing
traffic as expected.
9. After you confirm the health of the upgraded unit, repeat all of the previously listed upgrade
steps on the peer BIG-IP system, which is now in the standby state and running the lower
BIG-IP version.
10. After you complete all upgrades, create a new set of UCS files to retain backups of the new
BIG-IP version's configuration.

3. Perform health check and services

after the update.—Same as in point 1

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