How do you perform ONTAP Upgrades?

• ANDU (Automatic Non-disruptive Upgrade) is the recommended method to upgrade ONTAP OS but not supported on Metrocluster.
• There are two types of upgrades: Rolling or Batch Upgrade…Decide if it’s going to be rolling upgrade or batch upgrade (8+Nodes). If there are only TWO-NODES-CLUSTER it will have to be rolling upgrade.
• Plan the upgrade: Gather all the information to include cluster name, serial numbers, etc.
• Research on ActiveIQ/Support site
• Check compatibilities: Confirm the hardware platform is supported on HWU, Confirm switches are supported, Confirm client OS & Host Utilities (HUKs) are compatible with the new version of ONTAP. Check if the cluster and network switches are supported.
• Run Upgrade Advisor in ActiveIQ to generate upgrade plan.
• Verify that you can upgrade to the target version from the current version, you might need to stage the upgrade (Hoping).
• Resolve any issues before the upgrade.
• Manual Checks: Make sure disk & CPU utilization is below 50%
• Suspend any jobs such as snapmirror or backups
• Ensure customer has a backup of their production data.
• Download the ONTAP OS and copy it to the HTTP server. ONTAP 9.4 and above you do not need HTTP server, you can upload it from your laptop or local machine.
• Read the release notes + Upgrade express guides + revert guide
• Work with customer for all approvals within their change management operations
• Schedule maintenance activity and open pre-emptive support case
• Follow the upgrade plan to perform the ONTAP OS Upgrade
• You can use system manager to perform the upgrade or CLI: Select -> Validate -> Upgrade
• Verify that your storage systems are optimal and make sure they are operating as expected post upgrade.