Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
This document describes how to upgrade the software on your PowerStore cluster. It includes the following information:
Topics:
• Upgrading PowerStore T model appliances
• Upgrading PowerStore X model appliances
• Additional Resources
Upgrading PowerStore T model appliances
For the latest features and improvements, update the appliance software to the latest available version.
During a PowerStore T model upgrade where the PowerStore appliance is a VASA provider, you cannot use the vCenter Server to
manage vVol-based VMs on the PowerStore appliance. Management operations such as rebooting VMs, migrating VMs to other ESXi
hosts, and taking VM snapshots cannot be performed during the upgrade. When the PowerStore VASA Provider is offline during the
upgrade, the datastores and VMs on the PowerStore appliance become inaccessible in vCenter Server, but the I/O between the VMs and
the PowerStore appliance continues.
NOTE:
After the upgrade is complete, wait five to ten minutes for the status of the VASA Provider to change to Online before
creating storage containers or performing management operations on vVol-based VMs.
Upgrade readiness for PowerStore T model appliances
Before upgrading, review the following considerations:
• You can learn that an upgrade is available in one of the following ways:
○ If you are using SupportAssist with your PowerStore appliance, PowerStore Manager notifies you when an upgrade is available.
○ If you are not using SupportAssist, or do not have SupportAssist connected to your PowerStore appliance, go to www.dell.com/
support and check for an upgrade.
• A few days before upgrading, upload the PowerStore OS image file that you want to install and perform a system health check on it.
The health check ensures that there are no underlying problems that may prevent a successful upgrade, such as:
○ A faulted hardware component
○ An incompatible vCenter software version
• There can be up to ten upgrade candidates of different types on the system at a time. However, after an upgrade starts, it must
successfully complete across all appliances in the cluster before another upgrade can be performed.
• You cannot make configuration changes to the system while the upgrade is in progress.
• Applying an upgrade does not stop I/O. The nondisruptive upgrade process uses redundant paths, ensuring that no more than one
node is taken offline at any given time. Either node in your appliance can satisfy I/O requirements.
PowerStore Manager downtime
As a part of the upgrade process, the node that displays PowerStore Manager fails over to the other node. During failover, you are
disconnected from the user interface. You can log back in to PowerStore Manager after the failover process is complete.
For clusters with two appliances, PowerStore Manager disconnects again when the second appliance performs its failover process. This
second disconnect during failover does not occur for clusters of three or more appliances.
Rev. A00
June 2020
Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide 1
Upgrading PowerStore T model software
Use PowerStore Manager to upgrade PowerStore T model software.
Steps
1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
2. Click Upload Package.
The Choose File to Upload dialog box is displayed.
3. Select the PowerStore OS upgrade package, and click Open.
When the upgrade package is uploaded, it is displayed in the Software packages table.
4. Select the uploaded package in the Software packages table, and click Health Check.
The health check identifies problems that may prevent the upgrade from finishing successfully. This step is optional if a health check
was already performed recently.
5. Select the uploaded package in the table, and click Upgrade.
Next steps
NOTE: When the node that is running PowerStore OS restarts, it fails over to the other node and the appliance is temporarily
unable to display PowerStore Manager or act as a VASA provider. Logins are available again after the failover process between
nodes completes.
When a new software version is installed, the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager tables may be reset to their default layout.
You can change the configuration to a layout of your preference, and your settings persist until the next software upgrade.
Upgrading PowerStore X model appliances
When upgrading a PowerStore X model appliance, apply the available upgrades to the PowerStore node firmware, ESXi image, vSphere
Installation Bundles (VIBs), and PowerStore OS that are qualified together by Dell EMC.
CAUTION:
PowerStore X model internal nodes can only use ESXi update images that are validated by Dell EMC and available on
the support website. Do not use ESXi update images that are obtained from VMware or any other source.
The PowerStore X model upgrade may consist of multiple packages, with some packages installed from PowerStore Manager, and others
installed from the vSphere Update Manager. A given PowerStore release may not contain all possible components. Use the information in
the PowerStore Release Notes to determine which bundles are required for a given release.
The PowerStore X model upgrade can accommodate both system and user VMs, and externally attached ESXi hosts. However, the
upgrade requires placing the PowerStore X model internal ESXi hosts into maintenance mode. During the upgrade, the ESXi host on the
peer node is placed into maintenance mode first and the ESXi host on the primary node is placed into maintenance mode second.
During a PowerStore X model upgrade, you cannot use the vCenter Server to manage vVol-based VMs on the PowerStore appliance.
Management operations such as rebooting VMs, migrating VMs to other ESXi hosts, and taking VM snapshots cannot be performed
during the upgrade. When the PowerStore VASA Provider is offline during the upgrade, the datastores and VMs on the PowerStore
appliance become inaccessible in vCenter Server, but the I/O between the VMs and the PowerStore appliance continues.
NOTE:
After the upgrade is complete, wait five to ten minutes for the status of the VASA Provider to change to Online before
creating storage containers or performing management operations on vVol-based VMs.
The upgrade process has up to three parts, which must be completed in sequence, as applicable:
1. Upgrading PowerStore X model node firmware on page 4
2. Updating the internal ESXi hosts on page 4
3. Upgrading the PowerStore OS on page 5
You can find which components have an upgrade available in the PowerStore Release Notes. If a component does not have an upgrade
available, you can skip that part of the upgrade.
NOTE:
If a PowerStore X model upgrade fails, check for and resolve all critical alerts on the PowerStore system and retry the
upgrade.
2 Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
Upgrade readiness for PowerStore X model appliances
Before upgrading, review the following considerations:
• You can learn that an upgrade is available in one of the following ways:
○ If you are using SupportAssist with your PowerStore appliance, PowerStore Manager notifies you when an upgrade is available.
○ If you are not using SupportAssist, or do not have SupportAssist connected to your PowerStore appliance, go to www.dell.com/
support and check for an upgrade.
• A few days before upgrading, upload the PowerStore OS image file that you want to install and perform a system health check on it.
The health check ensures that there are no underlying problems that may prevent a successful upgrade, such as:
○ A faulted hardware component
○ An incompatible vCenter software version
• There can be up to ten upgrade candidates of different types on the system at a time. However, after an upgrade starts, it must
successfully complete across all appliances in the cluster before another upgrade can be performed.
• You cannot make configuration changes to the system while the upgrade is in progress.
• Applying an upgrade does not stop I/O. The nondisruptive upgrade process uses redundant paths, ensuring that no more than one
node is taken offline at any given time. Either node in your appliance can satisfy I/O requirements.
ESXi and VM considerations
Before upgrading, run a health check to determine whether there is a prerequisite PowerStore node firmware or ESXi update. Depending
on which components are upgraded, the duration of the required maintenance window and whether an upgrade requires any downtime
varies. For details and time estimates, see the PowerStore Release Notes.
In general, vSphere automatically migrates VMs that are running on a PowerStore X model appliance as necessary to keep them available
during the upgrade. However, manual intervention may be required if one of the following conditions exists:
• The VMs running on ESXi hosts or VM disks point to the local ESXi host drives
• The total amount of memory or CPU usage across the VMs exceeds the amount available on a single node
• The VMs cannot be migrated automatically because of a different reason
If any of these conditions occur, resolve the situation with one of the following options:
• Migrate the VMs to other available hosts
• Reduce the CPU or memory reservation requirements for the VMs
• Shut down the VMs
NOTE:
Any VMs that are migrated as a part of the upgrade process are not automatically migrated back to their original
location after the upgrade is complete.
Minimizing failover occurrences
If the upgrade includes new versions of the PowerStore node firmware or ESXi, each ESXi host in the appliance must be placed into
Maintenance Mode during the upgrade process.
When the ESXi host that is running PowerStore OS enters Maintenance Mode, the user VMs migrate to the ESXI host on the other node
of the appliance. The appliance is temporarily unable to display PowerStore Manager or act as a VASA provider until the failover process
between nodes is complete.
To minimize disruptions caused by failover, start the upgrade on the ESXi host on the peer node of the appliance.
Use PowerStore Manager to identify the peer node of the appliance:
1. From the Hardware page, click the name of the appliance, and then click the Hardware tab.
2. Click the Internal View tab.
The node without the text (primary) is the peer node.
3. Record the node letter of peer node, which is either A or B.
4. In PowerStore Manager, from the Compute > vCenter Server Connection page, start the vSphere Web Client by clicking LAUNCH
VSPHERE.
5. Log in to the associated vCenter Server.
6. Find the VM named PSTX-
<serial_number>
-
<node_letter>
.
Where node_letter is the node letter of the peer node that was recorded in step 3.
7. On the Summary tab of the VM, record the Host IP address.
This address is the IP address of the ESXi host on the peer node of the appliance.
Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
3
8. During the upgrade, place this ESXi host into Maintenance Mode first.
Upgrading PowerStore X model node firmware
Use PowerStore Manager to perform node firmware upgrades.
Prerequisites
1. If there is a PowerStore OS upgrade that does not include a new version of the PowerStore X model node firmware, go to Updating
the internal ESXi hosts on page 4.
2. Download the latest node firmware and PowerStore OS upgrade package from www.dell.com/support to your management
workstation.
3. Open PowerStore Manager.
Steps
1. Select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
2. Click Upload Package.
The Choose File to Upload dialog box is displayed.
3. Select the PowerStore OS upgrade package, and click Open.
When the upgrade package is uploaded, it is displayed in the Software packages table.
4. Select the uploaded PowerStore OS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and click Health Check.
The health check indicates whether a node firmware upgrade is required.
5. If a node firmware upgrade is required, select the PowerStore OS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and click
Upgrade.
If a node firmware upgrade is not required, stop the upgrade and go to Updating the internal ESXi hosts on page 4.
6. Wait for the firmware upgrade to complete on both nodes of the appliance.
To determine if the firmware upgrade is complete, select the uploaded PowerStore OS upgrade package in the Software packages
table and click Health Check.
• If the upgrade is complete, the health check passes.
• If the upgrade is not complete, the health check indicates that a node firmware upgrade is required.
Next steps
If an ESXi update is available on the support website, go to Updating the internal ESXi hosts on page 4.
If an ESXi update is not available on the support website, go to Upgrading the PowerStore OS on page 5.
Updating the internal ESXi hosts
Use the vSphere Web Client to perform ESXi host updates. This procedure must be completed on each node.
Prerequisites
If the PowerStore Release Notes do not indicate that a new version of ESXi is available, go to Upgrading the PowerStore OS on page 5.
1. If an upgrade to the node firmware is also available, complete Upgrading PowerStore X model node firmware on page 4 first.
2. Download the latest qualified version of ESXi from www.dell.com/support to your management workstation.
CAUTION:
PowerStore X model internal nodes can only use ESXi update images that are validated by Dell EMC and
available on the Dell EMC support website. Do not use ESXi update images that are obtained from VMware or any other
source.
3. Open PowerStore Manager and identify the peer and primary nodes on your appliance. See Minimizing failover occurrences on page 3
for more information.
4. In PowerStore Manager, from the Compute > vCenter Server Connection page, start the vSphere Web Client by clicking LAUNCH
VSPHERE.
About this task
Some management operations that involve vVols may be unavailable during the upgrade.
4
Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
Steps
1. In the vSphere Web Client, log in to the associated vCenter Server and open the Update Manager Web Client plug-in.
2. Upload the VMware Installation Bundle (VIB) files (.zip) or import the ESXi images (.iso) for the release.
3. 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 PowerStore VIBs to include in the baseline.
4. Attach the new baseline to the ESXi hosts cluster.
5. To reduce the amount of time needed in Maintenance Mode, stage the baseline on both ESXi hosts in the cluster.
NOTE: Before placing the ESXi host on one node of the 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%, power off some user VMs or migrate them to another ESXi host using vMotion before placing ESXi host
into Maintenance Mode.
6. Place the ESXi host on the peer node into Maintenance Mode.
User VMs automatically migrate to the other node in the cluster. 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 dependency 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 on
page 3 for more information.
CAUTION: Do not manually power off the controller VMs, which are named PSTX-<serial_number>-<node_letter>.
7. Remediate the ESXi host against the baseline. For more information, see VMware vSphere documentation.
8. When the ESXi host on the peer node is back online, exit Maintenance Mode.
The ESXi host on the peer node is powered on and running with the ESXi host updates.
NOTE: The controller VM starts automatically when the ESXi host exits Maintenance Mode.
9. In PowerStore Manager, perform a health check to verify that the peer node is working correctly, and that the primary node is ready
for the update.
10. Repeat steps 6–9 in this procedure for the ESXi host on the primary node.
11. Migrate the VMs that were on the peer node before the update back to the peer node using vMotion.
Results
The ESXi hosts on both nodes are now powered on and running with the ESXi host updates.
Next steps
Go to Upgrading the PowerStore OS on page 5.
Upgrading the PowerStore OS
If the support website indicates that a new version of the PowerStore OS is available, use PowerStore Manager to install it.
Prerequisites
• Download the latest version of the PowerStore OS from www.dell.com/support to your management workstation.
• If an upgrade to the node firmware is also available, complete Upgrading PowerStore X model node firmware on page 4.
• If an ESXi update is also available, complete Updating the internal ESXi hosts on page 4.
• Open PowerStore Manager.
Steps
1. Perform the following steps if you have completed a PowerStore X model node firmware upgrade without performing internal ESXi
hosts updates:
a. Identify the peer and primary nodes on your appliance. See Minimizing failover occurrences on page 3 for more information.
b. In the vSphere Web Client, reboot the ESXi host for the peer node. For instructions, see the PowerStore Power Down and Reboot
Procedures Guide.
Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
5
c. In PowerStore Manager, select the uploaded PowerStore OS package in the Software packages table and click Health Check.
• If the only error displayed is regarding an incorrect firmware version, go to the next step.
• If an error regarding RAID readiness is displayed, wait and try the health check again until the only error displayed is regarding
an incorrect firmware version.
d. If the ESXi host on the peer node does not automatically exit Maintenance Mode after rebooting, manually exit Maintenance
Mode.
e. Repeat the previous steps for the ESXi host on the primary node.
2. Perform the following steps if the PowerStore OS upgrade package has not been uploaded to the PowerStore X model appliance:
a. In PowerStore Manager, select the Settings icon, and then select Upgrades in the Cluster section.
b. Click Upload Package.
c. Select the PowerStore OS upgrade package and click Open.
When the upgrade package is uploaded, it is displayed in the Software packages table.
d. Select the uploaded PowerStore OS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and click Health Check.
The health check identifies problems that may prevent the PowerStore OS upgrade from finishing successfully. This step is
optional if a health check was performed earlier.
3. Select the uploaded PowerStore OS upgrade package in the Software packages table, and click Upgrade.
Results
As a part of the upgrade process, the node that displays PowerStore Manager fails over to the other node. During failover, you are
disconnected from the user interface. You can log back in to PowerStore Manager after the failover process is complete.
Next steps
In the vSphere Web Client, rebalance the VMs between the two nodes. You can rebalance the VMs manually or allow VMware Distributed
Resource Scheduler (DRS) to rebalance them automatically.
When a new software version is installed, the column layout settings in PowerStore Manager tables may be reset to their default layout.
You can change the configuration to a layout of your preference, and your settings persist until the next software upgrade.
Additional Resources
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 technical support professional 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 www.dell.com/
powerstoredocs.
• Troubleshooting
For information about products, software updates, licensing, and service, go to www.dell.com/support and locate the appropriate
product support page.
• Technical support
For technical support and service requests, go to 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.
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Dell EMC PowerStore Software Upgrade Guide
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.
© 2020 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other
trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
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