This post describes how to upgrade the firmware on NetScaler appliances that are configured in a high availability setup from the Command Line Interface.
One of the requirements of the NetScaler appliances in a high availability setup is to install the same NetScaler firmware release on both appliances of the setup. Therefore, when firmware on an appliance is upgraded, ensure that the firmware is upgraded on both the appliances. In addition, to minimize any related outage, upgrade the firmware on the secondary appliance before proceeding with the primary appliance of the high availability setup.
Upgrading firmware on the secondary appliance before the primary appliance also ensures that the upgrade process is completed without any issues. If there are any issues, roll back to the earlier release without any disruption to services managed by the NetScaler appliance.
Warning! Any customization within NetScaler or NetScaler Gateway might cause unexpected behavior during and after the upgrade or downgrade process. This could also lead to a possible configuration loss. Any sort of customization within NetScaler or NetScaler Gateway should be backed up and removed before the upgrade or the downgrade process.
To upgrade the firmware on the NetScaler appliances in a high availability setup, complete the following procedures, in the same order:
1. Upgrading Secondary Appliance
2. Upgrading Primary Appliance
3. Synchronization of Secondary Appliance
Upgrading firmware on the Secondary Appliance
To upgrade firmware on the secondary appliance, complete the following procedure:
1.Log on to the secondary NetScaler appliance using an SSH utility, such as PuTTY and specifying the NetScaler IP (NSIP). Use the nsroot credentials to log on to the appliance.
2.From the command line interface of the appliance, type the following command to save the existing configuration:
save config
3.Switch to the shell prompt.
> shell
4.Run the following command to change to the default installation directory:
# cd /var/nsinstall
5.Run the following command to create a temporary subdirectory of the nsinstall directory:
# mkdir x.xnsinstall
Note: The text x.x is used to name the NetScaler version for future configurations. For example, the directory for the installation files of NetScaler 9.3 will be called 9.3nsinstall.
6.Change to the x.xnsinstall directory.
7.Download the required installation package and documentation bundle, such as “ns-x.0-xx.x-doc.tgz”, to the temporary directory created in Step 4.
Notes:
•Some builds do not have a documentation bundle as it does not have to be installed.
•Click the Documentation tab from the GUI to access the documentation.
8.Before you run the install script, the files must be extracted and placed on the appliance. Use the following command to uncompress the bundle downloaded from Citrix website:
tar -zxvf ns-x.0-xx.x-doc.tgz
The following is a quick explanation of the parameters used –
x – Extract files
v – Print the file names as they are extracted one by one
z – The file is a “gzipped” file
f – Use the following tar archive for the operation
9.Run the following command to install the downloaded firmware:
# ./installns
Note: If the appliance does not have sufficient disk space to install the new kernel files, the installation process performs an automatic cleanup of the flash drive.
10.After the installation process is complete, the process prompts to restart the appliance. Press y to restart the appliance.
11.Log on to the appliance Command Line Interface using the nsroot credentials.
12.Run the following command from to display the state of the NetScaler appliance:
> show ha node
The output of the preceding command should indicate that the appliance is a secondary node and synchronization is disabled.
13.Run the following command to disable synchronization on the appliance if synchronization is not disabled.
> set node -hasync disable
14.Ensure that the configuration is complete and as expected.
15.Run the following command to perform a force failover and takeover as primary appliance:
> force failover
Upgrading firmware on the Primary Appliance
To upgrade firmware on the primary appliance, complete the following procedure:
Note: After completing the “Upgrading firmware on the Secondary Appliance” procedure, the original primary appliance is now a secondary appliance.
1.Log on to the secondary NetScaler appliance using an SSH utility, such as PuTTY. Use the nsroot credentials to log on to the appliance.Follow the same steps as mentioned in the above section to complete the installation process.We have to follow the same steps as mentioned in step 2 to step 9 in the previous section(Upgrading firmware of the Secondary Appliance)
2.After the installation process is complete, the process prompts to restart the appliance. Press y to restart the appliance.
3.Log on to the appliance Command Line Interface using the nsroot credentials.
4.Run the following command to display the state of the NetScaler appliance:
> show ha node
The output of the preceding command should indicate that the appliance is a primary node and the status of the node state is marked as UP.
5.If the appliance is not a primary appliance, run the following command to perform a force failover to ensure that the appliance is a primary appliance:
> force failover
6.Verify that the appliance is a primary appliance.
Enabling Synchronization on the Secondary Appliance
To enable synchronization on the secondary appliance, complete the following procedure:
1.Run the following command to verify that the appliance is a secondary appliance:
> show node
2.Run the following command to enable synchronization on the appliance:
> set node -hasync enable
3.Run the following command to verify that the configuration of the secondary appliance is synchronized with that of the primary appliance:
> show ns runningconfig