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Guidance on VNXe3100 upgrade to 2.4.4.22638 (Is it compat. w/ ESXi 5.5.0U3b?)
I am the sole IT person for a small business of about 50 users.
I want to get some guidance on the best way to go about getting all of our server hardware and virtualized software up-to-date. I set the system up in 2012, and keep the VMs up-to-date and maintained each month, but have not touched the VMWare and VNXe updates as everything is currently running smoothly. I'm sort of a jack of all trades - very good with Windows systems, but am a little anxious about restarting hosts and the VNXe as I am the sole person who will have to deal with the issues should they arise. If it ain't broke, don't mess with it.
However, we're looking to include a couple of Windows 10 Pro hosts. And our current system (ESXi 5.0.0) doesn't support it, (however I updated one the slave host to the latest ESXi 5.5.0 - more on that later) I'm looking for some guidance, especially with the VNXe 3100 upgrade suggestions and to ensure that the latest version of ESXi 5.5 is compatible with the latest version of the VNXe software.
Here is our current setup:
- 2 HP ProLiant DL360 G7 servers (Hosts running ESXi5 - one at 5.0.0, 469512 and one recently upgraded to 5.5.0, 3248547 (5.5.0 Update 3b).
- 1 VNXe3100 device for VM storage (at software version 2.1.2.15342).
It's been a long time coming, but I would like to upgrade our VNXe3100 from software version 2.1.2.15342 to the latest, which I'm told is 2.4.4.22638.
What I've done so far:
I upgraded both vCenter and the slave host to the most current ESXi 5 version - ESXi 5.5.0 Upgrade 3.
Some issues, concerns, and observations I've come across:
I'm a little nervous to upgrade the master from 5.0.0 to 5.5.0 because I've observed that if I create a new Windows VM for the Windows 10 Pro on the slave running 5.5.0, the Windows installation kicks off, but then seems to freeze at 0% or 1%, but according to the host's event logs, I see messages like these for a few of the LUNs that both hosts share, especially the one I'm attempting to install the Windows 10 Pro server on:
Lost access to volume 4fa03210-9b55167d-e7fc-3cd92beb6572 (LUN02) due to connectivity issues. Recovery
attempt is in progress and outcome will be reported shortly.
... and a few seconds later ...
Successfully restored access to volume 4fa03210-9b55167d-e7fc-3cd92beb6572 (LUN02) following connectivity
issues.
... rinse and repeat until I turn off the VM and kill the installation.
I have a feeling that this might be related to the software version on the VNXe3100 - that it may not be 100% compatible with VMs created in 5.5.0. I say this because I tested the installation by pointing the virtual disk to the datastore on the slave host's HP machine, and it went through the installation process just fine.
The TL;DR:
So, my big questions for somebody with more knowledge and experience than I on this:
- Is the latest version of VNXe3100 (2.4.4.22638) fully compatible with VMWare's ESXi 5.5.0U3b.
- What is the recommended process to upgrade the VNXe3100 from version 2.1.2.15342 to 2.4.4.22638. Can I go directly from 2.1.2... to 2.4.4...?
- If everything goes south during the installation what is the process to roll back to the stable 2.1.2.15342.
Any pointers would be appreciated.
I'm really comfortable with managing and servicing the many VMs that we have running on this setup, but when it comes to taking the hosts and SAN offline, for any reason, it makes me really nervous. Without these guys my VMs are nothing, and I'll have about 50 employees up in arms. I'd like to make this process as painless as possible.
Thank you so much for any suggestions!
-- Troy
kelleg
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February 21st, 2018 08:00
I'm not a VNXe person, but in general, the first step I'd recommend is to get the release notes for the version on OE that you plan on upgrading to. I also recommend that on support.emc.com you take a look at the E-Lab tool - you can run a wizard that asks you for the information about your array and the hosts/OS, it then provides a list of what's supported and what's not.
There's also a tool called SolVe - this will provide you with the steps need to perform and upgrade and other checks.
glen