One of the first article of the series dedicated to the Dell EMC Unity VSA was covering the first deployment and installation phase. In this instance the series continue visiting the options on how to upgrade Dell EMC Unity VSA to the latest edition. In particular this article refers to the steps updating the UnityOS shipping with the virtual appliance.
The same process to upgrade Dell EMC Unity VSA applies to both the operating systems, the firmware, MIBs (Management Information Base), language packs and others. The process is really simple and straightforward. Everything is operated using the GUI with a convenient wizard and even through the command line available from other operating systems (Windows and Linux based) connecting to the Dell EMc UnityVSA appliance.
All these updates plus the full image files are available from the Dell EMC support site searching for the UnityVSA in the product list.
Before proceeding with the update it is recommended to perform an health check just to rule out possible settings or configurations interfering with the process. In addition, it is also a good idea to put the system in maintenance mode to quiesce the file system and perform the upgrade process faster. Another thing to consider is the performance during the upgrade might be degraded as there would be only one storage processor active. At the software image completion the storage processor will be automatically rebooted as part of the Dell EMC UnityOS upgrade process. As an overall timing for completing the update it took less than 30 mins. Times might change depending on the current workloads.
How to upgrade Dell EMC Unity VSA
From the main UniSphere web console > Settings > Software and Licences > Software Upgrades shows the main details for the UnityOS installed. From this section it is recommended to perform an health check prior to upgrade Dell EMC Unity virtual appliance.
The health check will highlight any possible configuration issue with warnings or errors.
As soon as the Health Check process is completed its now time to proceed to upgrade Dell EMC Unity by uploading the latest edition available. One thing to bear in mind is that any custom or private hot fix to the existing version will be automatically overwritten from the new image. This means the same hot fixes should be reapplied to the latest version as well.
Next is to upload the latest image update file.
The Dell EMC UnityVSA will now upload and check the new file.
As a default option Dell EMC UnityVSA allows to automatically reboot the Storage Processor. This is the recommended option. In the Community Edition there is only one Storage Controller. So no jobs should be running during the upgrade process.
And finally a summary showing the main details before proceeding. Once the process is started it cannot be stopped.
The process to upgrade Dell EMC Unity operating system is now starting showing a breakdown of the current operations. Timing is updated dynamically.
A reminder informs about the web console disconnecting during the upgrade.
As soon as the Storage Processor has rebooted it is time to reload or sign in again into the web console.
Upon login a new message informs about the successful upgrade of the Dell EMC UnityOS.
The Article is helpful but not up to date. Since DELL & EMC Merger most links no longer work and you cant find or access the listed resources in this Articel
Hi and thanks for your comment.
Links were up to date at the time of publishing the article 🙂 For existing Dell EMC customers it is possible to download the updates from the Support site. I guess with the Community Editions it is just a matter to wait when these are published.
Kind Regards,
Michele