K000124113: Update or upgrade BIG-IP HA systems using the

Configuration utility | BIG-IP update and upgrade guide

https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K15134306
Published Date: Dec 19, 2020 UTC Updated Date: Jun 23, 2023 UTC

Chapter 7: Update or upgrade BIG-IP HA systems using the Configuration utility

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Contents

Chapter sections

Introduction
Upgrade vs. update
Prerequisites
Perform a software update or upgrade on a BIG-IP system
Reboot to a newly updated or upgraded software volume
(Optional) Set the standby BIG-IP system offline
Test the update or upgrade
Verify the configuration
(Optional) Release offline the updated or upgraded BIG-IP system
Force the active BIG-IP to standby
Troubleshoot
Back out of your software update or upgrade
Common issues, possible causes, and resolutions

Tables

Table 7.1 Common issues, possible causes, and resolutions

Introduction

This chapter describes how to upgrade BIG-IP high availability (HA) systems.

This procedure does not apply to BIG-IP Virtual Edition (VE) systems deployed using LTM_1SLOT
installation images, which are limited by disk space by design. While it is possible to expand disk space on
LTM_1SLOT BIG-IP systems and perform an upgrade, that procedure is out of scope for this article. For
more information, refer to K14946: Overview of BIG-IP VE image sizes.

Successfully upgrading the BIG-IP system requires some planning and preparation, such as checking the
current health of the BIG-IP system and backing up the configuration. Failure to perform these procedures
can lead to unexpected down time and extended maintenance windows.
Also, to decrease the duration of the maintenance window, you can upgrade the standby BIG-IP systems in
HA configurations during production. However, in critical environments, you may choose to perform the
entire upgrade during a maintenance window. For more information, refer to Chapter 4: Prepare to update or
upgrade the BIG-IP system.

Upgrade vs. update

This chapter may use the word upgrade to refer to either a software upgrade or update. For a definition of
that explains the difference between the two terms, refer to Upgrading vs. updating in the Introduction.

Prerequisites

You must meet the following prerequisites to use this procedure:

You have access to the device serial terminal or virtual serial terminal console for VE systems.
You have administrative (root) permissions to the BIG-IP system.
You followed the steps in Chapter 4: Prepare to update or upgrade the BIG-IP system.

Perform a software update or upgrade on a BIG-IP system

The upgrade process leaves the existing boot location unaffected so that you can boot back into the original
volume in the event any issues occur during the upgrade process. Therefore, to limit the duration of the
maintenance window, you can perform the actual installation during normal operation, and then schedule a
separate maintenance window to reboot the BIG-IP system into the newly upgraded software volume. The
configuration from the active boot location automatically copies to the new boot location during the upgrade
process. You cannot install to the current active boot location.

Also, ensure that you already booted your system into the software volume that contains the configuration
you are planning to upgrade. If you did not already boot the system into that volume, restart your system to
that software volume before you begin the following procedure. By default, during the upgrade process, the
BIG-IP system imports the current running configuration from the active volume into the target volume. To
prevent the system from importing the configuration during the upgrade process, refer to K13438:
Controlling configuration import when performing software installations.

In BIG-IP HA configurations, first you perform the upgrade on the standby system, then you fail over and
test applications, before you perform the upgrade on peer BIG-IP systems.

Impact of procedure: During the upgrade process on the standby BIG-IP system, the active BIG-IP has no
backup. In critical environments, F5 recommends performing the entire upgrade during a maintenance
window.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the standby BIG-IP system with administrative privileges.
2. Go to System > Software Management to view information about the current BIG-IP Installed
Images.

For example, under Installed Images, the following list displays:

Product Version Build Disk Boot location Active Default boot Media Install status
BIG-IP 14.1.0 0.0.116 HD1 HD1.1 Yes Yes hd complete
3. Go to System > Software Management to upload the BIG-IP upgrade image.
 3.

For example, you want to upload BIGIP-16.0.0-0.0.12.iso.

4. Select Import.
5. Select Browse to locate the file to upload from your local computer.
6. Select Import.

Note: Alternatively, you can use Secure Copy (SCP) protocol from a remote computer to transfer
images to the /shared/images/ directory on the BIG-IP system. For more information, refer to K175:
Transferring files to or from an F5 system. After the upload completes and the system verifies the
internal checksum, images automatically display in the Configuration utility.

7. Go to System > Software Management > Image list.

8. Under Available Images, select the check box next to the image you want to install.
9. Select Install.
10. In the Select Disk list, select an available disk.
11. In the Volume set name list, enter a new name, or select an existing volume to overwrite.

Note: You can use any combination of lowercase alphanumeric characters (a-z, 0-9) and the hyphen
(-). The volume set name can be from 1 to 32 characters in length but cannot be only one 0 (zero)
character (for example HD1.0 or MD1.0). For instance, if the HD1 disk is active and you enter
Development into Volume set name, the system creates a volume set named HD1.Development and
installs the specified software to the new volume set.

12. Select Install.

Note: If the string you enter does not match an existing volume set, the system creates the volume set
and installs the software.

13. To monitor installation progress, under Installed Images, in the Install Status column, monitor status
changes.

Note: The the status under Install Status may initially display as Failed; however, if you hover your
mouse over the status message, the Status Detail displays testing archives. After this step is complete,
the system continues the installation. Wait a few minutes and refresh the page to continue monitoring
installation progress.

Reboot to the newly updated or upgraded software volume

(Optional) Set the standby BIG-IP system offline

Before restarting the system, to prevent the standby system from becoming Active and disrupting traffic in
the process, it is good practice to set it Offline first. To do so, perform the following procedure:

Impact of procedure: The standby system is not available to process traffic when in Offline state.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the standby BIG-IP system with administrative privileges.
2. Go to Device Management > Devices.
3. Select the standby BIG-IP system.
4. Select Force Offline.
5. Select OK to confirm.

Reboot to the newly updated or upgraded software volume

Impact of procedure: This procedure requires that you restart the system. During this time, the system is not
available to process traffic. F5 recommends that you perform this procedure during a maintenance window.
Additionally, the first time that you restart and boot to the new volume, the process can take up to 30 or more
minutes, depending on the size of the configuration.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the standby BIG-IP system with administrative privileges.
2. To view the current active BIG-IP boot location, go to System > Software Management > Boot
Locations.

For example, under Boot Locations, the following list displays:

Status Default Boot Location Product Version Build

Active Yes HD1.1 BIG-IP 14.1.0 0.0.116
Inactive No HD1.2 BIG-IP 16.0.0 0.0.12
3. Select the Boot Location of the newly installed software volume.

For example, you select HD1.2.

4. To restart the system and boot to the specified location, select Activate.

Note: If you did not make any changes since you performed the upgrade, you do not need to set Install
Configuration to Yes. By default, during the upgrade process, the BIG-IP system imports the current
configuration from the active volume into the target volume. If you did make changes to the BIG-IP
configuration since you performed the upgrade, you can set Install Configuration to Yes to update the
target volume before rebooting to that volume. For more information, refer to K14704: Installing a
configuration when activating a boot location.

5. To confirm that you want to boot into another volume, select OK .

Important: After you select OK, the system immediately begins rebooting. The system drops all
existing connections, and no traffic passes until the system completes the reboot and loads the BIG-IP
configuration.

Test the update or upgrade

Verify the configuration

Impact of procedure: Performing this procedure should not have a negative impact on your system.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the standby BIG-IP system.

2. Go to various places in the Configuration utility, such as Local Traffic > Virtual Servers, Local
Traffic > Pools, Network > VLANs, to visually confirm that expected configuration objects exist and
are in the expected state.
3. Compare your observations with other BIG-IP systems in the HA configuration.
4. Go to System > Support to create a QKView diagnostic file.
5. Upload the diagnostic file to iHealth and review. For more information, refer to the Upload your
QKView diagnostic file to iHealth and review section of Chapter 4: Prepare to update or upgrade the
BIG-IP system.

(Optional) Release offline the updated or upgraded BIG-IP system

Perform this procedure if you had previously set the upgraded system offline in the earlier procedure
(Optional) Set the BIG-IP system offline.

Impact of procedure: Depending on your HA configuration and state, releasing the BIG-IP system from
Force Offline may result in the system becoming Active. F5 recommends that you perform this procedure
during a maintenance window.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the active BIG-IP system.

2. Go to Device Management > Devices.
3. Select the name of the standby BIG-IP system.
4. Select Release Offline.
5. Select OK to confirm.

Force the active BIG-IP to standby

Impact of procedure: This procedure interrupts traffic during failover. F5 recommends that you perform this
procedure during a maintenance window. If you encounter any problems with the newly upgraded system
after failover, you must repeat this procedure on the newly upgraded system to fail back to the previously
active system.

1. Log in to the Configuration utility of the active BIG-IP system.

2. Go to Device Management > Devices.
3. Select the name of the active BIG-IP system.
4. Hover your mouse over the status of the devices to determine the active system.

Note: You cannot force the active system to standby using the Configuration utility of the standby
system.

5. To move the upgraded system to the active role, force the active BIG-IP system into standby mode by
selecting Force to Standby.
6. Test client traffic to the upgraded BIG-IP system to confirm that the system is processing traffic as
expected.
7. After confirming the health of the upgraded system, repeat the upgrade steps on the peer BIG-IP
system.
8. After completing all upgrades and testing, create a new set of UCS archive files to retain backups of
the new BIG-IP version configuration. For more information, refer to the Create a backup of the
BIG-IP configuration section of Chapter 4: Prepare to update or upgrade the BIG-IP system.

Troubleshoot

Back out of your software update or upgrade

If a BIG-IP system fails to upgrade and you cannot perform further troubleshooting due to time constraints,
complete the following steps before reverting to the previous BIG-IP version.

Note: If you do not perform troubleshooting before reverting changes, it may be difficult to determine a root
cause for failure. If possible, contact F5 Support while the issue is occurring so you can perform relevant data
gathering, such as creating a new QKView file.

Gather troubleshooting information

1. To determine the cause of the the configuration load error, run the tmsh load /sys config command
from the BIG-IP command line to observe any error messages.
2.
 2. Use the qkview utility to create a QKView file. For more information about the qkview utility, refer to
K12878: Generating diagnostic data using the qkview utility.

Boot to a previous software version

1. Log in to the Configuration utility with administrative privileges.

2. Go to System > Software Management > Boot Locations.
3. Select the Boot Location for the previous software version.
4. Select Activate.
5. Select OK to confirm that you want to boot into another volume.

Common issues, possible causes, and resolutions

Table 7.1 Common issues, possible causes, and resolutions

Common issue Possible causes Resolution
The configuration fails to load and you observe
one or both of the following messages in the
Configuration utility:
Errors in
The configuration has not yet loaded. If BIG-IP K02091043: Error Message: The
this message persists, it may indicate a configuration. configuration has not yet loaded. If
configuration problem. Issues with this message persists, it may indicate a
This BIG-IP system has encountered a license configuration problem.
configuration problem that may prevent enforcement.
the Configuration utility from
functioning properly.

BIG-IP update and upgrade guide

Chapter 1: Guide contents

Chapter 2: Introduction
Chapter 3: Choose a BIG-IP update or upgrade version
Chapter 4: Prepare to update or upgrade any BIG-IP system
Chapter 5: Update or upgrade a standalone BIG-IP VE system using the Configuration utility
Chapter 6: Update or upgrade a standalone BIG-IP VE system using the TMOS Shell
Chapter 8: Update or upgrade BIG-IP HA systems using the TMOS Shell
Chapter 9: Update or upgrade BIG-IP systems using BIG-IQ
Chapter 10: Update or upgrade BIG-IP VIPRION systems (non-vCMP)
Chapter 11: Update or upgrade BIG-IP VIPRION systems (vCMP)
Chapter 12: Update or upgrade BIG-IP appliance systems (vCMP)
Chapter 13: Update or upgrade BIG-IP VE instances in an AWS autoscaling group (F5 AWS
CloudFormation Templates 1.0)
Chapter 14: Upgrade or update BIG-IP VE instances in an AWS autoscaling group (F5 AWS
CloudFormation 2.0)
Chapter 15: Update or upgrade a BIG-IP VE instance on AWS using the f5-aws-migrate.py script
Chapter 16: Update or upgrade a BIG-IP Azure VM using the Azure portal to deploy an ARM template
Chapter 17: Update or upgrade a BIG-IP Azure VM using Terraform to deploy an ARM template
Chapter 18: Update or upgrade a BIG-IP Azure VM using Ansible to deploy an ARM template
Chapter 19: Upgrade or update BIG-IP VE instances in an Azure VMSS (F5 Azure ARM Templates
2.0)
Chapter 20: Update or upgrade a BIG-IP GCP VM using Terraform
 Chapter 21: Using F5 Modules for Ansible to update or upgrade BIG-IP system software
Chapter 22: Update or upgrade the BIG-IP Edge Client
Chapter 23: Update or upgrade the F5 SSL Orchestrator

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