Forum Discussion

CadenL's avatar
CadenL
Level 6
4 years ago
Solved

NetBackup Appliance firmware updates

Hi

Has anyone applied a firmware update to a NetBackup Appliance? eg 5240 running version 4.1 (NBU 9.1)

I'm looking to undertake a firmware update but can't really find anything about how to do this. The firmware update tool (about 2GB in size) is downloaded from the download site and seems to be an .rpm file. Is it just a case of opening the appliance share, copy the firmware update tool onto the appliance and then just installing the .rpm file in the CLISH?

From there does it just complete the firmware update without any further interaction? 

I assume you need to suspend the SLPs and deactivate all the backup policies in the same way you would when doing a software update.

thanks in advance 

Linux
  • davidmoline's avatar
    davidmoline
    4 years ago

    Hi CadenL 

    While I haven't done it for 4.1, the process works the same with other versions. You are correct in what you are expecting. The appliance will be offline during the firmware update process - so yes suspend operations as required.

    Transfer the rpm to the appliance then install it. What this install does is to create a standalone boot environment which is used to run the firmware update (it loads from disk but runs in memory). Installing the firmware rpm from the CLISH doesn't actually do any updates by itself. You need to install the rpm then reboot the appliance to let the firmware update tool do its thing. 

    One thing to note - it is highly recommended (I'd go so far as to say essential) to monitor the update via the console (IPMI or if you have it a proper console). If using the IPMI console you will lose connectivity near the end of the process when the BIOS is updated. After this is done, the appliance should reboot by itself back to the normal environment.

    One final note - did you see this article  which describes the process https://isearch.veritas.com/internal-search/en_US/article.100046032.html

     

    Cheers
    David

  • davidmoline's avatar
    davidmoline
    Level 6
    4 years ago

    Hi CadenL 

    While I haven't done it for 4.1, the process works the same with other versions. You are correct in what you are expecting. The appliance will be offline during the firmware update process - so yes suspend operations as required.

    Transfer the rpm to the appliance then install it. What this install does is to create a standalone boot environment which is used to run the firmware update (it loads from disk but runs in memory). Installing the firmware rpm from the CLISH doesn't actually do any updates by itself. You need to install the rpm then reboot the appliance to let the firmware update tool do its thing. 

    One thing to note - it is highly recommended (I'd go so far as to say essential) to monitor the update via the console (IPMI or if you have it a proper console). If using the IPMI console you will lose connectivity near the end of the process when the BIOS is updated. After this is done, the appliance should reboot by itself back to the normal environment.

    One final note - did you see this article  which describes the process https://isearch.veritas.com/internal-search/en_US/article.100046032.html

     

    Cheers
    David