Due to the nature of the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance – where the term appliance is key – an update is a delicate and complicated procedure that deals with different hardware and software components at the same time. It is virtually impossible to automate the entire process, and more importantly it would be undesirable to take the appliance and the virtual environment it hosts out of service entirely for updating. Instead, updates can be executed in phases and scheduled for minimal downtime. The following table explains how an Oracle PCA update handles different levels or areas of appliance functionality.
Table 2.2 Functional Break-Down of an Appliance Update
Functionality | Physical Location | Description |
|---|---|---|
controller software | management nodes | all components required to set up the management cluster, manage and configure the appliance, and orchestrate compute node provisioning |
virtualization platform | compute nodes | all components required to configure the compute nodes and allow virtual machines to be hosted on them |
component firmware | infrastructure components | all low-level software components required by the various hardware components for their normal operation as part of the appliance |
All the software included in a given release of the Oracle PCA
software is tested to work together and should be treated as one
package, so no appliance component should be updated individually.
All Oracle PCA software releases are downloaded as a single
large .iso file, which includes the items
listed above. Some releases include major updates for one or more
appliance components. These are critical stepping stones in a
successful upgrade path so they must not be skipped. This is
explained in Section 2.6.1, “Mandatory Updates”.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-in Users
If you use Oracle Enterprise Manager and the Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-in to monitor your
Oracle PCA environment, always back up the oraInventory Agent data to
/nfs/shared_storage before updating the controller software. You can
restore the data after the Oracle PCA software update is complete.
For detailed instructions, refer to the Agent Recovery section in the Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-indocumentation.
An update of the Oracle PCA software stack may involve a complete re-imaging of the management nodes. Any customer-installed agents or customizations are overwritten in the process. Before applying new appliance software, back up all local customizations and prepare to re-apply them after the update has completed successfully.
When updating the Oracle PCA software, make sure that no provisioning operations occur and that any externally scheduled backups are suspended. Such operations could prevent a software update or component firmware upgrade to fail and lead to system downtime.
It is expected that not every Oracle PCA system is updated with each minor release. Updates are often selected because they fulfill certain requirements of the environment where the appliance is deployed. However, certain updates bring such significant changes to the product that they must be applied if they are on the path between a system's current software and the intended newer version. This section describes the mandatory updates and the impact they have on the Oracle PCA going forward. A more detailed description of each release can be found in the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Release Notes.
If your Oracle PCA is currently running Controller Software Release 1.0.2, please upgrade to Release 1.1.3 first. Critical changes include:
Oracle VM performance tuning
storage connectivity improvements
support for a new generation of hardware: Sun Server X4-2 and Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance ZS3-ES
OpenSSL upgrade to eliminate the 'heartbleed bug' (CVE-2014-0160)
If you are using a VLAN for your management network and you are upgrading from a previous release where you manually configured your environment, these network changes can adversely affect the upgrade process. Any manual configuration to allow the management network to run on a VLAN must be reverted on both management nodes, before the software process is started.
To update the appliance software to Release 1.1.3 you must first execute the procedure in Section 2.6.2, “Updating the Oracle PCA Controller Software”. After successful completion, perform the additional steps described in these Troubleshooting sections:
If your Oracle PCA is currently running Controller Software Release 1.1.3, please upgrade to Release 2.0.1 first. Critical changes include:
external storage support
appliance management over a VLAN
Oracle VM upgrade to Release 3.2.8
If you are using a VLAN for your management network and you are upgrading from a previous release where you manually configured your environment, these network changes can adversely affect the upgrade process. Any manual configuration to allow the management network to run on a VLAN must be reverted on both management nodes, before the software process is started.
As of Release 2.0.1, the Oracle PCA Dashboard provides an option to automatically configure the management network for a VLAN. After the upgrade is completed, you need to set this configuration option to enable VLAN support for the management network. See Section 2.4, “Network Settings” for more information on setting this configuration option.
To update the appliance software to Release 2.0.1 you must first execute the procedure in Section 2.6.2, “Updating the Oracle PCA Controller Software”. After successful completion, perform the additional procedure described in Section 2.6.3, “Upgrading the Virtualization Platform”.
Release 2.0.5 is also a mandatory intermediate step on the upgrade path to a future release. Critical changes include:
product name change from Oracle Virtual Compute Appliance (VCA) to Oracle Private Cloud Appliance (PCA)
Oracle Linux kernel upgrade
support for a new generation of hardware: Oracle Server X5-2 (expansion compute nodes and base racks)
Oracle VM upgrade to Release 3.2.9
To update the appliance software to Release 2.0.5 you must first execute the procedure in Section 2.6.2, “Updating the Oracle PCA Controller Software”. After successful completion, perform the additional procedure described in Section 2.6.3, “Upgrading the Virtualization Platform”.
Updates of the Oracle PCA controller software are performed from the command line of the master management node. Software updates are a three-phase process. First, a zipped ISO containing the updated software must be downloaded from My Oracle Support and made available on an HTTP or FTP server. From there, the ISO is downloaded to the ZFS storage appliance. When the download is complete and the software is unpacked in the appropriate directories, the update is activated and applied to each affected component.
If direct public access is not available within your data center and you make use of proxy servers to facilitate HTTP, HTTPS and FTP traffic, it may be necessary to edit the Oracle PCA system properties, using the CLI on each management node, to ensure that the correct proxy settings are specified for a download to succeed from the Internet. This depends on the network location from where the download is served. See Section 7.1, “Adding Proxy Settings for Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Updates” for more information.
Optional: Rebooting the Management Node Cluster
Although not strictly necessary, it may be useful to reboot both management nodes before starting the appliance software update. This leaves the management node cluster in the cleanest possible state, ensures that no system resources are occupied unnecessarily, and eliminates potential interference from processes that have not completed properly.
Using SSH and an account with superuser privileges, log into both management nodes using the IP addresses you configured in the Network Setup tab of the Oracle PCA Dashboard. If you use two separate consoles you can view both side by side.
NoteThe default
rootpassword is Welcome1.In all software versions prior to the product name change (Release 2.0.5) you should use ovca-* commands instead of pca-*.
Run the command pca-check-master on both management nodes to verify which node owns the master role.
Reboot the management node that is NOT currently the master. Enter init 6 at the prompt.
Ping the machine you rebooted. When it comes back online, reconnect using SSH and monitor system activity to determine when the secondary management node takes over the master role. Enter this command at the prompt: tail -f /var/log/messages. New system activity notifications will be output to the screen as they are logged.
In the other SSH console, which is connected to the current active management node, enter init 6 to reboot the machine and initiate management node failover.
The log messages in the other SSH console should now indicate when the secondary management node takes over the master role.
Verify that both management nodes have come back online after reboot and that the master role has been transferred to the other manager. Run the command pca-check-master on both management nodes.
If this is the case, proceed with the software update procedure below.
Updating the Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Software
Updates are controlled with pca-updater commands. To display usage options, enter pca-updater --help at the shell prompt of the management node.
The command used throughout this procedure is pca-updater. However, in all software versions prior to the product name change (Release 2.0.5) you should use ovca-updater instead.
Log into My Oracle Support and download the required Oracle PCA software update.
You can find the update by searching for the product name “Oracle Private Cloud Appliance”, or for the Patch or Bug Number associated with the update you need.
Make the update, a zipped ISO, available on an HTTP or FTP server that is reachable from your Oracle PCA.
Using SSH and an account with superuser privileges, log into the management node.
NoteThe default
rootpassword is Welcome1.Connect to the management node using its IP address in the data center network, as you configured it in the Network Setup tab of the Oracle PCA Dashboard. For details, see Section 2.4, “Network Settings”.
NoteThe data center IP address used in this procedure is an example.
# ssh root@10.100.1.101 root@10.100.1.101's password: root@ovcamn05r1 ~]#
Download the ISO to your Oracle PCA.
# pca-updater -m download -s -u http://
download-url.example.com/pca-version-build.iso.zipDownload of http://download-url.example.com/pca-version-build.iso.zipstarted successfully. \ Task id is 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67Check the progress of the ISO download. When the download is finished, proceed with the next step.
# pca-updater -m download -l -i 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 Task ID Pct Elapsed time Status 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 60% 155.305 sec RUNNING # pca-updater -m download -l -i 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 Task ID Pct Elapsed time Status 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 70% 285.904 sec RUNNING # pca-updater -m download -l -i 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 Task ID Pct Elapsed time Status 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 100% 338.102 sec SUCCESS
To list all downloads and their status, enter this command:
# pca-updater -m download -l Task ID Pct Elapsed time Status 5ba4f1a09c9546b29a560e3d6682ce67 100% 338.102 sec SUCCESS
When the download has completed successfully, activate it by launching the update process.
# pca-updater -m update -s WARNING:root:Activating update process. Starting with nonmaster node 192.168.4.4
Once you issue this command, the update process is initiated as described in Section 1.7, “Oracle Private Cloud Appliance Software Update”.
Check the progress of the software update.
# pca-updater -m update -l Mgmt Node IP Update Started Update Ended Elapsed 192.168.4.4 2013-10-02 16:52:14 ------------------- 0:02:18
If you need to cancel and restart the update process, enter this command on the active management node: pca-updater -m update -x -i
192.168.4.4.NoteAt a certain point during the update process, the active management node is rebooted. As a result, the SSH connection is lost. In addition, this may cause the Dashboard to become unresponsive temporarily, and you may be required to log back in.
When the master management node reboots, the secondary (updated) management node assumes the master role. The original master management node is then also updated and becomes the backup management node.
CautionWhen the first of the two management nodes is updated, the server is configured with a temporary password for approximately one hour: XXXPASSWORDXXX. Attempts to log in with the regular password stored in the Wallet will fail during that time. When the update process is complete, the password is reset to the correct value.
Some releases of the Oracle PCA Controller Software include a new version of Oracle VM. As part of the controller software update, the new Oracle VM Manager Release is automatically installed on both management nodes, and a new YUM repository configuration is pushed to all compute nodes to point them to the packages of the new Oracle VM Server Release. As a result, all compute nodes in the Oracle PCA rack are marked as "out of date" in Oracle VM Manager. The Server Out Of Date event is informational and does not prevent any operations, but it is recommended that you upgrade all compute nodes to the new Oracle VM Server Release at your earliest convenience.
The Oracle VM Server upgrade was intentionally decoupled from the automated controller software update process. This allows you to plan the compute node upgrades and the migration or downtime of your virtual machines in steps and outside peak hours. As a result, service interruptions for users of the Oracle VM environment can be minimized or even eliminated. By following the instructions in this section, you also make sure that previously deployed virtual machines remain fully functional when the appliance update to the new software release is complete.
During an upgrade of Oracle VM Server, no virtual machine can be running on a given compute node. VMs using resources on a shared storage repository can be migrated to other running compute nodes. If a VM uses resources local to the compute node you want to upgrade, it must be shut down, and returned to service after the Oracle VM Server upgrade.
Upgrading a Compute Node to a Newer Oracle VM Server Release
Execute this procedure on each compute node after the software update on the management nodes has completed successfully. At that stage, the YUM repository configuration of all compute nodes has been updated to point to the new Oracle VM Server packages on the Oracle PCA internal storage.
A large part of this procedure must be executed from Oracle VM Manager. An overview of its usage in the context of Oracle PCA, and links to detailed instructions in the Oracle VM documentation, are provided in this Administrator's Guide, in Chapter 4, Managing the Oracle VM Virtual Infrastructure.
Make sure that the appliance software has been updated successfully to the new release.
You can verify this by logging into the master management node and entering the following command:
# pca-diag version 2.0.5_54_2015-06-11
Log in to Oracle VM Manager.
For details, see Section 4.2, “Logging in to the Oracle VM Manager Web UI”.
Identify the master server in the server pool.
In the Servers and VMs tab, select the server pool in the navigation pane.
In the management pane, select the Info perspective from the list in the toolbar.
A configuration overview of the server pool is displayed.
Locate the Master Server setting and write down which server is the pool master.
CautionThe server pool master server should be the last Oracle VM Server to go through this upgrade procedure. This allows you to upgrade the compute nodes one by one without causing the master role to be transferred to another node in the server pool each time. This eliminates potential resource locks and errors related to transferring the master role, and saves a significant amount of time.
Migrate all running virtual machines away from the compute node you want to upgrade.
Information on migrating virtual machines is provided in the Oracle VM User's Guide section entitled Migrating Virtual Machines.
Place the compute node in maintenance mode.
Information on maintenance mode is provided in the Oracle VM User's Guide section entitled Placing an Oracle VM Server into Maintenance Mode.
In the Servers and VMs tab, select the Oracle VM Server in the navigation pane. Click Edit Server in the management pane toolbar.
The Edit Server dialog box is displayed.
Select the Maintenance Mode check box to place the Oracle VM Server into maintenance mode. Click OK.
The Oracle VM Server is in maintenance mode and ready for servicing.
Run the Oracle VM Server update on the compute node in question.
Information on the Oracle VM Server update functionality is provided in the Oracle VM User's Guide section entitled Updating and Upgrading Oracle VM Servers.
In the Servers and VMs tab, select the server pool in the navigation pane.
In the management pane, select the Servers perspective from the list in the toolbar.
A table is displayed with all servers in the server pool.
Select the appropriate compute node in the management pane table and click Update Server in the management pane toolbar.
As part of the update procedure, the Oracle VM Server is restarted but remains in maintenance mode.
WarningIf the compute node does not reboot during the update, you must restart it from within Oracle VM Manager.
Take the compute node out of maintenance mode.
In the Servers and VMs tab, select the Oracle VM Server in the navigation pane. Click Edit Server in the management pane toolbar.
The Edit Server dialog box is displayed.
Clear the Maintenance Mode check box. Click OK.
The Oracle VM Server rejoins the server pool as a fully functioning member.
Repeat this procedure for each compute node in your Oracle PCA.
CautionThe server pool master server should be the last Oracle VM Server to go through this upgrade procedure. This allows you to upgrade the compute nodes one by one without causing the master role to be transferred to another node in the server pool each time. This eliminates potential resource locks and errors related to transferring the master role, and saves a significant amount of time.
The appliance software update is now complete. The Oracle PCA is ready to resume all normal operations.
All the software components in a given Oracle PCA release are
designed to work together. As a general rule, no individual
appliance component should be upgraded. If a firmware upgrade is
required for one or more components, the correct version is
distributed inside the Oracle PCA .iso
file you downloaded from
My Oracle Support. When the image
file is unpacked on the internal shared storage, the firmwares
are located in this directory:
/nfs/shared_storage/mgmt_image/firmware/ .
There are currently no specific or additional procedures to upgrade the firmware of an Oracle PCA hardware component. Unless otherwise instructed, you may follow the instructions provided in the product documentation of the subcomponent. An overview of the documentation for appliance components can be found in the Preface of this book and on the index page of the Oracle PCA Documentation Library.