Upgrade Requirements and Software Support Guidelines

Observe the following requirements and software-support guidelines when you upgrade to Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software:

• Upgrade of x86 based systems - On x86 based systems, you cannot upgrade from the Solaris 9 OS to the Solaris 10 OS. You must reinstall the cluster with a fresh installation of the Solaris 10 OS and Sun Cluster 3.2 software for x86 based systems. Follow procedures in Chapter 2, Installing Software on Global-Cluster Nodes, in Sun Cluster Software Installation Guide for Solaris OS.

• Minimum Sun Cluster software version - Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software supports the following direct upgrade paths:

  • SPARC: From version 3.0 including update releases to version 3.2 1/09 - Use the standard upgrade method only.

  • SPARC: From version 3.1 including update releases to version 3.2 1/09 - Use the standard, dual-partition, or live upgrade method.

  • From version 3.2 to version 3.2 1/09 - Use the standard, dual-partition, or live upgrade method.

  • From version 3.2 to version 3.2 1/09 with no Solaris upgrade or Solaris upgrade only to an update release – You can also use the rolling upgrade method.

  See Choosing a Sun Cluster Upgrade Method for additional requirements and restrictions for each upgrade method.

• Patch requirement - The following are the minimum Sun Cluster patch levels that are required. Apply the appropriate patch to your cluster before you start to upgrade Sun Cluster software. These patches contain versioning functionality that is necessary for Sun Cluster upgrade:

  • Solaris 9 OS - 125510–02

  • Solaris 10 OS on SPARC - 125511–02

  • Solaris 10 OS on x86 - 125512–02

• Minimum Solaris OS - The cluster must run on or be upgraded to at least Solaris 9 9/05 software or Solaris 10 5/08 software, including the most current required patches. The Solaris 9 OS is supported only on SPARC based platforms.

• Supported hardware - The cluster hardware must be a supported configuration for Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software. Contact your Sun representative for information about current supported Sun Cluster configurations.

• Architecture changes during upgrade - Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software does not support upgrade between architectures.

• Software migration - Do not migrate from one type of software product to another product during Sun Cluster upgrade. For example, migration from Solaris Volume Manager disk sets to VxVM disk groups or from UFS file systems to VxFS file systems is not supported during Sun Cluster upgrade. Perform only software configuration changes that are specified by upgrade procedures of an installed software product.

• Global-devices partition size - If the size of your /global/.devices/node@nodeid partition is less than 512 Mbytes but it provides sufficient space for existing device nodes, you do not need to change the file-system size. The 512-Mbyte minimum applies to new installations of Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software.

  However, you must still ensure that the global-devices file system has ample space and ample inode capacity for existing devices and for any new devices that you intend to configure. Certain configuration changes, such as adding disks, disk volumes, or metadevices, might require increasing the partition size to provide sufficient additional inodes.

• Data services - Sun Cluster 3.0 data services are not supported on Sun Cluster 3.2 software. You must upgrade all Sun Cluster 3.0 data service software to a supported version and migrate resources to the new resource-type version. However, you can continue to use data service software from Sun Cluster 3.1 or 3.2 releases after you upgrade the cluster to the Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 release.

• Upgrading to compatible versions - You must upgrade all software on the cluster nodes to a version that is supported by Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software. For example, if a version of an application is supported on Sun Cluster 3.1 software but is not supported on Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software, you must upgrade that application to the version that is supported on Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software, if such a version exists. See Supported Products in Sun Cluster Release Notes for information about supported products.

• Converting from NAFO to IPMP groups - For upgrade from a Sun Cluster 3.0 release, have available the test IP addresses to use with your public-network adapters when NAFO groups are converted to IP network multipathing groups. The scinstall upgrade utility prompts you for a test IP address for each public-network adapter in the cluster. A test IP address must be on the same subnet as the primary IP address for the adapter.

  See System Administration Guide: IP Services (Solaris 9) or Chapter 31, Administering IPMP (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: IP Services (Solaris 10) for information about test IP addresses for IPMP groups.

• Downgrade - Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software does not support any downgrade of Sun Cluster software.

• Limitation of scinstall for data-service upgrades - The scinstall upgrade utility only upgrades those data services that are provided with Sun Cluster 3.2 1/09 software. You must manually upgrade any custom or third-party data services.