Live Upgrade

A live upgrade maintains your previous cluster configuration until you have upgraded all nodes and you commit to the upgrade. If the upgraded configuration causes a problem, you can revert to your previous cluster configuration until you can rectify the problem.

The cluster outage is limited to the amount of time that is needed to reboot the cluster nodes into the upgraded boot environment.

Observe the following additional restrictions and requirements for the live upgrade method:

• Minimum Solaris OS patch level - The following are the minimum Solaris OS patch levels that are required to use Solaris Live Upgrade.

  • Solaris 10 OS on SPARC — 137321–01

  • Solaris 10 OS on x86 — 137322 —01

  • Solaris 9 OS on SPARC — 137477–01

  • Solaris 9 OS on x86 — 137478–01

• Minimum version of Live Upgrade software - To use the live upgrade method, you must use the Solaris Live Upgrade packages from at least the Solaris 9 9/05 or Solaris 10 release. This requirement applies to clusters running on all Solaris OS versions, including Solaris 8 software. The live upgrade procedures provide instructions for upgrading these packages.

• ZFS root file system – If you also upgrade the Solaris OS, use only the live-upgrade method to upgrade a cluster that uses ZFS for the root file system.

• Dual-partition upgrade - The live upgrade method cannot be used in conjunction with a dual-partition upgrade.

• Non-global zones - Unless the cluster is already running on at least Solaris 10 11/06, the live upgrade method does not support the upgrade of clusters that have non-global zones that are configured on any of the cluster nodes. Instead, use the standard upgrade or dual-partition upgrade method.

• Disk space - To use the live upgrade method, you must have enough spare disk space available to make a copy of each node's boot environment. You reclaim this disk space after the upgrade is complete and you have verified and committed the upgrade. For information about space requirements for an inactive boot environment, refer to Solaris Live Upgrade Disk Space Requirements in Solaris 9 9/04 Installation Guide orAllocating Disk and Swap Space in Solaris 10 10/09 Installation Guide: Planning for Installation and Upgrade.