5.1 Upgrading Overview

When upgrading Oracle VM, you must upgrade Oracle VM Manager first, then upgrade the Oracle VM Servers managed by the Oracle VM Manager that you have just upgraded. The Oracle VM Manager upgrade is performed with the Oracle VM Manager ISO file/CD.

If running Oracle VM Server on x86 hardware, the Oracle VM Server upgrade can be performed using either the Oracle VM Server CD, or using Oracle VM Manager from a server update repository. The server update repository retrieves the Oracle VM Server updates from the Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). To access ULN, you need an Oracle Support contract.

For Oracle VM Servers that are running on SPARC hardware, the upgrade cannot be achieved using the update facility provided within Oracle VM Manager. Instead, you must use the update script provided with the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software, or from a Solaris IPS repository with the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC Release 3.3.1 software.

If you intend to upgrade Oracle VM Servers that have never been under the ownership of an Oracle VM Manager instance, it is necessary that you discover and take ownership of these servers using the original release of the Oracle VM Manager software before the Oracle VM Manager software is upgraded. It may be more appropriate to reinstall these servers using the newer version of the Oracle VM Server software.

Important

  • Oracle supports different versions of Oracle VM Server in a server pool only for the duration of the Oracle VM upgrade process.

    After the upgrade is complete, all instances of Oracle VM Server should be at the same version across your Oracle VM environment. If you have instances of Oracle VM Server at different versions in a production environment, unexpected behavior and issues with high availability (HA) can occur.

  • When upgrading Oracle VM Server, you can add an instance of Oracle VM Server to a server pool only if that instance is at the same version or later than the servers in that server pool. For example, if a server pool contains several servers at Release 3.3.x, you can add a server at either Release 3.3.x or at Release 3.4.x.

Before you begin the Oracle VM upgrade, download the Oracle VM software from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud at:

http://edelivery.oracle.com/oraclevm

More information on obtaining the software is covered in Section 1.2, “Getting Installation ISOs and Packages”.

If you have an Oracle Support contract, you can also download Oracle VM patch updates from the My Oracle Support web site at:

https://support.oracle.com

The process you should follow when upgrading Oracle VM is described in a high level view below. More detailed information is available in the sections that follow.

To upgrade Oracle VM:

  1. Download the Oracle VM software from the Oracle Software Delivery Cloud. Extract the software to the component ISO files.

  2. To upgrade Oracle VM Manager:

    1. Mount the Oracle VM Manager ISO file or burn and load the CD on the Oracle VM Manager host computer.

    2. On the Oracle VM Manager host computer, run the runInstaller.sh script from the mounted Oracle VM Manager ISO file/CD or directory to upgrade Oracle VM Manager and select the Upgrade option.

  3. To upgrade Oracle VM Server on x86 hardware:

    • If you are upgrading Oracle VM Server between 3.3.x errata releases, do one of the following:

      • Set up a Yum repository which retrieves updates from the Oracle VM 3.x channel on ULN. On the Oracle VM Manager host, use the UpgradeServers.py script to batch update servers within your environment. This is the preferred method of upgrading Oracle VM Servers.

      • Set up a Yum repository which retrieves updates from the Oracle VM 3.x channel on ULN. Then, from Oracle VM Manager, add the Yum repository as a server update repository, place each Oracle VM Server into maintenance mode, and update each Oracle VM Server. When the update is complete, take each Oracle VM Server out of maintenance mode.

      • Burn the Oracle VM Server ISO file to a bootable CD. Upgrade each Oracle VM Server using the Oracle VM Server CD.

    • If you are upgrading from Oracle VM Server Release 3.2 or earlier to Release 3.3, do one of the following:

      • Set up two Yum repositories, one as a transitional repository containing the packages for Release 3.2, and a second containing the target packages for Release 3.3. When the Yum repositories are in place, you can run the UpgradeServers.py script on the Oracle VM Manager host to batch update servers as required.

      • Remove the Oracle VM Server from the server pool, delete the Oracle VM Server from Oracle VM Manager, and then reinstall the Oracle VM Server using the 3.3.x installation media. After the installation is complete, you then discover the Oracle VM Server with Oracle VM Manager and add it to the appropriate server pool.

        Important

        Reinstalling Oracle VM Server deletes all configuration settings.

  4. To upgrade Oracle VM Server on SPARC hardware:

    • If you are upgrading from Oracle VM Agent for SPARC Release 3.2.x, do the following:

      1. If required, update Oracle VM Server for SPARC to Oracle Solaris 11.1 SRU 10 or higher.

      2. Download the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software.

      3. Run the update script to upgrade Oracle VM Agent for SPARC.

    • If you are upgrading between Oracle VM Agent for SPARC 3.3.x Releases, do the following:

      1. Set up two Solaris IPS (Image Packaging System) repositories, a solaris repository and an ovm repository.

      2. Download the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software.

      3. Transfer the Oracle VM Agent for SPARC software to the ovm IPS repository.

      4. Run the UpgradeServers.py script on the Oracle VM Manager host, or through the Oracle VM Manager user interface, to upgrade Oracle VM Agent for SPARC.

The following sections discuss these steps in more detail.

Caution

When Oracle VM Manager is upgraded, you must upgrade all the Oracle VM Servers managed by that instance of Oracle VM Manager before you can return the Oracle VM environment to normal operation. Rolling upgrades of the Oracle VM Servers is supported, but Oracle VM Manager and all Oracle VM Servers must be at the same software revision level during normal operation of the Oracle VM environment. For example, Oracle VM Manager and all Oracle VM Servers should be running Oracle VM Release 3.3.

Note

It is important that you ensure that each server has the required space to be able to perform an upgrade. It is good practice to remove any files that are no longer required from the /boot and / directories on each server prior to upgrade.

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