Ensure the System Is In Ready State

Patches can be applied with limited impact on the system. No downtime is required, and user workloads continue to run while the underlying infrastructure is being patched in stages. However, it is considered good practice to ensure that backups are created of the system and the resources in your environment.

Fault Log

Note:

The upgrade fault category is available when the appliance is running software version 3.0.2-b1185392 or later. Version 3.0.2-b1261765 or later is also capable of blocking commands.

When preparing for patching, check the system fault log. Issues with potential impact on upgrade and patching are flagged as upgrade faults, and will prevent any upgrade or patch command from running. The Service CLI provides filtering options for these faults, as shown in these examples:

PCA-ADMIN> list fault fields upgradeFault,Status,Severity
Data:
  id                                     Upgrade Fault   Status    Severity
  --                                     -------------   ------    --------
  37f6cefe-f7d5-49a8-adff-76c1a020bcc8   False           Cleared   Critical
  2be57600-4dbd-40f0-a0f8-e4ffbb2c8468   True            Active    Critical
  297c770e-16e1-11ef-9e78-a8698c107234   True            Cleared   Major
  d27e0895-eb87-4e66-bd4b-f6500153cf64   True            Cleared   Critical
  77752a35-4cf7-49ed-88df-06158d846358   True            Active    Critical
  9ff4fe22-8ed6-463f-95b5-458d6a76d185   False           Active    Critical
  0a09204c-953e-4df3-912b-a2a175ce8c1a   True            Cleared   Critical
[...]

PCA-ADMIN> list fault where upgradeFault EQ True
Data:
  id                                     Name                                        Status    Severity
  --                                     ----                                        ------    --------
  2be57600-4dbd-40f0-a0f8-e4ffbb2c8468   pcamn01--PCA-8000-44--asrclient             Active    Critical
  297c770e-16e1-11ef-9e78-a8698c107234   ilom-pcacn001--PCA-8000-EA--ilom-pcacn001   Cleared   Major
  0a09204c-953e-4df3-912b-a2a175ce8c1a   pcamn01--PCA-8000-AH--mysql_cluster         Cleared   Critical
  f7da7c82-03bc-4383-95cf-542cefbb5d39   pcamn01--PCA-8000-CD--mysql_cluster         Cleared   Critical
  74fd23ac-3006-4ab6-9c50-544869ba78f9   pcamn02--PCA-8000-6C--registry              Cleared   Critical
  dc77b088-939d-4725-b45f-1072024b02ba   pcamn02--PCA-8000-0E--etcd                  Cleared   Critical
  d27e0895-eb87-4e66-bd4b-f6500153cf64   pcamn01--PCA-8000-22--vault                 Cleared   Critical
  77752a35-4cf7-49ed-88df-06158d846358   pcamn01--PCA-8000-93--mysql_cluster         Active    Critical

Pre-Checks

Every patch operation is preceded by a set of pre-checks. These are built into the code and will report an error if the system is not in the required state for patching. Patching will only begin if all pre-checks are passed.

You can use the pre-checks to test in advance for any system health issues that would prevent a successful patch. After preparing the environment for patching, run any or all of the patch commands with the "verify only" option. In the Service Web UI this option is activated with a check box when you create the patch request; in the Service CLI you use the optional patch command parameter shown in this example:

PCA-ADMIN> patchKubernetes ULN=http://host.example.com/yum verifyOnly=True
[...]

PCA-ADMIN> getUpgradeJobs
  id                                      upgradeRequestId                           commandName          result
  --                                      ----------------                           -----------          ------
  1632849609034-kubernetes_verify-10575   UWS-8995e5b7-a237-4717-bb5c-01f1cf85daf0   kubernetes_verify    Passed

If issues are detected, either from the fault log or the pre-checks, you can resolve them before the planned patch window, and keep the actual patching operations as fluent and short as possible.

It is important to note that concurrent patch operations are not supported. An upgrade/patch job must be completed before a new one can be started.