Upgrading System Software Using the Sys-Tools Application

Use the following workflow to upgrade the operating system of an Edge 8000 device. These instructions use the Edge 8000 system tools (sys-tools) application to perform the upgrade.

The examples illustrate an upgrade from Alma8 to Alma9; however the same instructions apply to a ROHOS RHEL upgrade.

Prerequisites

• System Administrator (sysadm) login access to the Command Line Interface (CLI)

• The new ISO image file supplied by Ribbon or available in Ribbon Global Service Center (GSC) 

Workflow

Back up the System Configuration Settings

Use this procedure to save the configuration settings of your Edge 8000 device to a backup file.

1. Log in to the Edge 8000 CLI as System Administrator (sysadm) and enter the password.

2. Change permission to root user by entering the command sudo -i. Then enter the sysadm user password.

3. Run the system tools (sys-tools) command to back up the device's configuration settings.

   sys-tools config backup <backup_file_name>

   The following example gives the name "backup_before_alma8to9_upgrade" as the prefix of the backup filename.
   

    sys-tools config backup backup_before_alma8to9_upgrade

4. Store the backup file at an off-site location.

   Note

   Ribbon highly recommends storing the backup at an off-site location to ensure its recovery in the event of an on-site disaster.

Copy the New ISO Image File to the Device

Use this procedure to copy the new ISO image file to the Edge 8000 device.

Start

1. Log in to the Edge 8000 CLI as System Administrator (sysadm) and enter the password.

2. Change permission to root user by entering the command sudo -i. Then enter the sysadm user password.

3. Verify the integrity of the image file. Confirm that the file size on the Ribbon download server is the same size as on the management computer.

4. Verify there is sufficient space to copy the new image file to the device. 

   1. Check the available space. Compare it to the size of the new image file.
      
      Example

      # df -lah /e8k-data/
      Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
      /dev/sda1       8.6G  3.3G  4.9G  41% /e8k-data 

   2. List the existing image files.

      Example

      # sys-tools image ls
      CommonOs-alma.host-8.6-v1.0.0b17219-x86_64.iso
      CommonOs-alma.host-8.6-v23.6.0b18010-x86_64.iso (active)

   3. If there are two image files, remove the image that is not active to make room for the new image file.
      Ribbon recommends deleting the non-active image to allow the active image to be available should a downgrade be necessary.
      

      Example

      # sys-tools image delete CommonOs-alma.host-8.6-v1.0.0b17219-x86_64.iso
      
      # sys-tools image ls
      CommonOs-alma.host-8.6-v23.6.0b18010-x86_64.iso (active)

5. Transfer the new ISO image file and the associated md5sum file to the persistent partition, directory /e8k-data, using the CLI scp command.
   The sys-tools image installation tool verifies that the md5sum of the ISO file matches the value in the md5sum file before starting the installation to avoid any issues with a corrupted ISO file. If there is an error, then the installation will not proceed. 
   

Upgrade the Edge 8000

Use this procedure to make the copied image file the active file, uninstall the existing rpm sys-tools package and install a new sys-tools package, and install the new ISO image file.

Start

1. Log in to the Edge 8000 CLI as System Administrator (sysadm) and enter the password.

2. Change permission to root user by entering the command sudo -i. Then enter the sysadm user password.

3. Make the copied image file the active file.
   Syntax
   sys-tools image active <ISO_image_file_name>

4. Uninstall the rpm sys-tools package currently installed in the system.

    rpm -e $(rpm -qa | grep sys-tools)

5. Install the new rpm sys-tools package from the mounted ISO.

    rpm -ivh /LocalRepos/E8000/rpm/sys-tools*.rpm

6. Run the command to install the active ISO image file (the one you just copied and made active). 
   The sys-tools image install command backs up the system configuration, reboots from the active ISO image, and restores the system configuration. The entire process takes about 40 minutes.

   sys-tools image install <ISO_image_file_name> 

   The following figures show the sequence of prompts and displays that appear during the installation.

   1. Type yes when prompted with the message "Continue (yes.no)?" Then press Enter.
      The system reboots. The new ISO image is highlighted in the Grub menu and the installation automatically begins within 10 seconds. 
      (The following figures illustrate an upgrade from Alma8 to Alma9. A similar sequence appears when upgrading to a new ROHOS RHEL image.)

      
      
      

   2. Select *Install AlmaLinux 9.4 SERIAL and press Enter to begin installing the new software on the boot partition of the hard disk.
      

   3. Type y/Y when prompted with the message "Installation is complete,  press 'y/Y' to proceed:"

      
      
      
      
      
      

7. This completes the software upgrade with the system configuration restored.

Perform Post-Upgrade Activities

Start

1. Configure the RAMP IP address if the upgrade is from 24.0 to 24.1.
   

   Note

   This is only required once following an upgrade from 24.0 to 24.1. Thereafter the system maintains the RAMP IP address in the System > Node-Level Settings of the Edge 8000 webUI.

   1. In the Edge 8000 webUI, click the Settings tab.
   2. Navigate to System > Node-Level Settings.
   3. Select Yes from the pull-down menu for field Connect to RAMP.
   4. Enter the Management Address.

2. Configure a default route for the SWe Edge function in case anyone wants to ping the IPs from endpoints that are not in the same subnet as the interface IPs (BR1, BR4).