MOP to increase vCPUs Prior to Upgrading SBC SWe on VMware or KVM Hypervisor (8.2.5R000)

The SBC Core release 8.2 includes a feature that extends the use of hyper-threading to SBC SWe when it is installed on either the VMware or KVM Hypervisor platform. To take advantage of the performance improvements provided by hyper-threading, you must increase (double) the number of vCPUs configured in the VM prior to a software upgrade if upgrading SBC SWe KVM Hypervisor or VMware from pre-07.01.00R000 release to 07.01.00R000 or higher:

If upgrading vCPUs from less than 10 to 10 or more, use the procedure below:

1. On the VMware platform only, before beginning the upgrade, disable the CPU reservation check inside the guest by renaming the file: vmware-toolbox-cmd. For example, issue the following command:
   mv /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd.bak
2. Stop standby SBC by issuing "sbxstop". Wait until the SBC processes stop.
3. Shutdown the standby SBC by issuing "power off" command.
4. Increase vCPU count on the powered off standby SBC.
5. Stop active SBC by issuing "sbxstop". Wait until the SBC processes stop. Note that this is service affecting since both SBCs are stopped now.
6. Shutdown the active SBC by issuing "power off" command.
7. Increase vCPU count on the powered off active SBC.
8. Power on an active SBC. Wait for the SBC to fully start as active.
9. Power on a standby SBC. The SBCs should start as standby and get in sync with active SBC.

For any other CPU upgrade combination, use the procedure below:

1. On the VMware platform only, before beginning the upgrade, disable the CPU reservation check inside the guest by renaming the file: vmware-toolbox-cmd  For example, issue the following command: 
   mv /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd.bak
2. For either platform, before starting the upgrade procedure, shutdown the standby VM instance and double the number of vCPUs specified for the VM. Refer to the procedure you used creating a VM that is appropriate for your specific deployment: 
    (VMware) Creating a New SBC SWe VM Instance with VMXNET3 (step 7) 
   (VMware) Creating a New SBC SWe VM Instance with Direct IO Passthru (step 7) 
   (KVM) Creating a New SBC SWe Instance on KVM Hypervisor (step 6) 
   (KVM) Creating a New SBC SWe Instance with PCI Pass-Through Device (step 6)
3. After increasing the number of vCPUs, power on the standby instance with the increased number of vCPUs in the same release.
4. Switch over the active instance, so that the standby becomes the new active instance. Don't wait for the standby instance to come up. It may not come up due to the resource mismatch.
5. Shutdown the new standby instance and double its number of vCPUs, as done earlier in step 2.
6. Bring up (power on) the new standby and wait for the active and standby nodes to sync.