Upgrading your Capacity Max system? Here are some notes from me.
I've recently spent some fun time upgrading the Capacity Max demonstration systems I look after. While I was vaguely familiar (high-level) with the process, I hadn't performed an upgrade for some time; so it was good to get my hands dirty again.
The systems in question were still on R2.9.0 and R2.10.0 and my goal was to upgrade both to M2021.04 (which is the latest at the time of writing this post). The upgrade process is described in the detail in the manual but here are some things which stuck in my mind.
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| The MN003506A01 upgrade guide. |
MN003506A01 (currently revision AR) is the document to download and read before starting anything. This ensures you are familiar with the process and can clear up anything before getting stuck in.
You only need to order the latest version of ESU Launchpad
The latest version of ESU Launchpad will support older upgrade CVN????.zip files.
ESU Launchpad uses VMware Vsphere player to create a RHEL VM on your PC onto which the ISO files in the CVN????.zip are staged. The VM also hosts a web user interface you would access using your browser.
It needs to be ordered as there is a software licence needed for VMware Vsphere player.
Bring food; drinks and some reading material.
Non-alcoholic drinks would be better, but hey.
Plan for around 4 hours per release, depending on your system size.
The CMSS upgrade process consists of some clicking action by looking at the screen waiting for the process to complete. During this time, it's worthwhile to do some other stuff.
Don't get too distracted as you might miss something that needs clicking.
Why so long? There are four virtual machines on a CMSS. These virtual machines are using VMware's ESXI. All of these get upgraded and patched. The server's ILO and firmware also get an upgrade.
One step at a time.
If like me, you are upgrading from R2.9.0 to M2021.04, you have to upgrade to R2.10.0; then M2020.01; then M2020.02... You cannot go from R2.9.0 to M2021.04 in one step.
If you are upgrading a demonstration system like mine, you can upgrade the CMSS and skip most of the releases on the repeaters and radios.
If they are on an old firmware, radios and repeaters need to be upgraded to R2.10.0, the SMA added and then upgraded to the latest. Radio Management wont allow you to upgrade from a pre-R2.10.0 release to something later by mistake.
The PC used to do this.
Use a higher specification; reliable Windows PC with lots of disk space. If you don't have a lot of disk space, you will need to do a file storage cleanup after each CMSS upgrade.
If you have multiple CMSSes to be upgraded; on the same software release, you should only do the file storage cleanup once all of them have been upgraded.
CMSS upgrade in this case means all the ISO files in the upgrade package have been deployed and the CMSS is up and running on the newer version.
Why? Just in case.
Part of the process of upgrading the system, is an upgrade to Radio Management. Although its never happened to me, there is a risk that the database could get corrupted. Having a backup allows you to rollback and not lose any data.
You are regularly backing up your database, right?!
HPE DL380g9 and the SmartStorage battery.
If you have a CMSS which uses the Proliant DL380g9 and this was delivered some time ago, you need to think about swapping out the SmartStorage battery sometime soon. This is not the RTC battery! The battery pack can go bad after some years. To check the state of health of this battery, go to the ILO of the server.
To open the ILO, firstly make sure that the ILO port is connected to your PC. By default, it uses DHCP so you might need to connect this port and your PC to the (or a) Router to assign them an IP address.
HPE DL380g9 and the SmartStorage battery.
If you have a CMSS which uses the Proliant DL380g9 and this was delivered some time ago, you need to think about swapping out the SmartStorage battery sometime soon. This is not the RTC battery! The battery pack can go bad after some years. To check the state of health of this battery, go to the ILO of the server.
To open the ILO, firstly make sure that the ILO port is connected to your PC. By default, it uses DHCP so you might need to connect this port and your PC to the (or a) Router to assign them an IP address.
Open the login page by entering the ILO IP address in your browser. If you used the DHCP service of the on-site Router, this will either be 172.16.1.250 - 254 or 172.21.0.58 - 62.
The username and password are on the pull-out tag of the server.
If you see an alarm or warning on the battery or storage, it's time to install a new battery. The procedure to install a new battery is shown in this video.
You need a SMA to go past R2.10
This applies to both the repeaters and CMSS. The documentation is not so clear on this point as far as I'm concerned. CMSS that were sold after R2.10.0 will come with a 5-year SMA.
When upgrading from R2.10.0 to M2020.01, the ESU Launchpad will ask you to enter the entitlement ID for the CMSS. At this point, the PC on which you're running ESU Launchpad needs an internet connection so the software can validate the EID.
Do you have to upgrade?
If one or more of the below conditions apply to you, then the answer is yes:
1. The system will expand and you will be adding new repeaters (that have new firmware).
2. You would like to get technical support sometime from Motorola Solutions*
3. You want the new features, introduced after whichever release the system is currently sitting on.
4. You want to ensure the system has all the security patches.
* Motorola Solutions may refuse to provide technical support if the system is on a software release that is older than two major releases. At the time of writing this post (1 June 2022), M2021.04 is the latest and greatest which means anything older than M2020.01 will not be supported.
[Updated: 01.06.2022]
[Updated: 01.06.2022]
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