DIP upgrade from EMC VNX 5500 to VNX 5700

Posted by Rob Koper on May 23, 2013 Leave a comment (6) Go to comments

Data In Place upgrading an EMC VNX 5500 to VNX 5700

Last week I had the pleasure of being involved in a data in place upgrade of a VNX 5500 that was in desperate need of more capacity and performance. The decision was made to perform a DIP, so this is in fact an easy procedure: replace the Storage Processors and you’re good to go? Well, almost.

After the obvious checks:

Are there currently any open Service Requests for failed drives for example?
Does USM give any blocking warnings?

Well, the system only had a single HBA connectivity issue on some unimportant server, so we were good to go. We disabled the schedule for some incoming SAN Copy sessions and manually fractured all mirrorview groups.

Uploading the new code

Monitoring_VNX_putty Using USM we upgraded the Utility Partition and we uploaded the “In Family Conversion Package” to both SPs. During this process we had a laptop connected to each SP using a serial cable and “putty” (with default settings, so 9600,8,N,1) with logging enabled (!!!). Having logging enabled is important, because when problems emerge, these logs are needed by EMC. So now both SPs needed to be rebooted and since the new code was model 5700 specific and the hardware was still a 5500, both SPs halted right after the POST and we could indeed monitor this in our putty tool. After this restart we switched off the SPSs and the VNX 5500 shut down gracefully.

The logging of SPB showed the following (slightly edited to avoid the very lengthy pieces of text):

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2011
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Sentry: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 41.90
Build Date: Tue Dec 20 08:43:31 2011
BiosRev: 06.90
StartTime: 05/18/2013 08:24:10
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

VVWWXX

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Chassis and disk WWN seeds match.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 08:24:56

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 06.90
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected System BIOS shadowed
Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2011

Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Sentry: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 41.90
Build Date: Tue Dec 20 08:43:31 2011
BiosRev: 06.90
StartTime: 05/18/2013 08:42:50
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

VVWWXX

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
WARNING: POST has been instructed to stop the boot sequence!
************************************************************
EndTime: 05/18/2013 08:43:35

…. Storage System Failure – Contact your Service Representative …
WARNING: PSB Detects: AC Fail Fault! PS_GEN_STAT: 00 00 00 10 20 D0
WARNING: PSA Detects: AC Fail Fault! PS_GEN_STAT: 00 00 00 10 20 D0
WARNING: PSA Detects: Other power-supply failure! PS_GEN_STAT: 00 00 00 50 20 90
WARNING: PSB Detects: Power-Supply Fault! PS_GEN_STAT: 00 00 70 10 26 5A

The red text indicates that everything went well and the operating system indeed detected that the hardware didn’t match the 5700 yet.

The last 5 lines indicate the shutting down of the SPSs.

Switching the “old” Storage Processors for new ones

As you can see in the first picture in the (thin) red circle, the old SPs were still in place and the top of the SPs matched the rack space and fitted the space exactly underneath the first DAE (disk array enclosure). Since now the 3U 5500 DPE (disk processor enclosure) will be replaced by a 2U 5700 SPE (storage processor enclosure) and all 15 disks from the DPE would need to be removed from the DPE and placed into the new empty 3U DAE 0_0, we needed 2U extra rack space. The SPSs didn’t have to be replaced, so those will simply be reused. But this leaves us with the fact that we are getting rid of a 3U DPE, but we need to place a 2U SPE as well as a 3U DAE. We decided to move all DAEs to the next position, so we would get a free 3U DAE space where DAE 1_0 used to be. As you can see in the 2nd photo (red circle with arrow)the new SPE is in place as well as the new DAE 0_0, leaving a small 1U gap. But since we weren’t going to need this 1U, this gap will be left there for some extra cooling (actually the SPSs were that heavy that we decided it wouldn’t make sense to move the SPSs and SPE up 1U, so we kept this 1U gap between the SPE and DAE 0_0).

Booting the new SPs

All cables were in place, both BEs (0 and 1) were attached on each SP (At least, that’s what we thought), so the SPSs were switched on again. Having the putty sessions still open we were able to see the boot sequence of the new 5700 machine. During the reboots we noticed that BE1 on the B side couldn’t “see” beyond DAE 0_0 and since we were watching the boring reboot sequences on our putty sessions anyway, we checked the cables and indeed: the cable going from DAE 0_0 tot 0_1 on the B side wasn’t pressed in the slot properly and after doing so all the following DAEs showed their dual connectivity up and running. After all 5 predicted reboots, which took somewhere from 2 to 3 hours (I forgot the exact duration) the machine was up and running and it responded to our pings and the Unisphere logon worked! The slightly edited log of SPB looked like this:

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2012
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Argonaut: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 43.80
Build Date: Fri Aug 10 08:15:13 2012
BiosRev: 08.40
StartTime: 05/18/2013 12:39:34
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

PPPQQQRRR

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
INFORMATION: MCU Operating mode changed from Enginuity to Clariion
INFORMATION: Persistant reboot has occurred
INFORMATION: Persistant reboot has occurred
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Disk WWN seeds match each other but not chassis WWN seed.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 12:41:07

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

System Configuration Data updat

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

Event Log messages

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2012
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Argonaut: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 43.80
Build Date: Fri Aug 10 08:15:13 2012
BiosRev: 08.40
StartTime: 05/18/2013 12:42:37
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

EEEFFFGGG

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: I/O Card 1 Power Up disabled
INFORMATION: POST Start
INFORMATION: Peer reset
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0
DDBS: **** Flare Partition rebooting after IO Module Powerdown for MiniSetup.

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Disk WWN seeds match each other but not chassis WWN seed.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 12:43:39

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2012
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Argonaut: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 43.80
Build Date: Fri Aug 10 08:15:13 2012
BiosRev: 08.40
StartTime: 05/18/2013 12:50:46
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

PPPQQQRRR

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0
DDBS: **** Flare Partition rebooting after finishing MiniSetup.

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Chassis and disk WWN seeds match.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 12:52:14

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2012
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Argonaut: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 43.80
Build Date: Fri Aug 10 08:15:13 2012
BiosRev: 08.40
StartTime: 05/18/2013 12:57:42
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

PPPQQQRRR

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 1
DDBS: **** Info: Reboot count limit currently 8
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Disk WWN seeds match each other but not chassis WWN seed.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 12:59:09

Phoenix SecureCore(tm) Server
Copyright 1985-2010 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved
EMC BIOS Release 08.40
CPU = 1 Processors Detected, Cores per Processor = 4
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5620 @ 2.40GHz
256 KB L2 Cache per Processor Core
12288K L3 Cache Detected
System BIOS shadowed

Copyright (c) EMC Corporation , 2012
Disk Array Subsystem Controller
Model: Argonaut: Clariion
DiagName: Extended POST
DiagRev: 43.80
Build Date: Fri Aug 10 08:15:13 2012
BiosRev: 08.40
StartTime: 05/18/2013 13:05:47
SaSerialNo: CFxyz123456

This product includes software developed by Viola Systems
(http://www.violasystems.com/).

Relocating Data Directory Boot Service (DDBS: Rev. 05.03)…

Autoflash FIRMWARE BUNDLE?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
FIRMWARE BUNDLE image located at sector LBA 0x0002DE00
Autoflash POST?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
POST image located at sector LBA 0x0001C400
Autoflash BIOS?
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 0
BIOS image located at sector LBA 0x00012A00

PPPQQQRRR

************************************************************
* Extended POST Messages
************************************************************

INFORMATION: POST Start
************************************************************

DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: Count = 2
DDBS: **** Info: Reboot count limit currently 8
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: State = 0
DDBS: K10_REBOOT_DATA: ForceDegradedMode = 0

DDBS: SP B Normal Boot Partition
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 1
DDBS: MDDE (Rev 600) on disk 3

DDBS: MDB read from both disks.
DDBS: Chassis and disk WWN seeds match.
DDBS: First disk is valid for boot.
DDBS: Second disk is valid for boot.
FLARE image (0x00400009) located at sector LBA 0x09D3D802
Disk Set: 1 3

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

Total Sectors: 0x0A7FD000
Relative Sectors: 0x00000800

Calculated mirror drive geometry:
Sectors: 63
Heads: 255
Cylinders: 10964
Capacity: 176150528 sectors

EndTime: 05/18/2013 13:07:15

VNX 5700 up and running

The time stamps mentioned in the log don’t match the actual time that Saturday. It looked as if it started on GMT and ended on CEST, so the actual time was something like 2.5 hours. It needs to be said that the upgrade was a textbook upgrade without any problems whatsoever!

Unisphere_5700_check We checked the Unisphere warning page and except for the single HBA error of some server that was there when we started, the VNX was once again error free. Since we now got some extra cache we configured the extra cache so no unused RAM was left over.

Post checks

Everything looked very good indeed, all connectivity was restored, we enabled the mirrorview groups as well as the schedule for these SAN Copy sessions.

Upgrade OE for block and 2 extra BE ports

Right after the DIP we upgraded the OE for block from version 32 patch 011 to patch 015 and along the way we noticed that BE 2 and 3 weren’t initialized. The procedure didn’t mention this, so we searched for a solution on this and even started a live chat to speed things up. Since the live chat is actually meant for “break fix” solutions we didn’t get an answer that could help us, but the support person on the other side was doing his best to patch us through to somebody who knew. And then it dawned to me that I remember reading on ECN about a similar issue on a Clariion CX4-960. And unfortunately this day ECN was in an upgrade, so I didn’t have access to this slightly older solution. I was about to make some calls towards people in Ireland when I remember vaguely that enableing extra ports (the VNX 5700 has 2 more BE ports as well as FE ports compared to the 5500) was easily done by using USM.

In USM we choose “Add or replace system hardware”, then “Hardware installation” followed by “Install I/O modules and/or SFPs” and the rest was the well known “next, next, finish” and after hald an hour or so all 4 BE ports were up and available for use.

Summary

Install the Utility Partition
Install “In Family Conversion Package”
Reboot and switch off
replace DPE for the new SPE and DAE
move disks from DPE to the new DAE
Boot

Done! That was easy!

Configuration, hardware, Storage arrayupgrade, VNX 5500, VNX 5700, VNX Upgrade

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6 Comments.

Victor Forde June 27, 2013 at 11:41

Hi Rob,

Great post and on the job tips!

Is this upgrade a procedure in the VNX Procedure generator (didn’t see it) or does one have to pull together a few procedures from? Just wondering is the whole process officially documented.

Thanks,
Victor

Reply
RRR June 27, 2013 at 15:47

Hello Victor,
yes, the whole procedure comes from the PG indeed. My post was the output of that PG, including logs and pictures that I took when working on it. So if you follow the Pg you should be ok.

Reply
James July 23, 2013 at 17:07

Hi Rob,

We are just about to do an upgrade for a client. This will be a 5300 unified to 5500 unified. A bit easier since no replacement of disks or DAE’s are needed. I had one question. When you say utility partition upgrade I assume you upgraded the flare code to a 5500 capable flare code? Not sure what is meant by this.

Thanks,

James

Reply
- RRR August 16, 2013 at 10:41
  
  Hi James,
  
  first of all my appologies for this late response, but I just returned from a long summer holiday that started on July 20! Oh well.
  
  First of all we needed to swap disks from the DPE to a new DAE since a VNX 5700 doesn’t have a DPE, but an SPE and you are staying with a DPE in your 5300/5500 conversion indeed. You only need to swap the SPs, but you also need to prepare the boot partition to accept the fact that from after the hardware upgrade a new SP will boot the code and the process won’t halt. for this you need to upgrade the utility partition.
  
  All the steps needed in our conversion came from the EMC procedure generator. There are 2 sorts of upgrades:
- Flare upgrade
- Utility Partition upgrade

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