This section explains the difference between Qumulo Core Instant Software Upgrades and Platform Upgrades and how to perform upgrades.

For downloads, release notes, and upgrade paths for on-premises and cloud releases of Qumulo Core, see Qumulo Nexus đź”’.

Understanding the Differences Between Upgrade Modes

For information about which upgrade modes different Qumulo Core releases use, see Qumulo Core Upgrade Mode Reference.

Instant Software Upgrade

The more common, faster instant software upgrade requires restarting only the container on your nodes and has a downtime of less than 30 seconds without disruption to the operation of the cluster.

Because in Qumulo Core 3.3.2 (and higher), the Qumulo file and data protection systems are separate from the host in charge of running the operating system and the services specific to each hardware or cloud platform, and because these services run in a lightweight container (by using Ubuntu-native systemd-nspawn containerization) in the user space, it is possible to move quickly from one version of Qumulo Core to another by loading a new container and pointing the runtime environment at updated software.

Platform Upgrade

The infrequent, somewhat slower platform upgrade requires either a complete reboot (rebooting all nodes in your cluster at the same time with SMB and NFS client interruption) or—in Qumulo Core 5.0.3 (and higher)—a rolling reboot (rebooting the nodes in your cluster one at a time with impact only to SMB clients).

The reboot process differentiates platform upgrades from instant software upgrades, where your nodes maintain the Linux operating system (and certain services that Qumulo Core relies on) during the upgrade process and where the underlying host changes less frequently than the container and the file and data protection systems.

Understanding the Upgrade Phases

Every Qumulo Core upgrade has two phases, preparation and commit.

  1. Preparation: Qumulo Core stages a new image in an alternate boot drive partition while the current image continues to run. This phase is responsible only for the background work (unpacking and writing the platform image and upgrade firmware, and so on). When the preparation phase is complete, we continue to the commit phase.

  2. Commit: Qumulo Core does one of the following:

    • Instant Software Upgrade: Stops the existing container and starts a new one.
    • Platform Upgrade: Initiates a reboot and selectively upgrades the operating system image.

To view your cluster’s upgrade phase and status, run the qq upgrade_status command.

The following is example output.

{
  "install_path": "/upgrade/qinstall.qimg",
  "state": "UPGRADE_PREPARING",
  "details": "",
  "error_message": "",
  "error_state": "UPGRADE_ERROR_NO_ERROR",
  "is_blocked": false,
  "blocked_reason": ""
}

Upgrading Your Qumulo Cluster

To Upgrade Your Qumulo Cluster by Using the Qumulo Core Web UI

  1. Upload the qumulo_core_x.x.x.qimg upgrade file to any directory on your cluster by using a client protocol such as NFS or SMB.

  2. Log in to the Qumulo Core Web UI.

  3. Click Support > Software Upgrade.

  4. On the Software Upgrade page, enter the file system path for the upgrade file without the leading slash, for example: upgrade/qumulo_core_7.1.0.1.qimg.

  5. Click Upgrade…

  6. Depending on the upgrade mode for your release, do one of the following:

    • Instant Software Upgrade: In the Ready to upgrade? dialog box, confirm the current and new versions of Qumulo Core and then click Start Upgrade.

      On the Software Upgrade page, the upgrade progress is displayed.

    • Platform Upgrade: In the Ready to upgrade? dialog box, choose one of the following modes and then click Start Upgrade.

      • Complete reboot (with SMB and NFS client interruption): You can’t access your cluster during the reboot process.

      • Rolling reboot (with SMB client impact): You can access your cluster during reboot, but SMB connectivity to specific nodes is impacted.

    Qumulo Core prepares the upgrade then installs Qumulo software on your cluster.

    When the upgrade is complete, the message You have successfully upgraded from Qumulo Core x.x.x to y.y.y is displayed.

To Upgrade Your Qumulo Cluster by Using the qq CLI

  1. Upload the qumulo_core_x.x.x.qimg upgrade file to any directory on your cluster by using a client protocol such as NFS or SMB.

  2. Use SSH to connect to an IP address of a node in your cluster.

  3. To become the root user, run the sudo -s command.

  4. Depending on the current Qumulo Core version on your cluster, do one of the following:

    • Qumulo Core 5.1.0.1 (and Higher):

      • Immediate Upgrade with Rolling Reboot: Run the qq upgrade_cluster command. Use the --rolling flag to specify rolling reboot, and the --path flag to specify the path to the upgrade file. For example:

        qq upgrade_cluster \
  --rolling \
  --path /qumulo_upgrade_x.x.x.qimg

      • Two-Phase Upgrade with Rolling Reboot: Run the qq upgrade_cluster command first with the prepare subcommand and then with the commit subcommand. Use the --rolling flag to specify rolling reboot, and the --path flag to specify the path to the upgrade file. For example:

        qq upgrade_cluster prepare \
  --rolling \
  --path /qumulo_upgrade_x.x.x.qimg

        qq upgrade_cluster commit

    • Qumulo Core 5.0.6 (and Lower):

      • Immediate Upgrade: Run the qq upgrade_cluster command and use the --path flag to specify the path to the upgrade file. For example:

        qq upgrade_cluster \
  --path /qumulo_core_x.x.x.qimg

      • Two-Phase Upgrade: Run the qq upgrade_cluster command first with the prepare subcommand and then with the commit subcommand. Use the --path flag to specify the path to the upgrade file. For example:

        qq upgrade_cluster prepare \
  --path /qumulo_core_x.x.x.qimg

        qq upgrade_cluster commit

  5. To view your cluster’s upgrade phase and status, run the qq upgrade_status command.

    When the CLI progress bar shows that the upgrade is complete, Qumulo Core restarts your cluster.