The upgrade process checks your hardware platform and configuration to verify that your system is supported by the ONTAP version to which you are upgrading. ONTAP automatically shifts workloads during an upgrade between clusters so you can continue serving data.

This procedure upgrades your system to the specified version of ONTAP. It is assumed that your hardware platform and configuration is supported for the target release.

Beginning with ONTAP 9.10.1, if you have a cluster with 8 or more nodes you can select to have them upgraded one HA pair at a time. This allows you, if needed, to correct upgrade issues on the first HA pair before moving to subsequent pairs.

workflow diagram of upgrade task

If issues are encountered during your automated upgrade, you can view EMS messages and details in ONTAP System Manager: Click Events & Jobs > Events.

Steps

If you want to download the software image to an HTTP or FTP server on your network, copy the software image from the Fujitsu support site to the directory on the HTTP or FTP server from which the image will be served.

If you want to download the software image to a local folder, then click the software image on the Fujitsu support site, select Save As, and then choose the local folder to place the image.
Depending on the ONTAP version that you are running, perform one of the following steps:

ONTAP version

Steps

ONTAP 9.8 or later

Click Cluster > Overview.

ONTAP 9.7

Click Configuration > Cluster > Update.
In the right corner of the Overview pane, click .
Click ONTAP Update.

ONTAP version	Steps
ONTAP 9.8 or later	Click Cluster > Overview.
ONTAP 9.7	Click Configuration > Cluster > Update.

In the Cluster Update tab, add a new image or select an available image.

If you want to…	Then…
Add a new software image from the local client Note: You should have already downloaded the image to the local client. Download the ONTAP software images	Under Available Software Images, click Add from Local. Browse to the location you saved the software image, select the image, and then click Open. The software image uploads after you click Open.
Add a new software image from the Fujitsu Support Site	Click Add from Server. In the Add a New Software Image dialog box, enter the URL of the HTTP server or FTP server on which you have saved the image that was downloaded from the Fujitsu Support Site. For anonymous FTP, you must specify the URL in the ftp://anonymous@ftpserver format. Click Add.
Select an available image	Choose one of the listed images.

If you want to…

Then…

Add a new software image from the local client

Note: You should have already downloaded the image to the local client.

Download the ONTAP software images

Under Available Software Images, click Add from Local.
Browse to the location you saved the software image, select the image, and then click Open.

The software image uploads after you click Open.

Add a new software image from the Fujitsu Support Site

Click Add from Server.
In the Add a New Software Image dialog box, enter the URL of the HTTP server or FTP server on which you have saved the image that was downloaded from the Fujitsu Support Site.

For anonymous FTP, you must specify the URL in the ftp://anonymous@ftpserver format.
Click Add.

Select an available image

Choose one of the listed images.

Click Validate to run the pre-upgrade validation checks to verify whether the cluster is ready for an upgrade.

The validation operation checks the cluster components to validate that the upgrade can be completed nondisruptively, and then displays any errors or warnings. It also displays any required remedial action that you must perform before updating the software.

You must perform all of the required remedial actions for the errors before proceeding with the upgrade. Although you can ignore the remedial actions for the warnings, the best practice is to perform all of the remedial actions before proceeding with the upgrade.

Click Next.

Click Update.

Validation is performed again.

When the validation is complete, a table displays any errors and warnings, along with any required remedial actions to be taken before proceeding.

If the validation is completed with warnings, you can choose to select Update with warnings.

If you prefer to have your nodes upgraded one HA pair at a time instead of a batch upgrade of all the HA pairs in your cluster, select Update one HA pair at a time. This option is only available in ONTAP 9.10.1 or later for clusters of eight or more nodes.

When the validation is complete and the upgrade is in progress, the upgrade might be paused because of errors. You can click the error message to view the details, and then perform the remedial actions before resuming the upgrade.

For any MetroCluster configuration, except a 2-node MetroCluster system, the ONTAP upgrade process starts simultaneously on the HA pairs at both sites (the local site and the disaster recovery site) after the user initiates and provides confirmation on the command line. For a 2-node MetroCluster system, the upgrade is started first on the disaster recovery site, that is, the site where the upgrade is not initiated. After the upgrade is fully completed on the disaster recovery site, the upgrade begins on the local site.

After the upgrade is completed successfully, the node reboots, and you are redirected to the ONTAP System Manager login page. If the node takes a long time to reboot, you must refresh your browser.