Rubrik : How to upgrade a brik

Background

You just got your new set of brik's and you would like to upgrade to the latest version of the Rubrik software ? As today, there is not 1-click upgrade yet, but there are some steps that can be easily done by any IT guy. Don't look too much, they are all described here.


Let's do it !

First of all let's assume that :

• You have a running cluster (IP addresses, administrator password, ...);
• You have access to https://support.rubrik.com to download softwares;
• You have some times ahead without being disturbed;
• You have a sFTP client around

Then, let's go !

Step 1) Get the latest software release

Get the software from the Rubrik support site. Documentation / Software / Download

Accept the EULA and after few minutes, you have a big zip file. Unzip the file in a temporary folder. You will get two files similar to these :

Those 2 files are binary + signature file (certificate).

The latest available version as I'm writing this blog post is 4.0.6 from 10th of Feb 2018.

Important note : be sure that you have chosen the correct software. Indeed, some version cannot be upgraded directly to the latest one. There is a upgrade path that has to be followed otherwise you will be dependent from Rubrik support to clear the issue and start again. The below is an example of such problem.

Step 2) Upload to the Brik

Connect with the sFTP client of your choice to the IP address of one of your nodes using user adminstaging and the password of the Rubrik admin user (the one you using in the GUI). Once connected, you will see two folders :

• support_bundle
• upgrade

Push the two extracted files in the upgrade folder

Step 3) Pre-upgrade

Connect on the same node as the one you uploaded the files above using ssh with admin user.

# ssh admin@192.168.8.193
admin@192.168.8.193's password:

=======================
 Welcome to Rubrik CLI
=======================

Type 'help' or '?' to list commands

RVM182S00xxxx >>

Only a few set of commands are available. Type help to see what commands are accepted. In our case, we need the upgrade command.

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade start --mode prechecks_only
Do you want to use --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz [y/N] [N]: y
Upgrade status: Started pre-checks successfully

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade status
Current upgrade mode: prechecks_only
Current upgrade pre-checks node: RVM182S00xxxx
Current upgrade pre-checks tarball name: --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz
Current upgrade pre-checks status: In progress
Current run started at: 2018-03-16 13:35:24.909000 UTC+0000
Current state: VERIFYING
State progress: 0.00%
Finished states: ACQUIRING, COPYING

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade status
Last upgrade mode: prechecks_only
Last upgrade pre-checks node: RVM182S00xxxx
Last upgrade pre-checks tarball name: --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz
Last upgrade pre-checks status: Failed : {version compatibility pre-check has failed. The system version is 3.1.12-14016 and tarball version is 4.0.6-714.  Upgrade from version 3.1.12-14016 to version 4.0.6-714 is not supported. Get a tarball of version newer than 3.1.12-14016 to upgrade the system.}
Last run ended at: 2018-03-16 13:02:19.295000 UTC+0000

Current state: IDLE

Once you have issued the upgrade start command in pre-checks mode only, check the status with upgrade status command. Once upgrade status returns IDLE it means it is completed. The above log will let you know if you are good to go with the upgrade steps.

At this point, you cannot move forward alone and Rubrik support need to be engaged. They have some special access to your node in command line and they need to reset the status of the failed upgrade using some commands (rkcli upgrade start --mode reset) but you, as a user cannot do this.

In this case, we need intermediate upgrades because we cannot upgrade from this very old firmware directly. Once you have been able to determine your correct upgrade path (Rubrik support is usually a good help), and been able to do them, continue the reading.

Assuming that you are in the correct upgrade path, we can continue smoothly.

Step 4) Upgrade

Now, this is time for real upgrade

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade start
Do you want to use --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz [y/N] [N]: y
Upgrade status: Started upgrade successfully

From time to time, you can issue a upgrade status to watch the progress :

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade status
Current upgrade mode: normal
Current upgrade node: RVM182S00xxxx
Current upgrade tarball name: --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz
Current upgrade status: In progress
Current run started at: 2018-03-16 19:34:52.350000 UTC+0000
Current state: UPGRADING
State progress: 12.00%
Finished states: ACQUIRING, COPYING, VERIFYING, UNTARING, DEPLOYING, PRECHECKING, PREPARING

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade status
Current upgrade mode: normal
Current upgrade node: RVM182S00xxxx
Current upgrade tarball name: --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz
Current upgrade status: In progress
Current run started at: 2018-03-16 19:34:52.350000 UTC+0000
Current state: RESTARTING
State progress: 69.70%
Finished states: ACQUIRING, COPYING, VERIFYING, UNTARING, DEPLOYING, PRECHECKING, PREPARING, UPGRADING

And finally, it will be completed

RVM182S00xxxx >> upgrade status
Last upgrade mode: normal
Last upgrade node: RVM182S00xxxx
Last upgrade tarball name: --share rubrik-4.0.6-714.tar.gz
Last upgrade status: Completed successfully
Last run ended at: 2018-03-16 19:49:43.136000 UTC+0000
Current state: IDLE

RVM182S00xxxx >> version
4.0.6-714

General comment : double check if you are in the correct upgrade path, this is the key element. Otherwise, Rubrik support has to be involved.