Upgrading from releases earlier than Data ONTAP 6.2

Information about the Data ONTAP 6.2 release family you should know

The following sections discuss upgrade issues that you should be aware of if you are upgrading from releases earlier than Data ONTAP 6.2.

Required disk firmware upgrade for X226_ SCHT5073F10 model disks

If you are using X226_ SCHT5073F10 model disks, you must update your disk firmware to NA03 or later before upgrading to Data ONTAP 6.2 or later. To download the required disk firmware, find your disk model in the Sysconfig -v Output column of the Disk Drive & Firmware Matrix, on the NOW site at the following URL:
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/tools/diskfw/

Checking disk firmware versions

If you have autosupport enabled, you can use the Autosupport Analysis tool, available on the NOW My Installed Products page, to verify your disk firmware version in advance and find out whether your system includes X226_ SCHT5073F10 model disks that require firmware updates.

For instructions about using the Autosupport Analysis Tool to detect disk firmware requirements, see Detecting outdated disk firmware.

New options and settings for raid. reconstruct_speed

If you are upgrading from a release that has the raid.reconstruct_speed knob, you should be aware that the options and settings for this feature changed in Data ONTAP 6.2. The raid.reconstruct_speed option can still be set, but it only affects the value of raid.reconstruct.perf_impact, which is one of four new options. The ten settings previously used for the raid.reconstruct_speed knob translate to three settings for the new options, as follows:

7-10 = high
5-6 = medium
1-4 = low

For more information about the raid.reconstruct_speed option, see the latest Storage Management Guide.

Change in vif behavior

Load-balancing algorithms for virtual interfaces (vifs) were introduced in Data ONTAP 6.2. If you are using vifs, and you upgrade to Data ONTAP 6.2 or later from a pre-6.2 release, the network traffic flow out of the system may change. This could be because the vifs follow the default IP-based load-balancing policy. However, since the default load-balancing policy for most of the switches is IP-based, traffic flow is usually not disturbed. If the outbound flow of the network is not sufficiently balanced, you can change the load-balancing policy on the vif. For more information, see the Network Management Guide.