Appendix C

Understanding Release Family Upgrades

About this appendix

This appendix explains why differences between releases and release families might pose issues during upgrades.

Why there might be issues

Each release family introduces new features, some of which pose compatibility issues when upgrading from previous releases. Network Appliance creates upgrade procedures to resolve these issues. Some issues are resolved automatically in the Data ONTAP software, but a few issues require manual configuration.

When you upgrade and there are one or more intermediate release families between your source and target release, the latest release usually includes any automatic upgrade software included in previous releases (unless otherwise specified). However, you might need to review and resolve upgrade issues associated with intermediate release families before upgrading to the new release.

Differentiating among types of upgrades

Data ONTAP releases are identified by a combination of numerals and letters in three positions, x.y.z. When you upgrade from one Data ONTAP release to another, the upgrade can be from one release family to another or within a release family. A release family is the set of releases that have the same feature release name denoted by the first two digits of the release number; for example, 6.4, 6.4R1, 6.4.1, 6.4.1P1, 6.4.2, and 6.4.2D1 are all releases within the same release family.

Data ONTAP release types are defined in the Data ONTAP Release Model, available on the NOW site at the following address:
http://now.netapp.com/NOW/products/ontap_releasemodel/index.shtml.

Upgrading within a release family

An upgrade within a release family is one in which the release number x.y.z does not change in the x or y components, only in the z components, when comparing the original to the target release. The following are examples of upgrades within release families:

6.5 to 6.5R1
6.5R1 to 6.5.2
6.5R1P2 to 6.5.2
6.5.1 to 6.5.2

Major changes are not usually introduced within a release family, and updates to system and disk firmware are not usually required when you upgrade. Rather, these releases usually include bug fixes and minor feature enhancements.

For these reasons, upgrades within a release family are usually simpler and involve less service disruption than upgrades between release families.

Upgrading between release families

An upgrade between release families is one in which the release number x.y.z changes in the x or y components from the original to the target release. The following are examples of upgrades between release families:

6.4.2P6 to 6.5R1
6.4 to 6.5
6.2.3 to 6.5.2
5.3 to 6.5

A new release family usually includes major changes in infrastructure and subsystems. When you upgrade from one release family to another, one or more of the following might have been introduced on your platform:

Fundamental infrastructure changes--for example, changes to Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL) or Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) operation
Version number changes requiring a filesystem upgrade--for example, in RAID, WAFL, Non-Volatile LOG (NVLOG) or Java subsystems
New system firmware or disk firmware requirements

Such feature changes and requirements are cumulative between succeeding release families. You do not have to upgrade sequentially to each new release family--in other words, you can skip release families--but you must comply with the requirements of any intermediate release and you should be aware of any new system behavior introduced in an intermediate release. For example, if you are upgrading from 6.3.3 to 6.5.2, you must satisfy the upgrade requirements of the 6.4 release family.

For these reasons, upgrades between release families sometimes take longer, involve more steps, and interrupt filer services longer than upgrades within a release family.