Overview of the Upgrade Process

Plan your upgrade by familiarizing yourself with requirements and and issues described in Chapter 2, Before You Upgrade: What Is Required.

Plan to do the following:

• Understand any requirements for upgrading to Data ONTAP 7.1 from your existing software.
• Note any potential changes to your system after the upgrade.
• If you have clustered storage systems, select an upgrade method.
• If you run the SnapMirror® software, identify storage systems with destination and source volumes.

If necessary, perform any required preliminary upgrades before upgrading to Data ONTAP 7.1.

Required upgrades might include the following:

• Performing an intermediate upgrade, as described in Resolving upgrade issues
• Upgrading the system firmware
• Upgrading disk firmware

Obtain the Data ONTAP system files from the NetApp® on the Web^TM (NOW) site at http://now.netapp.com/ or the Data ONTAP CD-ROM.

Install the 7.1 system files and download them to your storage systems as described in Chapter 4, Upgrading Data ONTAP Software.

Conclude the upgrade with any of the tasks discussed in Concluding the upgrade.