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Upgrade a Citrix ADC standalone appliance

January 25, 2019
Contributed by:  S

Before upgrading the system software, make sure that you read the Before you begin section and complete the necessary prerequisites such as backing up the necessary files and downloading the Citrix ADC firmware.

When upgrading from 10.0 and higher releases  you have the option to use the GUI or the CLI.

You cannot upgrade to release 12.1 from the following builds by using the Upgrade Wizard of the GUI:

  • All builds of release 10.1
  • Any build before Build 57.x of release 10.5

If your Citrix ADC runs any 9.x or lower release, visit the Product matrix site for more information.

Note

Starting with release 12.1, 64-bit Citrix ADC MPX and VPX images are supported, along with 32-bit images. For more information, see the Citrix Downloads site.

Upgrade a Citrix ADC standalone appliance by using the GUI

Follow these steps to upgrade a standalone Citrix ADC to release 12.1 by using the GUI.

  1. In a web browser, type the IP address of the Citrix ADC, for example http://10.102.29.50.
  2. In User Name and Password, type the administrator credentials (nsroot/nsroot) and then click Log On.
  3. From the GUI, click System Upgrade.

localized image

4. From the Choose File drop-down menu choose the appropriate option: Local or Appliance. If you want to use the Appliance option, the firmware needs to be uploaded to the Citrix ADC first. You can use any file tranfer method such as WinSCP to upload the Citrix ADC firmware to the appliance.

5. Select the correct file and click Upgrade.

6. Follow the instructions to upgrade the software.

7. When prompted, select Reboot.

After the upgrade, close all browser instances and clear your computer’s cache before accessing the appliance.

Upgrade a Citrix ADC standalone appliance by using the CLI

Follow these steps to upgrade a standalone Citrix ADC  to release 12.1 by using the CLI:

In the following procedure, <release> and <releasenumber> represent the release version you are upgrading to, and <targetbuildnumber> represents the build number that you are upgrading to. The procedure includes optional steps to avoid losing any updates that are pushed to the /etc directory during the upgrade.

  1. Use an SSH client, such as PuTTy, to open an SSH connection to the appliance.

  2. Log on to the appliance by using the administrator credentials. Save the running configuration. At the prompt, type:save config

  3. Create a copy of the ns.conf file. At the shell prompt, type:

    1. cd /nsconfig
    2. cp ns.conf ns.conf.NS<currentreleasenumber><currentbuildnumber>

    You should backup the configuration file to another computer.

  4. (Optional) If you have modified some of the following files in the /etc directory, and copied them to /nsconfig to maintain persistency, any updates that are pushed to the /etc directory during the upgrade might be lost:

    • ttys
    • resolv.conf
    • sshd_config
    • host.conf
    • newsyslog.conf
    • host.conf
    • httpd.conf
    • rc.conf
    • syslog.conf
    • crontab
    • monitrc

    To avoid losing these updates, create a /var/nsconfig_backup directory, and move the customized files to this directory. That is, move any files that you modified in /etc directory and copied to /nsconfig by running the following command:

    cp /nsconfig/<filename> /var/nsconfig_backup

    Example:

    cp /nsconfig/syslog.conf /var/nsconfig_backup

5. Create a location for the installation package. At the shell prompt type:

  • cd /var/nsinstall
  • mkdir <releasenumber>nsinstall
  • cd <releasenumber>nsinstall
  • mkdir build_<targetbuildnumber>
  • cd build_<targetbuildnumber>

6. Copy the already downloaded Citrix ADC firmware to the directory that you created for it in step 5, by using any file transferring method such as WinSCP. See the Before You Begin section for more information about downloading the Citrix ADC firmware.

7. Extract the contents of the installation package. Example:

tar –xvzf build-12.1-32.2_nc_64.tgz

tar –xvzf build-12.1-32.2_nc_32.tgz

8. Run the installns script to install the new version of the system software. The script updates the /etc directory. Example: ./installns

9. When prompted, restart the Citrix ADC.

10. (Optionally) If you’ve created a copy of the ns.conf file in the Before You Begin section, do the following:

1. Manually compare the files in /var/nsconfig\_backup and /etc and make appropriate changes in /etc.
1. To maintain persistency, move the updated files in /etc to /nsconfig.
2. Restart the appliance to put the changes into effect.

Below is an example of Citrix ADC firmware upgrade.

login: nsroot


Password: nsroot


Last login: Mon Apr 17 15:05:05 2018 from 10.252.243.134


Done


> save config


> shell


Last login: Mon Apr 17 15:05:05 2018 from 10.252.243.134


root@NSnnn# cd /var/nsinstall


root@NSnnn# cd 12.1nsinstall


root@NSnnn# mkdir build_43.1


root@NSnnn# cd build_43.1


root@NSnnn# ftp <FTP server IP address>


ftp> mget build-12.1-41.1_nc.tgz


ftp> bye


root@NSnnn# tar xzvf build-12.1-41.1_nc.tgz


root@NSnnn# ./installns


installns version (12.1-41.1) kernel (ns-12.1-41.1_nc.gz)


...


...


...


Copying ns-12.1-41.1_nc.gz to /flash/ns-12.1-41.1_nc.gz ...





...


Installation has completed.





Reboot NOW? [Y/N] Y

Upgrade a Citrix ADC standalone appliance by using NITRO API

To use NITRO API to upgrade or downgrade a Citrix ADC, see Automate Citrix ADC Upgrade and Downgrade with a Single API.

Directory locations of script files for user monitors

In release 10.1 build 122.17, the script files for user monitors are at a new location. If you upgrade an appliance or virtual appliance to release 10.1 build 122.17 or later, the changes are as follows:

  • A new directory named conflicts is created in /nsconfig/monitors/ and all the built-in scripts of the previous builds are moved to this directory.
  • All new built-in scripts are available in the /netscaler/monitors/ directory. All custom scripts are available in the /nsconfig/monitors/ directory.
  • You must save a new custom script in the /nsconfig/monitors/ directory.
  • After the upgrade is completed, if a custom script is created and saved in the /nsconfig/monitors/ directory with the same name as that of a built-in script, the script in the /netscaler/monitors/ directory takes priority. That is, the custom script is not run.

If you provision a virtual appliance running release 10.1 build 122.17 or later, the changes are as follows:

  • All built-in scripts are available in the /netscaler/monitors/ directory
  • The directory /nsconfig/monitors/ is empty.
  • If you create a new custom script, you must save it in the /nsconfig/monitors/ directory.

For more information about user monitors, see “Understanding user monitors.”

Check and install Citrix ADC 12.1 software update

Update the Citrix ADC software when an update is available, for better performance. A Citrix ADC update can include feature improvements, performance fixes, or enhancements. Make sure you read the release notes to see what fixes and enhancements are available in the update. To check and install a software update, do the following.

  1. In the Citrix ADC home page, click Check for Update from the nsroot drop-down menu at the top right corner of the page.
  2. In the Latest System Software Updates Available page, check the available software update that you can install.
  3. Click Download to download the installation package from the Citrix download website.
  4.  After  you have downloaded the software package, install the update through either CLI or GUI procedure.

Note

The Check for Update link is accessible only if you log into the GUI through HTTP protocol and not through HTTPS protocol.

Upgrade a Citrix ADC standalone appliance

January 25, 2019
Contributed by:  S

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