NetScaler SDX

Converting a NetScaler MPX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542 appliance to a NetScaler SDX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542 appliance

You can convert a NetScaler MPX appliance to a NetScaler SDX appliance by upgrading the software through a new Solid State Drive (SSD) and a new Hard Disk Drive (HDD). NetScaler supplies a field conversion kit to migrate a NetScaler MPX appliance to a NetScaler SDX appliance.

Note

Citrix recommends that you configure the lights out management (LOM) Port of the NetScaler appliance before starting the conversion process. For more information on the LOM port of the NetScaler appliance, see Lights out management port of the NetScaler appliance.

To convert a NetScaler MPX appliance to a NetScaler SDX appliance, you must access the appliance through a console cable attached to a computer or terminal. Before connecting the console cable, configure the computer or terminal to support the following configuration:

  • VT100 terminal emulation
  • 9600 baud
  • 8 data bits
  • 1 stop bit
  • Parity and flow control set to NONE

Connect one end of the console cable to the RS232 serial port on the appliance, and the other end to the computer or terminal.

Note

To use a cable with an RJ-45 converter, insert the optional converter into the console port and attach the cable to it.

With the cable attached, verify that the MPX appliance’s components are functioning correctly. You are then ready to begin the conversion. The conversion process modifies the BIOS, installs Citrix Hypervisor and a Service Virtual Machine image, and copies the NetScaler VPX image to the Hard Disk Drive.

After the conversion process, you make a few modifications to the appliance’s configuration and apply a new license. You can then provision the VPX instances through the Management Service on what is now a NetScaler SDX appliance.

The following figure shows the front panel of the MPX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542 appliance.

Figure 1. NetScaler MPX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542, front panel

SDX 11515 front panel

To verify proper operation of the MPX appliance’s components

  1. Access the console port and enter the administrator credentials.

  2. Run the following command from the command line interface of the appliance to display the serial number: show hardware

    The serial number might be helpful in case you want to contact Citrix technical support.

    Example

    > show hardware
            Platform: NSMPX-11500 12*CPU+8*IX+4*E1K+2*E1K+2*CVM N3 1400210
            Manufactured on: 8/12/2014
            CPU: 2400MHZ
            Host Id: 872841350
            Serial no: 2NSHJ2DR9E
            Encoded serial no: 2NSHJ2DR9E
    Done
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  3. Run the following command to display the status of the active 1G and 10G interfaces: show interface

  4. In the show interface command’s output, verify that all of the interfaces are enabled and the status of every interface is shown as UP/UP.

    Note: If you do not have an SFP+ transceiver for every port, verify the interfaces in stages. After checking the first set of interfaces, unplug the SFP+ transceivers and plug them in to the next set of ports. The SFP+ transceivers are not hot-swappable. Therefore, restart the MPX appliance after you connect the transceivers.

  5. Run the following commands for each of the interfaces that are not in the UP/UP state where x is the new interface number.

    -  enable interface 1/x
    -  enable interface 10/x
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  1. Run the following command to verify that the status of the power supplies is normal: stat system -detail

    Example:

    > stat system -detail
    NetScaler Executive View
    System Information:
    Up since        Wed Aug 13 12:09:54 2014
    Memory usage (MB)                    924
    InUse Memory (%)                    5.64
    Number of CPUs                         5
    
    System Health Statistics (Standard):
    CPU 0 Core Voltage (Volts)                      1.10
    CPU 1 Core Voltage (Volts)                      1.10
    Main 3.3 V Supply Voltage                       3.26
    Standby 3.3 V Supply Voltage                    3.22
    +5.0 V Supply Voltage                           5.09
    +12.0 V Supply Voltage                         12.14
    Battery Voltage (Volts)                         3.17
    Intel CPU Vtt Power(Volts)                      0.00
    5V Standby Voltage(Volts)                       4.97
    Voltage Sensor2(Volts)                          0.00
    CPU Fan 0 Speed (RPM)                           5929
    CPU Fan 1 Speed (RPM)                           5929
    System Fan Speed (RPM)                          5929
    System Fan 1 Speed (RPM)                        5929
    System Fan 2 Speed (RPM)                        5929
    CPU 0 Temperature (Celsius)                       49
    CPU 1 Temperature (Celsius)                       51
    Internal Temperature (Celsius)                    33
    Power supply 1 status                         NORMAL
    Power supply 2 status                         NORMAL
    
    System Disk Statistics:
    /flash Size (MB)                               63473
    /flash Used (MB)                                 149
    /flash Available (MB)                          58246
    /flash Used (%)                                    0
    /var Size (MB)                                745163
    /var Used (MB)                                   249
    /var Available (MB)                           685300
    /var Used (%)                                      0
    
    System Health Statistics(Auxiliary):
    Voltage 0 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 1 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 2 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 3 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 4 (Volts)                               1.50
    Voltage 5 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 6 (Volts)                               0.00
    Voltage 7 (Volts)                               0.00
    Fan 0 Speed (RPM)                               5929
    Fan 1 Speed (RPM)                                  0
    Fan 2 Speed (RPM)                                  0
    Fan 3 Speed (RPM)                                  0
    Temperature 0 (Celsius)                           40
    Temperature 1 (Celsius)                           35
    Temperature 2 (Celsius)                            0
    Temperature 3 (Celsius)                            0
    Done
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  2. Run the following command to generate a tar of system configuration data and statistics: show techsupport

    Example:

    > show techsupport
    showtechsupport data collector tool - $Revision: #1 $! NetScaler version 9.2
    The NS IP of this box is 10.10.10.10
    Current HA state: Primary (or this is not part of HA
    pair!)
    All the data will be collected under
    
    /var/tmp/support/collector_10.10.10.10_P_13May2011_12_01
    Copying selected configuration files from nsconfig ....
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    Note: The output of the command is available in the /var/tmp/support/collector_<IP_address>_P_<date>.tar.gz file. Copy this file to another computer for future reference. The output of the command might be helpful in case you want to contact Citrix technical support.

  3. At the NetScaler command line interface, switch to the shell prompt. Type: shell

  4. Run the following command to verify that 2 Cavium cards are available: root@ns# dmesg | grep cavium

    Example:

    root@ns# dmesg | grep cavium
    Cavium cavium_probe : found card  0x177d,device=0x11
    cavium0 mem 0xddd00000-0xdddfffff irq 24 at device 0.0 on pci20
    Cavium cavium_probe : found card  0x177d,device=0x11
    cavium1 mem 0xd6f00000-0xd6ffffff irq 32 at device 0.0 on pci5
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    Run the following command to verify that 596 MB of RAM is reserved for shared memory: root@ns# dmesg | grep memory

    Example:

    root@ns# dmesg | grep memory
    real memory  = 52613349376 (50176 MB)
    avail memory = 49645355008 (47345 MB)
    NS-KERN map_shared_mem_ioctl (cpu 7, NSPPE-03): Reserving 596 MB for shared memory type 0
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  5. Run the following command to verify that the appliance has 12 CPU cores: root@ns# dmesg | grep cpu

    Example:

    root@ns# dmesg | grep cpu
    cpu0 (BSP): APIC ID:  0
    cpu1 (AP): APIC ID:  2
    cpu2 (AP): APIC ID:  4
    cpu3 (AP): APIC ID: 16
    cpu4 (AP): APIC ID: 18
    cpu5 (AP): APIC ID: 20
    cpu6 (AP): APIC ID: 32
    cpu7 (AP): APIC ID: 34
    cpu8 (AP): APIC ID: 36
    cpu9 (AP): APIC ID: 48
    cpu10 (AP): APIC ID: 50
    cpu11 (AP): APIC ID: 52
    cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    acpi_throttle0: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu0
    cpu1: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    acpi_throttle1: <ACPI CPU Throttling> on cpu1
    cpu2: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu3: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu4: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu5: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu6: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu7: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu8: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu9: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu10: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    cpu11: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
    NS-KERN map_shared_mem_ioctl (cpu 7, NSPPE-03): Reserving 596 MB for shared memory type 0
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  6. Run the following command to verify that the /var drive is mounted as /dev/ad8s1e: root@ns# df -h

    Example:

    root@ns# df -h
    Filesystem     Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
    /dev/md0c      276M    246M     24M    91%    /
    devfs          1.0K    1.0K      0B   100%    /dev
    procfs         4.0K    4.0K      0B   100%    /proc
    /dev/ad4s1a     62G    149M     57G     0%    /flash
    /dev/ad8s1e    728G    299M    669G     0%    /var
    root@ns#
    
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  7. Type the following command to run the ns_hw_err.bash script, which checks for latent hardware errors: root@ns# /netscaler/ns_hw_err.bash

    Example:

    root@ns# /netscaler/ns_hw_err.bash
    NetScaler NS10.1: Build 127.11.nc, Date: Aug 11 2014, 18:24:36
    platform: serial 2NSHJ2DR9E
    platform: sysid 1400210 - NSMPX-11500 12*CPU+8*IX+4*E1K+2*E1K+2*CVM N3
    HDD MODEL: Device Model:     ST1000NM0033-9ZM173
    
    Generating the list of newnslog files to be processed...
    Generating the events from newnslog files...
    Checking for HDD errors...
    /var/nslog/dmesg.prev:swap.NO
    ******************************************
    HDD ERROR: FOUND        1 HDD errors: swap.NO
    ******************************************
    Checking for HDD SMART errors...
    Checking for Flash errors...
    Checking for SSL errors...
    Checking for BIOS errors...
    Checking for SMB errors...
    Checking for MotherBoard errors...
    Checking for CMOS errors...
            License year: 2014: OK
    License server failed at startup. Check /var/log/license.log
    Vendor daemon failed at startup. Check /var/log/license.log
    Checking for SFP/NIC errors...
    Checking for Firmware errors...
    Checking for License errors...
    Checking for Undetected CPUs...
    Checking for DIMM flaps...
    Checking the Power Supply Errors...
    root@ns#
    
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  8. Important: Physically disconnect all ports except the LOM port, including the management port, from the network.

  9. At the shell prompt, switch to the NetScaler command line. Type: exit

  10. Run the following command to shut down the appliance: shutdown -p now

    Example:

    > shutdown -p now
    Are you sure you want to completely stop NetScaler (Y/N)? [N]:y
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To upgrade the appliance

  1. Locate the solid-state drive on the back panel of the appliance, as shown in the following figure:

    SDX 11515 back panel

  2. Verify that the replacement solid-state drive (SSD) is the one required for your NetScaler model. The NetScaler label is on the top of the solid-state drive, which is pre-populated with a new version of BIOS and a recent build of the required Service VM software.

  3. Remove the SSD drive by pushing the safety latch of the drive cover down while pulling the drive handle.

  4. On the new SSD drive, open the drive handle completely, and then insert the new drive into the slot.

  5. Close the handle flush with the rear side of the appliance so that the drive locks securely into the slot.

    Important: The orientation of the solid-state drive is important. When you insert the drive, make sure that the NetScaler product label is at the top.

  6. Locate the hard disk drive (HDD) on the back panel of the appliance.

  7. Remove the HDD by pushing the safety latch of the drive cover to the right and pulling the drive handle.

  8. On the new disk drive, open the drive handle completely to the left, and then insert the new drive into the slot.

  9. Close the handle flush with the rear side of the appliance so that the hard drive locks securely into the slot.

  10. Store the old SSD/HDD pair for future handling.

    Important: The orientation of the hard disk drive is important. When you insert the drive, make sure that the NetScaler product label is at the top.

  11. Start the NetScaler appliance. For instructions, see the Switching on the Appliance section in Installing the hardware](/en-us/netscaler-hardware-platforms/sdx/installing-the-hardware.html).

    The conversion process takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. The conversion process updates the BIOS, installs the Citrix Hypervisor and the Management Service Operating system, and copies the NetScaler VPX image to the hard disk drive for instance provisioning. When the conversion begins, the LCD screen on the front bezel indicates NSMPX-11500 10G, as shown in the following figure.

    SDX 11515 before conversion

    When the conversion is successful, the LCD indicates Citrix NSSDX - 11515, as shown in the following figure.

    SDX 11515 after conversion

    Note: The serial number of the appliance remains the same.

  12. Keep the console cable attached during the conversion process. Allow the process to complete, at which point the netscaler-sdx login: prompt appears.

    If the boot SSD is not inserted completely into the designated slot, the NetScaler SDX appliance attempts to start from the hard disk drive, and the bootup process results in a prompt different from the one mentioned earlier. If the netscaler-sdx login: prompt does not appear, carefully reseat the SSD, close the locking handle, and restart the appliance.

Converting a NetScaler MPX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542 appliance to a NetScaler SDX 11515/11520/11530/11540/11542 appliance