Single bundle upgrade
For 10.5 and previous releases, SDX appliance setup includes setting up Citrix Hypervisor hypervisor, its supplemental packs and hotfixes, the Management Service, Citrix NetScaler virtual machines, and LOM firmware. Each of these components has a different release cycle. Therefore, updating each component independently, as allowed by SDX 10.5 and earlier releases, makes maintenance difficult. Updating each component separately also leads to unsupported combinations of components.
The Single bundle upgrade, available from 11.0 and later releases,combines all the components except the Citrix NetScaler VPX instance image and LOM firmware in a single image file, called the SDX image. Using this image, you can upgrade all the components in a single step, eliminating the chances of incompatibility between various components. Single bundle upgrade also ensures that your appliance is always running a version that is tested and supported by Citrix. Because all the SDX components are combined in a single file, the SDX image file is significantly larger than the Management Service image file.
The file name of the image is of the format build-sdx-11.1-<build_number>.tgz. After the Management Service is upgraded to SDX 11.1 the new GUI does not display the options to upload the Citrix Hypervisor image file, supplemental packs, or hotfixes. This is because SDX 11.1 does not support upgrading individual components.
Points to note
- The single bundle upgrade is a multi-step process that might take up to 90 mins.
- First, the Management Service is upgraded to the newer, provided version. During the upgrade, connectivity to Management Service might be lost. Reconnect to the Management Service to monitor the status of the upgrade.
- Next, the new Management Service upgrades the Citrix Hypervisor and completes the remainder of the appliance upgrade. Management Service from release 11.0 and later is capable of performing full Citrix Hypervisor upgrade.
- Do not restart the appliance during Citrix Hypervisor upgrade.
- Citrix recommends that you use a Citrix Hypervisor serial console (or LOM console) to monitor Citrix Hypervisor upgrade.
Upgrading the entire appliance to 11.1
If you are currently running version 10.5.66.x or later of the SDX Management Service, you can use the SDX 11.1 image file to upgrade the appliance. If your Management Service is running an older version, you must first upgrade it to version 10.5.66.x or later.
To upgrade the appliance:
- Upload the single bundle image file, navigate to Configuration> Management Service > Software Images and then click Upload.
- Navigate to Configuration > System > System Administration. Go to step 3. If you’re upgrading from release 10.55 66.x and later. Go to step 4, if you’re upgrading from release 11.0
- In the System Administration group, click Upgrade Management Service.
- In the System Administration group, click Upgrade Appliance. The upgrade process takes a few minutes.
Before the upgrade, Management Service displays the following information:
- Single bundle image file name
- The current version of SDX running on your appliance
- The selected version to which the appliance will be upgraded
- Approximate time to upgrade the appliance
- Miscellaneous information
Before clicking Upgrade Appliance, make sure that you have reviewed all the information displayed on the screen. You cannot abort the upgrade process once it starts.