XenCenter

Upgrade your hosts

Note:

XenCenter YYYY.x.x is currently in preview and is not supported for production use. Note that any future references to production support apply only when XenCenter YYYY.x.x and XenServer 8 go from preview status to general availability.

You can use XenCenter YYYY.x.x to manage your XenServer 8 and Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 non-production environments. However, to manage your Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 production environment, use XenCenter 8.2.7. For more information, see the XenCenter 8.2.7 documentation.

You can install XenCenter 8.2.7 and XenCenter YYYY.x.x on the same system. Installing XenCenter YYYY.x.x does not overwrite your XenCenter 8.2.7 installation.

You can use the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard to upgrade XenServer standalone servers or a pool of servers to a newer version.

The Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard guides you through the upgrade procedure and organizes the upgrade path automatically. The Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard allows you to upgrade multiple servers and pools simultaneously. Each of the servers in the pool is upgraded in turn, starting with the pool coordinator. Before starting an upgrade, the wizard conducts prechecks to ensure that certain pool-wide features, such as high availability and WLB, are temporarily disabled. The wizard also checks that each host in the pool is prepared for upgrade. Only one server is offline at a time, and any running VMs are automatically migrated off each server before the upgrade is installed on that server.

Note:

Rolling Pool Upgrade is available for licensed XenServer customers. For more information, see About XenServer Licensing.

The wizard can operate in manual or automatic mode:

  • In manual mode, you must manually run the XenServer installer on each server in turn and follow the on-screen instructions on the serial console of the server. When the upgrade begins, XenCenter prompts you to insert XenServer installation media or specify a PXE boot server for each server that you upgrade.
  • In automatic mode, the wizard uses network installation files on an HTTP, NFS, or FTP server to upgrade each server in turn. This mode does not require you to insert install media, manually reboot, or step through the installer on each server. If you perform a rolling pool upgrade in this manner, unpack the XenServer installation media onto your HTTP, NFS, or FTP server before starting the upgrade.

Note:

Depending on the set of hotfixes you have applied to your Citrix Hypervisor 8.2 CU1 host, you might be asked to apply a hotfix to them before you can upgrade to XenServer 8. The Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard guides you through this process.

If you are upgrading your pool to XenServer 8, you are asked to agree to an updated EUA. This EUA is updated to include information about the telemetry functionality. For more information, see Data Governance.

Important: Before you upgrade

Upgrading a pool of servers requires careful planning. As you plan your upgrade, it is important to be aware of the following:

  • Download and install the latest version of XenCenter. For example, when you are upgrading your hosts to XenServer 8, you must use XenCenter issued with XenServer 8. Using earlier versions of XenCenter to upgrade to a newer version of XenServer is not supported.

  • If you are using XenServer to host Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops workloads, there might be specific behaviors and requirements to consider that can optimize your XenServer upgrade process. For more information, see Upgrade scenarios for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

  • If you license your XenServer pool with your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops licenses, these licenses are not supported in XenServer 8. You must obtain XenServer Premium Edition licenses and import them into Citrix License Server, before attempting to upgrade to XenServer 8. For more information, see https://xenserver.com/buy.

  • VMs can only be migrated from a server that runs an older version of XenServer to one that runs the same version or higher. You cannot migrate VMs from an upgraded server to one running an older version of XenServer. Ensure to allow for space on your servers accordingly.

  • We strongly advise against running a mixed-mode pool (one with multiple versions of XenServer coexisting) for longer than necessary. In this case, the pool operates in a degraded state during upgrade.

  • Do not attempt to perform any key control operations during the upgrade process. Though VMs continue to function as normal, VM actions other than migrate might not be available (for example, shut down, copy, and export). In particular, it is not safe to perform storage-related operations such as adding, removing, or resizing virtual disks.

  • The wizard upgrades the pool coordinator first. Do not place the pool coordinator into maintenance mode using XenCenter before performing the upgrade as this action causes a new pool coordinator to be designated.

  • Take a backup of the state of your existing pool using the pool-dump-database xe CLI command. For more information, see Command line interface. Backups allow you to revert a partially complete rolling upgrade back to its original state without losing any VM data. As it is not possible to migrate a VM from an upgraded server to a server running an older version, you might have to shut down VMs to revert the rolling upgrade for any reason.

  • Ensure that your servers are not over-provisioned - that is, they have sufficient memory to carry out the upgrade. It is best to suspend any VMs that are not critical during the upgrade process.

  • While the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard checks that the following actions have been taken, you might choose to perform them before you begin the upgrade:

To upgrade XenServer using the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard

  1. Open the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard: on the Tools menu, select Rolling Pool Upgrade.
  2. Read the Before You Start information, and then select Next to continue.
  3. Select the pool or standalone servers that you would like to upgrade and then select Next.
  4. Choose the Upgrade Mode.

    • You can select Automatic Mode for an automated upgrade from network installation files on an HTTP, NFS, or FTP server. If you choose the Automatic Mode, specify the location of the network installation file, user name, and password before continuing to the next step.
    • You can select Manual Mode for a manual upgrade from either a CD/DVD or a server using PXE boot. If you choose the Manual Mode, run the XenServer installer on each server in turn and follow the on-screen instructions on the serial console of the server. When the upgrade begins, XenCenter prompts you to insert XenServer installation media or specify a PXE boot server for each server that you upgrade.
  5. On the Upgrade Options page, choose whether you want XenCenter to automatically download and install the minimal set of updates after upgrading the servers to a newer version. The apply updates option is selected by default. However, you must have an internet connection to download and install the updates.

    In addition, to allow XenCenter to install a previously downloaded update or a supplemental pack after upgrading the servers, select Install an update or supplemental pack from disk. Select Browse to choose the file. Selecting a file incompatible with the upgraded version of XenServer can cause the installation to fail.

  6. After choosing the Upgrade Options, select Run Prechecks.

  7. Follow the on-screen recommendations to resolve any upgrade prechecks that have failed. To allow XenCenter to automatically resolve all failed prechecks, select Resolve All.

    Note:

    Some prechecks cannot be resolved automatically. For example, if your hosts are using a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops license, XenCenter shows that this license does not apply to XenServer 8 hosts. You can’t upgrade until you get a XenServer Premium Edition license. For more information, see https://xenserver.com/buy.

  8. When the prechecks have been resolved, select Start Upgrade to begin the upgrade.

When the upgrade begins, the wizard guides you through any actions you need to take to upgrade each server. Follow the instructions until you have upgraded and updated all servers in the pool.

Note:

If the upgrade process fails for any reason, the Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard halts the process. This halt allows you to fix the issue and resume the upgrade process by clicking the Retry button.

The Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard prints a summary when the upgrade is complete. Select Finish to close the wizard.

Upgrade your hosts