Customer Upgrade Preparation Guide

VNX

As your partner in IT, EMC has created this Upgrade Preparation Guide to help guide you to a successful upgrade of your EMC
equipment. While this guide is not intended as a replacement for any of our other guides or release notes, it does point out to you
known concerns related to the upgrade we will be performing for you, which have the potential to disrupt your environment.
As mentioned during the exchange with the EMC Scheduler, you have two options with this guide:
1. Review this guide ahead of your scheduled Upgrade Pre-Check and prepare any questions you may have as a result, for
discussion with the Upgrade Engineer when they contact you after the pre-check. Your Upgrade Engineer will then complete
the review of this document, the pre-check results, and the determined upgrade plan and then they will upload the
completed document to the SR for you.
2. Review this guide independently and ensure your environment is protected against these known concerns. Once done, please
check the “Acknowledgement” at the bottom and upload the document to your Upgrade SR.
In preparation for your upcoming upgrade event, please note the below known items:

• Schedule your upgrade for a time outside your peak I/O load

• Ensure all servers attached to your storage array have storage path management software, such as EMC
PowerPath, correctly installed and configured for path failover

• Ensure EMC is aware of any replication relation between the array to be upgraded and other arrays in the
environment

• In case you have D@RE (Data At Rest Encryption) enabled, please make sure to have a recent keys backup
before the upgrade

• If the scheduled activity that we have contacted you about is capable of being done through Managed File
Transfer (MFT), EMC Remote Proactive Support will use it as a transfer mechanism. Depending on the device
that the activity is scheduled for, MFT will reduce the amount of time it takes for the transfer to complete.
For more information on ESRSv3 and MFT functionality, consult the ESRSv3 Installation and Operations
Guide
o Please note that in order for MFT to work successfully, it is important that port 9443 must be opened from the
device to the ESRSv3 gateway. If you do not take action and open this port (if necessary) prior to the scheduled
activity, then code transfers through MFT will not be possible

• Before upgrading the VNX for File OE software, if you are upgrading from 8.1.9.132/R33 P132 or higher and
you have VDM MetroSync Manager installed, make sure that the VDM MetroSync Manager service is stopped,
and that no VDM MetroSync replication session operations are in process. During the upgrade process, you
must not execute any VDM MetroSync replication session operations

• If upgrading to VNX2 Software version 8.1.9.211, ensure EMC is aware if you have SMBv1 negotiation between the
DataMover and the Domain Controllers as this VNX2 software enables the use of (SMBv2) which will lead to the
SMB servers becoming unavailable. EMC will apply 8.1.9.21102 DART patch to fix the issue, more details can be
found at KB500801

• Review the Simple Support Matrix for you model

✔
☐ I acknowledge I have been made aware of the above items and agree to address those applicable, prior to
my upgrade date.

We would also like to direct you to further information regarding your EMC equipment and/or your environment:

• The latest information relating to VNX upgrade issues is available at KB194443.

• More detail relating to configuration checks can be found at KB75299

EMC Confidential
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