1. Log into the StorNext GUI.
2. Choose Tools > Firmware Upgrade.
3. Select Auto Upload to upload the file immediately after you select it.
4. Click Choose File and navigate to the directory containing the firmware file(s). Firmware files are identifiable by the .fw extension.
5. Navigate to the location on your system containing the firmware file(s), and select one of the files. On Windows systems, click Open. While you cannot select both files in the dialog box, you can select either file at this time.
About the .fw (firmware) File(s) and the firmware upgrade process
• There are typically two .fw files required for updating firmware. The filenames are similar to QTM-SNA-upd-6.2.0.OS7-22241-80564E.1of2.fw and QTM-SNA-upd-6.2.0.OS7-22241-80564E.2of2.fw. For these type of two-part upgrades, upload both files. For some releases, only a single firmware file is provided. Select the single file for the upgrade. Example: QTM-StorNext-upd-5.3.2_64242A-64242A.OS7.1of1.md5.
• Uploading the firmware upgrade files in a network with low latency should only take a matter of minutes. High network latency in your environment can slow the upload of firmware files onto the system.
• StorNext licenses for the system remain on the system and do not need to be re-applied after the firmware upgrade is complete.
• The green status indicator at the top of the page indicates upload progress, not the upgrade progress. To monitor upgrade progress, check the logs available under the Reports menu.
6. If you did not select the Auto Upload option, select the file and click Upload. If you selected Auto Upload, the file is immediately uploaded to the system. Wait for the first file to upload and display in the Uploaded Files list.
7. If there is more than one upgrade file, click Choose File again, and select the other firmware upgrade file. On Windows systems, click Open.
8. If you want to validate the file, click Validate. After the message that says "Firmware upgrade file is valid.", click OK. Repeat for the other file, if desired.
About the validate option

• Files are automatically validated after you click Apply in Step 5. Once Apply is clicked, the upgrade process begins, and you cannot postpone the upgrade until a later time.

Note: If you run the validation process before you click Activate, you have a greater assurance that the system is in a proper state for a successful upgrade. If desired, upload the .fw (firmware) files and validate them prior to a planned maintenance window for the system's upgrade. You can upload and validate files at any time before you click Activate.

Pre-Upgrade checks for upgrades on systems running StorNext 6.2.0 and later

Once a system is upgraded to StorNext 6.2.0 or later, the Validate button on the StorNext GUI Firmware Upgrade page performs a much more extensive upgrade validation check than in previous releases. The complete set of pre-upgrade checks that used to run only when you clicked Activate, are now run. These checks include a checksum and version verification against the upgrade files, and also include a complete check of RPM dependencies as well as potential conflicts on the system which could cause an upgrade to fail. There are also more extensive version checks for StorNext and other packages.

Beginning with StorNext 7.2.0, the pre-upgrade check validation process also checks for RPM files that cannot be upgraded. Upon validation failure, an Admin Alert containing a list of RPMs found that are not expected on the node(s), is generated. You must manually remove these RPMs from the node(s) before you activate the upgrade. If the system you are upgrading includes the lin_tape RPMs, you must manually remove the RPMs before you start the upgrade process, and then install the RedHat 8 version of the RPMs after the upgrade process is complete.


Pre-Upgrade checks for upgrades on systems running StorNext versions earlier than 6.2.0

If you click the "Validate" button on the StorNext GUI Firmware Upgrade page, this will verify the uploaded .fw files against a checksum for those files. The validate also performs some basic version checking to make sure the uploaded files are valid for the running system.

Errors reported from the validation check are reported back to the user in a context sensitive pop-up window explaining what failed in the validation check as well as an Admin Alert is generated with similar detailed information about the failure.

9. Select either of the uploaded files click Apply. Both firmware files are applied to the system during the upgrade. For single file firmware upgrades, select the file and click Apply. Click Yes to confirm the installation.

Note: For StorNext appliances, after you click Apply, there are some instances where the firmware upgrade will fail to complete. See the 71644 Known Issue in the Release Notes for your appliance for the workaround if the firmware upgrade fails on your system. This issue was fixed in StorNext 6.1.0.

10. Wait for a few minutes. If you see a message stating that both nodes of the system will be rebooted during the upgrade process, click Yes to continue with the upgrade.
What happens to StorNext operations during the upgrade?
• While it is true for dual-server node systems (that support HA fail-over) the server nodes will reboot, but DO NOT be alarmed. The server nodes reboot sequentially, meaning that StorNext operations continue during each server upgrade. The server node not being upgraded operates as the primary node during upgrade of the other server node. Once the first server upgrade is complete, 1.) the running node will fail over so the other server node will take begin operating as primary, 2.) the server node previously operating as primary will be taken offline and upgraded, and 3.) when the final server upgrade is complete, that server node will reboot and will come back on-line when the reboot is complete.
• For single-server node upgrades, StorNext operations WILL BE interrupted during the upgrade, since there is no other server node to fail over to during the upgrade.

Follow these steps to delete uploaded files you no longer need:

1. Select from the list the file you want to delete, and then click Delete. If you want to delete multiple files, you must delete them one at a time.

2. When a confirmation appears, click Yes to proceed or No to abort.

3. When a message informs you that the file was successfully deleted, click OK.