Overview of the Aviatrix Controller and Gateways Upgrade

Overview

Aviatrix encourages you to keep your platform Controller and gateways up to date to ensure you are operating the most secure and highest performing versions available. To facilitate less disruptive upgrades and reduce maintenance windows Aviatrix provides a rolling selective upgrade process. You can choose to upgrade all Aviatrix gateways in all regions simultaneously or select specific gateways and regions to upgrade in logical groups conforming to your network update policies and maintenance windows.

Always backup your system configuration before performing an upgrade. For more information, see Back Up and Restore Your Controller on Controller UI.

About Aviatrix Upgrade

There are two types of upgrades for the Aviatrix Platform and gateways:

  • Software Upgrade (Controller and Gateway): Update the Aviatrix software without creating new instances. This software upgrades replace the relevant Aviatrix Controller and gateway packages, configuration files, and binaries without disrupting network traffic or replacing the gateways. The software upgrade causes minimal disruption to network traffic .

    If you have DCF with webgroups configured and applied to rules, traffic disruption will occur on those gateways.

  • Controller Image Upgrade: Updates the base image of the controller, which is needed for operating system or kernel upgrades and may include an Aviatrix software upgrade. This results in minimal disruption to network traffic.

  • Gateway Image Upgrade: Updates the base image of the gateway, potentially causing brief traffic disruptions. To minimize impact, deploying gateways with high availability (HA) is recommended, and upgrades should be performed on one gateway at a time within the HA set. Gateway image upgrades are usually required after a Controller Image Upgrade to ensure that the Aviatrix Platform and gateways are operating with the same base software version.

There are two types of patch updates:

  • Security Patches Security patches are released when security updates to underlying software components become available. Review the patch release notes for more details.

  • Software Patches Software patches are released to address compatibility issues when they arise. You should apply the patches to the Aviatrix system when they become available if you are using any applications or configurations affected by the patch. Review the patch release notes for more details.

About Release Numbers

Aviatrix release numbers follow the Major.Minor.Build format. For example, the release number 7.1.100 indicates:

  • 7 is the major release number.

  • 1 is the minor release number.

  • 100 is the build number.

Each release type has different functionality parameters.

  • Major Includes new features and updates that affect the platform infrastructure and user interfaces.

  • Minor Includes modified and new small features and updates that may affect the platform infrastructure and user interfaces.

  • Build Corrected issues and feature enhancements.

Upgrade Options

When you initiate an upgrade, Aviatrix automatically presents the most recently published build for the selected major or minor release version.

Upgrading Minor Releases of Controller and Gateways

When upgrading from one minor version of a major release to another, it is necessary to follow a sequential upgrade process and cannot skip over intermediate minor release versions. Each minor release must be upgraded sequentially. For instance, when upgrading from 6.5.current to 6.8.latest, the intermediate releases 6.6.latest and 6.7.latest must be upgraded first.

Valid upgrade paths to a new minor release are determined by the current build (the one currently running) and the latest build available on the Aviatrix server.

Upgrading Major Releases of Controller and Gateways

When upgrading from one major release to another, it is required to perform a sequential upgrade and not skip over intermediate major release versions. Each major release must be upgraded in sequence. You also need to go through all the minor releases within each major release before moving on to the next major release.

For example, if you are currently on version 6.6.current and want to upgrade to version 8.0, you need to:

  1. Upgrade from 6.6 to the latest minor release in the 6.x series (e.g., 6.6.current to 6.6.latest, then to 6.7.latest, then 6.7.latest to 6.8.latest, and so on) until you reach the latest minor release in the 6.x series.

  2. Once you have upgraded through all the minor releases in the 6.x series, you can then move on to the major release 7.0.

  3. From 7.0, continue upgrading through all the minor releases in the 7.x series until you reach the latest minor release in the 7.x series.

  4. Upgrade from the latest minor release in the 7.x series to version 8.0.

See Multiple-Version Upgrade for Controller and Gateways for more detailed examples.

Valid upgrade path to a new major release is determined by the current build (the one currently running) and the latest build available on the Aviatrix server.

Upgrade Parameter Definitions

Platform Upgrade Window Parameter Definitions

  • Previous Version Previous version of the Controller.

  • Current Version Current version of the Controller.

  • Kernel Version Version of the Controller’s Linux kernel.

  • Release Versions The upgrade path between the currently running version of the Controller and the latest release available on the Aviatrix release server. For example, if you are running Aviatrix Platform 6.4.321 and the latest release available on the release server is 6.6.123, the Release Version field displays: UserConnect-6.6.123 (6.5,6.6). This indicates you must successively upgrade to 6.5 then upgrade to 6.6 to bring the platform up to the latest available version.

  • Target Release Version New version of the Aviatrix Platform to which you are upgrading. If you do not specify a release number, the system automatically selects the latest build of the major and minor release currently running on the platform Controller. The version cannot be a version earlier than the release currently running on the platform Controller.

Selective Gateway Upgrade Window Parameter Definitions

  • Current Version Current software version running on the gateway.

  • Previous Version If the gateway has never been upgraded there is no version number. If the gateway has been upgraded at least once, this is the software version the gateway ran before the last upgrade.

  • Target Version Software version to which the gateway can be upgraded. It is the same version as the current version of the platform Controller.

  • Previous Image Version If the gateway OS has never been upgraded there is no version number. If the gateway OS has been upgraded at least once, this is the image version the gateway ran before the last upgrade.

  • Current Image Version Current version of the gateway underlying OS.

  • Target Image Version Every gateway software version matches a unique recommended OS version that may change over time. This version is determined by a compatibility matrix. This field displays the OS version that will be used in case of an OS upgrade.

  • Kernel Version Version of the gateway OS kernel.

  • Rollback Version Software version to which the gateway can be rolled back. It is the same version as the previous version of the platform Controller.

  • Rollback Image Version OS version that will be used in case of a gateway software rollback. Depending on the system compatibility matrix, this version can be higher, lower, or the same OS version currently running on the gateway.

  • Account Account attached to the gateway.

  • Cloud Cloud provider hosting the gateway.

  • Region Cloud region where the gateway is deployed.

  • Gateway Type Gateway persona: transit, spoke, or standalone.

  • Gateway Role Primary or secondary.