Description

This explains how to upgrade a cluster by scheduling the reboot and synchronizing time between both the nodes. If the devices are not part of a Chassis Cluster, refer to KB19925 - How to schedule upgrade reboot on SRX devices [juniper.net] .

Symptoms

  • To upgrade a cluster with minimum effort.
  • To schedule the reboot  to a minimum traffic time of the day.

Solution

  1. Check that the SRX has sufficient space on the flash drive:
    2. user@srx> show system storage | match cf
If space is too low to transfer the upgrade file, purge some log files:
user@srx> request system storage cleanup
If space is still too low, follow the instructions in Juniper KB16652 [juniper.net]

  • Transfer upgrade file to SRX using SCP or FTP

    1. Use scp or WinSCP to copy the file to /var/tmp on the SRX cluster

    or

  • Use FTP to copy the file to /var/tmp directory.

    user@srx> ftp <ip-address-of-local-ftp-server>  
    login using user credentials
    ftp> lcd /var/tmp
    ftp> bin
    ftp> get <junos-image-name>   # i.e. junos-srxsme-10.2R3.10-domestic.tgz
    ftp> bye

  • Install software
    • user@srx> request system software add no-copy /var/tmp/ <junos-image-name>
  • Add a system reboot request for midnight(OR any least traffic time).
    • user@srx> request system reboot at 23:59
  • Copy file to Node 1
    • user@srx> file copy /var/tmp/ <junos-image-name>

    or shell

    % rcp -T /cf/var/tmp/ <junos-image-name>

  • Log in to the secondary node. Assuming node0 is primary and node1 is backup:
    • user@srx> request routing-engine login node 1
  • Repeat steps 3) and 4)

This will load the upgraded software on both members, and then reboot them at the same time.The simultaneous reboot is needed to keep the cluster stable.

One addendum to this:

The cluster does not synchronize time between the two members. Which kind of defeats the purpose of scheduling a simultaneous reboot. Therefore:

  • Verify time on both members of the cluster (show system uptime), and adjust time on the backup member if it is more than a few seconds off.