Quadric Software

XenServer 7 Upgrade: Do’s and Don’ts

Looking for advice on a XenServer 7 upgrade? You’ve come to the right place. Before you upgrade to Citrix XenServer v7.x, take a few minutes to read this post on ways to make this process easier for you and your IT staff.

A computer is like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy.

— Joseph Campbell

XenServer 7 Upgrade: Things to Do

• Do: Make sure you are on the minimum version of XenCenter required to support the latest version of XenServer.
• Do: Back up all of your XS VMs according to Best Practices (see section below for Best Practice tips).
• Do: Ensure all your XenServer VMs can be migrated (or shut them down on local SRs for a rolling pool upgrade).
• Do: Make sure all of your hosts are on the same version of XS, or at least have the same hotfixes applied.
• Do: Clear out the pathway: /var/lib/xcp/blobs/
• Do: Check your VMs after the upgrade to determine whether or not XenTools needs an update.
• Do: Read the post, XenServer 7.X Pool Upgrades, for more information on how to prepare for a XenServer 7 upgrade.

XenServer 7 Upgrade: Things Not To Do

• Don’t: Attempt to upgrade without checking to see that your hosts have sufficient memory to carry out the upgrade (see the XS 7 Installation guide pg. 25 for memory guidelines).
• Don’t: Upgrade with the Rolling Pool method in Boot from SAN environments.
• Don’t: Upgrade from versions older than 6.5.0 if you have applications, code, or usage that depend on iSL. Existing virtual disks (VDIs) from an iSL SR will not function in XS 6.5 and higher (See this Citrix KB for information about migrating iSL SR VDIs to an iSCSI or Fibre Channel SR).
• Don’t: Perform the rolling upgrade manually without first planning your upgrade path and then live migrating running VMs between XenServer hosts accordingly (More information on manual and automatic rolling pool upgrades on pg. 25 of the XS 7 Installation guide.

XenServer 7 Upgrade: Backing Up Your XS VMs

Even if you aren’t backing up your XenServer VMs with Alike, it’s critical that you make sure all of your systems are backed up before you begin the upgrade process. After all, it doesn’t have to take a Zombie Apocalypse to put your organization at risk. Now, with the recent increase in cyberattacks, every organization is at risk. And backups are the only defense against Ransomware attacks.

We know that as IT professionals, you get this. And while it may sound like we’re beating a dead printer, we can’t tell you how many customers we were able to save because they had protected their systems with regular, complete backups.

In fact, we recently helped a customer with an emergency restore due to some hiccups while performing an upgrade. Luckily, that customer had regular backups stored in multiple locations.

Please see our post, “How to Backup XenServer VMs,” for tips on backing up XenServer with Alike.

Quadric Software Has Your Back

Whether your goal is to prevent cyberattacks, data loss due to a natural disaster, or you’re just trying to prevent a meltdown because someone accidentally clicked the wrong key, we’ve got your back! Our main goal is to prevent the extra time, money, and stress spent on what could quickly become a dire situation.

As always, we’re here to answer any questions you may have about protecting your Citrix XenServer systems with Alike, or Alike’s compatibility with XenServer updates. We put a lot of effort into ensuring that Alike supports the latest version of XenServer, right out of the box. Below are a few more useful articles on the latest XenServer 7 updates.

XenServer 7.2 is Here!

Citrix XenServer 7.1 Support with Alike