Today has been the release of NetApp Ontap 9.6 RC2 and what better way to get familiar with it than to run it up in the lab as a simulator.
The simulator is not yet available via the NetApp Support Site, however, it is possible to upgrade an Ontap 9.5 simulator to 9.6 by following these simple steps.
Upgrading NetApp Ontap 9.5 Simulator to Ontap 9.6
Firstly, you’ll need to download the NetApp Ontap 9.6 image file from the support site. The direct link to the Ontap 9.6 image that can be used in the simulator is found here
Secondly, upgrading to Ontap 9.6 via the 9.5 GUI will not work. I found it actually crashed my simulator, therefore, we need to reboot the Ontap 9.5 simulator and at the boot menu press CTRL C
Once you’ve pressed CTRL C, you will be presented with the Boot Menu Options. From within here, select option 7 – Install new software first.
The upgrade will be disruptive if you agree press Y to continue
The next few steps require a temporary IP to be setup to reach a server that has the image on it. I use HTTP File Server (HFS). For my settings, I used e0c with IP 192.168.1.51, subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.1 and Ontap 9.6 file location as http://192.168.1.110:8080/96RC2_q_image.tgz
Once all this information has been entered you can follow the prompts to upgrade the system.
When the system rebooted, I went back into the boot menu (shown above) and selected option 4 to Clean configuration and initialize all disks. This wiped the current Ontap 9.5 config and I started from a clean slate.
After logging into System Manager for the first time, you will notice a new button at the top – ‘Try the new experience’. This is the future System Manager, that is currently in read-only mode for now, but I’m guessing will open up in future Ontap releases.
NetApp Ontap 9.6 Documentation Links
- Release Notes for Ontap 9.6
- All Ontap 9.6 Documentation
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