Here is a procedure on how to upgrade the software on an F5 BIGIP cluster tier.
- Download last ISO version for F5 BIGIP LTM
- Upload the ISO to the standby unit
- Install the ISO to a free partition on the standby unit
- Change boot location to the new partition and device automatically reboots.
After 6 to 7 minutes the device booted with the new software version. From now on you won’t be able to sync your configs between the devices anymore because of the different software versions it’s only possible within the same release. F5 doesn’t recommend to run cluster with different software versions.
Now initiate the failover on the active unit! Do that maybe at low traffic period! Normally there should be no side effect and the failover is not visible to clients because of the mirroring the sessions.
In case of problems with the new software version you should be able to switch back to the other cluster member with the old software version at any time.
- When you verify that everything is working after the failover you can start the other device now
- Upload ISO file
- Install ISO file
- Change boot location
The same procedure you use to install hotfixes on the BigIP.