ADC

Test the traffic on a single node during cluster upgrade

Testing traffic on a specific node during a cluster upgrade is crucial to ensure system stability and traffic integrity. When upgrading a cluster, it is recommended to upgrade nodes one at a time during the maintenance window. You can’t test the traffic on partially upgraded clusters because traffic can go through nodes that are not upgraded.

If traffic fails after completing the upgrade, a full downgrade might be required, which is time-consuming and depends on the number of nodes in the cluster.

Starting from NetScaler 14.1 Build 43.x, a new command is available to help test traffic on a single node during upgrade by using the policy-based backplane steering (PBS) mechanism with the nodeid parameter.

Important:

Use this feature only during the upgrade process. You must remove the ACL after the upgrade is completed. Do not use this feature in normal cluster operations.

Before upgrading a specific node, run the following command on the CLIP:

add ns acl <name_of_ACL> ALLOW -srcIP = <source_IP> -destIP = <destination_ip> -type DFD -nodeid <node_id> apply acls -type DFD

Example:

add ns acl Sample_ACL ALLOW -srcIP = 10.1.1.150 -destIP = 24.1.1.1 -type DFD -nodeid 2 apply acls -type DFD

The general upgrade process includes the following steps:

  1. Identify the maintenance window.
  2. Apply the ACL on CLIP. Use the following command on CLIP before upgrading a node. Save the configuration.

    add ns acl <name_of_ACL> ALLOW -srcIP = <source_IP> -destIP = <destination_ip> -type DFD -nodeid <node_id> apply acls -type DFD
  3. Upgrade and reboot the node for which you applied the ACL.
  4. Test the traffic that matches the attributes mentioned in the ACL. It must be steered to the specific node id.
  5. Verify if the traffic is functioning properly.
  6. If the traffic works as expected, proceed with upgrading the remaining nodes.
  7. After completing the upgrade, remove the ACL from CLIP using:

    rm ns acl <name_of_ACL> apply acls -type DFD
Test the traffic on a single node during cluster upgrade