Our articles, blog posts, various marketing materials, and communication with clients or partners have recently highlighted how important updates are. We do our best to make the Open-E JovianDSS update process as convenient as possible. We know how crucial it is to avoid any possible downtimes in business operations and allow updating to go smoothly. Each step is provided with transparent prompts, and our technical support team is ready to help with the software update as well. However, we have received an interesting question from one of the Open-E JovianDSS users, which we would like to review and refer to.

The Customer’s Update Question

So the question from the user was: 

We have to update Open-E JovianDSS from version 1.0up29r1.45584, 2021. We have the latest software version available on our web portal, but we want to make sure that we can go straight from the 2021 version to 2024 without any problems. 3 years is a long time. Otherwise, do you have an upgrade path to provide us with, please? What would you advise to do best?

And that’s an excellent question! Updates take time. Even if it takes a moment from the Open-E JovianDSS end, the server reboot needs some more – minutes or more. So, one may say that updating the system can be time-consuming. Of course, and we know losing time costs you. But losing data and risking long downtime costs you incomparably more! That’s why it’s a simple calculation – updating the system accordingly to new version releases is the most optimal way to do so.

Stepwise Data Storage System Update

First and foremost, Open-E strongly recommends performing the upgrade stepwise, moving chronologically through the versions rather than directly upgrading to the latest release. Upgrading one version at a time helps mitigate the risk of unexpected issues that may arise from significant changes between the versions. It’s because each new update refers to the previous one, so skipping bay leads to incompatibilities, losing important settings or even the whole data pools. 

We have already observed some potential issues during large version jumps while supporting Open-E JovianDSS users. Except that, we know about others that may occur. Here’s a list, take a look:

• Non-functioning Share Drives: The new version of Open-E JovianDSS may introduce changes to the file system, such as new features or optimizations, which are not backward compatible. Rolling back after an upgrade could result in file system corruption or data loss because older software versions might not correctly recognize the new file system structures.

• Hardware Drivers: Significant changes in hardware drivers may have been introduced between versions. Skipping intermediate updates can cause hardware components, such as network interfaces, storage controllers, or RAID cards, to malfunction due to driver incompatibilities. This can lead to performance issues or even prevent the system from recognizing attached hardware.

• Service Disruptions (NAS/SAN): NAS or SAN services, such as shared drives or iSCSI targets, may stop working if a large jump between versions bypasses essential changes made to the underlying service architecture. These features may rely on incremental adjustments that are made in each release.

• Unresolved Bugs or Unstable Features – Skipping Fixes: Each update often contains bug fixes and improvements that may be specific to your current system setup. By jumping multiple versions, you might miss intermediate bug fixes or performance enhancements, leaving unresolved issues in place or introducing new bugs.

• Unstable Features: New features introduced in the latest version may not function correctly if specific dependencies or intermediate updates have been skipped.

• Configuration Conflicts: Configuration files, system settings, or permissions might undergo changes across versions. Jumping directly to a newer version could cause system conflicts or misconfigurations, leading to instability or improper functionality of critical services.

• Loss of Custom Settings – Customizations or Integrations Lost: Any custom integrations or specific settings, such as Windows Active Directory configurations or SAN-specific setups, might not be carried over properly in a significant version jump, potentially requiring manual reconfiguration or causing these features to break.

• Potential Problems with ZFS: Skipping ZFS version upgrades may lead to file system incompatibility and rollback issues. Performance degradation can occur due to memory mismanagement, fragmentation, or full storage pools, while slow scrubbing and resilvering can affect system availability. Issues with ZFS caching (ARC/L2ARC) or ZIL/SLOG devices may further degrade performance or lead to data corruption. Additionally, skipping versions can introduce new bugs or regressions, increasing instability. Always ensure full backups, test upgrades in a safe environment, and monitor system health to mitigate these risks.

• Performance Degradation: Skipping incremental improvements to system performance in intermediate versions can lead to performance degradation. Features that optimize resource usage, memory management, or I/O performance may not be fully realized if they are part of a gradual progression across several versions.

Stay Calm & Keep Updating

As you can see, skipping the software update versions may result in serious issues that may cost you a lot. That’s why it’s so important to keep the system version up to date. Before the update, you can take additional steps to ensure the security of your data:

• Ensure that you have a complete backup of your data: Although the upgrade process is designed to preserve your settings and data, it’s always a best practice to have a reliable backup in place.

• Document all system configurations, including network settings, NAS or SAN settings, Active Directory integrations, and any custom scripts or configurations. This will help you restore your system if the update process overwrites or resets any settings.

• Have a rollback plan in case the update goes wrong: Make sure the rollback procedure is tested and ready so you can revert to the previous stable version of the software if needed (keeping in mind the file system limitations with rollbacks).

• Schedule the update during a low-traffic time to minimize the impact of any downtime or interruptions.

• Temporarily isolate critical data from the updated system by moving it to a separate storage pool or system. This reduces the risk of data loss during the update. Here’s where Open-E JovianDSS On- & Off-site Data Protection and Open-E JovianDSS High Availability Cluster may be instrumental.

With this in mind, you can start the upgrade, confident that nothing will surprise you!