General scenarios:

1. Before upgrading, please use the latest version of aDeploy (download address: https://download.sangfor.com/Download/Tools/aDeploy/aDeploy-server-en-install.zip to perform a pre-upgrade check and install a pre-upgrade check package.

2. If the current version is earlier than 5.8.6/6.7.0 and needs to be upgraded to a version later than 5.8.6/6.7.0, to ensure a smooth upgrade, contact a Sangfor technical support representative in advance.
3. A rolling active upgrade to HCI6.11.1R1 will automatically restart the physical server. Therefore, manual restart is not needed.
4. Before upgrading, please ensure the license key is valid. Otherwise, the platform cannot be upgraded.
5. When upgrading from 6.8.0, 6.8.0R1, 6.8.1 and 6.9.0 (without patching) to 6.11.1R1 with rolling upgrade, the node will not be automatically restarted during the upgrade. After patching, the upgrade will have a rolling upgrade effect with automatic host restart. 6.8.0R2 does not require patching, and the rolling upgrade will also automatically restart the host.

SP Installation:

1. If the current version contains custom packages (packages name: Custom-XXX), please contact a Sangfor technical support representative for upgrade evaluation.

2. If the current version contains SPs (packages name: sp-XXX), it can be upgraded directly.

Graphics Cards:

1. If the current version is earlier than 6.7.0, a GRID driver (supported versions 10.2 and 13.2) must be reimported again after the upgrade. After the HCI platform is upgraded and restarted, import a GRID driver for nodes as needed and then restart the nodes. Driver updates are also required for business VMs and will take effect after they are restarted.

2. If graphics cards are used in versions earlier than 6.2.0, aGPU license key is required after the upgrade. Otherwise, GPU-related features cannot be used.

iSCSI Virtual Disks

1. HCI cannot be upgraded when it provides services as an iSCSI server. Before upgrading, please go to iSCSI clients to disconnect all related connections.

Offline Upgrade

1. During the pre-upgrade check for an offline upgrade, if a message is prompted saying, "A VM is running on the node. Please shut down the VM and try again.", you can ignore this problem temporarily. Before an official upgrade, all virtual devices must shut down and run a pre-upgrade check again.

Low latency scenario

1. When upgrading from HCI6.9.1 to subsequent versions, the low latency mode does not support active upgrades by default. Before upgrading, you need to shut down all virtual machines and then perform a offline upgrade.