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Infoblox frequently releases updated NIOS software. Contact Infoblox Technical Support to learn which file name to use when downloading a new upgrade file, or watch your email for periodic notifications that a new software upgrade is available. To get the latest upgrade, your local network must be capable of downloading a file from the Internet.
After you download and store the new upgrade file on your local network, complete the following tasks to upgrade an Infoblox independent appliance or a Grid.

  • Upload the new software to the Grid Master, as described in Uploading NIOS Software below.

  • Distribute the software upgrade files, as described in Distributing Software Upgrade Files below. 

  • Optionally, test the upgrade, as described in Testing Software Upgrades below.

  • Perform the software upgrade, as described in Performing Software Upgrades below.

Before upgrading, Infoblox recommends that all members in the Grid be connected to the network and operating normally. If one or more members are offline when you upgrade the Grid, they automatically receive the distributed software and upgrade when they join the Grid or come back online.

Note

Note

  • In a Grid that is configured with an HA pair, Infoblox does not recommend that you disconnect any node of the HA Grid Master and then join it back after installing a NIOS version that does not match with the current running version of NIOS on the other node. If an upgrade operation is performed this way, the Grid displays an unexpected behavior and will need a manual intervention of the Support team to recover the Grid.

  • The shared secret that you enter when adding a RADIUS authentication server in the Add RADIUS Authentication Service wizard > RADIUS Servers > Shared Secret field must be between 4 and 64 characters (inclusive) in length. Otherwise, the upgrade will fail.

Note

Caution

Do not attempt to add or remove a member, or convert an HA pair to single members or vice versa during a distribution or upgrade.

When you upgrade from NIOS, you can start, stop, or restart DNS and DHCP services, or only the DHCP service on a member that has not been upgraded. When you start, stop, or restart other services, such as reporting or file distribution, the operation is put in queue for execution until after the targeted member has been upgradedEnd-of-Life Announcement: NIOS 8.6.x will reach its end-of-life (EoL) in April 2025. Infoblox recommends that you upgrade to NIOS 9.x to ensure continued support and coverage.

NIOS 8.6.5 is intended for a small set of customers who require the special features (MGM, FIPS/CC) specific to this version. Infoblox recommends that most customers upgrade directly to NIOS 9.x instead of NIOS 8.6.5.

 There is no direct upgrade path from NIOS 8.6.5 to NIOS 9.x until the release of NIOS 9.0.7 (expected to release mid-2025). Customers should remain on their existing NIOS 8.6.x versions and plan to upgrade directly to NIOS 9.x before April 30, 2025, to ensure continuous support. Infoblox recommends that most customers upgrade directly to NIOS 9.x and do not upgrade to NIOS 8.6.5.

Infoblox frequently releases updated NIOS software. Contact Infoblox Technical Support to learn which file name to use when downloading a new upgrade file, or watch your email for periodic notifications that a new software upgrade is available. To get the latest upgrade, your local network must be capable of downloading a file from the Internet.
After you download and store the new upgrade file on your local network, complete the following tasks to upgrade an Infoblox independent appliance or a Grid.

  • Upload the new software to the Grid Master, as described in Uploading NIOS Software below.

  • Distribute the software upgrade files, as described in Distributing Software Upgrade Files below. 

  • Optionally, test the upgrade, as described in Testing Software Upgrades below.

  • Perform the software upgrade, as described in Performing Software Upgrades below.

Before upgrading, Infoblox recommends that all members in the Grid be connected to the network and operating normally. If one or more members are offline when you upgrade the Grid, they automatically receive the distributed software and upgrade when they join the Grid or come back online.

Note

Note

  • In a Grid that is configured with an HA pair, Infoblox does not recommend that you disconnect any node of the HA Grid Master and then join it back after installing a NIOS version that does not match with the current running version of NIOS on the other node. If an upgrade operation is performed this way, the Grid displays an unexpected behavior and will need a manual intervention of the Support team to recover the Grid.

  • The shared secret that you enter when adding a RADIUS authentication server in the Add RADIUS Authentication Service wizard > RADIUS Servers > Shared Secret field must be between 4 and 64 characters (inclusive) in length. Otherwise, the upgrade will fail.

  • If the creation of the integrity checksum or metadata file is interrupted or fails to complete due to unforeseen circumstances during a Grid upgrade in FIPS/CC mode, while applying a hotfix to a FIPS/CC-enabled node, or when a Grid member automatically synchronizes with the Grid Master during a Grid upgrade, the node encounters an integrity failure upon reboot or restart. This failure results in the node becoming non-functional, rendering it unusable.

  • Infoblox does not recommend having different versions of the Network Insight consolidator and probe during a software Grid upgrade. This may lead to the “Discovery Consolidator service failure issue” error. Infoblox recommends that you always upgrade the consolidator and probe simultaneously during the software Grid upgrade process.

Note

Caution

Do not attempt to add or remove a member, or convert an HA pair to single members or vice versa during a distribution or upgrade.

When you upgrade from NIOS, you can start, stop, or restart DNS and DHCP services, or only the DHCP service on a member that has not been upgraded. When you start, stop, or restart other services, such as reporting or file distribution, the operation is put in queue for execution until after the targeted member has been upgraded.

Upgrade Guidelines in FIPS mode

  • On a FIPS-enabled mode, during a fresh installation or after an upgrade, you are now prompted to change the password for the default ‘admin’ user (only for the first login) even if it was changed in the previous versions.

  • However, if FIPS mode is not enabled during the upgrade, consider the following if you wish to enable FIPS mode post upgrade:

    • If you change the password for the username - admin before enabling FIPS mode, no further password change is needed after enabling FIPS mode.

    • If you do not change the password for the username - admin before enabling FIPS mode, you will need to change the password after enabling FIPS mode.

  • On a FIPS-enabled mode, during a staged upgrade, after the Grid Master is upgraded, the changed password for the 'admin' user will not propagate to the members that are waiting to upgrade until those members are upgraded.

  • If FIPS is enabled on a Grid, upon an upgrade, Grid communication is not automatically in the FIPS-compliant mode. Run the set distributed_grid_comm_mode CLI command to get the Grid communication in the compliant mode. A banner is displayed in Grid Manager until NIOS transitions into the FIPS/CC compliant mode. For more information about the command, see set distributed_grid_comm_mode.

General Upgrade Guidelines

  • Infoblox does not recommend having different versions of the Network Insight consolidator and probe during a software Grid upgrade. This may lead to the “Discovery Consolidator service failure issue” error. Infoblox recommends that you always upgrade the consolidator and probe simultaneously during the software Grid upgrade process.

  • After a scheduled upgrade to NIOS 8.6.3 is complete, you must run the update_rabbitmq_password command on the Grid Master to get the Cloud DNS Sync service to be functional. Until that time, Route 53 synchronization does not start because the service has not been started.

  • After an upgrade to NIOS 8.6.3, the Cloud DNS Sync service starts automatically on the Grid member that is assigned to the Route 53 synchronization groups.

  • After an upgrade to NIOS 8.6.3, the Disable Default Search Path and the Additional Search Paths fields will no longer be displayed in the Add Active Directory Authentication Service > Step 1 of 1 wizard.

  • If you upgrade to NIOS 8.6.3, all IB-FLEX appliances or Grids that have the FLEX Grid Activation license or the MSP license will have the ReportingSPLA external attribute assigned automatically for supported Grid members.

  • After an upgrade to NIOS 8.6.3, only 5% of allowed blocklist subscribers is supported for virtual DNS Cache Acceleration (vDCA).

  • The shared secret that you enter when adding a RADIUS authentication server in the Add RADIUS Authentication Service wizard > RADIUS Servers > Shared Secret field must be between 4 and 64

  • characters (inclusive) in length. Otherwise, the upgrade will fail.

  • If you are using threat analytics, you must have installed the minimum module set version (20210620) before upgrading to NIOS 8.6.1 or to NIOS 8.5.3 or later versions.

Uploading NIOS Software

After you download the NIOS software upgrade to your management station, upload it to the Grid Master, as follows:

...