When you add an appliance or HA pair to a Grid as a new member, it is important that it is running the same version of software as the other members in the Grid. Infoblox provides two methods for coordinating the software version:

Manual Upgrade and Downgrade: Before adding an appliance or HA pair to a Grid, you can manually upgrade or downgrade the software on the appliance or HA pair to the version used by the rest of the Grid.
Automatic Upgrade and Downgrade: The Grid Master automatically compares the software version of each appliance attempting to enter a Grid with that in use by the rest of Grid. If the versions do not match, the Grid Master downloads the correct version to the new appliance or HA pair.

Note: The Grid Master checks the software version every time an appliance or HA pair joins the Grid. The software version check occurs during the initial join operation and when a member goes offline and then rejoins the Grid.

Figure 5.7 Automatic Upgrade of An Appliance Joining a Grid

When a single appliance attempts to join the Grid for the first time, the following series of events takes place:

The appliance establishes an encrypted VPN tunnel with the Grid Master.
The master detects that the software version on the appliance is different from that in the rest of the Grid. For example, the appliance is running NIOS 6.10.0 software but the rest of the Grid is running NIOS 7.3.200 software.
The appliance downloads the NIOS 7.3.200 software from the Grid Master.
After the upgrade is complete, the NIOS application automatically restarts.
After the appliance reboots, it again contacts the Grid Master and step 1 is repeated. Because the software versions now match, the appliance can complete its attempt to join the Grid.

When an HA pair attempts to join the Grid for the first time, the following series of events takes place:

The active node of the HA pair establishes an encrypted VPN tunnel with the Grid Master.
The master detects that the software version on the node is different from that in the rest of the Grid. For example, the active node is running NIOS 6.10.0 software but the rest of the Grid is running NIOS 7.3.200 software.
The appliance downloads the NIOS 7.3.200 software from the Grid Master.
After the upgrade is complete, the NIOS application on the active node automatically restarts. This causes an HA failover.
The new active node (which was previously the passive node) attempts to join the Grid, repeating steps 1 – 4.
When the NIOS application on the currently active node restarts, there is another failover, and the currently passive node becomes active again.
The active node again contacts the Grid Master and step 1 is repeated. Because the software versions now match, it can complete its attempt to join the Grid.

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