Kubernetes deployment environment
Introduction
The NSP software can be deployed only in a supported version of Kubernetes environment. An NSP software bundle includes the latest supported version as of the NSP release date; an NSP system installation uses the bundled Kubernetes version.
An NSP system may be compatible with a Kubernetes version that is released after the NSP deployment. In such a case, you can upgrade the Kubernetes deployment environment without upgrading the NSP software, as described in Upgrading Kubernetes.
Upgrading Kubernetes
An NSP system upgrade typically includes an upgrade of the Kubernetes deployment environment. Each NSP system upgrade procedure has a link to To upgrade the NSP Kubernetes environment, which describes the upgrade process for a standalone or DR NSP deployment.
Supported upgrade schemes
A Kubernetes upgrade must be version-sequential, which means that you cannot upgrade directly from version A to version C and skip version B; you must first upgrade from version A to version B, and only then can you upgrade to version C.
Rather than performing a series of sequential Kubernetes upgrades, you can choose to uninstall your current Kubernetes environment and then install the new version.
Note: Performing a series of sequential upgrades preserves the NSP cluster data in the Kubernetes etcd database, while uninstalling Kubernetes deletes the etcd data.
Off-cycle upgrades
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CAUTION Misconfiguration Risk |
The Kubernetes upgrade procedure in this guide is specific to an upgrade to the Kubernetes version introduced in the NSP release of this guide, and cannot be used for upgrading to a later version. Using the Kubernetes upgrade procedure in this guide to upgrade to a Kubernetes version issued with a later NSP release is not supported, and may result in system misconfiguration.
To upgrade to a later Kubernetes version, you must use the Kubernetes upgrade procedure in the NSP Installation and Upgrade Guide for the NSP release associated with the new Kubernetes version.
After an NSP installation or upgrade, if a new Kubernetes version is made available that your NSP release supports, you can perform an “off-cycle” Kubernetes upgrade to the new version without upgrading the NSP software. See the Host Environment Compatibility Reference for NSP and CLM for information about the supported Kubernetes versions for various NSP releases.
To upgrade the NSP Kubernetes environment describes how to upgrade your Kubernetes version to the version introduced with the NSP release of the NSP release of this guide..
Time estimates
A Kubernetes upgrade and a Kubernetes re-installation take different amounts of time to complete, as shown below; the values are based on a four-node NSP cluster:
The time estimates show that re-installation may save considerable time if multiple sequential upgrades are required, especially in a DR deployment.