topic Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade in General Topics

MDS CPUSE Upgrade

Josh28 — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 12:56:11 GMT

Dear community,

I’m trying for month without success to migrate our MDS Virtuals machines from R81.10 to R81.20, following the CheckPoint documentation and using the new migrate_server export/import described here: https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/R81.20/WebAdminGuides/EN/CP_R81.20_Installation_and_Upgrade_Guide/Content/Topics-IUG/Upgrading-MDSs-in-Mgmt-HA-from-R80_20-and-higher-with-Migration.htm?tocpath=Upgrade%20of%20Multi-Domain%20Servers%20and%20Multi-Domain%20Log%20Servers%7CUpgrading%20Multi-Domain%20Servers%20in%20High%20Availability%20from%20R80.20%20and%20higher%7C_____3

Following TAC recommendations and analysis, we tried this:

From the R81.10 (latest JHF) primary MDS Virtual machine, export the database and importing it to a new primary VM running R81.20 (latest JHF).
After multiples failures and retries, we did the import on a R81.10 (latest JHF), exact same version as the original VM, but without success.
Logs provided to the tac doesn’t indicate the issue apparently.

Now I would like to proceed with a very basic CPUSE upgrade like I usually do with the gateways. If I understood correctly the documentation, I think I need to do this:

Use blink package for R81.20 JHF 89 on primary MDS then secondary MDS, if they are indeed available for virtual MDS, it's not clear for me based on the platforms listed https://support.checkpoint.com/results/download/135173
OR import and install the R81.20 image https://support.checkpoint.com/results/download/124401 on primary then secondary MDS
Import and install latest R81.20 jumbo (89 as of today) on primary then secondary MDS.

Do you think it could work ? Blink package has my prefrerance, and I hadn't any issues on gateways using them. Any tips on doing it this way ?

Thank you for your feedback.

Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade

G_W_Albrecht — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 15:46:34 GMT

You did Download the R81.20 Upgrade Tools from the sk135172..?

Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade

Josh28 — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 18:14:50 GMT

Hello,

Yes eveything was up to date, Jumbo, Cpuse agent and upgrade tool. I even used a custom upgrade tool provided by the TAC, with no effects. Now I won't look at the migrate_server anymore, I'll just do a CPUSE upgrade on the VM currently used, so I'm looking for feeback about this method.

Thank you.

Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade

G_W_Albrecht — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 09:35:48 GMT

https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk120193 :

Blink does not support Secondary Management in Management HA.

So better proceed as shown here: https://sc1.checkpoint.com/documents/R82/WebAdminGuides/EN/CP_R82_Installation_and_Upgrade_Guide/Content/Topics-IUG/Upgrading-MDSs-in-Mgmt-HA-from-R80_20-and-higher-with-CPUSE.htm?tocpath=Upgrade%20of%20Multi-Domain%20Servers%20and%20Multi-Domain%20Log%20Servers%7CUpgrading%20Multi-Domain%20Servers%20in%20High%20Availability%20from%20R80.20%20and%20higher%7C_____1

Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade

Josh28 — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:35:51 GMT

Hi. It seems that I’ll have difficulties with the CPUSE upgrade too (I cannot catch a break apparently ):)

MDS> installer import local /var/log/Check_Point_R81.20_T634_Fresh_Install_and_Upgrade.tar

Preparing package for import. This operation might take a few moments

Note: The selected package will be copied into CPUSE repository

Info: Initiating import of Check_Point_R81.20_T634_Fresh_Install_and_Upgrade.tar...

Interactive mode is enabled. Press CTRL + C to exit (this will not stop the operation)

Result: The following results are not compatible with the package:

- Your partitions are not in Check Point standard format, and an upgrade is not possible. Reinstall your system and verify correct partitioning.

This installation package is not supported on Cloud environments (Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Service and Aliyun)

This installation package may not be supported on your appliance model.

For the latest software images for Check Point appliances, see sk166536

This installation package may not be supported on your server.

The installation is supported only on servers with standard Check Point partition formats.

Found this SK, https://support.checkpoint.com/results/sk/sk180769, it seems partitioning requirements have change with R81.20 with one single hard drive allowed ? We are using 6 1To hard drives

A mate had the same issue https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/Management/MDSM-R81-10-gt-R81-20-Upgrade/m-p/195753 I’ll look into this solution, seems I need to create news VMs with one HD and perform a mds backup and restore.

Edit: just to confirm that our issue was indeed coming from a partition change since R81.20, we had to create or new VM with only one single hard drive. The migrate_server export and import worled fine after that.

Re: MDS CPUSE Upgrade

Arne_Boettger — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 08:24:43 GMT

We encountered the same issue preparing our MDS for Upgrade to R81.20. However, we found sk181913 and just tried creating a /boot/SW_RAID file.

This allowed us to download the package.

UPDATE: However, installation did NOT works, we dropped into the bootloader after "installer upgrade", so we have to rebuild the system.

I had opened SR#6-0004499296 for clarification.