53-1003515-01 31 March 2015 Fabric OS Upgrade Guide Supporting Fabric OS v7.4.
© 2015, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ADX, Brocade, Brocade Assurance, the B-wing symbol, DCX, Fabric OS, HyperEdge, ICX, MLX, MyBrocade, OpenScript, The Effortless Network, VCS, VDX, Vplane, and Vyatta are registered trademarks, and Fabric Vision and vADX are trademarks of Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., in the United States and/or in other countries. Other brands, products, or service names mentioned may be trademarks of others.
Contents Preface..................................................................................................................................... 5 Document conventions......................................................................................5 Text formatting conventions.................................................................. 5 Command syntax conventions.............................................................. 5 Notes, cautions, and warnings....................................
Firmware download on a Backbone..............................................................29 Backbone firmware download process overview.............................. 29 Upgrading firmware on Backbones (including blades)......................29 Firmware download from a USB device........................................................31 Enabling the USB device.................................................................. 32 Viewing the USB file system..................................................
Preface ● Document conventions......................................................................................................5 ● Brocade resources............................................................................................................ 7 ● Contacting Brocade Technical Support.............................................................................7 ● Document feedback..........................................................................................................
Notes, cautions, and warnings Convention Description [] Syntax components displayed within square brackets are optional. Default responses to system prompts are enclosed in square brackets. {x|y|z} A choice of required parameters is enclosed in curly brackets separated by vertical bars. You must select one of the options. In Fibre Channel products, square brackets may be used instead for this purpose. x|y A vertical bar separates mutually exclusive elements.
Brocade resources Brocade resources Visit the Brocade website to locate related documentation for your product and additional Brocade resources. You can download additional publications supporting your product at www.brocade.com. Select the Brocade Products tab to locate your product, then click the Brocade product name or image to open the individual product page. The user manuals are available in the resources module at the bottom of the page under the Documentation category.
Document feedback • Brocade Supplemental Support augments your existing OEM support contract, providing direct access to Brocade expertise. For more information, contact Brocade or your OEM. • For questions regarding service levels and response times, contact your OEM/Solution Provider. Document feedback To send feedback and report errors in the documentation you can use the feedback form posted with the document or you can e-mail the documentation team.
About This Document ● Supported hardware and software.................................................................................... 9 ● Supported upgrade paths................................................................................................10 Supported hardware and software In those instances in which procedures or parts of procedures documented here apply to some switches but not to others, this list identifies exactly which switches are supported and which are not.
Supported upgrade paths Brocade Gen 4 platform (8-Gpbs) DCX Backbone family • Brocade DCX • Brocade DCX-4S Brocade Gen 5 platform (16-Gbps) DCX Backbone family • Brocade DCX 8510-4 • Brocade DCX 8510-8 Supported upgrade paths The following table gives you details on supported upgrade paths and steps to upgrade through multiple versions of Fabric OS. For specific Fabric OS builds, refer to the Fabric OS Release Notes for that build of Fabric OS.
Upgrade and downgrade considerations ● Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for MAPS.........................................11 ● Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Flow Vision................................ 14 ● Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Peer Zoning...............................
Upgrading firmware on Fabric Watch-licensed switches Upgrading if MAPS was installed, but not enabled If MAPS is installed on the switch but is not enabled at the time the firmware is upgraded, after the upgrade MAPS will be enabled either with the active policy named in the configuration, or if there is no active policy named, then using the default conservative policy “dft_conservative_policy”.
Firmware downgrade considerations The following example displays the available licences (in this case, there is a Fabric Vision license installed) and enables the “my_custom_FW_threshold” policy. switch:admin> licenseshow pSD43LDSQpFYB9Qg44ttRfN3JGXrtyYAB89Gp: Fabric Vision license switch:admin> mapsconfig --enablemaps -policy my_custom_FW_threshold Firmware downgrade considerations There are three primary downgrade scenarios from Fabric OS 7.4.0 for MAPS. • If you are downgrading from Fabric OS 7.4.
Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Flow Vision ‐ ‐ Any rule that has the quiet time (QT) option set. Any rules that operate on the predefined groups ALL_CIRCUIT_HIGH_QOS, ALL_CIRCUIT_MED_QOS, ALL_CIRCUIT_LOW_QOS, and ALL_CIRCUIT_F_QOS. • Downgrading to versions of Fabric OS prior to version 7.4.0 will trigger a warning message if any feature is not supported in the earlier firmware and keeping the feature configuration has no impact.
Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Peer Zoning Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Peer Zoning When a switch containing Peer Zones is upgraded to Fabric OS 7.4.0, Peer Zoning connectivity rules are enforced on the devices attached to the upgraded switch. If the device is a member of a Peer Zone, the upgrade can cause disruption. When a switch containing Peer Zones is downgraded from Fabric OS 7.4.
Firmware upgrade and downgrade considerations for Peer Zoning 16 Fabric OS Upgrade Guide 53-1003515-01
Installing and Maintaining Firmware ● Firmware download process overview............................................................................ 17 ● Considerations for FTP server credentials with special characters................................ 18 ● Upgrading and downgrading firmware............................................................................ 19 ● Passwordless firmware download...................................................................................
Considerations for FTP server credentials with special characters All systems maintain two partitions (a primary and a secondary) of nonvolatile storage areas to store firmware images. The firmware download process always loads the new image into the secondary partition. It then swaps the secondary partition to be the primary and High Availability (HA) reboots (which is nondisruptive) the system. After the system boots up, the new firmware is activated.
Upgrading and downgrading firmware • • • • • • • • • ? is used as a match for any single character in the specified position. () is used for integer expansion. <> is used for redirection. < represents input and > represents output. $ is used to represent shell variable. ` is used for command substitution or assign output of a command to a variable. " is used for partial quoting. ' is used for full quoting. Space is used as a separation character.
Passwordless firmware download During the firmware upgrade, the configuration file uploaded from firmware versions Fabric OS 7.2.x and Fabric OS 7.3.x is allowed to download to Fabric OS v7.4.0. During the firmware downgrade, the configuration file uploaded from v7.4.0 is allowed to download to previous firmware versions Fabric OS 7.2.x and Fabric OS 7.3.x.
Considerations for FICON CUP environments Considerations for FICON CUP environments To prevent channel errors during nondisruptive firmware installation, the switch CUP port must be taken offline from all host systems. HA sync state High Availability (HA) synchronization occurs when two CPs in a Backbone are synchronized. This state provides redundancy and a nondisruptive firmware download. In order for a firmware download to successfully occur, the two CPs in a Backbone must be in sync.
Displaying the HA redundancy status TABLE 2 Backbone HA sync states (Continued) Active CP Fabric OS Standby CP Fabric version OS version HA sync state Remedy v7.2.0 v7.4.0 In sync N/A v7.3.0 v7.1.0 Not in sync Run firmwareDownload -s on the standby CP to upgrade it to v7.3.0 v7.3.0 v7.2.0 In sync N/A v7.3.0 v7.3.0 In sync N/A v7.3.0 v7.4.0 In sync N/A v7.4.0 v7.1.0 Not in sync Run firmwareDownload -s on the active CP to upgrade it to v7.4.0 v7.4.0 v7.2.0 In sync N/A v7.4.
Enabling automatic firmware synchronization from active CP to the standby CP The haRedundancy command displays the following information: • Current active session details. ‐ ‐ ‐ ‐ HA synchronization status. Active slot state: CP ID, (local/remote CP), recovery type. Standby slot state: CP ID, (local/remote CP). Start time: The starting time of all service becoming in sync state. Displayed when HA is in sync state. • Previous active session ‐ ‐ ‐ Active slot state: CP ID, recovery type.
Manually synchronizing the firmware from the active CP to the standby CP The firmware is synced from the primary partition of active CP to the secondary partition of standby CP. After the sync is completed, the standby CP reboots with auto-commit enabled. The standby CP does not require external Ethernet connection as the synching of firmware takes place through the backplane connection between active and standby CP blades.
Preparing for a Firmware Download ● Prerequisites................................................................................................................... 25 ● Obtaining and decompressing firmware..........................................................................25 ● Connected switches........................................................................................................ 26 ● Finding the switch firmware version................................................................
Connected switches When you unpack the downloaded firmware, it expands into a directory that is named according to the version of Fabric OS it contains. For example, when you download and unzip v7.4.0.zip, it expands into a directory called v7.4.0. When you issue the firmwareDownload command, there is an automatic search for the correct package file type associated with the switch. Specify only the path up to and including the v7.4.0 directory.
Firmware Download Scenarios ● Firmware download on switches..................................................................................... 27 ● Firmware download on a Backbone................................................................................29 ● Firmware download from a USB device..........................................................................31 Firmware download on switches Brocade fixed-port switches maintain primary and secondary partitions for firmware.
Upgrading firmware for Brocade fixed-port switches CAUTION After you start the process, do not enter any disruptive commands (such as reboot) that interrupt the process. The entire firmware download and commit process takes approximately 17 minutes. If there is a problem, wait for the timeout (30 minutes for network problems) before issuing the firmwareDownload command again. Disrupting the process can render the switch inoperable and require you to seek help from your switch service provider.
Firmware download on a Backbone Firmware download on a Backbone ATTENTION To successfully download firmware, you must have an active Ethernet connection on each CP. You can download firmware to a Backbone without disrupting the overall fabric if the two CP blades are installed and fully synchronized. Use the haShow command to verify that the CPs are synchronized prior to beginning the firmware download process.
Firmware Download Scenarios 1. Verify that the Ethernet interfaces located on CP0 and CP1 are plugged into your network. If the switch has a BP, verify that the BP console is accessible. 2. Verify that the FTP, SFTP, or SSH server is running on the host server and that you have a user ID on that server. 3. Obtain the firmware file from the Brocade website at http://www.brocade.com and store the file on the FTP or SSH server. 4. Unpack the compressed files preserving directory structures.
Firmware download from a USB device 8 FX8-24 v7.4.0 GigE This command will upgrade the firmware on both CPs and all AP blade(s) above. If you want to upgrade firmware on a single CP only, please use -s option. You may run firmwaredownloadstatus to get the status of this command. This command will cause a warm/non-disruptive boot on the active CP, but will require that existing telnet, secure telnet or SSH sessions be restarted.
Enabling the USB device Enabling the USB device 1. Log in to the switch using an account assigned to the admin role. 2. Enter the usbStorage -e command. Viewing the USB file system 1. Log in to the switch using an account assigned to the admin role. 2. Enter the usbStorage -l command. BrcdDCXBB:admin> usbstorage -l firmware\ 381MB 2015 v7.4.0\ 381MB 2015 config\ 0B 2015 support\ 0B 2015 firmwarekey\ 0B 2015 Available space on usbstorage 79% Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan 22 22 22 22 22 15:33 10:39 15:33 15:33 15:
Testing and Restoring Firmware ● Testing and restoring firmware on switches....................................................................33 ● Testing and restoring firmware on Backbones................................................................34 ● Validating a firmware download......................................................................................
Testing and restoring firmware on Backbones ATTENTION Downloading firmware to a switch can be disruptive to switch traffic. 7. Connect to the switch, log in as admin, and enter the firmwareShow command to confirm that the primary partition of the switch contains the new firmware. You are now ready to evaluate the new version of firmware.
Testing different firmware versions on Backbones NOTE Brocade recommends that, under normal operating conditions, you maintain the same firmware version on both CPs, and on both partitions of each CP. This organization enables you to evaluate firmware before you commit. As a standard practice, do not run mixed firmware levels on CPs. Testing different firmware versions on Backbones 1. Connect to the Brocade Backbone IP address. 2. Enter the ipAddrShow command and note the address of CP0 and CP1. 3.
Testing and Restoring Firmware c) d) At this point the firmware downloads to the standby CP only and reboots it. The current Backbone session is disconnected. Wait one minute for the standby CP to reboot, and then connect to the Backbone and log in as admin. Enter the firmwareShow command to confirm that both primary partitions have the test drive firmware in place. You are now ready to evaluate the new version of firmware.
Validating a firmware download If an AP blade is present : Blade partitions always contain the same version of the firmware on both partitions. The firmware is stored on the blade’s compact flash card and is always synchronized with the active CP’s firmware. Thus, if you restore the active CP firmware, the blade firmware is automatically downloaded (autoleveled) to become consistent with the new CP firmware (the blade firmware is restored).
Validating a firmware download 38 Fabric OS Upgrade Guide 53-1003515-01
Index A auto-leveling, FR4-18i blade 29, 35 B downgrading 13 upgrading 11 CP 13 See also Command Processor D Backbone upgrading firmware 29 Backbone firmware download 29 download process overview 29 version testing 34 blade upgrading firmware 29 Brocade DCX auto-leveling 17 Brocade DCX 8510 auto-leveling 17 Brocade fixed-port switches, upgrading firmware 28 downgrade considerations 13 downgrading firmware 14, 19 E errClear command 25 F Fabric Performance Impact monitoring 11 fabricShow command
auto-leveling 35 Backbones 29 connected switches 26 FICON CUP considerations 21 high availability synchronization 21 preparing for download 25 process overview 27 protocol, FTP and SCP 17 switches 27 test and restore on Backbones 34 test and restore on switches 33 testing different firmware versions 35 USB device 31, 32 validating 37 verify progress 17 firmwareDownload command 17, 20, 21, 25, 27–29, 31, 33 firmwareDownloadStatus command 27, 37 firmwareRestore command 33, 34 switch firmware download 27 fir
