Service Manual

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. The
firmware download process then copies the new image from the primary partition to the secondary
partition.
In dual-CP systems, the firmware download process, by default, sequentially upgrades the firmware
image on both CPs using HA failover to prevent disruption to traffic flowing through the Backbone.
This operation depends on the HA status on the Backbone. If the platform does not support HA, you
can still upgrade the CPs one at a time.
If you are using a Brocade DCX, or DCX 8510, Backbone family platform, with one or more AP
blades: Fabric OS automatically detects mismatches between the active CP firmware and the blade’s
firmware and triggers the autoleveling process. This autoleveling process automatically updates the
blade firmware to match the active CP. At the end of the autoleveling process, the active CP and the
blade run the same version of the firmware.
If the firmware download process is interrupted by an unexpected reboot, the system automatically
repairs and recovers the secondary partition. You must wait for the recovery to complete before
issuing another firmwareDownload command.
The command supports both noninteractive and interactive modes. If the firmwareDownload
command is issued without any operands, or if there is any syntax error in the parameters, the
command enters an interactive mode, in which you are prompted for input.
ATTENTION
For each switch in your fabric, complete all firmware download changes on the current switch before
issuing the firmwareDownload command on the next switch. This process ensures nondisruption of
traffic between switches in your fabric. To verify the firmware download process is complete, enter the
firmwareDownloadStatus command on the switch, verify the process is complete, and then move to
the next switch.
Considerations for FTP server credentials with special characters
FTP server credentials may include special characters that need to be handled in specified manner on
the Command Line Interface (CLI).
Special characters also referred to as meta-characters, are members of an exempt set of characters,
which when used in command line mode are evaluated as characters with non-literal meaning. These
characters are designated to carry out a special instruction, or have an alternate meaning.
NOTE
This list is not exhaustive and alternate meaning for some characters is contextual. For more
information, refer to any Linux scripting information available for general use on the internet.
A list of some of the more commonly used special characters and their alternate meaning is as follows:
• & is used to put a command in background/batch mode.
• ! is used to recall the last invocation of the command matching the pattern that follows the
character.
• | is used to pipe output to the command that follows the character.
• ; is used to concatenate multiple bash commands.
• * is used to represent a wildcard character.
Considerations for FTP server credentials with special characters
18 Fabric OS Upgrade Guide
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