Cisco MDS 9000 Family Release Notes for Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.0(4d) (OL-21012-06 B0, May 2011)

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Cisco MDS 9000 Family Release Notes for Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.0(4d)
OL-21012-06
Upgrading Your Cisco MDS NX-OS Software Image
General Upgrading Guidelines
Note To upgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(4d) from SAN-OS Release 3.2(3a) or earlier, first upgrade to
SAN-OS Release 3.3(x), then upgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 4.1(x) or 4.2(x), and then upgrade to
Cisco NX-OS Release 5.0(4d).
Use the following guidelines when upgrading to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.0(4d):
• Install and configure dual supervisor modules.
• Issue the show install all impact upgrade-image CLI command to determine if your upgrade will
be nondisruptive.
• Follow the recommended guidelines for upgrading a Cisco MDS 9124 or MDS 9134 Switch as
described in “Upgrading a Cisco MDS 9124 or Cisco MDS 9134 Switch” section on page 20.
• Follow the guidelines for upgrading a single supervisor switch as described in “Performing a
Disruptive Upgrade on an MDS 9000 Family Switch” section on page 21.
• Be aware of the impact of an upgrade on VSAN 4079 if you are upgrading from SAN-OS Release
3.x to NX-OS 5.0(4d). See the “Upgrading Effect on VSAN 4079” section on page 19 for details.
• Be aware that some features impact whether an upgrade is disruptive or nondisruptive:
– Fibre Channel Ports: Fibre Channel ports can be nondisruptively upgraded without affecting
traffic on the ports. See Table 11 for the nondisruptive upgrade path for all NX-OS and SAN-OS
releases.
– SSM: Intelligent services traffic on the SSM, such as SANTap, NASB, and FC write
acceleration, is disrupted during an upgrade. SSM Fibre Channel traffic is not.
– Gigabit Ethernet Ports: Traffic on Gigabit Ethernet ports is disrupted during an upgrade or
downgrade. This includes IPS modules and the Gigabit Ethernet ports on the MPS-14/2 module,
the MSM-18/4 module, and the MDS 9222i switch. Those nodes that are members of VSANs
traversing an FCIP ISL are impacted, and a fabric reconfiguration occurs. iSCSI initiators
connected to the Gigabit Ethernet ports lose connectivity to iSCSI targets while the upgrade is
in progress.
– Inter-VSAN Routing (IVR): With IVR enabled, you must follow additional steps if you are
upgrading from Cisco SAN-OS Release 2.1.(1a), 2.1(1b), or 2.1.(2a). See the “Upgrading with
IVR Enabled” section on page 19 for these instructions.
– FICON: If you have FICON enabled, the upgrade path is different. See the “FICON Supported
Releases and Upgrade Paths” section on page 18.
Note In addition to these guidelines, you may want to review the information in the “Limitations and
Restrictions” section prior to a software upgrade to determine if a feature may possibly behave
differently following the upgrade.
Use Table 11 to determine your nondisruptive upgrade path to Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.0(4d), find
the image release number you are currently using in the Current column of the table, and use the path
recommended.
Note The software upgrade information in Table 11 applies only to Fibre Channel switching traffic.
Upgrading system software disrupts IP traffic and SSM intelligent services traffic.