Extreme Networks

stefantomasevic · ‎03-14-2023

Hi, I am about to perform my first Brocade upgrade and I have read several threads from here from other engineers. My environment is made from 6 brocade switches, and all of them are on 7.0.2b version.

Brocade 1 and 3 are copper, Brocade 2,4,5,6 are fibber.
Brocade 1 is principal.

BR1# show vcs
Config Mode : Distributed
VCS Mode : Logical Chassis

I am familiar with upgrade methods. All learned from nos-7.4.1-upgradeguide.pdf

My final destination is upgrade to 7.4.1e via Cold Boot
path:
7.0.2b
>7.1.0b3
>7.2.0g
>7.3.0b
>7.4.0b
>7.4.1f

All this hops are major so Cold Boot is logical choice.

My questions are:

When I finish upgrade of first switch (brocade 6 for example) to 7.0.1b3 switches are no longer software version levelled.
1. Will this have impact on data flow between switches until all switches get 7.0.1.b3 version (get levelled)? What will happened with chassis when/if software version is not levelled?

2. What this part of command output SHOW VERSION shows? What are SW/0 and SW/1

Slot Name Primary/Secondary Versions Status
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SW/0 NOS 7.0.2b ACTIVE*
7.0.2b
SW/1 NOS 7.0.2b STANDBY
7.0.2b

Thank you for any help.

Michael_Morey · ‎03-16-2023

Stefan,

A: For 1-4, yes it seems your understanding is correct.

Q: Because all this hops are major, cold boot is recommended method?

A: If you wish to retain your config, cold boot is the only method to perform a traditional major step upgrade. You could technically jump directly to the latest release, however that would require you to default your configuration.

You can review the following article: How to perform VCS Fabric Multi-Version Upgrade which may save you some downtime in your production network. This combines the method of upgrading one switch step by step, thereby retaining the config via cold-boot and then upgrading the rest of the network in a single step (default-config). Once the fabric is formed the defaulted switches will download the retained config from the surrogate principal. The time consuming part of the upgrade can be done beforehand, however it does require the use of a spare switch or taking an existing switch offline to upgrade and then act as a surrogate principal. The article is brief, however the attached White Paper is very detailed.

Q: Is this normal behaviour? (Regarding downgrade and "show version" output)

A: Yes that output and duration is normal for a VDX upgrade/downgrade.

Best of luck,

Michael Morey
Principal Technical Support Engineer
Extreme Networks

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stefantomasevic · ‎03-16-2023

Thank you for time and energy to help.

I have no more question. 🙂

ps: about attached white paper can't be found in the extremenetworks2com.sharepoint.com directory.

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