Hitless Upgrade on BD8810

[Network_Enginee]

Good day all! I'm new to Extreme and reading the 15.4 EXOS Concepts Guide I had a question on Hitless Upgrades. I think I completely understand the steps/concepts of Hitless Upgrades except one mention in the documentation:

"If you have a BlackDiamond 8800 series switch and the new ExtremeXOS image supports hitlessupgrade but is not compatible with the current running I/O module image (the I/O version numbers do not match), you cannot perform a hitless upgrade."

Below is the output from my BD 8810. We're upgrading to bd8800-15.5.4.2-patch1-5.xos.

Does that statement in the documentation apply to me? Does that basically say the cards in Slots 1, 2, 4, 8 and 10 in my chassis have to be running same code levels?

A.1 # sh ver


Image : ExtremeXOS version 15.2.3.2 v1523b2-patch1-10 by release-manager
on Wed Jun 5 10:28:14 EDT 2013
BootROM : 1.0.4.5
Diagnostics : 1.19
A.2 # sh switch

SysName: XXX
SysLocation:
SysContact: support@extremenetworks.com, +1 888 257 3000
System MAC: 00:04:96:52:54:21
System Type: BD-8810

SysHealth check: Enabled (Normal)
Recovery Mode: All
System Watchdog: Enabled

Current Time: Wed Sep 9 11:24:23 2015
Timezone: [Auto DST Enabled] GMT Offset: -300 minutes, name is EST.
DST of 60 minutes is currently in effect, name is EDT.
DST begins every second Sunday March at 2:00
DST ends every first Sunday November at 2:00

Boot Time: Thu Jun 26 12:14:48 2014
Boot Count: 10
Next Reboot: None scheduled
System UpTime: 439 days 23 hours 9 minutes 35 seconds

Slot: MSM-A * MSM-B
------------------------ ------------------------
Current State: MASTER BACKUP (In Sync)

Image Selected: secondary secondary
Image Booted: secondary secondary
Primary ver: 12.5.2.6 12.5.2.6
Secondary ver: 15.2.3.2 15.2.3.2
patch1-10 patch1-10

Config Selected: primary.cfg primary.cfg
Config Booted: primary.cfg primary.cfg

primary.cfg Created by ExtremeXOS version 15.2.3.2
774990 bytes saved on Thu Jul 30 14:57:44 2015

Thank you all!!

Garry Frizzell

edit: Serial numbers removed by moderator

[Drew_C]

Generally speaking, it's a lot easier to plan for a full reboot that will very likely come up without issue than it is to plan for a procedure that requires specific criteria and order of execution to go right. With a hitless upgrade, you'll still have to reboot individual I/O modules and each MSM, but you have to plan for that as well. With redundancy in place (like VRRP or MLAG), you can failover from one core to the other and still maintain uptime. You're vulnerable in those short windows while rebooting, in any case.

[Drew_C]

Hi Garry,
Based on the serial numbers (that have been removed now), it looks like your chassis consists of the following:

• BD 8810 10-Slot Chassis
• BD 8800 MSM-48c
• BD 8900-10G24X-c
• BD 8800 G48Tc

They're all compatible with the version you're upgrading to. In my opinion, performing a hitless upgrade can be more trouble than it's worth. Sometimes it's just easier to reboot the chassis and get it all over with at the same time.