How hot code load and activation works on Brocade

[Keith C. Patterson]

I used to have a document that explained this but I can no longer find it.
Does anyone have any documentation on this or know exactly how it works?
Thanks.

[Uwe Zessin]

Fibre Channel frames continue to be routed by the ASICs even if the operating system is rebooting.

[Keith C. Patterson]

I was really looking for a procedure on this as well as what happens throughout the procedure.

Thanks.

[Uwe Zessin · Accepted solution]

Did you think about these instructions?
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?locale=en_US〈=English+%28US%29&pnameOID=454767&prodSeriesId=454522&prodTypeId=12169&basePartNum=COL5590&locBasepartNum=co-30716-1&os=Cross+OS&tech=Firmware&attTypeId=106

[Keith C. Patterson]

Excellent Uwe.
Thanks.

[Jack Trachtman]

Uwe,

I just read the Brocade doc you pointed to and it includes this:

"NOTE: The firmware download on any of the switches that use this firmware
is non-disruptive if you are upgrading from any previous version of 4.1.x
and a cascaded switch is running 4.1.x or higher..."

This seems to say that you must have cascaded switches. We use single switches.

Am I reading this wrong? Thanks

[Uwe Zessin]

Well, on a switch with a single CP there is a loss of application services while the CP reboots.

I don't have a pointer handy, but I recall some documention that older firmware had some timeouts too small. This, for example, could result in ISLs temporarily going down, because the CP was not available to respond to inquiries from its neighbours.