topic Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware? in BladeSystem - General

How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

JorisK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:34:58 GMT

Hi!

I want to upgrade our Brocade 4/12 SAN switches firmware. I was expecting to find a single binary file with the firmware but i see this:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=nl&prodNameId=3185341&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=3185340&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=54#290

Firmware bundles of 300MB each.... I downloaded the proper version and when unzipping it contains a lot of content but no update instructions.

How do i upgrade our firmware?

Regards,
Joris Kemperman

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:54:24 GMT

Just put all the files on an FTP server and point to this during the update. The firmware will match and get the needed files automagically.

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

JorisK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:57:34 GMT

Thanks Torsten, but i need to specify a filename in the management software, and i have no idea which one...

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:00:38 GMT

Filename?

What is your current version???

Example:

Exampleof an interactive firmware download

switch:admin> firmwareDownload
Server Name or IP Address: 10.1.2.3
User Name: userfoo
File Name: /userfoo/firmware/v6.4.0
Network Protocol(1-auto-select, 2-FTP, 3-SCP) [1]: 2
Password:
Checking system settings for firmwareDownload...
Trying address-->AF_INET IP: 10.1.2.3, flags : 2
System settings check passed.
You can run firmwaredownloadstatus to get the status
of this command

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

JorisK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:05:13 GMT

We run 5.0.5.

When logging on to the Web management portal, i goto admin > Firmware and see a dialogbox where i can specify an FTP IP address, username, password and filename.

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:10:57 GMT

Looks very, very old ... what version did you download?

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

JorisK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:17:34 GMT

Well 5.3.0d, this version shipped with the switches we bought a few months ago. I want to sync the firmware of my old switches to the new switches.

There's a version 6 but they are also huge in download (600MB) and i still need to specify a "filename". I called HP support but the guy on the phone couldn't help me out aswell...

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:23:01 GMT

As you can see in my example you must be enter the path only:

File Name: /userfoo/firmware/v6.4.0

where v6.4.0 is a directory.

This changed many years ago. Before there must be specified a plist file (cannot remember the version when this changed), but now only the directory is needed.

You may consider to update step by step to the current 6.2.xy version.

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

JorisK — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:34:51 GMT

Thanks Torsten! I'll take a look at it tomorrow night!

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:39:21 GMT

This should always work:

- perform a switchshow
...
swd77:admin> switchshow
switchName: switch001
switchType: 32.0
...

Note the type (32).

Now specify the path:

/firmware/v6.4.0/SWBD32/release.plist

or maybe it was

/firmware/v6.4.0/release.plist

file - I don't remember at the moment.

But I think it was

/firmware/v6.4.0/release.plist

As said, since several years the path (/firmware/v6.4.0/) is enough.

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:41:13 GMT

Remember, to reach the newest version you must upgrade step by step, e.g.

5.3.x
6.0.x
6.1.x
6.2.x

Re: How to upgrade Brocade 4/12 firmware?

Torsten. — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:49:43 GMT

Finally I found an older document:

switch:admin> firmwaredownload
Server Name or IP Address: 10.22.127.127
FTP User Name: JohnDoe
File Name: /pub/5.1.x/release.plist
FTP Password:
You can run firmwaredownloadstatus to get the status
of this command.
This command will cause the switch to reset and will
require that existing telnet, secure telnet or SSH
sessions be restarted.
Do you want to continue [Y]:y