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Re: 5130 firmware versions

 
racermonoid
Frequent Visitor

5130 firmware versions

Trying to fix a three member 5130 irf intermittent problem, support told us to upgrade the firmware on all three members (currently on R3115P07) to the lastest version.

They proposed R3116P05 or R3208.

R3116P05 looked like the safest bet, had the most irf fixes in the release notes so tried that. All hell broke loose, the two nonmaster members stopped working, in the sense that client connected devices could not communicate, random behaviour on all three members, after much troubleshooting gave up and tried R3208.

R3208 currently working and monitoring to see if it will fix the original intermittent problem.

 

My questing is, what's the deal with these two firmware releases?

R3116P05 has the lastest build date, latter than R3208 (by a few days), but R3208 going be number count should be newer.

Are they two different tracks? Why won't support commit to one of the two (I asked and they didn't answer)?

 

Thanks,

 

14 REPLIES 14
parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: 5130 firmware versions


@racermonoid wrote:

Trying to fix a three member 5130 irf intermittent problem, support told us to upgrade the firmware on all three members (currently on R3115P07) to the lastest version.

They proposed R3116P05 or R3208.

R3116P05 looked like the safest bet, had the most irf fixes in the release notes so tried that. All hell broke loose, the two nonmaster members stopped working, in the sense that client connected devices could not communicate, random behaviour on all three members, after much troubleshooting gave up and tried R3208.

R3208 currently working and monitoring to see if it will fix the original intermittent problem.

Would be interesting to have a status's snapshot of your entire IRF Fabric taken before your update attempts and, also, would be interesting to read about the procedure(s) you followed - in both cases - to update the IRF Fabric (1st attempt, ended with a total failure) from R3115P07 to R3116P05 and (2nd attempt, ended with a total success) from R3115P07 to R3208.

My questing is, what's the deal with these two firmware releases?

R3116P05 has the lastest build date, latter than R3208 (by a few days), but R3208 going be number count should be newer.

Are they two different tracks? Why won't support commit to one of the two (I asked and they didn't answer)?

Thanks,


WRT Software Versions you tried, R31xx and R32xx are two different branches...so they, AFAIK, can follow two different release timelines...even if the product line they apply is exactly the same.


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racermonoid
Frequent Visitor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

Thanks for the reply parnassus,

Update procedure was identical in both attempts, as outlined in the release notes.

Tftped the image to the master flash then boot loader file on all three members.
They all came up normally in both attempts.
Irf status was normal after both attempts, except nothing was working with the 3116 firmware.

Could probably get the irf status before the updates from the customer since he sent a bunch of stuff to support.

My confusion lies with the firmware releases, are there two tracks, whatтАЩs the difference, why are two different versions released so close to each other with different numbers, which one is the тАЬrightтАЭ one?



racermonoid
Frequent Visitor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

DidnтАЩt see the second part of your reply.

ThatтАЩs what I suspect about the different versions, itтАЩs just confusing when trying to find a fix for a problem.
parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

Interesting...

WRT R31xx vs R32xx: from R3208's Release Notes we are able to discover that R32 software track started with R3207 and R3207, from what I understand, was developed from R3115P08, so R3207 used the R3115P08 as its starting base and then developed into R3208...so R31 seems on the bug fixes (and security fixes) path only - no new features as I understand - while R32 seems the current development path including bug fixes, security fixes and new (and/or modified existing) features.

New features and fixed bugs are reported on the "Remarks" column on each RN document.

Directly from R32xx RN documents:

HPE Comware Software Version 7.1.070 R3207 (1st R32 for HPE 5130) introduced:

  • new fundamental features
  • new IRF related features
  • new Layer 2 LAN Switching features
  • changes in existing features (so in features already available on the previous version, the R3115P08)
  • bugs fixes

HPE Comware Software Version 7.1.070 R3208 (2nd R32 for HPE 5130 based on 1st R32 above) introduced:

  • new MAC Address information displaly for IEEE 802.1X users in 802.1X VLANs of a specific type
  • new Authorization CAR action in an ISP Domain
  • new IEEE 802.1X Client
  • changes in existing features (so in features already available on the previous version, the R3207)
  • bugs fixes

Details should be found on the relevant RN's "Software Feature Changes" section.

WRT to R31 software track...related RN reports basically only bug fixes since R3115P08 release.


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racermonoid
Frequent Visitor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

That's what has us confused,

going from R3115P07 to R3116P05 should have been less "desruptive" since R3116P05 was just bug and security fixes.

R3208, with it's new features, seamed a more risky option.

 

Of course troubleshooting in a production environment is never easy. 

parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

Yes, I know what you mean...performing updates within the R31 software track by updating a R3115P07 to R3116P05 (just 4 Patches ahead) should have been absolutely less risky and essentially a non disruptive operation than moving out from R31 to step into new R32 software track (which is a "bigger" step in comparison, at least in terms of software update since the update to R32 includes more modifications).

As a way of sharing experiences with other HPE Community members, as said, it would be great if you can share a (sanitized) configuration and status of your IRF Fabric before (sort of "Preparing for the upgrade" checklist) and after each update attempt (clearly if every steps was documented in a chronological way during the process)...considering that, from what you wrote above, only the R3116P05 attempt caused the IRF Fabric to split (?) with subordinate (standby) members not able to re-join (merge into) it properly again.

Note: as example, was the irf auto-update setting enabled before starting? it should have been enabled by default...and/or...were IRF members' priority properly set on the IRF Fabric (read: IRF Master member should have the highest priority, IRF Standby members should have lower priorities set into a descending logical order, this as a best practice)?


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VoIP-Buddy
HPE Pro

Re: 5130 firmware versions

We have been recommending R3208 for a while now.  The older 31xx code stream is very old and that migrated as the base for the R32xx code stream.  Patches upon patches can be more risky than starting a build cleaner.

FYI... if you are running the 5130 EI's with the 10gb Copper Ports, please be aware that there is a software issue in R3113P05 and R3207 that prevented them from working reliably.  R3208 fixed the problem.

Regards,

David

I work for HPE in Aruba Technical Support
parnassus
Honored Contributor

Re: 5130 firmware versions


@VoIP-Buddy wrote:

We have been recommending R3208 for a while now.

Hi David, that's interesting...for a while now...written that way it seems that R32 has been around that long but, really, R32 on 5130 was published only in June 2017 (isn't it?) and so it is available since that month...so it's not that old (it's just 4 months old!).

The older 31xx code stream is very old and that migrated as the base for the R32xx code stream.  Patches upon patches can be more risky than starting a build cleaner.

What do you mean with starting a build cleaner? I'm curious: if R32 was born from a previous specific R31 release (exactly the R3115P08 May 2017) it was probably not that clean...I mean...that R32 has a "code heritage" that necessarily goes back to R31 (so it's not totally new code, isn't it?)...or are you just trying to say that 5130 users should forget about updating within theirs R31xx and they should instead jump into latest released R32 software version no matter why?

FYI... if you are running the 5130 EI's with the 10gb Copper Ports, please be aware that there is a software issue in R3113P05 and R3207 that prevented them from working reliably.  R3208 fixed the problem.

Regards,

David


OP wrote its IRF Fabric initially ran R3115P07 version so the 10G copper port issue looks not directly applicable to his case.


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racermonoid
Frequent Visitor

Re: 5130 firmware versions

Hi David, thanks for your input.

> FYI... if you are running the 5130 EI's with the 10gb Copper Ports, please be aware that there is a software issue in R3113P05 > > > and R3207 that prevented them from working reliably.  R3208 fixed the problem.

Does this apply to the 10Gb DAC cables as well?