[A5500-EI] painful firmware upgrade process

[snob]

Hello,

well, it was time to upgrade my A5500-EI switches and unfortunately it literallily really took ages. Well, you will think: Hey, open IMC and update the switch. Well, I actually did it once. Afterwards I had to do some on site service.
First of all, I really like the A5500-EI series in terms of features. But updating them is a pain.


So, let´s imagine a full stack, so 9 pieces, of A5500-EI switches.
First of all, those switches have 32MB of flashrom, so you can use two different fimware releases for "Main" and "Backup" purposes, in case something fails (actually never happened for me).
So, first step is transfering the files (bootrom and boot-loader) on the A5500-EI which is currently around 13MB. Let´s login onto the master irf switch and do something:


del /unreserved flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Afterwards you have some space for the new bootloader and bootrom files:

tftp 10.14.70.44 get S5500EI-BTM-710.btm
tftp 10.14.70.44 get S5500EI-CMW520-R2210-S168.bin


Afterwards you have need some free space on the rest of the switches:

del /unreserved slot1#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot2#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot3#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot4#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot6#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot7#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot8#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................
del /unreserved slot9#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2202p015.bin
.............................................................................................................................................................................


Afterwards you can copy the boot-loader files from the master to the rest of the IRF membergs:


Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot1#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot2#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot3#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot4#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot6#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot7#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot8#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................
Copy flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin to slot9#flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin?[Y/N]:y
..........................

Alternatively, it seems you can do a
boot-loader file flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin slot all main
or
boot-loader file flash:/s5500ei-cmw520-r2210-s168.bin slot all backup

which copies the boot-loader file to each switch, iff there´s enough space left...

 
One disadvantage of the A5500-EI series is its slow flashom. I´m getting around 50-70 kb/s when copying with tftp. Deleting a file lasts at least as long.

Perhaps someone of you could help. How do you make your updates? Do you have some more intelligent scripts?

[ishan]

nice info. I use IMC all the time, guess im lucky.

[demazter]

This might sound like a silly question but where do I find the firmware to download?

The H3C website won't let me because I am not a reseller or partner and I have been searching now for hours on the HP site and can't find anything.

Also, IMC is picking this device up as a desktop device which is handy :-(

[vangass]

---

@demazter wrote:

This might sound like a silly question but where do I find the firmware to download?

The H3C website won't let me because I am not a reseller or partner and I have been searching now for hours on the HP site and can't find anything.

Also, IMC is picking this device up as a desktop device which is handy :-(

---

Hi demzater,

Try to use this link:

http://h17007.www1.hp.com/us/en/support/converter/index.aspx

It's HP Networking's support lookup tool. You can search a switch You want and at the end it will be link to download proper firmware

[demazter]

this doesn't provide the latest firmware that is listed on the H3C website, which I can't get because you need a reseller account.

Any ideas why it's showing as a desktop in the IMC? Makes it very difficult to manage.  These are my first s5500EI's and I am not sure I will be buying anymore.  It's so far taken considerably longer to configure than the old 3com 5500's did and I haven't even started on the VLAN's yet.

[vangass]

---

@demazter wrote:

this doesn't provide the latest firmware that is listed on the H3C website, which I can't get because you need a reseller account.

---

Well I've checked fw version for S5500 and actually HP website has an old version.... but for my HP/H3C S3600 on HP is the latest one which is not present on H3C website. Probably HP has missed something in transfering S5500 to HP...

[demazter]

do you know why the S5500 is showing as a desktop unit when I add it to IMC? Nothing I seem to do makes any difference.

[demazter]

never mind, I have worked it out.

[lorn10]

Hi to all



I completely agree with user snob, to upgrade these A5500-EI switches is in some cases REALLY a HUGE pain...



We own just one A5500-EI (3Com 4800G branded), - with a quite old firmware (s4800g-cmw520-r2202.bin).

 Well, no matter what I try, this jinxed switch will not accept any update command over tftp. After some time, it is written always "Failed to get file."



Note, there is enough flash space free at the switch, totally 20914 KB.



My upgrade syntax is: 

tftp 192.168.1.4 get A5500EI-CMW520-721.btm


tftp 192.168.1.4 get A5500EI-CMW520-R2221P01.bin



Tried different type of opensource / free TFTP Server programs, tested these under Windows 7, Mac OS X 10.9, and Linux (FreePBX). The strange thing is, at the beginning it seems that it will load the new firmware, but after some time it quits.

...
File will be transferred in binary mode.
Downloading file from remote TFTP Server, please wait......
Failed to get the file.

Even stranger, when entering a completely wrong and not existing file name like "get noexistingfile" the switch seems to beginn nevertheless to download it. Which doesn't make a lot of sense. Shouldn't there be an error message like "no such file" or "file not found"?

And, at last, currently I have no boot loader (no btm file) installed at the switch. How is that possible? There are only three different files:
s4800g-cmw520-r2202.bin
test.cfg
default.diag

There is currently no password set in telnet (and on the switch). Should I set one for the update?

[lorn10]

Ok, I found meanwhile a solution…

I had to initialize / reset the whole switch. Furthermore I also had to set manually the IP of the switch and deleted the DHCP MAC address binding / fixation (of the switch) in the router.

After this I was able to upload and download with TFTP from and to the switch.

Many thanks at this point to Karen Rhodes from HPNSwitching for her great “Upgrade ComWare on an HP switch” YouTube video!