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A5800 and IRF

 
aali
Frequent Advisor

A5800 and IRF

I have four HP A5800 switches configured in an IRF without any MAD-BFD or MAD-LACP though.

 

We needed to uprade the switches with latest Commware and we initiated the upgrade with the Master switch as recommended.  After the upgrade, the master robooted and the next switch with the 2nd highest priority became master as usual.  When the original master switch came back online, it downgraded the image back to original with the current master swtich.  I beleive that this happened because I didn't configure MAD between the switches, but would like someone to confirm it before I go head make changes.

 

When the master comes back online, will it assume the responsibility of taking the master role back  again, or will it become a member even though having the highest priority.

 

Thanks

3 REPLIES 3
paulgear
Esteemed Contributor

Re: A5800 and IRF

I can't really help on the issue of why the rolling software upgrade didn't work, but i can confirm that when the master reboots, it will not automatically become the master again.  The order of priority for IRF stack membership is:

  • Current IRF Master
  • Highest stack priority
  • Longest system uptime
  • Lowest MAC address

So whatever is the current master will remain so until something else causes it to change, like rebooting it, or a network partition.

Regards,
Paul
pombeii
Frequent Advisor

Re: A5800 and IRF

Even though MAD is strongly recommended for IRF, it has nothing to do with this upgrade issue.

 

Check your upgrade procedure. In non-ISSU approach, the typical procedure is:

1) FTP/TFTP conf file to the master.

2) Copy the config file to all subordinates.

3) Set the file as the next-startup file for all member switches.

4) Reboot the entire IRF (not just the master).

 

In ISSU approach, use the configuration guide for a reference. To my knowledge, because you have to upgrade a subordinate first in this approach, the master will change after upgrade.

C0LDWiR3D
Frequent Advisor

Re: A5800 and IRF

Potentially auto upgrade is not enabled ?
You could do issu upgrade instead as mentioned.
That works fine.

I've seen what you describe once in a 5820 stack, never got down to what was wrong exactly.