Firmware Upgrade Path for 5412zl

[Adam Reynolds_1]

Hello Guru's

I have to upgrade the firmware on a 5412zl (J8698A). The currnet firmware is K.14.41...yes very old :)

I would like to get this version to K.15.16.0004.

I have downloaded K.14.92, K.15.12.0015 & K.15.16.0004 as i believe this will be enough to upgrade to the latest version.

I have read the literature and I believe this is the route to take.

Has anybody had any experience of upgrading from such an old version? 

Should I just upgrade to each revision until K.15.16 or should I wait a few days in case of any issues so I can roll back to the previous version?

Any help would be greatfully appriciated.

Many thanks

[Vince-Whirlwind]

I've been using Procurves for many a year, and my approach to firmware upgrades for Procurve specifically was this:

 - always upgrade operational devices to the latest firmware as it is released

 - always read very thoroughly each Release Notes prior to upgrading. 

 - when upgrading a very out-of-date device,

      - research and document the precise upgrade path

      - read ALL the release notes for each version you are passing through

      - research and document a precise downgrade path

      - find a spare chassis and test prior to performing the live upgrade:

            - upgrade path

            - downgrade path

            - existing configuration on new firmware

That last point is important - expecially moving from k14 to k15, there is confoguration that changes syntax or is no longer supported or replaced by something different. You need to be prepared to devise new configurations. This should be detailed in the release notes.

I upgraded k14 to k15 on numerous devices, from memory, and aside the fiddly upgrade path, I don't recall any issues.