Upgrading M-Series Switch Firmware

[eva owner]

Hi all

We have an EVA 5000 with 4 M-Series switches. We have a redundant fabric topology with 2 switches in each fabric. However, we have just had to replace one of the switches and have been given a new switch which has a much newer firmware version that the other switches, (06.01.00.18). I have also noticed that the other 3 switches are on varying firmware versions. Two of the switches are on 05.02.00.13 and one of the switches is on 02.00.00.33.

Can anyone advise the best method to upgrade all of these switches to the newest firmware version? I understand that I cannot upgrade from really old versions directly to the newest versions and may have to do in stages. What are the associated risks with upgrading switch firmware?

I'm really unsure what i should do in this scenario and the HP engineer that replaced the switch had no suggestions as to what I should do. Can anyone help please?

[Luk Vandenbussche]

Hi,

It is advisable to have al the switches on the same firmware level.
Read the release notes before upgrading to be sure that there are no technical problems with your environment.

Upgrading the firmware itself is not a high risk task, as long that you don't have a powerbreak or network interruption