Cisco Nexus 7000 Software Upgrade to support direct attached FEX

[Sandeep Singh]

• Introduction
• Software Images
• Upgrade Process
• Related Information

Introduction

This document details the upgrade procedure from code version 4.2.6 to 6.1.2 on a Nexus 7000 series switch. Because of a possible incompatibility of certain cards ISSU could not be utilized. ISSU would have also required an interim code of 5.2.7 before upgrading fully to 6.1.2. Moving from 4.x to a 6.x version the latest EPLD image is required to upgrade the linecards. This will need to be done in a maintenance window, all modules will be upgraded in parallel (EPLD upgrades do not need to be done in a maintenance window if there is redundancy). During this process there is an upgrade of the SUP’s from 4G to 8G of RAM. Direct connections can then made to the attached 2200 series FEX using FET transceivers.

Software Images

Cisco NX-OS software consists of two images—the kickstart image and the system image.

The software image install procedure is dependent on the following factors:
Software images: The kickstart and system image files reside in directories or folders that you can access from the Cisco NX-OS software prompt.
Image version: Each image file has a version.
Flash disks on the device:The bootflash: resides on the supervisor module and the CompactFlash disk is inserted into the slot0:, usb1, or usb2: device.
Supervisor modules:There are single or dual supervisor modules.

Upgrade Process

The full upgrade method is split into three parts detailed below.

Part A

1. Make sure SUP’s are running with redundancy using command ‘sh redundancy status’.
2. Run ‘sh system resource’ to verify SUP is having 4G RAM currently.
3. Run ‘sh version’ to validate current NX-OS software level.
4. Copy both the kickstart and the system image to the bootflash of both SUP’s.
5. Copy the EPLD image to the bootflash of both SUP’s. Note: To copy between SUP’s use command 'copy bootflash:file bootflash://sup-standby/file'
6. Run ‘show incompatibility-all system bootflash:n7000-s1-dk9.6.1.2.bin’ to determine any problems that may pop up during upgrade. These could be cards, deprecated configs or processes, etc. Any issues will need to be remedied before upgrading.
7. Run ‘install all kick bootflash:n7000-s1-kickstart.6.1.2.bin sys bootflash:n7000-s1-dk9.6.1.2.bin’ to begin non-ISSU upgrade process. This will upgrade code on all cards and do further checks to system. The compatibility check will show this as a disruptive upgrade, meaning reboot will be necessary. It will also show the old and new code versions on cards.
8. After answering ‘yes’ to upgrade request the switch will reboot.
9. After about 15 minutes switch will be back online. Log back in.
10. Run ‘sh version’ again to verify code level is at 6.1.2. Run ‘sh redundancy status’ to validate that switch is back in fully redundant state.
11. Run ‘reload cmp mod x’ as per best practice, where x is your module number.
12. Run ‘copy running start’ to sync config on both SUP’s.

Part B

1. Run ‘install all epld bootflash:n7000-s1-epld.6.1.2a.img parallel’, this takes some time.
2. This will upgrade all the modules (cards) if they can be upgraded in parallel, the process will also ask to failover SUP’s which you should do. The failover will disrupt the telnet or terminal connection.
3. Run ‘show install epld status’ to validate each module.

Part C

1. Determine standby SUP and eject card.
2. Insert the new memory module in card. Re-insert card.
3. Run ‘sh redundancy status’ again to validate that there is full redundancy, this may take a while during card bootup.
4. Run ‘system switchover’ to fail over to current standby with 8G memory. At this point you will lose connectivity and will need to either reconnect via telnet or use other console connection.
5. Run ‘sh system resources’ this should show the full 8G.
6. Pull the non-active SUP now inserting the other memory module. Reinsert card back into slot.
7. The previous active card will now be standby and both SUP’s will have the 8G modules.

Optional: You may run ‘system switchover’ again if you have a preference for which SUP is active or standby.

Related Information

Cisco Nexus: Configuration Rollback Overview and Guidelines

VRF Configuration and Verification on Nexus 7000