Nexus 5612 vPC Question

[MarkusFink]

Dear Community,

i hope you can help me.

I'm planning a change window to upgrade our software on our N5k Switches.

We actually run on version 7.0(3)N1(1) and want to upgrade to 7.3(5)N1(1) as cisco recommends this.

(yep, didnt upgrade for a long time)

First question: Is it possible to do the upgrade at once (7.0 -> 7.3), or do i need more steps(7.0 -> 7.1 -> ...7.3) ?

And my second question:

We are actually running some vPC-Pairs on the 5Ks.

If we upgrade only one of them in the first step, they will have different versions for the moment.

Will for example a N5k V7.0 form a vPC with a N5k v7.3? Or do they need the same version?

Thank you :-)

Regards

[David Castro F.]

Hey Markus,

I hope you are doing great,

To answer your questions:

First question: Is it possible to do the upgrade at once (7.0 -> 7.3), or do i need more steps(7.0 -> 7.1 -> ...7.3) ? If you want to upgrade from a release on Cisco NX-OS release 7.1 train or earlier, you must first upgrade to Cisco NX-OS release 7.1(4)N1(1) and then to 7.3(5)N1(1). If you want to upgrade from a release on Cisco NX-OS release 7.2 train or earlier, you must first upgrade to Cisco NX-OS release 7.3(2)N1(1) and then to 7.3(5)N1(1).

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5500/sw/upgrade/735_N1_1/n5500_upgrade_downgrade_735_n1_1.html#pgfId-640981

Second question:

We are actually running some vPC-Pairs on the 5Ks. If we upgrade only one of them in the first step, they will have different versions for the moment. Will for example a N5k V7.0 form a vPC with a N5k v7.3? Or do they need the same version?

vPC can interoperate between different versions of NX-OS during upgrade or downgrade, but as a best practice you will want to have them on the same version of course. The vPC peers should run the same NX-OS version except during the non-disruptive upgrade, that is, In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU). Take precautions if you have fex dual-homed to this N5Ks or single homed as well, since the change of the software will cause a change of firmware on the Fex itself as well. You could go with ISSU upgrade mode:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus5000/sw/upgrade/503_N1_1/n5000_upgrade_downgrade_503_n1_1.html#pgfId-715606

If I answered your question please rate all helpful posts and mark as answered, keep us posted!

Regards,

David Castro,

[MarkusFink]

Thank you very much, 

exactly what i wanted to know :-) ,

Best regards

[David Castro F. · Accepted solution]

Great Markus, could you mark the answer as solved?