Nexus 9504 Upgrade question

[RICHARD MESSINGER]

customer has a Nexus 9504 with Dual Supervisors and needs to do an upgrade with minimal disruption as it is their Core Switch.  In reading documentation I am disappointed that ISSU is not a supported option.

Is there a process where we can upgrade the Standby Supervisor to the new software and the switch active Sups and then upgrade the other?  

A more manual process but less disruptive?

Will this work?

[marce1000]

    - Could you point to that documentation , because this seems contradictory :
     https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus9000/sw/7-x/upgrade/guide/b_Cisco_Nexus_9000_Series_NX-OS_Software_Upgrade_and_Downgrade_Guide_Release_7x/b_Cisco_Nexus_9000_Series_NX-OS_Software_Upgrade_and_Downgrade_Guide_Release_7x_c...
  >...
  >...ISSUs are supported on the following platforms:
  >...

Cisco Nexus 9500

Standard ISSU: Cisco Nexus 9504, 9508, and 9516 with Cisco Nexus 9432PQ, 9464PX, 9464TX, 9536PQ, 9564PX, 9564TX, or 9636PQ line cards, dual supervisor modules, and a minimum of two system controllers and two fabric modules Note   Cisco Nexus 9500 platform switches with -R, -EX, and -FX line cards do not support ISSU. Enhanced ISSU: None

 M,

[RICHARD MESSINGER]

Yes it is confusing.  Thank you Cisco.  In this document, you have the following.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/dcn/nx-os/nexus9000/104x/configuration/high-availability-and-redundancy/cisco-nexus-9000-series-nx-os-high-availability-and-redundancy-guide/m-issu-and-ha.pdf

In a redundant system with two supervisors, one of the supervisors is active while the other operates in standby mode. During an ISSU, the new software is loaded onto the standby supervisor while the active supervisor continues to operate using the old software. As part of the upgrade, a switchover occurs between the active and standby supervisors, and the standby supervisor becomes active and begins running the new software. After the switchover, the new software is loaded onto the (formerly active) standby supervisor.

Note The ISSU feature is not supported on any Nexus 9504, 9508, or 9516 chassis with N9K-C95xx-FM-Ex, N9K-C950x-FM-R, or N9K-C95xx-FM-G fabric modules inserted in the chassis. Software upgrades with this hardware combination are disruptive and require the switch to reload. Non-disruptive ISSU is not supported.

And the Fabric Modules listed are the only ones available.

[marce1000]

   - It's probably best to ask TAC , to get an authoritative answer ,

 M.

[Megahertz_MHz]

Quick comment:

There is a minimum requirement for the ISSU of the NX-OS (I think it's two supervisor modules and two controller cards.) However, since you will likely need to update the EPLD, it will be disruptive because each module is reloaded one at a time. So if you have two Ethernet Modules (for example) they likely have their own connections, and therefore traffic will be interrupted.

To check, "show inventory" will give you a list of the modules. Then "show version module [#] epld" will give you the IO FPGA & MI FPGA hex values. Match those up with the table in the upgrade guide for the version you'd like to upgrade to, and you'll see which modules will need to be updated.