NX-OS Upgrade in my Environment

[rkrao.guntupalli]

Hi All,

Good Morning, Good Evening.

We are using Cisco MDS 9148 Switch(s) 2# in our environment and running NX-OS 5.0(4c) version on them. There was a Audit (Penetration testing) done and they found that, what ever NX-OS we are running in the environment is pretty old and our management decided to move on to the upgarde the NX-OS.

I found out there are many version and please find them Below,

                             Major Release 5.0                                                                 Release Dates

                                                      5.0(4c) Current Version of our Environment       (05/Apr/2011)

                                                      5.0(4d)                                                          (04/May/2011)

                                                      5.0(7)                                                            (07/Oct/2011)

                                                      5.0(8)    Latest Version in this Release            (11/Apr/2012)

                              Major Relaese 5.2

                                                       5.2(1)                                                           (17/July/2011)

                                                       5.2(2)                                                           (23/Jan/2012)

                                                       5.2(2a)                                                          (25/Jan/2012)

                                                       5.2(2d)   Latest Version in this Release.           (25/Apr/2012)

Hence my query is, can I upgarde Cisco NX-OS from 5.0 to 5.2 or what version can I upgrade to (Directly Can I upgrade to the Latest version or I need to Upgrade sequentially from my current version of NX-OS to next NX-OS release and then consequently to the latest version). If I do that what will be the state of my licenses will they all remain same or will that I need to acquire the same for the New / Upgarded version.

Guru's and Experts Please advice.

Regards,

R K

[Ricardo Septien · Accepted solution]

Hi Ramakrishna

You can upgrade directly from 5.0.x to 5.2.2

review the release notes

You can find in the following link what NXOS Cisco recommends depending Hw and features that you plan to use or are using

Recommended Releases for Cisco MDS 9000 Series Switches

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/5_2/release/notes/b_MDS_NX-OS_Recommended_Releases.html

just be aware that the above document was released when 5.07 and 5.2.2 had been the latest. so just use this manual to decide which family use, I mean keep it in 5.0.x faily or go to 5.2.x family

Cisco MDS 9000 Family Release Notes for Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.2(2d)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/5_2/release/notes/nx-os/mds_nxos_rn_522d.html

Cisco MDS 9000 Family Release Notes for Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 5.0(8)

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/datacenter/mds9000/sw/5_0/release/notes/nxos/mds_nxos_rn_508.html

on the other hand you can go to the top versions 5.07 or 522d but you need to review if your switch is supported by a OEM like HDS or EMC as first level of support, then you need to review with them what is the newest version that they have in their interop matrix.

I hope this helps

Regards

[rkrao.guntupalli]

Hi Ricardo,

Thanks a lot for you help and the link what ever you have pasted me had given me a good idea on the Switch NX-OS hence I will proceed as direct in the document.

Once again Thanks man.

Regards,

R K

[e.nieuwstad]

Have they given any reason besides it is pretty old? Upgrading because its old is in my opinion not a valid reason. Are there known security bugs or is the software no longer supported? Do you have features together with a known bug?