4500-X VSS ROMMON Question

[hypnotoad]

I have a 4500-X VSS configuration.  It's running 3.6.6E.  I need to get to 3.8 and the release notes say to upgrade ROMMON to version 15.0(1r)SG11.  Can I upgrade ROMMON on one member switch at a time to avoid an outage of a full reboot?  My current ROMMON version is 15.0(1r)SG10.

Thanks,

Patrick

[Reza Sharifi]

I have never tried it but I don't think having two different versions of Rommon matters to VSS.

HTH

[jalejand]

You can upgrade the rommon in one switch at the time, rommon is not part of the RRP compatibility check.

However, as you are jumping between trains (3.6.x to 3.8.x), you will need to do a full reboot as eFSU/ISSU will not be supported for the IOS upgrade, but in the rommon side, there is no issue by doing them one after another.

[Leo Laohoo]

Upgrading ROMmon one at a time means multiple reboots. (Reboot switch 1 for ROMmon upgrade; reboot switch 2 for ROMmon upgrade; Reboot VSS for IOS upgrade)
I'd upgrade the entire VSS in a single reboot command because it will not take that long.

[jedavis]

I just upgraded a pair of 4500-X VSS switches at a remote site from 3.5.2 to 3.8.7.  In the process I upgraded rommon from 15.0(1r)SG(10) to 15.0(1r)SG(15).  I configured the bootvar thusly:
BOOT variable = bootflash:firmwareupgradeallK10-150_1r_SG15.SPA,1;bootflash:cat4500e-universalk9.SPA.03.08.07.E.152-4.E7.bin,1;

performed a "redundancy reload shelf".  After about 45 minutes I called the site.  Was told that all the LEDs on the front of both switches were dark.  PSU LEDs were flashing green.  I had him pull the power cords from both supplies on one of the switches and reconnect.  Everything came up normally with the new rommon and new IOS.

I suspect that the switches just powered themselves off after the rommon upgrade.  So just beware that this may happen to you.

[JamesChristley2230]

I had a similar issue to this yesterday:

We upgraded a pair of 4500x-16 switches in a VSS pair using the bootvar commands similar to the above. Executing 'redundancy reload shelf' shut down the switches but they didn't seem to come back (all status lights were dark).

Eventually, we decided to power-cycle them which brought them back.

Thanks for sharing this as I couldn't find this issue documented anywhere.