C9606 quad upgrade.

[wanwa01]

Hi Guys,

 We have 9606 running active-standby and each box has 2 supervisor 1. Currently running version 17.2.1 and planning to upgrade to latest 17.9.5.

I know that complete reboot using install command would be the best, however we would like to minimize the down time by using issu.

Need opinion on below.

1. Can i perform direct upgrade to 17.9.5. I checked the doco is doable.

2. Is ISSU  viable  for this upgrade.

3. How to verify the ICS ( stand by sup) also upgraded successfully once complete without console access to the ICS.

thanks.

[Leo Laohoo]

Raise a TAC case before undertaking a firmware upgrade using ISSU.  

If anything bad should happen, TAC is there to perform remediation.

Otherwise, have a look at the document attached. 

[shambhu.kumar]

I tried with ISSU, but faced multiple issues and I tried with “install add file file-name activate commit” command, the new software version is activated onto all the supervisors at the same time and it requires reload.

Like Switch 1 is active and switch 2 is standby with ICS in slot 3 as per actual setup.

Switch Number 1

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO244301DV
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZJ
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 FDO244218U0
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2311L4E0
Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 0476.B0E8.B780 to 0476.B0E8.B7FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
2 40F0.7803.6900 to 40F0.7803.697F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
3 689E.0B0D.D680 to 689E.0B0D.D6FF 1.2 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
4 -- -- N/A -- Provisioned
Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 Active sso sso
4 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr

Switch Number 2

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO24390PM7
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZU
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2328L2G5
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2330L4JW

Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 689E.0B0D.5D00 to 689E.0B0D.5D7F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
2 40F0.7803.7980 to 40F0.7803.79FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
3 -- -- N/A -- Provisioned
4 084F.A9A2.3180 to 084F.A9A2.31FF 1.0 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok

Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr
4 Standby sso sso

As switches were running on 17.6.5, decided to move to 17.3.4. followed same steps I shared earlier in the attachment.

This time upgradation took longer than expected, it took around 30-40 minutes.

When switch came up on 17.3.4, what I observed that, Switchover happened and now switch 2 is active peer and ICS in switch 2 was in slot 3, now slot 4 SUP is ICS, before moving to 17.3.4 switch 1 was active now switch 2 is active. Please refer below output:

CAT9600_ACTIVE#show module
Chassis Type: C9606R

Switch Number 1

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO244301DV
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZJ
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 FDO244218U0
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2311L4E0

Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 0476.B0E8.B780 to 0476.B0E8.B7FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
2 40F0.7803.6900 to 40F0.7803.697F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
3 689E.0B0D.D680 to 689E.0B0D.D6FF 1.2 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
4 -- -- -- -- Provisioned

Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 Standby sso sso
4 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr

Switch 2---Active now after moving from 17.6.5 to 17.3.4

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO24390PM7
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZU
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2328L2G5---before upgrade it was ICS, now Active
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2330L4JW

Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 689E.0B0D.5D00 to 689E.0B0D.5D7F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
2 40F0.7803.7980 to 40F0.7803.79FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
3 084F.A9A1.8580 to 084F.A9A1.85FF 1.0 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.03.04 ok
4 -- -- -- -- Provisioned

Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 Active sso sso
4 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr

So, after upgrade, supervisor roles got changed and in both the switches slot 4 becomes ICS.

This is obviously not the expected behavior that after upgrade the peers got switched over.

To reverify, I decided to upgrade the switch with same setup as switch 2 as active with slot 4 SUP with ICS role and switch 1 as standby and slot 4 SUP in switch 1 as ICS.

But this time, upgrade finished quite quickly considering last one and this time slot placement and SUP roles remains intact, no peers switchover neither any abrupt delays:

Please refer below output after moving from 17.3.4 to 17.6.5 when switch 2 was active and on both the switches slot 4 was Inchassis-standby(ICS).

CAT9600_ACTIVE#show module
Chassis Type: C9606R

Switch Number 1

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO244301DV
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZJ
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 FDO244218U0
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2311L4E0

Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 0476.B0E8.B780 to 0476.B0E8.B7FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
2 40F0.7803.6900 to 40F0.7803.697F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
3 689E.0B0D.D680 to 689E.0B0D.D6FF 1.2 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
4 -- -- N/A -- Provisioned

Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 Standby sso sso
4 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr

Switch Number 2----Active as earlier before upgrade. No switchover of active peers.

Mod Ports Card Type Model Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------
1 48 48-Port 10GE / 25GE C9600-LC-48YL FDO24390PM7
2 24 24-Port 40GE/12-Port 100GE C9600-LC-24C FDO244312ZU
3 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2328L2G5
4 0 Supervisor 1 Module C9600-SUP-1 CAT2330L4JW

Mod MAC addresses Hw Fw Sw Status
---+--------------------------------+----+------------+------------------+--------
1 689E.0B0D.5D00 to 689E.0B0D.5D7F 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
2 40F0.7803.7980 to 40F0.7803.79FF 1.1 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
3 084F.A9A1.8580 to 084F.A9A1.85FF 1.0 17.8.1r[FC1] 17.06.05 ok
4 -- -- N/A -- Provisioned

Mod Redundancy Role Operating Redundancy Mode Configured Redundancy Mode
---+-------------------+-------------------------+---------------------------
3 Active sso sso
4 InChassis-Standby rpr rpr

From the lab result so far, I would say when active, standby and ICS placement is in sync, we don’t see any discrepancies like switchover or unexpected delays during upgrade. But upgrade failure I didn’t observed so far with either of the slot placement.

So before further upgrade attempts, requesting you to delete “packages.conf” pointing to old and other release and clean the unused files.

[wanwa01]

Thanks  guys for sharing the experience.

is it good from me to direct upgrade from 17.2.1 to 17.9.5. I cant find compatibility matrix for 17.2.1

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Direct upgrade is supported.

As a test, I have successfully upgraded the firmware of a C9500-48Y4C, from 17.3.5, to 17.12.3.  (See attached file.)

NOTE:  A 9500 is "different" to a 9400 or 9600 Supervisor card, however, they share a lot of common architecture and, I will assume, behaviour.  

(The start of the file will show that the C9500-48Y4C boots up in  ROMMON version 17.3.1r.  After the reboot, and before 17.12.3 is loaded, the switch conducts an "bootloader upgrade" and then rebooting to ROMMON version 17.8.1r.)

This is further proof that direct upgrade, from 17.3.X, to 17.12.3 is supported and no need to go to an intermediate version as a prerequisite.