Cat 6880X VSS and Instant Access Upgrade

[pat1848]

Hi

I'm running two Cat 6880X-LE in a VSS Setup. Attached are a couple of Instant Access Clients.

Current Software Release is 15.1(2)SY4a.

According to the EFSU Compatibility Matrix in the Release Notes of 15.2(1)SY an Enhanced Fast Software Upgrade is not possible - (Incompatible)

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-2SY/release_notes/release_notes.html#pgfId-4724105

My Question:

Do i have to do an ordinary VSS Upgrade (Fast Software Upgrade) - which means i will have a disruptive upgrade or is there anything i misunderstood?

Second Question:

If i do a Fast Software Upgrade, when will the instant switches be upgraded? After i upgraded the VSS Secondary or after i upgraded the VSS Primary?

I found some informations about the process with Enhanced Fast Software Upgrade but not about Fast Software Upgrade. Any Informations about that?

Thanks, Patrick

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi Patrick,

For question 1, if by "Fast Software Upgrade" you mean copying the new IOS into both switches, changing the boot variable and rebooting the chassis, yes that is disruptive as you have to wait for the switches to boot.

As for your second question, once you reboot the switches, they will push the new image to the IAs.

from Q&A doc:

Q. What happens for IA switches during an upgrade for the Catalyst 6500/6800 core switches? Do the IA switches require a reboot?

A. Yes, it requires a reboot. It is like a line card in a Catalyst 6000 Series chassis, but you can stagger the reboot. You have the option to upgrade the IA along with the parent or you can upgrade the IA at a later stage. As part of the IA upgrade process the IA is rebooted. If there is stack of three switches, all three are rebooted.

link:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/document/12097901/catalyst-6800-vss-quad-sup-sso-and-instant-access-overview-faq-live-webcast

HTH

[pat1848]

Hi Reza

Thanks for your reply - i came across the same documentation. So i was a little bit confused as well with the expression Fast Software Upgrade as it sounds like a "normal" upgrade in the documentations...

But i was asking myself who triggers the IA Client switches upgrade during this "normal" upgrade. Is it after i rebooted the secondary switch or the primary switch? Is it similar to the nexus/fex setup where it's triggered from the primary? 

How can i stagger the reboot of the IA Switches? Does it not happen automatically? Do i have to log into the IA Switches an do a reload manually?

I have to do it on a productive environment and just want to eliminate my unanswered questions :-)

Thanks

[jcockburn]

Hi Bud,

We recently did upgrades and I will share my experience.

We use the "fex stagger 120" command.

1.Boot secondary VSS with new code. Your redundancy will complain and will be in RPR mode, no worries though. Still no downtime.

2.Make upgraded switch (switch2) the active.  Switch 1 will now reboot. Downtime starts here

3.While this happens the fexen will also start to reboot in a "staggered" kind of way and the new code will be uploaded to them from the upgraded VSS switch (switch2). Still downtime

4.Once switch 1 is rebooted the VSS will be in hot standby mode and the fexen will also reboot once all of them are upgraded. Still downtime

5.Once fexen are rebooted the network will start to become operational again.

My upgrade experience with 6880 in VSS and 2 stacks of 5 fexen was 55mins odd in total for the entire duration of which it is safe to say most (40mins) was disruptive.

The stagger part is random and you do NOT have to upgrade or reload the fexen manually.

Just be patient during the whole process...

Hopefully we can have eFSU working soon ;-)

Ciao

JC