Upgrading 6807XL from 15.2(1)SY5 to 15.5(1)SY5 Question

[Terence Lockette]

Hello all,

I am looking to upgrade our VSS pair of 6807XL switches from version 15.2(1)SY5 to 15.5(1)SY5 and have checked the release notes.  The release notes do not outline the upgrade method so I'm not sure if this new suggested release requires me to upgrade the ROMMON and Field Programmable Devices.  The current ROMMON on these switches are 12.2(50r)SYS3.  The new ROMMON image available is SYS4.  Are these (ROMMON & FPD) required before I can upgrade to 15.5(1)SY5?  If so, what order does Cisco require me to perform this?  I remember doing an upgrade for a 4500 and I had to add these images in the boot start marker in the order they were to be installed but don't want to assume this is how it needs to be done on the 6800 if all 3 images are required.  Thanks in advance for your help.

Terence

[balaji.bandi]

How many supervisor in each chasis, ( i will avoid ISSU upgrade)

IOS concern you can upgrade from your verison to new version - make sure you upgrade ROMMON first then IOS.

[Terence Lockette]

Single Sup in each chassis so copy both images to bootflash, set boot start/end marker to load both images making sure that the ROMMON is top of the list.  Then I'll need to remove ROMMON from the boot start/end marker so that the switch doesn't try to load the ROMMON again once the switch has booted the new image, correct?

[balaji.bandi]

1. take the configuraiton backuo out of the box

2. hope you already read the release notes and understand the caviet.

3. Upgrade ROMMON First - Then Upgrade the IOS ( copy and image to  flash) - change the boot valriable

Once one chasis good, upgrade other one.

make sure you connect console cable and capture the logs in case any issue to understand where went wrong.

[Terence Lockette]

Thanks.

I'll likely reboot both chassis together.  I warned management about rebooting separately the last time we upgraded the IOS due to mismatch versions (VSS requirement) and it ended up breaking the VSS pair which required us to rebuild the entire config.  I'm not going to go through that again.

[Reza Sharifi]

Terence,

Have a look at this post before you upgrade.It has all the details for rebooting both chassis at the same time.

https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/cisco-6880-x-vss-upgrade-procedure/td-p/3411665

HTH

[Terence Lockette]

I did just come across this forum but didn't see anything about rebooting both simultaneously.  I do see it listing steps for rebooting separately, however.  The only real difference I see is that there is definite downtime by rebooting both together whereas the other method keeps traffic moving while one or the other reboots.  I'm going to recommend to management to reboot both together but the option is do them separately is still an option with caveats to consider.

[Reza Sharifi]

On the 6807 "redundancy reload shelf" will reboot both switches at the same time.

HTH

[Terence Lockette]

I'm sorry you are correct.

[Leo Laohoo]

Read the Release Notes to 15.5(1)SY very, very, very carefully because the for the latest version, 15.5(1)SY5, may require a manual FPGA upgrade to the associated line cards.  
And here is the kicker:  The command option ("gold") to perform the FPGA upgrade to the line card is a "hidden" command.  This bit of information is not mentioned anywhere.
Another thing, the FPGA upgrade will take around 15 minutes -- and yes, this information is also not mentioned anywhere else.