Brocade Network OS Administrator’s Guide v4.1.1 - Manual (Page 112)

The firmware can only be downloaded from the file server through the management Ethernet port, so
all nodes must have the management Ethernet port connected. Only one logical-chassis firmware
download command instance can run at any given time.
If you are in logical chassis cluster mode, after you perform a firmware upgrade, you might find that
the switch reverts to its default configurations. To preserve the configurations after an upgrade, back
up the configuration using the copy running-config filename command before the firmware
download. After the upgrade is completed, run the copy filename running-configcommand.
Obtaining and decompressing firmware
Firmware upgrades are available for customers with support service contracts and for partners on the
Brocade website at
www.mybrocade.com .
You must download the firmware package either to an FTP server or to a USB device and
decompress the package before you can use the firmware download command or firmware
download logical-chassis command (if you are in VCS mode) to upgrade the firmware on your
equipment. Use the UNIX tar command for .tar files, the gunzip command for all .gz files, or a
Windows unzip program for all .zip files.
When you unpack the downloaded firmware, it expands into a directory that is named according to the
firmware version. When issued with the path to the directory where the firmware is stored, the
firmware download command or firmware download logical-chassis command (if you are in logical
chassis cluster mode) performs an automatic search for the correct package file type associated with
the device.
Upgrading firmware on a compact switch
All Brocade compact switches maintain two partitions of nonvolatile storage areas, a primary and a
secondary, to store two firmware images. The following steps describe the default behavior after you
enter the firmware download command (without options) on a compact switch with a single control
processor. The procedure applies to all Brocade VDX compact switches.
1. Network OS downloads the firmware to the secondary partition.
2. The switch swaps partitions and performs a reboot. After the system comes back up, the former
secondary partition is the primary partition.
3. The system copies the firmware from the primary to the secondary partition and commits the new
firmware.
The upgrade process first downloads and then commits the firmware. Use the show
firmwaredownloadstatus command to monitor the upgrade progress.
Upgrading firmware on a modular chassis
In Network OS 4.0.0 and later in-service software upgrade (ISSU) is supported. An ISSU allows a dual
management module (MM) system to be upgraded nondisruptively and is invoked when the user
enters the firmwaredownload command from the active management module.
On a dual management module system, the firmwaredownload command uses the ISSU protocol to
upgrade the system. However, before the actual downloading occurs, the system runs an ISSU sanity
check to determine whether the ISSU will succeed. If the sanity check fails, users are notified to resort
to the auto-leveling protocol to upgrade the system.
Obtaining and decompressing firmware
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