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Cluster and storage switches

Install or upgrade the NX-OS software

Contributors netapp-jolieg netapp-yvonneo

Follow this procedure to install or upgrade the NX-OS software on the Nexus 9336C-FX2 cluster switch.

Before you begin, complete the procedure in Prepare to install NX-OS and RCF.

Review requirements

What you'll need
  • A current backup of the switch configuration.

  • A fully functioning cluster (no errors in the logs or similar issues).

Suggested documentation
  • Cisco Ethernet switch page

    Consult the switch compatibility table for the supported ONTAP and NX-OS versions.

  • Software Upgrade and downgrade guides

    Refer to the appropriate software and upgrade guides available on the Cisco website for complete documentation on the Cisco switch upgrade and downgrade procedures.

  • Cisco Nexus 9000 and 3000 Upgrade and ISSU Matrix

    Provides information on Disruptive Upgrade/Downgrade for Cisco NX-OS software on Nexus 9000 Series Switches based on your current and target releases.

    On the page, select Disruptive Upgrade and select your current release and target release from the dropdown list.

About the examples

The examples in this procedure use the following switch and node nomenclature:

  • The names of the two Cisco switches are cs1 and cs2.

  • The node names are cluster1-01, cluster1-02, cluster1-03, and cluster1-04.

  • The cluster LIF names are cluster1-01_clus1, cluster1-01_clus2, cluster1-02_clus1, cluster1-02_clus2 , cluster1-03_clus1, cluster1-03_clus2, cluster1-04_clus1, and cluster1-04_clus2.

  • The cluster1::*> prompt indicates the name of the cluster.

Install the software

The procedure requires the use of both ONTAP commands and Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches commands; ONTAP commands are used unless otherwise indicated.

Steps
  1. Connect the cluster switch to the management network.

  2. Use the ping command to verify connectivity to the server hosting the NX-OS software and the RCF.

    Show example

    This example verifies that the switch can reach the server at IP address 172.19.2.1:

    cs2# ping 172.19.2.1
    Pinging 172.19.2.1 with 0 bytes of data:
    
    Reply From 172.19.2.1: icmp_seq = 0. time= 5910 usec.
  3. Display the cluster ports on each node that are connected to the cluster switches:

    network device-discovery show

    Show example
    cluster1::*> network device-discovery show
    Node/       Local  Discovered
    Protocol    Port   Device (LLDP: ChassisID)  Interface         Platform
    ----------- ------ ------------------------- ----------------  --------------
    cluster1-01/cdp
                e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/7       N9K-C9336C-FX2
                e0d    cs2                       Ethernet1/7       N9K-C9336C-FX2
    cluster1-02/cdp
                e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/8       N9K-C9336C-FX2
                e0d    cs2                       Ethernet1/8       N9K-C9336C-FX2
    cluster1-03/cdp
                e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/1/1     N9K-C9336C-FX2
                e0b    cs2                       Ethernet1/1/1     N9K-C9336C-FX2
    cluster1-04/cdp
                e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/1/2     N9K-C9336C-FX2
                e0b    cs2                       Ethernet1/1/2     N9K-C9336C-FX2
    cluster1::*>
  4. Check the administrative and operational status of each cluster port.

    1. Verify that all the cluster ports are up with a healthy status:

      network port show -role cluster

      Show example
      cluster1::*> network port show -role cluster
      
      Node: cluster1-01
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      e0d       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      
      Node: cluster1-02
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      e0d       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      8 entries were displayed.
      
      Node: cluster1-03
      
         Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      e0b       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      
      Node: cluster1-04
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      e0b       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      cluster1::*>
    2. Verify that all the cluster interfaces (LIFs) are on the home port:

      network interface show -role cluster

      Show example
      cluster1::*> network interface show -role cluster
                  Logical            Status     Network           Current      Current Is
      Vserver     Interface          Admin/Oper Address/Mask      Node         Port    Home
      ----------- ------------------ ---------- ----------------- ------------ ------- ----
      Cluster
                  cluster1-01_clus1  up/up     169.254.3.4/23     cluster1-01  e0a     true
                  cluster1-01_clus2  up/up     169.254.3.5/23     cluster1-01  e0d     true
                  cluster1-02_clus1  up/up     169.254.3.8/23     cluster1-02  e0a     true
                  cluster1-02_clus2  up/up     169.254.3.9/23     cluster1-02  e0d     true
                  cluster1-03_clus1  up/up     169.254.1.3/23     cluster1-03  e0a     true
                  cluster1-03_clus2  up/up     169.254.1.1/23     cluster1-03  e0b     true
                  cluster1-04_clus1  up/up     169.254.1.6/23     cluster1-04  e0a     true
                  cluster1-04_clus2  up/up     169.254.1.7/23     cluster1-04  e0b     true
      8 entries were displayed.
      cluster1::*>
    3. Verify that the cluster displays information for both cluster switches:

      system cluster-switch show -is-monitoring-enabled-operational true

      Show example
      cluster1::*> system cluster-switch show -is-monitoring-enabled-operational true
      Switch                      Type               Address          Model
      --------------------------- ------------------ ---------------- --------------
      cs1                         cluster-network    10.233.205.90    N9K-C9336C-FX2
           Serial Number: FOCXXXXXXGD
            Is Monitored: true
                  Reason: None
        Software Version: Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software, Version
                          9.3(5)
          Version Source: CDP
      
      cs2                         cluster-network    10.233.205.91    N9K-C9336C-FX2
           Serial Number: FOCXXXXXXGS
            Is Monitored: true
                  Reason: None
        Software Version: Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software, Version
                          9.3(5)
          Version Source: CDP
      cluster1::*>
  5. Disable auto-revert on the cluster LIFs. The cluster LIFs fail over to the partner cluster switch and remain there as you perform the upgrade procedure on the targeted switch:

    network interface modify -vserver Cluster -lif * -auto-revert false

  6. Copy the NX-OS software and EPLD images to the Nexus 9336C-FX2 switch.

    Show example
    cs2# copy sftp: bootflash: vrf management
    Enter source filename: /code/nxos.9.3.5.bin
    Enter hostname for the sftp server: 172.19.2.1
    Enter username: user1
    
    Outbound-ReKey for 172.19.2.1:22
    Inbound-ReKey for 172.19.2.1:22
    user1@172.19.2.1's password:
    sftp> progress
    Progress meter enabled
    sftp> get   /code/nxos.9.3.5.bin  /bootflash/nxos.9.3.5.bin
    /code/nxos.9.3.5.bin  100% 1261MB   9.3MB/s   02:15
    sftp> exit
    Copy complete, now saving to disk (please wait)...
    Copy complete.
    
    
    cs2# copy sftp: bootflash: vrf management
    Enter source filename: /code/n9000-epld.9.3.5.img
    Enter hostname for the sftp server: 172.19.2.1
    Enter username: user1
    
    Outbound-ReKey for 172.19.2.1:22
    Inbound-ReKey for 172.19.2.1:22
    user1@172.19.2.1's password:
    sftp> progress
    Progress meter enabled
    sftp> get   /code/n9000-epld.9.3.5.img  /bootflash/n9000-epld.9.3.5.img
    /code/n9000-epld.9.3.5.img  100%  161MB   9.5MB/s   00:16
    sftp> exit
    Copy complete, now saving to disk (please wait)...
    Copy complete.
  7. Verify the running version of the NX-OS software:

    show version

    Show example
    cs2# show version
    Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software
    TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
    Copyright (C) 2002-2020, Cisco and/or its affiliates.
    All rights reserved.
    The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
    owned by other third parties and used and distributed under their own
    licenses, such as open source.  This software is provided "as is," and unless
    otherwise stated, there is no warranty, express or implied, including but not
    limited to warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
    Certain components of this software are licensed under
    the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or
    GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3.0  or the GNU
    Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1 or
    Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.0.
    A copy of each such license is available at
    http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and
    http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html and
    http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php and
    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/library.txt.
    
    Software
      BIOS: version 08.38
      NXOS: version 9.3(4)
      BIOS compile time:  05/29/2020
      NXOS image file is: bootflash:///nxos.9.3.4.bin
      NXOS compile time:  4/28/2020 21:00:00 [04/29/2020 02:28:31]
    
    
    Hardware
      cisco Nexus9000 C9336C-FX2 Chassis
      Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2403 v2 @ 1.80GHz with 8154432 kB of memory.
      Processor Board ID FOC20291J6K
    
      Device name: cs2
      bootflash:   53298520 kB
    Kernel uptime is 0 day(s), 0 hour(s), 3 minute(s), 42 second(s)
    
    
    Last reset at 157524 usecs after Mon Nov  2 18:32:06 2020
      Reason: Reset Requested by CLI command reload
      System version: 9.3(4)
      Service:
    
    plugin
      Core Plugin, Ethernet Plugin
    
    Active Package(s):
    
    
    cs2#
  8. Install the NX-OS image.

    Installing the image file causes it to be loaded every time the switch is rebooted.

    Show example
    cs2# install all nxos bootflash:nxos.9.3.5.bin
    
    Installer will perform compatibility check first. Please wait.
    Installer is forced disruptive
    
    Verifying image bootflash:/nxos.9.3.5.bin for boot variable "nxos".
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Verifying image type.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Preparing "nxos" version info using image bootflash:/nxos.9.3.5.bin.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Preparing "bios" version info using image bootflash:/nxos.9.3.5.bin.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Performing module support checks.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Notifying services about system upgrade.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    
    
    Compatibility check is done:
    Module  Bootable  Impact          Install-type  Reason
    ------  --------  --------------- ------------  ---------
      1     yes       Disruptive      Reset         Default upgrade is not hitless
    
    
    
    Images will be upgraded according to following table:
    
    Module   Image    Running-Version(pri:alt)                 New-Version         Upg-Required
    ------- --------- ---------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------
      1      nxos     9.3(4)                                   9.3(5)                  yes
      1      bios     v08.37(01/28/2020):v08.23(09/23/2015)    v08.38(05/29/2020)      yes
    
    
    Switch will be reloaded for disruptive upgrade.
    
    Do you want to continue with the installation (y/n)? [n] y
    
    Install is in progress, please wait.
    
    Performing runtime checks.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Setting boot variables.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Performing configuration copy.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Module 1: Refreshing compact flash and upgrading bios/loader/bootrom.
    Warning: please do not remove or power off the module at this time.
    [] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Finishing the upgrade, switch will reboot in 10 seconds.
  9. Verify the new version of NX-OS software after the switch has rebooted:

    show version

    Show example
    cs2# show version
    
    Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software
    TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac
    Copyright (C) 2002-2020, Cisco and/or its affiliates.
    All rights reserved.
    The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
    owned by other third parties and used and distributed under their own
    licenses, such as open source.  This software is provided "as is," and unless
    otherwise stated, there is no warranty, express or implied, including but not
    limited to warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.
    Certain components of this software are licensed under
    the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or
    GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3.0  or the GNU
    Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1 or
    Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.0.
    A copy of each such license is available at
    http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and
    http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html and
    http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php and
    http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/library.txt.
    
    Software
      BIOS: version 05.33
      NXOS: version 9.3(5)
      BIOS compile time:  09/08/2018
      NXOS image file is: bootflash:///nxos.9.3.5.bin
      NXOS compile time:  11/4/2018 21:00:00 [11/05/2018 06:11:06]
    
    
    Hardware
      cisco Nexus9000 C9336C-FX2 Chassis
      Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2403 v2 @ 1.80GHz with 8154432 kB of memory.
      Processor Board ID FOC20291J6K
    
      Device name: cs2
      bootflash:   53298520 kB
    Kernel uptime is 0 day(s), 0 hour(s), 3 minute(s), 42 second(s)
    
    Last reset at 277524 usecs after Mon Nov  2 22:45:12 2020
      Reason: Reset due to upgrade
      System version: 9.3(4)
      Service:
    
    plugin
      Core Plugin, Ethernet Plugin
    
    Active Package(s):
  10. Upgrade the EPLD image and reboot the switch.

    Show example
    cs2# show version module 1 epld
    
    EPLD Device                     Version
    ---------------------------------------
    MI   FPGA                        0x7
    IO   FPGA                        0x17
    MI   FPGA2                       0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    
    cs2# install epld bootflash:n9000-epld.9.3.5.img module 1
    Compatibility check:
    Module        Type         Upgradable        Impact    Reason
    ------  ------------------ ----------------- --------- -----------
         1         SUP         Yes       disruptive  Module Upgradable
    
    Retrieving EPLD versions.... Please wait.
    Images will be upgraded according to following table:
    Module  Type   EPLD              Running-Version   New-Version  Upg-Required
    ------- ------ ----------------- ----------------- ------------ ------------
         1  SUP    MI FPGA           0x07              0x07         No
         1  SUP    IO FPGA           0x17              0x19         Yes
         1  SUP    MI FPGA2          0x02              0x02         No
    The above modules require upgrade.
    The switch will be reloaded at the end of the upgrade
    Do you want to continue (y/n) ?  [n] y
    
    Proceeding to upgrade Modules.
    
    Starting Module 1 EPLD Upgrade
    
    Module 1 : IO FPGA [Programming] : 100.00% (     64 of      64 sectors)
    Module 1 EPLD upgrade is successful.
    Module   Type  Upgrade-Result
    -------- ----- --------------
         1   SUP   Success
    
    EPLDs upgraded.
    
    Module 1 EPLD upgrade is successful.
  11. After the switch reboot, log in again and verify that the new version of EPLD loaded successfully.

    Show example
    cs2# show version module 1 epld
    
    EPLD Device                     Version
    ---------------------------------------
    MI   FPGA                        0x7
    IO   FPGA                        0x19
    MI   FPGA2                       0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
    GEM  FPGA                        0x2
  12. Verify the health of cluster ports on the cluster.

    1. Verify that cluster ports are up and healthy across all nodes in the cluster:

      network port show -role cluster

      Show example
      cluster1::*> network port show -role cluster
      
      Node: cluster1-01
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      e0b       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      
      Node: cluster1-02
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      e0b       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/10000 healthy  false
      
      Node: cluster1-03
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      e0d       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      
      Node: cluster1-04
                                                                             Ignore
                                                        Speed(Mbps) Health   Health
      Port      IPspace      Broadcast Domain Link MTU  Admin/Oper  Status   Status
      --------- ------------ ---------------- ---- ---- ----------- -------- ------
      e0a       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      e0d       Cluster      Cluster          up   9000  auto/100000 healthy false
      8 entries were displayed.
    2. Verify the switch health from the cluster.

      network device-discovery show -protocol cdp

      Show example
      cluster1::*> network device-discovery show -protocol cdp
      Node/       Local  Discovered
      Protocol    Port   Device (LLDP: ChassisID)  Interface         Platform
      ----------- ------ ------------------------- ----------------- --------------
      cluster1-01/cdp
                  e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/7       N9K-C9336C-FX2
                  e0d    cs2                       Ethernet1/7       N9K-C9336C-FX2
      cluster01-2/cdp
                  e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/8       N9K-C9336C-FX2
                  e0d    cs2                       Ethernet1/8       N9K-C9336C-FX2
      cluster01-3/cdp
                  e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/1/1     N9K-C9336C-FX2
                  e0b    cs2                       Ethernet1/1/1     N9K-C9336C-FX2
      cluster1-04/cdp
                  e0a    cs1                       Ethernet1/1/2     N9K-C9336C-FX2
                  e0b    cs2                       Ethernet1/1/2     N9K-C9336C-FX2
      
      cluster1::*> system cluster-switch show -is-monitoring-enabled-operational true
      Switch                      Type               Address          Model
      --------------------------- ------------------ ---------------- --------------
      cs1                         cluster-network    10.233.205.90    N9K-C9336C-FX2
           Serial Number: FOCXXXXXXGD
            Is Monitored: true
                  Reason: None
        Software Version: Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software, Version
                          9.3(5)
          Version Source: CDP
      
      cs2                         cluster-network    10.233.205.91    N9K-C9336C-FX2
           Serial Number: FOCXXXXXXGS
            Is Monitored: true
                  Reason: None
        Software Version: Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software, Version
                          9.3(5)
          Version Source: CDP
      
      2 entries were displayed.

      You might observe the following output on the cs1 switch console depending on the RCF version previously loaded on the switch:

      2020 Nov 17 16:07:18 cs1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %STP-2-UNBLOCK_CONSIST_PORT: Unblocking port port-channel1 on VLAN0092. Port consistency restored.
      2020 Nov 17 16:07:23 cs1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %STP-2-BLOCK_PVID_PEER: Blocking port-channel1 on VLAN0001. Inconsistent peer vlan.
      2020 Nov 17 16:07:23 cs1 %$ VDC-1 %$ %STP-2-BLOCK_PVID_LOCAL: Blocking port-channel1 on VLAN0092. Inconsistent local vlan.
  13. Verify that the cluster is healthy:

    cluster show

    Show example
    cluster1::*> cluster show
    Node                 Health   Eligibility   Epsilon
    -------------------- -------- ------------- -------
    cluster1-01          true     true          false
    cluster1-02          true     true          false
    cluster1-03          true     true          true
    cluster1-04          true     true          false
    4 entries were displayed.
    cluster1::*>
  14. Repeat steps 6 to 13 to install the NX-OS software on switch cs1.

  15. Enable auto-revert on the cluster LIFs.

    network interface modify -vserver Cluster -lif * -auto-revert true

  16. Verify that the cluster LIFs have reverted to their home port:

    network interface show -role cluster

    Show example
    cluster1::*> network interface show -role cluster
                Logical            Status     Network            Current             Current Is
    Vserver     Interface          Admin/Oper Address/Mask       Node                Port    Home
    ----------- ------------------ ---------- ------------------ ------------------- ------- ----
    Cluster
                cluster1-01_clus1  up/up      169.254.3.4/23     cluster1-01         e0d     true
                cluster1-01_clus2  up/up      169.254.3.5/23     cluster1-01         e0d     true
                cluster1-02_clus1  up/up      169.254.3.8/23     cluster1-02         e0d     true
                cluster1-02_clus2  up/up      169.254.3.9/23     cluster1-02         e0d     true
                cluster1-03_clus1  up/up      169.254.1.3/23     cluster1-03         e0b     true
                cluster1-03_clus2  up/up      169.254.1.1/23     cluster1-03         e0b     true
                cluster1-04_clus1  up/up      169.254.1.6/23     cluster1-04         e0b     true
                cluster1-04_clus2  up/up      169.254.1.7/23     cluster1-04         e0b     true
    8 entries were displayed.
    cluster1::*>

    If any cluster LIFs have not returned to their home ports, revert them manually from the local node:

    network interface revert -vserver Cluster -lif <lif_name>