Upgrading switch firmware

Whenever a firmware upgrade is available for the switches, run the firmware upgrade on them.

Before you begin

  • Upgrade the IBM Spectrum Fusion HCI management software.
  • Post the upgrade of IBM Spectrum Fusion HCI management software, check whether the firmware upgrade exists by using any of the following methods:
    • Open the Red Hat® OpenShift® Container Platform web console. In the Overview page, go to Activity > Recent events section and check whether you see the following message: 
      IBM Spectrum Fusion firmware upgrade available for switches.
    • Open the IBM Spectrum Fusion HCI user interface. It displays notifications in the following locations:
      • In the bell icon, you can see the following messages for the switch : 
        Switch firmware upgrades are available
      • In the Infrastructure > Network, you can see the following message:
        Firmware upgrade to version <version_number> is available

About this task

Do the switch firmware upgrade in the specified sequence.

Procedure

  1. Go to Infrastructure > Network.
    The Network page gets displayed. The Switches tab is open by default.
  2. Click Upgrade all.
    The Upgrade firmware window gets displayed. It shows how many switches to upgrade along with the estimated time.
    Note: After the switch firmware upgrade is triggered, do not click anything in this page until the upgrade process is complete.
  3. Click Start upgrade.
    The following message appears to confirm the initiation of upgrade: 
    Switch Firmware upgrade in-progress
    For example: 
    Switch Firmware upgrade in-progress
1 out of 2 switches upgraded
IIf the firmware upgrade fails, the following message gets displayed.
Firmware upgrade failed
If the upgrade failed for any reason, then contact IBM support.
Note:

The following are the tasks that the administrator must be aware of during the firmware upgrade.

  • The admin can upgrade only the high speed switches, and no firmware upgrade is applicable for internal management switches.
  • The firmware upgrade happens on the primary and secondary switches.
  • The secondary switches are upgraded first, followed by the primary switches during the upgrade process.
  • If the secondary switch firmware upgrade fails, then the related primary switch is not marked for the upgrade.
  • If a firmware update fails, a warning is raised for that switch. That warning can be seen in the Recent Events or Events sections.