Nortel 10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module (GbESM-10U) firmware v1.2.6.0 - IBM BladeCenter

Download Description

• New IBM xSeries firmware and device driver file naming convention
• New firmware update file formats

Notes:

• Additional information related to this product can be found at the following link: http://downloads.bladenetwork.net/request?file=uzsh2p
• Please see the README file for complete details of the code upgrade and the complete change history.

Severity: Suggested

Version 1.2.6.0 (Released January 2010)
Enhancements:

• Added the display of transceiver info to the output of the "/info/sys/dump" and "/maint/tsdmp" commands ("show tech" in isCLI). (32533)
  
• Improved the Switch's crash handler to provide better crash dump information for error conditions. (20941)
  
• Added a memory tracing facility to improve troubleshooting capabilities. (25205)
  

Changes:

• Moved CPU-utilization info to top of "/maint/tsdmp" command output ("show tech" in isCLI) so that the effect of running the command is not included in the CPU-utilization time-average calculations. (25996)
  
• Always over write any pre-existing crash dump. (27136)
  

Fixes:

• Poor throughput and packet discards observed when receiving jumbo frames on 10G ports. (34666)
  
• Inter Switch Link ports (ISL, BCH-T Chassis Only) unable to be used as hot standby ports for
• Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP). (23146)
  
• Non-support of JDSU LR XFP transceivers. (35994)
  
• Switch resets when user issues the Ctrl+\ keyboard sequence. (36124)
  
• Switch crash due to memory leak in CLI processing, particularly when the switch CPU is continuously polled over an extended period of time. (25184, 25332)
  
• if 4 Telnet/SSH connections expire with no user input at the AOS/ISCLI mode prompt, no further Telnet/SSH connections are possible without a switch reset. (23513)
  
• new Telnet connections are terminated after selecting the CLI mode. (35968)
  
• after booting up, switch does not provide the prompt for selecting the CLI mode, or the selected mode is ignored. (35969, 35970)
  
• when running in AOS CLI mode, switch configuration does not change after downloading configuration file created during isCLI mode.

Version 1.2.5.0 (Released November 2008)

Fixes:

• Protected Mode (PRM) Interlock: guarantees user enters PRM only via enabled external management path.
• Added Caller ID and Port Name to supported TACACS+ accounting attributes (number 16154)
• Save Configuration Prompt: When saving a configuration while the booting configuration is set to "factory", you must enter "Y" or "y" or "N" or "n". A default answer (by just hitting the <enter> key) is no longer accepted. (number 16974)
• BladeCenter S chassis support: internal chassis ports (SMGT1, SMGT2) can now be included in additional management VLANs and standard VLANs.
• SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) MIB (Management Information Base) Objects, hwPartnumber and hwRevision, were not returning values.This was corrected. (number 18659)
• When booting in a BladeCenter S chassis an erroneous serial console message identifying a Bad SubType for Inlet/Exhaust Temperature Configuration. This was corrected. (number 17531)
• Specific chassis types are now displayed in user interfaces. "BladeCenter E", "BladeCenter T", "BladeCenter H", "BladeCenter HT" and "BladeCenter S" are the possible types (number 17664)

Version 1.2.4.0 (Released November 2007)

Enhancements:

• Support for BladeCenter-S chassis
• Support for IBM protected Mode
• Added Static FDB (Forwarding Data Base) support.
• Allow maximum length of password for TACACS+ (Terminal Access Controller Access Control System) to be 32 characters.
• Simplified configuration dump after enabling uplinkfast.

Fixes:

• Fixed port’s auto-negotiation setting after reboot. (number 12845)
• Added /stat/clrport command to ISCLI (Industry Standard Command Line Interface), BBI (Brower-Based Interface), SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) (number 13087)
• Added option on AOSCLI (Alteon Operating System Command Line Interface) to configure prompt CLI (Command Line Interface) mode at login. (number 9230)
• Fixed a continuous (once per second) Link Down/Up issue (a.k.a. Link Flapping) when connected to a QLogic iSCSI Expansion card for IBM eServer BladeCenter.

Version 1.1.1.0 (Released June 2007)

Changes:

• The requirement to RESET the switch between the upgrade of the OS and the upgrade of the Boot has been eliminated.
• Relocated CLI command info/l2/8021p to /info/qos/8021p.

Enhancements:

• Added Generic VLAN Registration Protocol (GVRP) which allows the GbESM to configure VLANs dynamically with other GVRP-capable devices in the network, to allow automatic configuration of VLANs on the port
• The new CLI (Command Line Interface) command to configure GVRP is:
  
  [GVRP configuration Menu]
  port - Port menu
  jtime - Set GARP join time
  ltime - Set GARP leave time
  latime - Set GARP leave all time
  dynamic - Enable/disable dynamic VLAN creation
  on - Globally turn GVRP On
  off - Globally turn GVRP Off
  current - Display current GVRP parameters
  
  
• When GVRP is globally enabled, the maximum number of VLANs (Virtual Local Area Network) supported is 20,including the total of static and dynamic VLANs, but excluding VLAN 4095 and all disabled VLANs.
• The number of Spanning Tree Groups supported was increased from 32 to 128.
• Added Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1x with Guest VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network). By default, IEEE 802.1 protocol blocks unauthenticated ports until a user provides a valid user name / password. Instead of blocking unauthenticated ports, Guest VLAN feature will move ports into aefined VLAN. This enables the unauthenticated users to communicate with each other.
• The new CLI command to configure Guest VLANs is:
  
  /cfg/l2/8021x/global/gvlan/
  
  [802.1x Guest VLAN Configuration Menu]
  vlan - Set 8021.x Guest VLAN number
  ena - Enable 8021.xGuest VLAN
  dis - Disable 8021.x Guest VLAN
  cur - Display current Guest VLAN configuration
  
  
• Allow the user to disable ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) redirect.
• The new CLI command to configure this setting is:
  
  /cfg/L3/frwd/noicmprd
  
  
• Current No ICMP Redirects: disabled Enter new No ICMP Redirects [d/e]:
• Added helpful reminders to assist with the configuration of key switch parameters. Also provides a CLI command to select or disable the reminders.
  
  /cfg/sys/reminder - Enable/disable Reminders
  
  
• Provided control on a per port basis to disable mac address learning. Disabling the learning causes all traffic received on a port to be flooded to all ports.
  
  /cfg/port/ EXT1
  
  [Port EXT1 Menu]
  
  learn - Enable/Disable FDB Learning for port
  
  
• Also provided control on a per port basis to disable flooding. Disabling flooding causes packets sent to unlearned addresses to be dropped. In certain configurations, flooding is neither needed or desired. For example, a port with only manually assigned addresses or only one connected host has no unknown destinations. Flooding server no purpose for such a port.
  
  /cfg/port/ EXT1
  
  [Port EXT1 Menu]
  
  floodblk - Enable/disable Port flood blocking
  
  
• Modifications made to limit packet flooding to the MP (microprocessor) of the switch, keeping the flooding to only those required by the MP.
• Improved support for Version 3 (V3) of IGMP (Internet Group Management Protocol) and increased the supported group count to 1000. V3 includes source-specific multicast (SSM) enabling the switch to forward multicast traffic from only the sources the receivers requests.
• New CLI command added for this improved support is:
  
  /cfg/l3/igmp/snoop/igmpv3 - IGMP Version3 Snoop Menu
  
  
• Added Private VLAN edge support. private VLANs partition a regular VLAN domain into sub domains. No IP (Internet Protocol) traffic is forwarded off of these sub domains.
• The new CLI commands for private VLANs are:
  
  /cfg/l2/vlan/ Enter VLAN number: (1-4095) 1
  
  [VLAN 1 Menu]
  pvlan - Protocol VLAN Menu
  privlan - Private-VLAN Menu
  
  
• Added BPDU (Bridge Protocol Data Unit) Guard. BPDU Guard shuts down Spanning-Tree Protocol PortFast-enabled interfaces when BPDUs are received
  to avoid accidental topology loops.
• The new CLI command to enable or disable this function is:
  
  /cfg/l2/bpdugrd Enter new BPDU Guard [d/e]:
  
  
• Added MAC (Media Access Control) address notification. MAC address notification allows an administrator to receive notification of servers added to or removed from the network.
• The new CLI command to enable or disable this function is:
  
  /cfg/l2/macnotif Enable/disable MAC address notification.
  
  
• Added to the BBI, the ability to enable or disable user-id and password.
• Included the CLI command to enable this feature which is disabled by default.
  
  /cfg/sys/access userbbi - Enable/disable user configuration from BBI
  
  
• Added to the BBI (Browser Based Interface) the ability to enable or disable telnet or ssh (Secure Shell) server via external ports or the Management Module.
• Included the CLI command to enable this feature which is disabled by default.
  
  /cfg/sys/access tsbbi - Enable/disable telnet/ssh configuration from BBI
  
  
• For the BCHT (BladeCenter H Telcom) chassis with the ISL (Inter-Switch Link) option the switch will detect the configuration an support the ISL's using
  internal switch ports 13 and 14. This link functions as a trunk between switch modules installed in I/O bays 1 & 2 or modules in bays 3 & 4.

Fixes:

• The CLI/BBI will correctly show the maximum trunks in Telco chassis as 8. Max Possible Trunks = (# of Internal ports / 2) + # of External ports (number 7719)
• Added a Information command to display the chassis information and POST (Power ON Self Test) results.
• The new CLI commands for displaying this information is:
  
  >> Main# /info/sys/chassis
  
  
• IBM BladeCenter Chassis Related Information:
  
  Switch Module Bay = 2
  Chassis Type = Enterprise
  POST Results = 0xff
  (number 7707)
  
  
• Improved response so that traffic is forwarded with one minute from the LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) trunk link becoming active. (number 6771)
• Enable user to include the MGT port in the ACL (Access Control Lists) filter. (number 6111)
• Improved the updating of the internal port link states when connecting to a JS21 blade. Link states were subject to going down. (number 8579)
• Correct a condition on initialization of MSTP (Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol) with a 32STG/32VLANs configuration that had resulted in 100% CPU utilization. (number 7590)
• Provided a fix for validating CIST (Common and Internal Spanning Tree) bridge priority. Check that the value conforms to the 4096 rule when configuring MST cist priority. (number 8701)
• Enable user to set MSTP path cost of auto(0) when configuring the cost for MSTP CIST using ISCLI. (number 8722)
• Add a check for invalid IP and Mask. This occurs at apply time if BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is enabled. (number 8992)
• Added capability to add or remove a range of vlans in a spanning tree group (number 8743)
• Added option to exit scrolling of a cfg/dump display. (number 7732)

Version 1.0.2.1 (Released March 2007)

Changes:

• NNCLI is now called iSCLI.
• Nortel Networks Command Line Interface (CLI) is now called industry Standard CLI.

Enhancements:

• Added support for the new daylight savings time rules for NTP (Network Time Protocol). Starting with 2007, daylight savings time will begin at 2AM on the second Sunday in March and end at 2AM on the first Sunday in November. The new change can be configured through AOS (Alteon Operating System) CLI only.
• Switch incorrectly identified IBM BladeCenter Telco as IBM BladeCenter. A new field "hdchassis type" was added to correctly identify the IBM BladeCenter Telco Chassis

Fixes:

• Nortel L2/3 10G uplink switch intermittently showed link status as "down" when a JS21 blade was installed in the chassis. This was resolved by adding a new subroutine to configure default values for Nortel L2/3 10G uplink switch internal links. (number 8579)
• Switch was not able to recognize approved IBM 10 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable (XFPS). In the previous release the switch displayed an incorrect message,"UNAPPROVED XFP" even when IBM approved XFPs were installed. This has been resolved by reading the XFP EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) correctly. (number 8106)

Version 1.0.1.1 (Released June 2006)

• Initial release

IMPORTANT NOTICE regarding license agreement terms: This hardware product was manufactured for IBM by Blade Network Technologies, Inc. and contains software and/or firmware provided to you by Blade Network Technologies, Inc. under license agreements provided in the attached .pdf file. By using the enclosed hardware and/or software products, you are agreeing to the terms of these licensing agreements, and agree that the terms of such agreement are extended to you solely by Blade Network Technologies, Inc.

• http://www.bladenetwork.net/media/HTMLs/license.html

• http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt

• http://www.bladenetwork.net/media/GZs/lnx_src.tar.gz

Click the following links to download the latest publications for the Nortel 10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter:

• Release Notes 1.2
• Installation Guide
• Alteon OS Application Guide
• Alteon OS Command Reference
• Alteon OS BBI Quick Guide
• Alteon OS ISCLI Reference
• Comparison of Layer 2/Layer 3 Functionality (White Paper)
• IBM BladeCenter XFP Module Option
• IBM BladeCenter CX4 Cable Guide