Using Memory Scanning To Screen I/O Modules - Extreme Networks BlackDiamond 6804 Troubleshooting Manual

Using Memory Scanning to Screen I/O Modules

Using Memory Scanning to Screen I/O Modules
NOTE
Memory scanning is available in ExtremeWare 6.2.2 and later releases.
To check modules supported by the memory scanning feature, you can screen existing or new modules
without having to upgrade or certify new ExtremeWare software on your networks. No particular
configuration or traffic load is needed to execute memory scanning on the supported modules. Simply
load ExtremeWare 6.2.2 onto a spare chassis with a default configuration and scan the modules as
needed.
If your environment does not support a spare chassis or it would be impractical to rotate through the
installed modules, then consider temporarily loading ExtremeWare 6.2.2 onto your existing systems
during an extended maintenance window to perform memory scanning on modules in the field.
To do this, schedule an extended maintenance window and prepare the system for a temporary
ExtremeWare upgrade. Do not convert or save the configuration on the switch. It is not possible to run
an ExtremeWare 6.2.2 (or later) configuration correctly on an older version of ExtremeWare.
In temporarily upgrading your systems, plan to roll back the systems to the original working code
image and configuration. This means you need the original ExtremeWare code version in hand and
accessible by TFTP server from the switch. In addition you also need the latest saved configuration
uploaded and also accessible to download back to the switch from a TFTP server.
No particular configuration is needed to support running memory scanning. You can use the existing
default configuration to scan the supported modules and then restore the system to the original
ExtremeWare version and configuration.
If you must support a large campus environment with several BlackDiamond or Alpine systems for this
screening operation, you can temporarily dedicate a single MSM to the latest version of ExtremeWare
for the exercise and manually move this around all the systems with a default configuration to scan the
modules. For stackable platforms, you must load the latest ExtremeWare on every switch to run this
test.
Be aware that any memory defect found and mapped out under this exercise does not remain mapped
out when those modules are returned to a previous version of ExtremeWare. ExtremeWare does not
have the capability to use the mapped out information located in the detected module's EEPROM. The
validity of this temporary screening exercise is limited to identifying modules with memory defects.
Advanced System Diagnostics and Troubleshooting Guide 101