Considerations For Ficon Cup Environments; Preparing For A Firmware Download; How To Prepare For A Firmware Download - HP A7533A - Brocade 4Gb SAN Switch Base Administrator's Manual

Considerations for FICON CUP environments

To prevent channel errors during nondisruptive firmware installation, the switch CUP port must be taken
offline from all host systems.

Preparing for a firmware download

Before executing a firmware download, it is recommended that you perform the tasks mentioned in this
section. In the unlikely event of a failure or time-out, the preparation tasks that are described in this section
will enable you to provide HP Technical Support all the information required to perform advanced
troubleshooting.
It is recommended that you perform a configUpload to back up the current configuration before you
download firmware to a switch. See

How to prepare for a firmware download

1. Read the latest Fabric OS Release Notes to find out if there are any issues related to firmware
download.
2. Connect to the switch and log in as admin. Enter the firmwareShow command to verify the current
version of Fabric OS. HP does not support upgrades from more than two previous releases.
For example, upgrading from Fabric OS 5.1.0 to 5.3.0 is supported, but upgrading from Fabric OS
5.0.x or a previous release directly to 5.3.0 is not.
In other words, upgrading a switch from Fabric OS 5.0.x or a previous release to 5.3.0 is a two-step
process: first upgrade to version 5.1.x or version 5.2.0, and then upgrade to 5.3.0.
NOTE: TIPv6 and DNS are supported by firmwareDownload in Fabric OS 5.3.0. If DNS is
enabled and a server name instead of a server IP address is specified in the command line,
firmwareDownload determines whether IPv4 or IPv6 should be used.
To be able to mention the FTP server by name, you must enter a couple of DNS servers using the
dnsconfig command.
CAUTION: Newer Fabric OS versions (4.4.x and above) can support large zone databases. However,
exercise caution when downgrading to version 4.2.x and earlier versions that do not support the large
zone databases. If the zone database is too large, then you may be required to disable all ports in earlier
versions of the versions of firmware to avoid data corruption; this also requires a manual reactivation of all
ports.
Fabric OS 4.4.x through 5.1.x support zone databases up to 256k in size and then up to 1 MB in 5.2.x. If
you upgrade to Fabric OS 5.2.x from 4.4.x or later and then want to downgrade, you must reduce the size
of the zone database to 256 KB or less.
3. Perform a configupload prior to the firmwaredownload. Save the config file on your FTP or SSH server.
4. (Optional) For additional support, connect the switch with a serial console cable to a computer. Ensure
that all serial consoles (both CPs for bladed products) and all telnet sessions are logged and included
with any trouble reports.
5. Establish a telnet session and log in to the switch as admin. Issue the supportSave command to
retrieve all current core files prior to executing the firmware download. This helps to troubleshoot the
firmwaredownload process if a problem is encountered.
If you are upgrading a Director, log in to both the active and standby CPs and enter the supportSave
command on each CP.
"Backing up a configuration" on page 109for details.
Fabric OS 5.3.0 administrator guide 175