Foundry Switch Firmware Upgrade Order

[mikehammett]

I have some Foundry FESX424F-PREM switches. They are running version 3.1. I also have IronWare 7.2. Can I jump from 3.1 to 7.2 or are there intermediary steps I need to go through to ensure a smooth transition?

[BenBeck]

Fesx4xx can indeed go up to the 7202 code stream. Those switches have been unsupported for a few years. I'm pretty confident you need a middle jump there, but I don't have any to test on. Can you post a 'show version' and a 'show flash'? I'd like to see the boot code formats. That may give us a clue. 

[mikehammett]

I realize they're no longer supported, but they're still humming along. I just took over this network that has been sadly left to entropy. Things that don't work are taking higher priority than things that do.  🙂


SSH@[redacted]#show version
  SW: Version 03.1.00bT3e3 Copyright (c) 1996-2006 Foundry Networks, Inc.
      Compiled on Nov 29 2006 at 17:10:32 labeled as SXR03100b
      (3613091 bytes) from Primary SXR03100b.bin
      BootROM: Version 03.0.01T3e5 (FEv2)
  HW: Stackable FESX424F-PREM
==========================================================================
      Serial  #: [redacted]
      P-ASIC  0: type 00D1, rev D2
      P-ASIC  1: type 00D1, rev D2
==========================================================================
  333 MHz Power PC processor 8245 (version 129/1014) 66 MHz bus
  512 KB boot flash memory
16384 KB code flash memory
  128 MB DRAM
The system uptime is 48 days 17 hours 47 minutes 45 seconds
The system : started=warm start   reloaded=by "reload"
Crash time: 07:09:22 Central Sun Oct 04 1903


SSH@[redacted]#show flash
Compressed Pri Code size = 3613091, Version 03.1.00bT3e3 (SXR03100b.bin)
Compressed Sec Code size = 3584182, Version 03.0.01cT3e3 (SXR03001c.bin)
Compressed BootROM Code size = 524288, Version 03.0.01T3e5
Code Flash Free Space = 786432

[BenBeck]

Well you definitely got some life out of them! Hmmm. Very hard to say. I wouldn't want to give you any official advice here without being 100% confident. I did work on these switches, but it has been years. Do you have any spares around that you could test on? 

[mikehammett]

I do have a spare that I intended to test it on first.

What sort of probable outcomes should I be expecting?

If the worst thing that happens is that I lose the current config, I can confidently plow onward with the test. If the worst thing that happens is that I brick the device, I may wait a few more days.  🙂