ICX Stack upgrade problem

[tom_ashworth_f8]

Working on what should be a very straight forward task but becoming a nightmare.  We have some ICX-7450 stacks (a 2x and 5x member stack).  The task is to upgrade from 08.0.30t to 08.0.90a.   Thought was to tftp the 08.0.90a code to the secondary along with tftp'ing over the new 10.1.15T boot loader.  

The TFTP's complete successfully and a sh flash shows what one would think is a working configuration.  Reboot the stack with the 'boot system flash secondary yes' command.  Both units in the stack come up successfully.  Here is where the frustration starts.  Unit 2 reboots due to a stack election (not totally sure why the election occurs when the stack is already been working).  Upon this second reboot the boot load reverts back to 10.1.06T and then gives a invalid bootm command and won't load the 08.0.90a code.  

I have tried to update the uboot with the bootm functionality. Works once then reverts back again.  

So I end up rolling the secondary back to 08.0.30t to get the stack stable again.  I then try the same process but using the primary. Again upgrade seems to work but ultimately a unit in the stack reboot and reverts back to older bootloader and has bootm & kernel errors.  

I can upgrade stand-alones all day long no issues,  but stacks just aren't liking the 08.0.90a upgrade for some reason.  

Anyone else seen this or have some suggestion to get past this?  

Thank you!

[tom_ashworth_f8]

Thank you everyone for you replies.  Yes I understand this is a HUGE jump.  Problem is this is a hospital environment.  There was ZERO maintenance windows for very long time.  Finally getting the approval patch/upgrade devices.  

Yes,  I have read a number of release notes and upgrade guides,  watched Youtube videos (Ruckus Education and Terry Henry video),  and tested in our lab with spares.  

NetWizz,  yes I have validated images with show commands, etc.  

I will go back to lab with the suggestions of doing a multiple step upgrade from family to family. 

Thanks for the input. 

[netwizz]

I am in the same boat with regard to maintenance windows being State Government for a statewide agency, but thankfully, I doubt it would be hard for me to upgrade from 08.0.80e to 08.0.90c, which is my next upgrade project.

For your project, I would open a TAC case to get a second opinion as well as validate I have backups AND make a reconfiguration template ahead of time in case things go very bad.  Then I would get the same number of switches and build it in a lab on my work bench applying the same firmware/boot rom, same stacking cable connections, and configuration.  Then I would test the upgrade.

Most likely you cannot do a manifest upgrade nor a UFI upgrade, so you would just send over the boot rom and the firmware; I think..  Then when it completes upgrade again to get UFI support up to and including Smart Zone, but this is where I would get a TAC case going.  What I don't know is what happens if 08.0.90c sees dual-mode, which is deprecated and LAGs in their old format...  Does it recognize these and or pre-parse these? or does part of the configuration break?

There have been a ton of changes with these being the major ones I remember:

Access lists now have sequence numbers
Inline Power is on by default for PoE+
There are now lag virtual interfaces
dual-mode is now just an tagged interface under a VLAN which happens to be tagged in other vlan(s)
Oh, and there is a default username/password, which is a non-issue if you already have that configured.

[BenBeck]

Hey all, 

I believe this is an issue that will only occur on stacks. It has to do with us moving from one to two boot codes along with some system max changes that have been made from release to release. The standby unit falls into a boot code mismatch when making this large jump. Please use the following upgrade path as it has been deemed safe:

8030 > 8080e (copy boot/OS images separately via TFTP) > 8090 (use UFI image)

If you are making a large code jump, use 8080e legacy images (non-UFI) as the intermediate stop and you should be okay. You can then upgrade to 8090+ via UFI image.