Aruba OS-CX Code Upgrade
Its time to perform some upgrades across the Aruba switching estate. These switches run the Aruba OS-CX code rather than the older Aruba OS code base.
First, lets just confirm the platform.
Aruba# sh system
Hostname : Aruba
System Description : FL.10.05.0021
System Contact :
System Location :
Vendor : Aruba
Product Name : JL665A 6300F 48G CL4 PoE 4SFP56 Sw
Chassis Serial Nbr : SGH812305W
Base MAC Address : 883a30-98cf00
ArubaOS-CX Version : FL.10.05.0021
Time Zone : UTC
Up Time : 43 weeks, 2 days, 1 hour, 2 minutes
CPU Util (%) : 5
Memory Usage (%) : 19
Aruba# And the current code version along with which image is being used.
Aruba# sh ver
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX
(c) Copyright 2017-2020 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.05.0021
Build Date : 2020-10-29 10:36:02 PDT
Build ID : ArubaOS-CX:FL.10.05.0021:ef0fef7f4b9d:202010291659
Build SHA : ef0fef7f4b9d2732c70bed9fa25589c665319634
Active Image : primary
Service OS Version : FL.01.07.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba# We can see that we are currently running FL.10.05.0021 as the primary image.
Looking on the Aruba portal under 6300 conservative release we currently have a number options, I'm planning on upgrading to 10.08 train, even though 10.09 is listed under conservative releases, I prefer to stay one point behind the latest. Obviously, others may feel differently about the choice.
Having downloaded the latest Aruba OS-CX 10.08 (currently 10.08.1040) along with the release notes, it is apparent that to upgrade to 10.08 the switch needs to be running at least 10.06. Therefore a multiple step upgrade is required. So back to the portal to download an interim code and release notes. Aruba OS-CX 10.07 according to the release notes can be upgraded to directly from 10.05 so that will be used as the stepping stone code base.
We can use the show images command to check which code is in which partition.
Aruba# show images
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Primary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.05.0021
Size : 642 MB
Date : 2020-10-29 10:36:02 PDT
SHA-256 : 4c795e8c9eec5952645ded19cf9a2018deb545c7ed0221f32a1a5bd0d64ee5f6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Secondary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : ML.10.04.3022
Size : 388 MB
Date : 2020-09-17 11:08:26 PDT
SHA-256 : 948725bdbd239a4422a62df9920dd8cc9b2d6aef2bbe9579da08f499dd9fe000
Default Image : primary
------------------------------------------------------
Management Module 1/1 (Active)
------------------------------------------------------
Active Image : primary
Service OS Version : FL.01.07.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba# Finally, confirming that we have the code in an accessible location to copy it across to the switch.
user@ccc:~/code $ ls -s -c1
total 2952248
627816 ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_05_0021.swi
793336 ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_08_1040.swi
737828 ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi
user@ccc:~/code $ So we will copy the ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi file across as the secondary image. Interestingly, even though the full path to the file is "/user/home/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi" it will fail unless you omit the initial "/user/home". This is behaviour I've not experienced before, but a minor gotcha to overcome.
Aruba# copy sftp://user@192.168.7.77/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi secondary
The secondary image will be deleted.
Continue (y/n)? y
user@192.168.7.77's password:
Permission denied, please try again.
user@192.168.7.77's password:
Connected to 192.168.7.77.
Changing to: /home/user/.
sftp> get code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi image.dnld.BEMwVm
Fetching /home/user/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi to image.dnld.BEMwVm
/home/user/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_07_0061.swi 100% 721MB 5.7MB/s 02:06
Verifying and writing system firmware...
Aruba# Once the code has downloaded, we can check it looks ok, save the config and boot into the new code.
Aruba# show images
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Primary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.05.0021
Size : 642 MB
Date : 2020-10-29 10:36:02 PDT
SHA-256 : 4c795e8c9eec5952645ded19cf9a2018deb545c7ed0221f32a1a5bd0d64ee5f6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Secondary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.07.0061
Size : 755 MB
Date : 2022-02-01 19:57:24 UTC
SHA-256 : 45c8f576527a433490c185e8964960c7fa1d3c6df7ec8abf6a31cc035da54921
Default Image : primary
------------------------------------------------------
Management Module 1/1 (Active)
------------------------------------------------------
Active Image : primary
Service OS Version : FL.01.07.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba# wr mem
Copying configuration: [Success]
Aruba# boot system secondary
Default boot image set to secondary.
Checking if the configuration needs to be saved...
Checking for updates needed to programmable devices...
Done checking for updates.
6 device(s) need to be updated during the boot process.
The estimated update time is 6 minute(s).
There may be multiple reboots during the update process.
This will reboot the entire switch and render it unavailable
until the process is complete.
Continue (y/n)? y
The system is going down for reboot.
Feb 6 19:56:49 hpe-mgmtmd[29727]: RebootLibPh1: Reboot reason: Reboot requested by user
Following which the switch reboots, and approximately 6 mins later starts responding to ping again. Once logged back in we can see we are running the new code, and confirm we are running on the secondary as the active image.
Aruba# sh ver
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX
(c) Copyright 2017-2022 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.07.0061
Build Date : 2022-02-01 19:57:24 UTC
Build ID : ArubaOS-CX:FL.10.07.0061:c56c4526334e:202202011840
Build SHA : c56c4526334e9d099c515bb59ef1da47d0e6106a
Active Image : secondary
Service OS Version : FL.01.09.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba# So first step completed, onto step number 2. Repeating the progress with the new 10.08 code to the now unused primary image.
Aruba# show images
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Primary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.05.0021
Size : 642 MB
Date : 2020-10-29 10:36:02 PDT
SHA-256 : 4c795e8c9eec5952645ded19cf9a2018deb545c7ed0221f32a1a5bd0d64ee5f6
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX Secondary Image
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.07.0061
Size : 755 MB
Date : 2022-02-01 19:57:24 UTC
SHA-256 : 45c8f576527a433490c185e8964960c7fa1d3c6df7ec8abf6a31cc035da54921
Default Image : secondary
Boot Profile Timeout : 5 seconds
------------------------------------------------------
Management Module 1/1 (Active)
------------------------------------------------------
Active Image : secondary
Service OS Version : FL.01.09.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba#
Aruba# copy sftp://user@192.168.7.77/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_08_1040.swi primary
The primary image will be deleted.
Continue (y/n)? y
The authenticity of host '192.168.7.77 (192.168.7.77)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:bKxgsb4Q/sJCQmjo/nsvW98eWMdfk9O81C5BTw3lqV0.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
Warning: Permanently added '192.168.7.77' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
user@192.168.7.77's password:
Connected to 192.168.7.77.
Changing to: /home/user/.
sftp> get code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_08_1040.swi image.dnld.Hy7OlU
Fetching /home/user/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_08_1040.swi to image.dnld.Hy7OlU
/home/user/code/ArubaOS-CX_6400-6300_10_08_1040.swi 100% 775MB 5.7MB/s 02:15
Verifying and writing system firmware...
Aruba#
Finally, rebooting the switch back into the Primary Image.
Aruba# boot system primary
Default boot image set to primary.
Checking if the configuration needs to be saved...
Checking for updates needed to programmable devices...
Done checking for updates.
This will reboot the entire switch and render it unavailable
until the process is complete.
Continue (y/n)? y
The system is going down for reboot.
Feb 7 12:17:10 hpe-mgmtmd[21727]: RebootLibPh1: Reboot reason: Reboot requested by userFollowing which, approximately 3 mins later the switch is back up and running. Final checks show the new code running.
Aruba# sh ver
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ArubaOS-CX
(c) Copyright 2017-2022 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version : FL.10.08.1040
Build Date : 2022-01-31 22:04:15 UTC
Build ID : ArubaOS-CX:FL.10.08.1040:eed133157a69:202201312131
Build SHA : eed133157a69b72ee272515b2d9d9607f6cb0df0
Active Image : primary
Service OS Version : FL.01.09.0002
BIOS Version : FL.01.0002
Aruba# That's All Folks. :)