I think some of these issues have been raised before, but I thought I would raise them again :)
We just upgraded our filer from 4.2a to 4.3.3 this morning. When we got the 4.3.3 files from NOW, we read the firmware docs. They state that you must have firmware 1.6 and above to run 4.2a and above. So, we thought "no problem; we are running 4.2a so we must have 1.6 on the box".
Wrong.
We had version 1.4a of the firmware on our f540.
So, I had to get someone at the NOC to do all the floppy shuffling (our site is 2500 miles away). No problem. I just get scared whenever I do a firmware upgrade. Some scars never heal :)
Ok, the firmware upgrade goes well. We then proceed to do the DataONTAP upgrade. No problem. There should be a note in the docs that warn of the time delay when doing a "download". I had not done one in a while and had forgotten all about it. might be nice to let folks know that this may take a few minutes.
Ok, so I now have a f540 filer with firmware 1.6 and ONTAP 4.3.3. Whoohoo.
Now, my concerns:
- there should be a better way of looking at the firmware rev, other than having to halt the filer.
- the system boot should be logged (all of it, including the firmware banner, like a Sun)
- a CHANGELOG for firmware revs would be nice
I think these changes would be nice.
We have been having some odd issues with our FDDI (at around midnight the filer stops doing NFS on the FDDI interface; we down and up the interface and all is good). I wonder if this would have anything to do with an incorrect firmware rev... we have swapped the card and pci slot it is in. I am hoping that the new firmware/os will perhaps clear the problem.
Alexei
+--- In a previous state of mind, Alexei Rodriguez alexei@cimedia.com wrote: | | - there should be a better way of looking at the firmware | rev, other than having to halt the filer.
Ok, at first I thought I had stuck my foot in my mouth, but then realized that I had not...
Behold:
------ GENERATED_ON=Thu Apr 2 06:11:49 EST 1998 VERSION=NetApp Release 4.2a: Fri Sep 5 09:55:47 PDT 1997 SYSTEM_ID=0016781471 HOSTNAME=maytag
===== SYSCONFIG-V ===== NetApp Release 4.2a: Fri Sep 5 09:55:47 PDT 1997 System ID: 0016781471 slot 0: System Board (NetApp System Board III rev-b) Memory Size: 256 MB ------
And then:
------ GENERATED_ON=Thu Apr 2 06:32:19 EST 1998 VERSION=NetApp Release 4.2a: Fri Sep 5 09:55:47 PDT 1997 SYSTEM_ID=0016781471 HOSTNAME=maytag
===== SYSCONFIG-V ===== NetApp Release 4.2a: Fri Sep 5 09:55:47 PDT 1997 System ID: 0016781471 slot 0: System Board (NetApp System Board III rev-b) Firmware release: 1.6_a Memory Size: 256 MB ------
So, the new firmware does report the version (one can do the autosupport.doit option to get this report on the fly). A command-line way of doing so would be cool also (perhaps an extension to the version command?).
Alexei
On Thu, Apr 02, 1998 at 10:56:41AM -0500, Alexei Rodriguez wrote:
I'd like to see this firmware thing handled differently too. Borrowing from how 3Com's routers work,
Bootup, check firmware version if mismatch { update firmware and reboot; }
This was done to make upgrades easier without having to depend on the end user reading documentation (*smirk*). I've been hit by the firmware issues a few times myself.
- mz
-- matthew zeier -- mrz@3com.com -- 3Com EWD Engineering -- 408/764-8420 ...................................................................... "Y el mundo se mueve, mas rapido y mejor." - Fey
Alexei Rodriguez wrote:
So long as the filer is using firmware 1.6x or better, it will showup in the sysconfig -v on a system running 4.2x(I believe) or better.
-- Timothy A. McCarthy --> System Engineer, Eastern Region. Network Appliance http://www.netapp.com 301-230-5840 Office \ / Page Me at: 301-230-5852 Fax / 800-654-9619
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Alexei Rodriguez -
matthew zeier -
Timothy A. McCarthy