Odin 5940 FroDo Comware Upgrade (reattempt)

We would like to announce a staged upgrade of the version of Comware running on our HPE 5940 FroDos for those that were not completed last time around. This blog entry aims to answer the majority of questions that this work will raise. Please, feel free to contact the Networks team with any further questions at networks@it.ox.ac.uk

What Happened Last time & Remediation Steps Moving Forward

Essentially we encountered an unexpected issue the last time around with unit L2 annexe connectivity not being re-established following the application of a hot patch which is part of the upgrade. This is strange as the MAC learning continues to work which initially gave us the impression last time around that all was well. This issue is logged as a support case with our vendor HPE and unfortunately to date, they’ve been unable to replicate the issue we had. We’ll therefore be seeking their availability on a remote session for at least one option 1 and option 2 upgrade to ensure that if the issue recurs we can get their eyeballs on to it.

In the meantime, we have a workaround which is to ‘turn it off and turn it on again’. Seriously, should the issue recur the workaround is to shut down the L2VPN Virtual Switching Instance (VSI) serving the annexe connection on the affected FroDo and then re-enable it which we’ll do in instances should it proves necessary to re-establish connectivity post-upgrade.

Why?

I shan’t be repeating what Rob Perkins said in his original post. If you’d like to know why this upgrade is needed, please read his original post here.

Impact

The expected impact is ~5-10 minutes for Option 1 customers during which time the FroDo will reload and external services will not be available. For Option 2 customers the impact is expected to be minimal thanks to the In Service Software Upgrade (ISSU) capability.

Because we wish to get this completed before the start of Michaelmas term, we will be carrying out the upgrades as per the  accelerated schedule below. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused by these upgrades.

Timescale

Thursday 20th September
frodo-120601 beach-2 - 7.30am
frodo-120809 dcdist-usdc (option 2) - 8.00am

Tuesday 25th September
frodo-120810 molecular-medicine - 7.00am
frodo-050909 dcdist-beg (formerly begbroke-iat-1 - option 2) - 7.30am

Wednesday 26th September
frodo-120812 john-radcliffe-3 - 7.00am
frodo-100908 richard-doll (option 2) - 7.30am
frodo-120811 big-data-institute (option 2) - 8.00am