Wireless Access

I’ve been testing upgrading a 3600 controller from 3.3.3.10 to 6.1.3.1. Although the interim image step is different than the documentation states for 6.1.3.1, I was told that this works better. I will first upgrade to 5.0.4.5, verify all works correctly, then upgrade to 6.1.3.1.

I have tested this once on a spare 3600, and it seemed to have gone well. There are no AP’s attached but I was comparing the configs after each upgrade step which seems better than nothing to me at this point.

I have a couple of questions here. Currently my 3600 looks like this after the upgrade:

(Aruba3600) #show image version

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Partition               : 0:0 (/dev/hda1) **Default boot**

Software Version        : ArubaOS 6.1.3.1 (Digitally Signed - Production Build)

Build number            : 32786

Label                   : 32786

Built on                : Tue Mar 13 00:28:42 PDT 2012

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Partition               : 0:1 (/dev/hda2)

Software Version        : ArubaOS 5.0.4.5 (Digitally Signed - Production Build)

Build number            : 32431

Label                   : 32431

Built on                : Sat Feb 18 17:56:01 PST 2012

What I wanted to do is to restore the flash backup I took before I started any of this when it was still on 3.3.3.10 so I could test one more time. I copied that flashbackup.tar.gz back to the flash and did a restore, then a reload. During the reload it says “Upgrading configuration from version 3.3 to 6.1.” and once it is done I am back to being fully upgraded. It is acting like it just did an upgrade straight from 3.3.3.10 to 6.1.3.1. If I do a show image version directly after I restore the flash it still looks like the above example.

What exactly does a “backup flash” back up?

I am thinking that in order for me to get back to step one I need to put 3.3.3.10 into partition 1, then restore the flash?

Also in another post related to an upgrade I noticed these commands “show ap image version” and “apflash all local backup-partition”. I don’t have any RAP’s only AP’s, but when I do a show ap image version I see that they are all on the same code level as the controller. As part of my upgrade will the AP’s also be upgraded? What extra steps should I add? Here are the steps I put together.

VIA CLI

1. Prepare backups
2. Enter backup flash command
3. Copy backup and default.cfg  to TFTP
4. Execute these commands from the CLI, capture to a text file for comparison after upgrade

                                      i.            Show AP database

                                    ii.            Show AP active

1. Install AOS
2. Use show image version to check which partition to load the new image to.
3. Use the copy command to load the new image onto the controller

                                      i.            copy tftp: 10.8.0.20 ArubaOS_MMC_5.0.4.5_32431 system: partition 1

                                     ii.            Execute the show image version command to verify the new image is loaded

                                         Reload the controller. Be sure to reboot BOTH controllers at the same time

1. Verify installation
2. Use show version to make sure on the version
3. Execute these commands to make sure the AP's all come up. Once they are up compare the output with the original with a tool like WinMerge

                                       i.            Execute the show ap database command to determine if your APs are up and ready to accept clients.

                                     ii.            Execute show ap active to view the up and running APs.

• Redo steps  1-3 for upgrade to 6.1.3.1

So all I needed to do to down grade was to load 3.3.3.10 into the non-boot partition and use the "boot config-file" command to use the correct config. Pretty simple.

I could still use help understanding if my upgrade procedure is good, if I need to do anything to the AP's.

Just to confirm, what are you trying to achieve by restoring the backup?

When you generally upgrade the major code versions, the controller tends to rewrite the config files. Mostly, due to features coming in and going out. So, if you restore a backup from a previous version, when you load it, the controller will convert again if it's running a newer code than the version the config was built on.

Does knowing this help? Maybe I'm missing the point???

I wanted to downgrade my test 3600 back to 3.3.3.10 only so I could redo the upgrade process before I do it on the production equipment. I was assuming that the backup flash command was like imaging a PC, but I think it only backs up the config, and does not touch the AOS partitions and all files in flash?

I achieved what I needed by just placing 3.3.3.10 on the non-boot partition and pointed the config the original one also, then reloaded.

Still not sure how AP's behave during an upgrade or if I need to do something to them.

Thanks.

You are doing the right thing.