Cisco MDS Switch Upgrade

In this blog, we will take a look at how to upgrade a MDS switch

​Step 1 – Show vSAN info

sw01# show vsan
vsan 25 information
name:VSAN0025 state:active
interoperability mode:default
loadbalancing:src-id/dst-id/oxid
operational state:up

​Step 2 – Show flogi database

sw01# show flogi database

fc1/1 10 0x9c0200 20:00:00:25:B5:08:A0:01 
fc1/2 10 0x9c0700 20:00:00:25:B5:08:A0:02

Step 3 – Backup Configuration:

sw01# copy running-config startup-config
sw01# copy startup-config scp://user@host1/switch1.config
copy startup-config scp://thomasa@192.168.0.11/home/thomasa

Step 4 – Upgrading MDS:

show version
show install all status
show module

Step 5 – Copy config files to switch and verify the hash:

copy scp://user@host/m9300-s2ek9-kickstart.9.x.x.bin bootflash:
copy scp://user@host/m9300-s2ek9-nxos.9.x.x.bin bootflash:
show file bootflash:m9300-s2ek9-nxos.9.x.x.bin verify

Step 6 – Upgrade the switch

install all kickstart bootflash:m9300-s2ek9-kickstart.9.x.x.bin system bootflash:m9300-s2ek9-nxos.9.x.x.bin

Useful show commands

show license usage
show run | include feature

Shows the Configuration of switch port
sh run fc1/2

Shows the FCID and vSAN id
sh fcdomain fcid persistent

Shows the Fabric interface brief
show interface br

Shows the Fabric kogin database for a specific wppn
show flogi database | inc '20:00:00:25:B5:08:A0:01' 

Displays the long output of all fcalias VSAN 25 configs
show fcalias vsan 25

Check active zoneset 
show zoneset active

Checks active zoneset for matches of a specific wwpn
show zoneset active | inc '20:00:00:25:B5:08:A0:01' 

Check zonesets for matches of the new servername config
show zoneset | inc 'sfo1_esx20'	

Check VSAN 25 for any entries of the specific fcalias
show fcalias name sfo1_esx20 VSAN 25	

Show logs 
show logg last 100

FLOGI database 
show flogi database

Step 7 – Revert if needed to previous config

install all kickstart bootflash:m9300-s2ek9-kickstart.oldversion.bin system bootflash:m9300-s2ek9-nxos.oldversion.bin

copy bootflash:pre-upgrade-config running-config