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Network Fabric upgrade guide

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This how to guide provides a streamlined upgrade process for your network fabric. It is designed to assist users in enhancing their network infrastructure through Azure APIs, which facilitate the lifecycle management of various network devices. Regular updates are crucial for maintaining system integrity and accessing the latest product improvements.

Overview

Runtime bundle components: These components require operator consent for upgrades that may affect traffic behavior or necessitate device reboots. The network fabric's design allows for updates to be applied while maintaining continuous data traffic flow.

Runtime changes are categorized as follows:

  • Operating system updates: Necessary to support new features or resolve issues.

  • Base configuration updates: Initial settings applied during device bootstrapping.

  • Configuration structure updates: Generated based on user input for configurations like isolation domains and ACLs. These updates accommodate new features without altering user input.

Prerequisites

Confirm that the Network Fabric Controller is in a 'Provisioned' state.

Upgrade workflow

Step 1: Verify Fabric runtime version

Verify current fabric runtime version before upgrade: How to check current cluster runtime version.

Step 2: Initiate upgrade

Start the upgrade with the following command:

Azure 
az networkfabric fabric upgrade -g [resource-group] --resource-name [fabric-name] --action start --version "2.0.0"
Example Command
sh 
az networkfabric fabric upgrade -g myResourceGroup --resource-name myFabricName --action start --version "2.0.0"
Parameter Description Example
-g or --resource-group The name of the resource group myResourceGroup
--resource-name The name of the fabric to upgrade myFabricName
--action Specifies the upgrade action to perform start
--version Specifies the version to upgrade to "2.0.0"

Replace myResourceGroup and myFabricName with the actual names of your resource group and fabric, respectively.

Note

This command places the NetworkFabric in 'Under Maintenance'.

Step 3: Device-specific upgrades

Follow the recommended sequence for device upgrades, addressing any failures manually if necessary.

Device upgrade sequence:

  1. Upgrade Top-of-Rack (TOR) switches concurrently.

  2. Update management switches in parallel.

  3. Upgrade Network Packet Broker (NPB) devices sequentially.

  4. Update Compute Elements (CEs) individually.

  5. Lastly, upgrade aggregate rack switches.

Pre-validation checks:

  • Ensure the network fabric is in a 'Succeeded' state.

  • Verify all devices are configured and synchronized.

  • Ensure that there is at least 3GB of available disk space within the directory /mnt to proceed with NNF device upgrade .

Upgrade individual devices with the following command:

Azure 
az networkfabric device upgrade --version 2.0.0 -g [resource-group] --resource-name [device-name] --debug
Example Command
Azure 
az networkfabric device upgrade --version 2.0.0 -g myResourceGroup --resource-name myDeviceName --debug
Parameter Description Example
--version Specifies the version to upgrade to 2.0.0
-g or --resource-group The name of the resource group myResourceGroup
--resource-name The name of the device to upgrade myDeviceName
--debug Enables debug mode for detailed output --debug

Replace myResourceGroup and myDeviceName with the actual names of your resource group and device, respectively.

Step 4: Finalize upgrade

After updating all devices, run the completion command to exit maintenance mode:

Azure 
az networkfabric fabric upgrade --action Complete -g [resource-group] --resource-name [fabric-name]
Example Command
sh 
az networkfabric fabric upgrade --action Complete -g myResourceGroup --resource-name myFabricName
Parameter Description Example
--action Specifies the upgrade action to perform Complete
-g or --resource-group The name of the resource group myResourceGroup
--resource-name The name of the fabric to upgrade myFabricName

Replace myResourceGroup and myFabricName with the actual names of your resource group and fabric, respectively.

Post-validation

Check the version status of all devices and the fabric with AZCLI commands.

Known issues

  1. Create the EOS image directory manually at /mnt/nvram/nexus/eosimages if it is missing. This is especially important for environments built from older NF versions.
  2. NNF device upgrades fail when the available disk space within the directory /mnt is less than 3GB. Perform a manual clean up to free up disk space within the NNF device and then retry the upgrade operation.