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Posts tagged SOFTWARE RELEASE
Ethernet Routing Switch 8600 Software Release v5.1.3.0
Aug 12th
Avaya has released v5.1.3.0 software for the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600.
Please review the release notes for all the resolved issues, known issues and known limitations.
Switch management
- The command “show ports stats show-all” was previously not displaying all of the associated port statistics information. The ERS 8600 now will display the proper information. (Q02012952-01)
- The egress queue service rates configured in NNCLI mode were previously getting lost after a reboot. The egress queue service rates configured are now retained after a reboot. (Q02116358)
- In NNCLI mode “show qos egress-queue-set <queue-set-id>” command was showing no output. ERS 8600 now displays the proper output on executing this command. (Q02116618)
- Initiating a traceroute via JDM to an unknown destination while other ping or traceroute activities were being performed simultaneously from the same switch could potentially lead to system instability. This has been corrected. (Q02137566)
Platform
- In specific scenarios with filters and port mirroring being used simultaneously, the ERS8600 will no longer see an increase in CPU utilization due to packets being sent to the CP/SF incorrectly. (Q02141867)
- In some specific ACL configurations with a default-action specified, the ERS8600 previously blocked certain traffic patterns improperly. The issue has been addressed. (Q02068243)
- Previously links on an R-module could stay up for 60 seconds when the primary SF/CPU (of a dual non-HA SF/CPU configuration only) was not properly removed (module pulled out without prior master reset or switchover). The ERS 8600 now ensures that the links are brought down immediately when the primary SF/CPU is removed for this configuration. (Q02102654)
- The radius secret key will now be stored as encrypted in the shadov.txt file. Before upgrading to 5.1.3.0, it is now required of the user to delete the radius secret key and then re-add it after the up-grade is complete to avoid accessibility problem with RADIUS. This situation has already been addressed in 7.0.0.0 code release. (Q01881817-03)
- When multiple failovers are performed on an ERS 8600 in HA environments, some R module I/O modules could come back up off-line. This situation is now addressed in the 5.1.3.0 code release but also requires the use of the new updated DPC FPGA image (see File Names section). Associated with this 5.1.3.0 Release, the DPC firmware image must be upgraded for all R-module I/O modules to the dpc194.xsvf firmware image. If the firmware image is not upgraded, the user will receive a warning log message upon any re-boot of 5.1.3.0 code release, warning them that DPC FPGA firmware image is out of revision. (Q02053766-01)
- On E/M module cards, receiving 802.3x pause frames on gigabit Ethernet ports could previously result in port level resets. (Q02101087)
- For an ERS 8600 running with 8692 SF/CPU with SuperMezz, the SuperMezz physical LED will now display properly. (Q02102364)
- During boot-up, the potential for 8612XLRS 10Gig port flapping will no longer occur. (Q02138423)
- An error in loading configuration file previously resulted in all of the line cards being disabled. This behavior was added in 5.1 code. This behavior is now changed such that the rest of the correct config will be loaded and all the remaining line cards will not be disabled, but only the line card associated with the improper configuration will be disabled. This situation is different than an “invalid config file, with verify-config flag enabled”, in which case the system will not load the config and will bring up the system with all I/O modules disabled (versus loading the default config). This situation has already been addressed in 7.0.0.0 code release. (Q02056382-01)
- A power usage calculation error has been corrected for 8648TXE and 8691SF cards which previously lead to improper warnings being generated in some configurations indicating that the chassis was running on low power. (Q02072016)
- The value of the ingress records was showing improper values via the command show ip mroute-hw resource usage. This has been now been addressed and the proper values for these records are now displayed. (Q02120442)
- The software power tables embedded in the ERS 8600 were out of sync with the Power Supply Calculator posted via the web. This inconsistency has now been addressed. This issue has already been addressed in 7.0.0.0 code release. (Q02020261-01)
RSTP/MSTP
- An outage of 30sec has been observed in some RSTP setups when one of the root ports was disabled. This issue has now been addressed and the ERS 8600 re-converges within the proper time interval. (Q01984762-02)
- In RSTP mode, the log file transfer feature was not working properly. This issue has been addressed and the log file transfer feature is now working as expected when RSTP mode is enabled. (Q02101565-01)
IP Unicast
BGP
- In a specific aggregation scenario, when an ERS 8600 forms a neighbour relationship with Cisco, the BGP session will no longer go down due to a malformed AS path. (Q02085844-01)
- During some specific BGP transition scenarios, system instability was previously seen for the ERS 8600. This issue is now addressed. (Q02134841)
- BGP instabilities are no longer observed associated with a HA failover. (Q02135118)
- After an HA failover with a BGP route policy enabled, some BGP routes could be rejected and not re-advertised by the ERS 8600. This issue has been addressed. (Q02136224)
OSPF
- After an upgrade it is now ensured that the OSPF MD5 keys are no longer lost. (Q02127996)
VRRP
- Enabling and then disabling the IST protocol will no longer lead to improper values displayed in the VRRP records. (Q02106080-01)
IP Multicast
- ERS 8600 now ensures that when an IP Multicast sender and the receiver are connected to the same ERS 8600, that SPM (Source Path Messages – specific message type within PGM) packets are no longer dropped. This is independent of PGM being enabled or not, as PGM packet flows can function with PIM-SM enabled. (Q02119454)
MLT / SMLT
- ERS8600 will now deterministically (and properly) hash traffic flows for IPVPN Lite traffic on MLT links. (Q02142913)
- MLTs will now come up properly when the LACP Min Link feature is enabled. (Q02034692-02)
- In some rare network events, it is possible to learn the fdb-entry for an IP interface of an SMLT peer on the SMLT associated port instead of the IST MLT. In this scenario, the fdb-entry will now be properly updated afterward to correctly point to the IST MLT. (Q02142730)
- CPU high buffer utilization and associated IST instabilities will no longer be observed in specific high CPU and high traffic load conditions for the ERS 8600. (Q02109963)
- The 8632TXE module will now properly go offline in the scenario where both master and slave CPU’s are removed in systems running with smlt-on-single-cp enabled. (Q02123052)
VLACP
- If a mismatching VLACP configuration exists on two ends of a connection associated with a SLT, the SLT will no longer show as SMLT up improperly after a reboot. (Q02119095)
BFD
- On an ERS8600 running both BGP and BFD, when one tries to enable BGP first and then BFD on the BGP neighbour, the BFD related config can now be set properly. (Q02141063)
Cheers!
Ethernet Routing Switch 5000 Software Release v6.2.0
Jul 20th
Avaya has released software 6.2.0 for the Ethernet Routing Switch 5500/5600 series switches. In order to upgrade to 6.2 software the switch will already need to be running 6.x software along with firmware (diagnostic software) 6.0.0.6. Switches that are running older software will need to first be upgraded to 6.0 and then to 6.2 software.
Please review the release notes for all the details.
Here are some of the new features;
- Enterprise Device Manager
- 802.1AB (LLDP) MED Network Policy
- 802.1X authentication and Wake on LAN
- 802.1X or Non-EAP and Guest VLAN on same port
- 802.1X or Non-EAP Last Assigned RADIUS VLAN
- 802.1X or Non-EAP with Fail Open VLAN
- 802.1X or Non-EAP with VLAN name
- Autodetection and Autoconfiguration (ADAC) Uplink Enhancements
- Automatic QoS 802
- Automatic QoS and ADAC Interoperability
- Cisco CLI commands
- Content-based forward to next hop (formerly source address-based route selection)
- DHCP enhancements
- DHCP option 82 support
- Dual Syslog Server support
- EAP/NEAP separation
- Energy Saver
- Enhanced QoS engine
- Filter Limiting
- Full IGMPv3
- IPv4 Tunneling for IPv6
- IPv6 Automatic Address Assignment
- IPv6 Routing DHCP Relay
- IPv6 Static Routing
- MAC Security enhancement
- Multicast group scaling
- Multiple Hosts with Multiple VLANs for EAP-enabled Ports
- PIM-SM support
- Port Mirroring – Bi-directional monitor port
- QoS DSCP mutation
- QoS Egress Queue Shaping
- QoS Lossless Buffering Mode for Data Center Applications
- Route scaling
- Running configuration NNCLI display command enhancements
- Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol (SFTP over SSH)
- SFP support
- Split Multi-link Trunk (SMLT) consistency with the Ethernet Routing Switch 8600
- Split Multi-link Trunk (SMLT) over Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)
- Trace command
- Unicast storm control
- VLAN Scaling
Here are some of the issues that have been resolved in this release;
- Q01219391 MAC Address table does not age out all MAC sources learned after the aging time has expired.
- Q01470123 Passive static device behind a phone displayed as unknown after switch reboot.
- Q01470123-01 Passive static device behind a phone displayed as unknown after switch reboot.
- Q01728560 ADAC port configuration types not defined in manual.
- Q01775378 Error message when disabling spanning tree learning.
- Q01859874 Typed commands should not be sent remotely when log level is serious or critical.
- Q01860782 A message is needed to confirm the successful upload of an ASCII configuration to USB with the PUSH button.
- Q01862906 The Time Domain Reflectometer in the JDM displays an incorrect message for the Pin Short cable error.
- Q01863512 MAC security Lifetime setting cannot be modified from the JDM.
- Q01865091 MAC authorized clients are not reauthorized after a former base unit reenters the stack.
- Q01895467 Some LLDP commands fail when configuring a device with an ASCII configuration file.
- Q01895723 Metric for external routes jumps to 127174722 when a dummy vlink is created and deleted.
- Q01906362 An NEAP client can change ports without a link down or age out timer event.
- Q01909890 QoS-IGMP problems with known and unknown multicast options on 56xx ports.
- Q01901336 Multicast traffic not forwarded through non-local static routes.
- Q01923408-02 Management VLAN IP address should always be used in relation to RADIUS.
- Q01927698 PIM interfaces become disabled on a device.
- Q01938607 Incorrect error message displayed during software download from an unreachable server.
- Q01942783 Restoring a device with an ASCII configuration file fails when Layer 3 settings are present.
- Q01943527 Inconsistency between IPv4 and IPv6 in binary configuration file.
- Q01945909 Some ARP, OSPF, or VRRP packets are unexpectedly mirrored when using XrxYtx mirroring mode and the monitored port is in the Management VLAN or in SMLT VLANs.
- Q01946214 MAC addresses are lost when a base unit fails.
- Q01946284 LLDP-Med does not work in certain circumstances
- Q01947050 ADAC system message logged after a stack is reset.
- Q01948343 On a pure 56xx stack, port mirroring mode XrxYtx multiplies unicast traffic on port Y in certain scenarios.
- Q01950071 VLACP enabling does not work in some circumstances.
- Q01950147 The EAP-TLS or PEAP-MsChapV2 clients could be unexpectedly transitioned to the EAP Held state on a multihost enabled port.
- Q01950311 Voice traffic is blocked on a non-base unit when ARP inspection is enabled on a VoIP VLAN.
- Q01951600 Error performing MIB walk on 5632.
- Q01954041 LLDP Med-Network-Policies Voice Tagging command issue.
- Q01955272 PIM OIF may not get installed on IR.
- Q01956922 Continuous IPv6 ping out stops working after 2147 ICMPv6 messages.
- Q01978465 Telnet session hangs on ERS 5510-48T during an ASCII configuration download.
- Q02005019 ACG will fail when ports are added to VLANs if an STG was created, VLANs were added, the STG enabled and then ports added to VLANs (configuration control flexible and 1 port in 2 different VLANs).
- Q02020938 After booting to default settings the syslog will display the message ASCII failed at line 1. This can be ignored. This only happens after a boot to default settings and not during a normal operation or reset of the switch. This does not affect subsequent ASCII downloads. The successful application of configurations can be confirmed using the show logging command. The bogus message will be the first in chronological order.
I would highly recommend you review the release notes for all the details. There are a lot of known issues that should be thoroughly reviewed before you made any decisions about upgrading.
There was one section that caught my eye on page 11 of the release notes;
Currently when ADAC is operational, a user can not change the non-ADAC VLANs on the port (without disabling ADAC, changing the VLAN and then re-enabling ADAC), which leads to usability issues that limit the deployment of ADAC.
The ADAC enhancements provide the ability to change the non-ADAC VLANs on a port irrespective of the ADAC status of the port. Any such changes in the underlying port VLAN assignment are saved as normal to NVRAM and ASCIII configurations.
I posted about this issue with ADAC way back in August of 2008. This one issue has been a real bear and the only real issue we’ve experienced with our ADAC deployments. While it might be the only issue, it can create some enormous problems if the engineers are following the procedure to disable ADAC, make the VLAN change and then enable ADAC again. I’ll be very interested to see if this problem is finally resolved.
I spent a few minutes playing with Enterprise Device Manager but I think this change will drive more folks to the CLI interface where Avaya/Nortel has alot of work to-do. I’m also excited to see that Avaya/Nortel is finally bringing together their Automatic QoS and ADAC features, I’m curious to see what changes they’ve made an how I might be able to tweak my switch configurations to better automate the deployment of IP telephony.
Cheers!
Ethernet Switch 460 and 470 Software Release v3.7.5
Jul 11th
Avaya has released software 3.7.5 for the Ethernet Switch 460 and 470 switch models.
While there were no new features added but there were a number of bug fixes;
- The status of the stack ports are now correctly displayed when interrogating the MIB for the stack (Q02082410)
- If MAC addresses are quickly aged out of the forwarding database when the device is authenticated via Non-EAP memory is no longer memory incorrectly consumed (Q02090742)
- Previously the ifOperStatus reported the status of the IP Management interface based on the port status. Now the switch reports status based on the virtual status of the IP Management VLAN, meaning that if any port in the management VLAN is up, then the status of the management VLAN is reported as up. (Q02114651)
- The log events created on non-base units in a stack now correctly display the time when SNTP is enabled (Q02112485)
- VLACP settings are now correctly set when operating in a stack and the VLACP parameters are defaulted (Q02069051)
- When the member of a MLT group which was carrying multicast traffic is reset, IGMP membership is now correctly re-learnt without an unexpected delay of 40 second (Q02066898)
- When IGMP Snooping and Proxy is enabled in a stack if the IGMP general query and IGMP host membership report are received on the same unit in the stack, IGMP packets are now correctly processed (Q02070898)
Please review the release notes for all the details.
Cheers!
Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 Software Release v5.4
May 20th
Avaya has released software 5.4 for the Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 series switch.
New features;
- 802.1AB (LLDP) MED Network Policy CLI
- 802.1D Compliancy Support
- ADAC and Auto QoS Interoperability
- ADAC Enhancements
- Additional SFP Support
- Automatic QoS and 802.1AB MED Interoperability
- DHCP Client
- DHCP Option 82 Support
- DHCP Snooping Improvements
- Dual Syslog Server Support
- Dynamic Route Table Allocation
- EAP and non-EAP MultiVLAN capability
- Energy Saver
- Erasable NNCLI Audit Log
- IPFIX
- MLT and LAG Scaling
- Non-Local Static Routes
- Open Shortest Path First
- QoS Agent Operational Mode
- QoS DSCP Mutation
- QoS Egress Queue Shaping
- QoS IP/L2 Filter Options
- QoS Queue Set Support
- RADIUS Accounting Enhancements (RFC2866)
- RADIUS Server Reachability
- Routing Information Protocol
- Routing Policies
- Running Configuration NNCLI Display Commands
- Show Software Status
- Software Licensing
- Sticky MAC Address
- Time Delay Reflectometer
- Traffic Profile Filter Set Support
There are a large number of resolved and known issues, too many to post here, so I would advise anyone interested to review the release notes.
I will point out a few items that stand out… thissoftware release marks the introduction of Enterprise Device Manager for the Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 replacing the legacy Java Device Manager.
Enterprise Device Manager (EDM) replaces both the integrated Web-based Management and separate Device Manager applications previously used to manage and configure the Ethernet Routing Switch 4500 Series switches.
EDM is a fully integrated graphical user interface delivered as a Web-based application that runs in a Web browser. To enhance ease of use, the EDM application has the look and feel of Device Manager (previously known as JDM).
EDM navigation has been enhanced. To access command tabs from the EDM navigation tree, the documented procedures specify using a double-click to open the tab in the work area. With the enhancement, you can access all objects in the navigation tree with a single click.ATTENTION
With the introduction of Enterprise Device Manager (EDM) the use of Device Manager (sometimes referred to as JDM) is no longer supported because the use of JDM to control the switch could lead to potential corruption of the switch configuration.
ATTENTION
If you upgrade the software on your switch, and if you are managing the switch with EDM, then you should refresh the browser cache on your end device to ensure that EDM loads the latest tabs for all respective features.
I believe that the Java Device Manager was one of Nortel/Avaya’s greatest assets and a great selling point to customers. JDM was a single tool capable of managing almost every Nortel/Avaya switch, from the legacy BayStack 350 to the enterprise leading Ethernet Routing Switch 8600. I’m not too excited about the introduction of Enterprise Device Manager, I’ll need to kick the tires before I make up my mind.
Has anyone else tried the new Enterprise Device Manager? Comments? Thoughts?
I also noticed that Nortel/Avaya are now supporting a 1000BaseXD DDI SFP (1550 nm). This is a great option for customers looking to operate a fiber metro area network (up to 40km) before jumping to the 1000BaseZX which covers ~ 70km. I’ve successfully used the 1000BaseCWDM DDI SFP (1470 nm) to cover up to 40km. It’s great to finally have all the optical transceivers available in an SFP form factor as opposed to the large GBIC form factor.
This software release also adds OSPF on the ERS 4500 although the Advanced License is required to enable OSPF. You should take care to note that the maximum number of routes is capped at 512 IPv4 routes. As a comparison the ERS 5500 series allows you 2000 IPv4 routes.
Cheers!
Update: Thursday May 20, 2010 @ 2:50 PM EDT
I’ve update the article to reflect the correct software version… Thanks Jeremy.


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