Michael McNamara

technology, networking, virtualization and IP telephony

Cisco Nexus 9300 SSD Firmware Issue

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I recently stumbled into yet another interesting issue that turned out to be a bug in the SSD firmware of some Cisco Nexus 9000 Series switches. We had performed an upgrade in two of our Data Centers just over 3 years ago using the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series product line providing a 10/40Gbps network. Within the past week we had several of those switches crash and reboot themselves. Upon further investigation I found some switches that didn’t crash or reboot themselves were running with a read-only file system. It turned out that this was a known bug that had been identified by Cisco earlier this year.

Field Notice: FN – 72150 – Nexus 9000/3000 Will Fail With SSD Read-Only Filesystem – Power Cycle Required – BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

The issue was further compounded by some sloppy management, with several switches having unsaved configurations or having crashed and rebooted with unsaved configurations and ultimately inconsistent VPC states. In the short term I ended up deploying the SSD firmware update to all the impacted Cisco Nexus 9000 series switches in my network. I’ll look at performing the recommended software upgrades early next year.

You can setup notifications on the Cisco website to help keep you informed of field notices, software releases and security bulletins.

Anyone else run into this problem?

Cheers!

Epson Printer Firmware Update Restricts Third-Party Ink Cartridges

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I was recently working with an Epson XP-15000 I had lying around the office, cleaning it up so I could send it off with my daughter as she heads back to college and her off-campus apartment (even though all classes are now via remote learning thanks to COVID-19). I had everything working perfectly but the printer kept prompting about some firmware update, so I eventually relented because I knew the firmware update prompt would likely cause confusion and questions down the road from the “user”.

Well I got more than I bargained for in that firmware update. !@$# %e

Let me just point out that this is no $100 printer, but instead sells for $350 – $450 retail. After the firmware update the XP-1500 printer would no longer recognize the third-party ink cartridges that I had installed in the printer no matter what I would do. Likely needless to mention at this point, but I quickly found I wasn’t alone as there were dozens if not hundreds of posts all over the Internet reporting the same issue. Here’s one, another, another and another… you get the idea.

It seems there was a class action lawsuit filled last October in California against Epson for this exact behavior as mentioned in an article on TheRegister titled, US customers kick up class-action stink over Epson’s kyboshing of third-party ink. Although it appears that case was dismissed back in February 2020.

I did briefly entertained the possibility of using InkChip, a third-party located in Hong Kong that provides a firmware for the printer that removes the “ink cartridge” check from the printer’s software. Although in the end I went out to my local Staples and spend over $130 in Epson ink cartridges, this printer has six ink cartridges.

Interestingly enough I couldn’t find any clean reviews of InkChip – I can only imagine that the printer manufacturers have a plethora of lawyers just ready to pounce one any mention of this company on the Internet – I wouldn’t be surprised if I was contacted – remember it’s 2020 and anything can happen this year!

I’ve been an Epson customer for almost 15+ years, I’ve probably bought more than 7 Epson printers in those past 15 years easy. I’m not sure I’ll be buying another Epson printer in the future.

The moral of the story… don’t upgrade the firmware in your printer if you use third-party ink cartridges.

Cheers!

UNIStim Firmware Release 5.0 for IP Deskphones

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Avaya has released UNIStim firmware 5.0 for their IP deskphones;

  • 0621C8A for the 2007 IP deskphone
  • 0623C8A, 0624C8A, 0625C8A, 0627C8A, 0626C8A for the 1110, 1120E, 1140E, 1150E and 1165E IP deskphones
  • 062AC8A for the 1200 series IP deskphones

This release of firmware adds support for the following features;

  • Support for wideband (G.722) codecs on 1120E, 1140E, 1150E, 1165E, 1220, and 1230 IP Deskphones.
  • Support for Avaya Notification Solution (ANS) and Avaya Push API which provides the ability to push text, graphics, and audio messages to 1100 Series, 1200 Series and the 2007 IP Deskphones.
  • Support for a Wireless Markup Language (WML) browser for 1140E, 1150E, and 1165E IP Deskphones.

Product Advisement for UNIStim 5.0 related to Zero Touch Provisioning:

For customers who have pre-configured the REG entries (which includes the MAC address, the TN, and Node) within the provisioning file to enable Zero Touch for the IP Deskphones, be advised that a problem can occur related to parsing of the REG entry that may result in the IP Deskphones not coming up as expected, and instead continuing to reboot when UNIStim 5.0 is loaded onto the units. The issue will impact IP Deskphones that have been pre-configured for Zero Touch and where the REG lines still exist in the REG entry. This is a known issue that will impact IP Deskphones that have a matching MAC address already pre-configured in the REG entry. This issue will be fully addressed in the upcoming UNIStim 5.1 maintenance release expected in March 2011, and customers may want to delay updating IP Deskphones and Call Servers until that time due to this issue.

In the interim, to avoid this issue the following workaround is recommended: Before loading UNIStim 5.0 onto the IP Deskphones, customers are advised to add a comma before the semi-colon of the REG entry. If UNIStim 5.0 is already loaded, and the issue exists (where the phones continue to reboot instead of coming up), the customer can then add a comma as specified above and the IP Deskphones will come up.

Example: reg= 0021e1ff59cb cs1k s1 3380 096 00 00 18,;

I also recently had a discussion with another telephony expert around the issues of running a PC at 100Mbps (connected to the IP phone) when the 1100 series IP phone is connected to the network via 1Gbps or vice-versa. Here’s the relevant blurb from the release notes that details the problem.

Throughput may be slow for large file transfers on conversions from GigE to 100Mbit (applies to the 1120E, 1140E, 1150E and 1165E IP Deskphones)

In networks in which a PC is connected to the IP Deskphone’s PC port and the PC’s NIC speed is 100Mbit but the network speed is at GigE, large file transfers to the PC can take quite a long time. This is an issue with large file transfers only. Due to the speed mismatch between the phone’s two ports the buffers in the phone can overflow resulting in retransmissions. Although the IP Deskphones support Ethernet flow control (802.3x), the support is only implemented on the phone’s PC port, not on the phone’s network port. Ethernet flow control is a mechanism were the IP Deskphone can request a brief “pause” from the transmitting Ethernet device if the IP Deskphone buffers are about to overflow.
Ethernet flow control cannot be implemented on the phone’s network port, since it impacts the phone’s voice quality. As a result, in environments were the network is GigE but the PC NIC is only 100Mbit, large file transfers from the network to the PC can take quite a long time. On the other hand, since Ethernet flow control is implemented on the phone’s PC port, in environments were the PC NIC is GigE but the network is only 100Mbits, large file transfers should be well managed by the phone’s Ethernet flow control mechanism.

You can find the release notes on Avaya’s website along with the actual firmware/software for the IP phones.

Cheers!

Upgrading DPC FPGA firmware on 8683XLR

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I upgraded an Ethernet Routing Switch 8606 over the weekend from v5.1.1.0 software to v5.1.3.0 software. As the switch booted the v5.1.3.0 software I was alerted that I needed to upgrade the DPC FPGA firmware on the 8648GTR and 8683XLR blades that were in the chassis. You’ll notice too that the switch was also complaining that I had not yet formatted the PCMCIA card since I upgrade to the 5.1.x software stream.

Copyright (c) 2010 Avaya, Inc.
CPU Slot 5:    PPC 745 Map B
Version:       5.1.3.0/020
Creation Time: Aug  5 2010, 19:19:09
Hardware Time: SEP 13 2010, 15:51:09 UTC
Memory Size:   0x10000000
Start Type:    cold
SMART MODULAR TECH. HYA ATA

The /pcmcia device mounted successfully, but it appears
to have been formatted with pre-Release5.1 file system code.
Nortel recommends backing up the files from /pcmcia, and
executing dos-format /pcmcia to bring the file system on the
/pcmcia device to the latest ERS8600 baseline.
open_file:can't open "/pcmcia/pcmboot.cfg" 0x380003 _dosFsLib_FILE_NOT_FOUND
/flash/  - Volume is OK

Loaded boot configuration from file /flash/boot.cfg
Attaching network interface lo0... done.

Press  to stop auto-boot...
Loading /flash/p80a5130.img ... 12637154 to 43802740 (43802740)
Starting at 0x1000000...

SMART MODULAR TECH. HYA ATA
 Booting PMC280 Mezz HW. Please wait.......
The BootCode address is 0xe100100 3303
.
Mezz taking over console and modem.....
Mezz CPU Booted successfully

Initializing backplane net with anchor at 0x4100... done.
Backplane anchor at 0x4100... ..
Mounting /flash: .done.
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:36] SW INFO Found serial number <11:22:33:44:55:66> in file
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:36] SW INFO License Successfully Loaded From License Type -- ADVANCED

Ethernet Routing Switch 8600  System Software Release 5.1.3.0
Copyright (c) 1996-2010 Avaya, Inc.

CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:36] SW INFO System boot
Warning: Please save your configuration after boot-up to avoid
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:36] SW INFO ERS System Software Release 5.1.3.0
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:40] MPLS INFO All MPLS components are up and active
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:40] HW INFO Card inserted: Slot=5 Type=8692SF
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:40] SW INFO R-Module inserted: Slot=1 Type=8630GBR, waiting to bootup...
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:40] SW INFO R-Module inserted: Slot=3 Type=8683XLR, waiting to bootup...
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:40] HW INFO Initializing 8692SF in slot #5 ...
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:49] SW INFO Slot  1: Loading /flash/p80j5130.dld
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:52:49] SW INFO Slot  3: Loading /flash/p80j5130.dld
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:28] SW INFO Slot  3: 8683XLR Initializing.  Do not remove board.
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:29] SW INFO Slot  1: 8630GBR Initializing.  Do not remove board.
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:33] SW INFO Slot  3: 8683XLR Initialization completed.
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:34] SW INFO Slot  3: Restart new image version 5.1.3.0
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:34] SW INFO Slot  1: 8630GBR Initialization completed.
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:34] SW INFO Slot  1: Restart new image version 5.1.3.0
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:43] SW INFO Slot  3: Loading /flash/p80j5130.dld
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:53:44] SW INFO Slot  1: Loading /flash/p80j5130.dld
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:04] SW INFO slot 1 found NP heartbeat - R-Module is online
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:04] SW WARNING Slot 1 is running older software version(s) of FPGA. Please upgrade to the latest version(s)
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:04] SW WARNING DPC FPGA current revision: 184. Upgrade to the latest revision: 194
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:08] SW INFO slot 3 found NP heartbeat - R-Module is online
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:08] HW INFO Initializing 8630GBR in slot #1 ...
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:08] SW WARNING Slot 3 is running older software version(s) of FPGA. Please upgrade to the latest version(s)
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:08] SW WARNING DPC FPGA current revision: 184. Upgrade to the latest revision: 194
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:09] HW INFO Initializing 8683XLR in slot #3 ...

*****************************************************************
* Copyright (c) 2010 Avaya, Inc.
* All Rights Reserved
* Ethernet Routing Switch 8006
* Software Release 5.1.3.0 (Released - General Availability)
*****************************************************************
Login: CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:10] SW INFO Loading configuration from /flash/config.cfg
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:10] SW INFO NTP Enabled
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:10] SNMP INFO VRF name: GlobalRouter (VRF id 0): Max route warning set
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:10] SW INFO The system is ready
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:10] SNMP INFO Booted with PRIMARY boot image source - /flash/p80a5130.img
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:12] SW INFO PCMCIA card detected in Master CPU "ERS-8606" slot 5, Chassis S/N SS11111111
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:12] IP INFO the OSPF Md5 key file does not exist
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:12] SNMP INFO Chassis with Power Supply redundancy
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:54:12] SNMP INFO Fan Up(FanId=1, OperStatus=2)
CPU5 [09/13/10 11:55:00] SNMP INFO Sending Cold-Start Trap

I needed to copy down the software from the TFTP server to the local /flash member;

ERS-8606:5# copy 10.1.1.1:dpc194.xsvf /flash/dpc194.xsvf

With the software on the flash we can now start the upgrade;

ERS-8606:5# config diag fpga dpc update 1 /flash/dpc194.xsvf
Found /flash/dpc194.xsvf

WARNING: Starting the FPGA update process. DO NOT reset the card or  box during
this process. Please wait for FPGA UPDATE SUCCESS message. (Command prompt will
 be returned but update process will take several minutes)
This Message will get appended to the log file upon completion of the update.
The command prompt will return after the upgrade is complete.                                                

CPU5 [09/13/10 12:02:41] COP-SW INFO Slot 1: FPGA UPDATE SUCCESS - You will need to reboot the switch or re-insert/reset the slot for FPGA to take effect.

You’ll need to reboot the switch in order for the module(s) to load the new FPGA firmware.

Cheers!

UNIStim Firmware Release 4.2 for IP Deskphone

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Avaya has released UNIStim firmware 4.2 for their IP deskphones;

  • 0621C7G for 2007 IP Deskphone
  • 0623C7M for 1110, 0624C7M for 1120E, 0625C7M for 1140E, 0627C7M for 1150E and 0626C7M for 1165E IP Deskphones
  • 0627C7M for 1200 Series IP Deskphones
  • VPN Configuration Wizard release 01.00_00.25

The major change in this software release is the re-branding of the IP deskphone to Avaya from Nortel.

UNIStim 4.2 is the minimum software release that includes changes related to re-branding of the IP Deskphone software to Avaya from Nortel. All instances of Nortel branding within the IP Deskphone software including the start-up splash screen, User Interface elements, and Certificates have been changed to Avaya branding. In addition, the VPN Configuration Wizard software has been rebranded to Avaya

Please refer to the release notes and the product bulletin for complete details.

Cheers!

Update: Monday August 16, 2010

Avaya has re-released the bulletin because of a typo in the document.

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