ERS8600 v5.1.2.0 Stability

[m@sterbl@ster]

We have four ERS8600s running 4.1.8.3 and haven't had any problems (knock on wood), but with the release of 7.0, we need to upgrade.  Looking through the previous posts, I see that a few of you have upgraded to 5.1.2.0.  Have any of you experienced headaches with 5.1.2.0 or have any other recommendations?

Thanks a bunch!

[Paul L]

As a rule you should only ever upgrade your switches/routers for three reasons.

1. you have a bug, and it's fix is addressed in a new release.
2. There is a "must have" feature in a new release.  **Doubtfull**
3. Your current release is EOL.  Even then, there is no one pointing a gun at your head to upgrade.

if you are running solid 5x9's availablity with your setup I wouldn't change anything.  From experience I have ran into more problems AFTER being forced to move from one version to another.

also, to the best of my knowledge you need 8692's to run v5.

And to the best of my knowledge again: v7 requirers all new hardware.  its not going to be backward compatible with 8692's and E and M mudels. YOu will need to newest generation SF's with all the newest HW.


hope that helps.

[m@sterbl@ster]

Much appreciated Paul and I completely agree with you.

My reasoning for upgrading our ERS8600s is due to the release of v7.0 software, v4.1 is End of Service Support (EoSS) as of July 1, 2010. 

Maybe I don’t fully understand what EoSS is, but I can see myself putting a gun to my head if I had huge problems with our 8600s and AVAYA wouldn’t assist me until I did an upgrade to v5.1.  If we could stay at 4.1.8.3 and still get AVAYA support, I would be a happy man!

Thanks!

[Paul L]

you will have to talk to your SE or re-seller. they should be able to provide you with an 8600 Roadmap detailing the software lifecycle.

but you are correct, 4.1 is dead. But I believe that 4.1.8.X has life left.  .3 came out in may 09, .5 only a few weeks ago.  So its my understanding that when you read that 4.1 is EOL they are not referring to all 4.1.x.x versions.

But I am curious, what your urgency is to upgrade to v7? do you have the hardware to support it?

 

[Michael McNamara]

I would advise an upgrade to 5.1.x and then moving beyond that you need to examine your long term plans. If you have 8691SF with 265MB of memory and all E or M or R blades you should be fine to upgrade to 5.1.x software. While the non-E blades are not supported they will actually load and work, they just haven't been tested and Nortel/Avaya won't support you if you call for support on them.

In my experience (all centering around IST/SMLT deployments with dual or quad core switches and 15 - 50 closet/edge switches) 4.1.8.3 is fairly stable but still has a few issues. 5.1.3.1 resolves the few issues in 4.1.8.3 and provides you some additional time to make your decisions in terms of product support and lifecycle.

I'm currently deploying 5.1.3.1 to my IST/SMLT cores and 4.1.8.5 to my standalone 8600 switches. I don't plan to upgrade to 7.x at this time but instead will evaluate available products (including the VSP9000) once the time frame presents itself.

Cheers!

[m@sterbl@ster]

We won’t be upgrading to v7, but what I was looking for was the most stable 5.1 software release.

Looks like I will start researching v5.1.3.1 software to load on our quad core switches and also begin trying to figure out what the best strategy is to migrate from VRRP to RSMLT edge too as we have numerous edge switches.  Yippee!!!

Thank you again gentlemen.

[DaveTheRave]

I would like to offer a positive note on your upgrade. Our support engineer said this (straight from the horses mouth!)

"The End of Service (ESS) for 5.1.x.x is 31 Dec 2016 so well supported into the future.  5.1.3.1 has fixed numerous issues at other sites I support and is very stable.  Since rolling out 5.1.3.1, its making my role as support very redundant as a Nortel Data Specialist as the calls with issues are getting less and less".

I personally would encourage you to go to the latest version. It has been very stable for us where as 4.x was a nightmare.

[Paul L]

DavetheRave.  I agree, 4.1.0 was a disaster. But 4.1.4 and up was ok.

Don't forget that no two environments are alike. Topology, demand and requirements, configurations, protocols, 8600 i/o modules in use.. etc etc.   4.1.X running in one network might bring it to its knees, where 4.1.X might be bullet proof in another.

if you read 8600 release notes they use allot of words and phrases like

"maybe"
"perhaps"
"may"
"sometimes"
"some customers experience..."
"in rare cases"
"in certain configurations....."



as m@sterbl@ster mentioned he is running 4.1.8.3 without problem. 

[DaveTheRave]

Hu PaulyPaul,

You make good, valid points. I can only offer real world experience in taking our 8600 cores through many revisions of firmware. We also use a third party to perform the maintenance on our switches and their experience is that the latest build of V5 is good (if you have the right hardware!)

To the OP, good luck with whatever you choose to do and please share your experience.

[Michael McNamara]

DavetheRave.  I agree, 4.1.0 was a disaster. But 4.1.4 and up was ok.

Not to beat a dead horse but let there be no doubt that 4.1.6.x was a complete disaster and has been acknowledged by Nortel/Avaya as such. They resolved a great many of the issues in 4.1.8.0 (never publicly released but run by myself and a few other large organizations at the request of Nortel) which was eventually released as 4.1.8.x (latest is now 4.1.8.5). The fixes in 4.1.8.x were worked into 5.1.x software and hence 5.1.2.0 (latest is now 5.1.3.1) is very stable.

Cheers!

[tbigby]

We run a fairly simple config on our 8600 (ie. no SMLT, just routing), but it has been very stable in both versions 5.0.0.0 and 5.1.1.1 which I've run on it (touchwood that it stays that way!). I tend to upgrade once a year during the summer school holidays in order to stay up to date and make sure that we get any bugs that have been fixed, even if we haven't encountered them yet. Not sure that I would go to a new version during the first month it was out though, from watching a few versions get pulled shortly after release.

Of course, the more functionality you use, the greater the chance of having problems. I guess just check what your backout plan would be- I'm fairly sure it would be possible to roll back to version 4 if you came across a major problem.

Now I just wish the ERS 5500 series code (which we are running with SMLT) was a bit more stable!

[lsimonet]

As this topic eventually touched onto v7.x software I would just like to add that v7.x code only supports R/RS modules and at least an ERS8692 Switch Fabbric with a Supermezz card.

In terms of upgrade path if the hardware allows it, I think going to a late version of 7.1 would make a lot of sense, the majority of the fixes which were in 5.1.x were included in 7.1.0.1.
If hardware is a limitation, the latest 5.1.x code has been very stable and will still support most of the I/O cards out there.

I do agree with Paul L. regarding the reasons for upgrade...  there is a lot to be said about Engineering principle No.1 "If it's not broken don't fix it" ...

Having said that, I think what v7.1 and SPB has to offer, is definetely worth a look.
 

L.

[Michael McNamara]

Hi lsimonet and welcome to the forums!

Thanks for the feedback... I'm currently running multiple clusters on 5.1.3.1 software which have been very stable. I recently upgraded to 5.1.5.1 to address an issue in 5.1.3.1 that was resolved in 5.1.5.1, unfortunately I currently have a problem with that upgraded switch and still working the issue with Avaya.

Cheers!

[serhenry]

Hi All ,
sftw 5.1.5.1 is a deployed all over EMEA in large accounts and works fine.
regards

[Michael McNamara]

Hi All ,
sftw 5.1.5.1 is a deployed all over EMEA in large accounts and works fine.
regards

Thanks for the feedback @serhenry!