This document explains how to update the fabric OS of a Brocade/IBM SAN fiber channel switch

The model of the SAN fiber channel switch upgraded in this example is a SAN24B-4 (2498-B24)

Download the Fabric OS

To get the fabric OS upgrades go to the IBM website at this link – Support for IBM System Storage and TotalStorage products

For Product family: select “Storage area network (SAN)” and for Product: select “SAN24B-4 (2498-B24)”

Then click on the download link. This will provide a list of recommended fixes.

The fabric OS currently installed on the switch is version v6.3.0d and the latest version at the time of writing is version 6.4.1a

I found it was possible to upgrade directly to v6.4.1a. The upgrade path I took was to upgrade directly to the new firmware.

Therefore I initially clicked on the 6.X firmware link. This will take you to the Brocade web site and to the Fabric OS v6.x download page. Select the version required. Also select whether you will be unpacking the download on a UNIX or Windows computer. You may also have to complete an EC Export Compliance form before download..

Preparing for the installation

The installation of the fabric OS is done via ftp so the downloads should be unzipped to a computer with an ftp server configured

I used a free ftp server on my laptop for the installation. You can get a copy from here – FileZilla The free ftp solution

Unzip all fabric OS versions, a subdirectory with the version of the fabric OS will be created. Configure the ftp server such that the parent to the three fabric OS subdirectory is the ftp root directory.

Also configure the ftp server to have a username and password

Before proceeding check that you can ftp to your ftp server from another server on the network and list the contents of the fabric OS directories

To complete the upgrade you need commas between the switch and the ftp server; in this case my laptop. This was achieved by using a crossed RJ-45 UTP cat 5e cable. But can be achieved through an existing network if required.

If the switch is un-configured (as in this case) then the default IP-address for the switch is 10.77.77.77. I therefore configured my laptop with an address of 10.77.77.78

If you have a firewall running on your computer then turn it off as it can prevent the upgrade from working

Check that you can ssh to the switch the username is “admin” and the default password is “password”

Upgrading the switch via a GUI

I will describe the method of upgrading from v6.3.0d to v6.4.1a but the upgrades to the other versions are similar

To start the GUI from your browser type in the ip-address of the switch, in this case 10.77.77.77

This will start a java application called web tools

Login and from the main web tools page click on switch admin

This will open another window. In this window select firmware upgrade

Complete the requested fields as shown in the following screen shot, which was taken after the upgrade was completed

Ensure that the entry in Specify Firmware Path is added correctly. If the ftp server has been setup so that the fabric OS directories are in the ftp root directory then the following is how this field should be defined – “/”

Click on the Download button and hopefully your switch should get upgraded

Upgrading the switch via the command line

To upgrade from the command line ssh to the switch and login as admin

From the IBM_2498_24B:admin> prompt, type something similar to the following, change the options to suit your environment

firmwaredownload 10.77.77.78,upgradeuser,,password

Where the ip-address 10.77.77.78 is the ip-address of the ftp server, upgradeuser is the ftp server user and password is the ftp user password