Field Notice: FN - 64125 - In Some Nexus 5672, 56128, and 5696 Switches, Nondisruptive ISSUs Might Fail and Require Manual Intervention for System Recovery

NOTICE:

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Revision History

Products Affected

Problem Description

Nexus 5672, 5696, and 56128 Series switches which have a VIKING USB device can fail during a nondisruptive in-service software upgrade (ISSU) and require manual intervention in order to recover the system.

Background

Nexus 5672, 5696, and 56128 Series switches which have a VIKING USB device can fail during a nondisruptive ISSU. Nexus 5672, 5696, and 56128 Series switches which have a UNIGEN or SMART USB device are not susceptible to the nondisruptive ISSU failure.

Refer to the "How to Identify Affected Hardware" section for details on how to determine the manufacturer of the switch USB device. Disruptive upgrades on the Nexus 5672, 5696, and 56128 Series switches are not impacted by this issue. Also, this issue does not apply to Nexus 5624, 5648, 600x, and 55xx Series switches.

Problem Symptoms

If a nondisruptive ISSU is performed on a switch which has a VIKING USB device, the upgrade can fail and the switch will end up in boot prompt and require manual intervention in order to recover.

The output in red will be visible in the console after a failed upgrade:

N5696-1# install 
. 
. 
. 

Checking all filesystems..... done. 


"##############################################################
Boot has been interrupted or internal disk is not initialized!
##############################################################
Do you want to initialize it? (y/n) n 
INIT: 
INIT: Sending processes the TERM signal 
INIT: Sending processes the KILL signal 
Cisco Nexus Operating System (NX-OS) Software 
TAC support: http://www.cisco.com/tac 
Copyright (c) 2002-2015, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. 
The copyrights to certain works contained in this software are
owned by other third parties and used and distributed under 
license. Certain components of this software are licensed under 
the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.0 or the GNU 
Lesser General Public License (LGPL) Version 2.1. A copy of each 
such license is available at 
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php and 
http://www.opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.php 
switch(boot)# dir 

Usage for bootflash: filesystem 
96215040 bytes used 
323215360 bytes free 
419430400 bytes total 

switch(boot)#

Workaround/Solution

Upgrade Failure Recovery

If a switch is already in a failed state, enter the reload command in the console session in order to recover. The reload boots the switch with the new NX-OS.

switch(boot)# reload 

Proactive Workarounds

• If a nondisruptive ISSU is not a requirement, perform a disruptive upgrade with the hidden force installer option.
  

  Example:

  N5696-1# install all kickstart bootflash:n6000-uk9-kickstart.7.0.7.N1.1.bin system bootflash:n6000-uk9.7.0.7.N1.1.bin force


• If a nondisruptive ISSU is a requirement, there is a debug plugin and potential BIOS update which can be implemented prior to initiation of each nondisruptive ISSU. Contact the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for assistance with this option.

Definitions

A nondisruptive ISSU is the ability to upgrade (or downgrade) NX-OS without the need to remove the system from the network's production environment and without impact to the data forwarding plane.

CDETS

To follow the bug ID link below and see detailed bug information, you must be a registered customer and you must be logged in.

How To Identify Hardware Levels

Enter this command in order to determine the switch USB device manufacturer:

N5696-1# show system internal file /proc/bus/usb/devices | grep -i Manu 
S: Manufacturer=Linux 2.6.27.47 ehci_hcd 
S: Manufacturer=VIKING_USB<<----- 
S: Manufacturer=Cisco 
S: Manufacturer=Cisco 
N5696-1# 

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

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