Software lifecycle management

Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric simplifies the task of changing the software version of the devices in your fabric.

The fabric tiles on the Fabrics page can include these tags to inform you of software version change-related statuses:

  • Software support will end soon: The software of the devices in your fabric will reach the end of support date in a month or less.
  • End of software support: Support has ended for the software of the devices in your fabric.
  • Software version change in progress: A software version change is in progress.

Limitations for software lifecycle management

These limitations apply for software lifecycle management:

  • During a software change, you can still monitor all devices, but you cannot push configuration changes to the fabric except for changes related to unbinding switches, admin state change on the ports, and software management.
  • You must push or discard existing configuration changes before you can change the target version.
  • If the devices in a fabric are running different software versions, you must upgrade the devices to the same version before you can push any other configuration change in that fabric.

Change the fabric software version on bound devices

If a newly bound device's current version differs from the current fabric version, Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric upgrades or downgrades it as appropriate and reboots the device automatically. You can change the running software version on the bound devices of a fabric by updating and rebooting the devices.

A device has two partitions—active and standby—both of which have the operating system software installed. During a software version change, Nexus Hyperfabric changes the version of the standby partition first, then changes the version of the active partition.

 Note
  • Because each device reboots during the change, ensure a redundant path is available for ongoing traffic.
  • To minimize disruption, we recommend isolating each device by shutting down its interfaces until the device comes back online. You can re-enable the interfaces after the device has fully rebooted and is operational following the software upgrade or downgrade. Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric does not adjust underlay routing metrics before or after the reboot.

Follow these steps to change the software version of the bound devices of a fabric.

Step 1

Select Fabrics, then select the fabric that contains the devices.

  1. If the fabric is not in the edit mode, select Switch to edit mode ().

Step 2

Choose Software management > Managed switches.

Step 3

Select the software version you want to update to.

  1. Select Set Target Version.

  2. From the Change target drop-down list, select the software version that you want to update to. The list shows the latest and all compatible versions. Software versions that are used in other fabrics within the organization are tagged with the fabric name.
    Shows where the Set target version is located and what it displays after selection.

  3. For Comment, enter text explaining the reason for changing the software. The comment appears as part of a configuration event in the Event Viewer.

  4. Select Set version.

    All devices in the fabric begin to download the selected software version automatically.

Step 4

After the devices display a “Ready to update” status, start the software update.

Ready to update status

Shows an example of the Ready to update status

  1. Choose the devices that you want to update.

    Choose from:

    • All switches in a single session: Select the top right-arrow icon (Shows the Select all devices icon) next to the current software version. The other right-arrow icons are associated with the device groups below.
    • By device group: From the Select drop-down list, choose all, odd, or even. Then, select the right-arrow icon () next to the device group. The arrow icon displays the number of devices selected for the update in that device group.

  2. In the confirmation dialog, expand the Selected switches drop-down list to verify the devices staged for the software update.

  3. For Comment, enter descriptive text to confirm update. The comment appears as part of a configuration event in the Event Viewer.

  4. Select Set to maintenance mode and confirm reboot. The device entry moves to the right (target version area) and displays progress during updates and reboots. After the fabric is in maintenance mode, you will only be prompted to confirm reboot for other device updates.


    Shows the device has moved to the target version area.
     Note

    It is possible to move a device back from right to left, and this action may or may not include a switch reboot. For example, if the device already runs the software version on the right side, it will start downloading the version on the left side and reboot automatically to complete the process. This behavior ensures that the device aligns with the selected software version on the left side, even if it requires rebooting to apply the downgrade or change.

  5. If you update device groups separately, you can repeat these steps for each group without waiting for the other groups to finish.

Step 5

Finalize the software update and exit fabric maintenance mode.

A software update is finished when its status displays “Software is up to date” and the blue progress bar is no longer visible.


Shows the Software is up to date status.

  1. Select Complete software management. This option is available only when all devices are on the same side, regardless of whether the software update is complete. You can select this option before all devices are updated; however, doing so carries the risk of ongoing updates and software version inconsistencies across devices.

  2. For Comment, enter descriptive text explaining the reason to complete software management activity. The comment appears as part of a configuration event in the Event Viewer.

Step 6

After completion, the target version becomes the running fabric software version. Check the Event Viewer for software update confirmation.

Change the fabric software version before binding a device

When you create a fabric before binding, you can configure a fabric version directly for the fabric so that Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric changes each device's software to that version automatically when you bind the device. If a device's current fabric version differs from the running version, Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric upgrades or downgrades it as appropriate and reboots the device as part of the bind operation.

Unlike changing the software after binding devices, this method applies the version change during binding.

 Note
When you bind the first device to the fabric, Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric sets the fabric version to the software version running on that device. Because devices that are connected to the cloud but are not bound are automatically upgraded to the latest version, the fabric version is typically set to the latest release.

Follow these steps to change the software version of devices when you bind them to a fabric.

Step 1

Select Fabrics, then select the fabric for which you want to select the running software version.

  1. If the fabric is not in the edit mode, select Switch to edit mode ().

Step 2

Choose Software management > Managed switches.

Step 3

Select the target software version for the fabric.

  1. Select Change fabric version. If there is no existing fabric version, you select Set fabric version.

  2. From the drop-down list, select the software version that you want to update to. The list shows the latest and all compatible versions. Software versions that are used in other fabrics within the organization are tagged with the fabric name.

  3. For Comment, enter text explaining the reason for the fabric version update. The comment appears as part of a configuration event in the Event Viewer.

  4. Select Set version.

Step 4

Bind devices to the fabric. For more information, refer to Bind the switches in the Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric — Getting Started document.