Interconnect firmware update activation methods

Whether you are performing a logical enclosure or logical interconnect update, anytime the interconnect modules are being updated, you are presented with choices about how to activate the update. These activation choices describe how to handle pairs of redundant interconnects. 

Which activation method you choose will depend on:

  • Your availability requirements.

  • Length of maintenance window.

  • If your environment is configured for redundancy.

  • If the interconnect update that is being applied, is a disruptive or non-disruptive update.

Review the interconnect firmware release notes for details on whether the firmware version to be installed is a disruptive or nondisruptive update. A nondisruptive firmware update performs a warm reboot of the interconnect module and does not cause any interruption in network traffic. A disruptive firmware update performs a cold reboot of the interconnect module and causes a network traffic interruption.

The activation options are: 

  • Parallel — All the interconnects are updated and activated in parallel. While this method provides the fastest update, any running workloads have their network traffic disrupted as both interconnects are rebooted at the same time. 

  • Orchestrated — Only one interconnect module in each pair of modules is updated at a time. If your environment and applications are appropriately configured for redundancy, when one interconnect is being updated, network traffic continues to flow through the other module. When the update of the first module is complete and traffic is flowing again, the second module is updated and rebooted.

    The orchestrated activation method allows a properly configured system to have the infrastructure updated with minimal network interruption to your workload. The length of any interruption depends on how fast the OS can detect the connection that is down and switch over to the one that is up.

  • Manual orchestration — Gives you the most control over the updating of your interconnects. It allows you pick which half of the interconnect pair to update first. It then updates that half and exits. When the first half is updated and you are ready to update the second half, you run another update and select the second half. If a problem occurred updating the first half, that half can be rolled back to the original firmware version.

    NOTE:

    Manual orchestration is only available as part of a logical interconnect update.