Alcatel 6450 Stack

[gowtham96760]

Dear All,

hope you doing well.
I have an existing stack with 4 switches. OS6450 P24 model. one switch got failed and we need to replace it. now the problem the new switch is running version 6.7.2.191 R04. and my existing stack is running at 6.4. so can I add directly the new switch to the existing rack by removing boot.slot.cfg? or do I need to upgrade the existing stack? or downgrade the new switch to 6.4?

and for new switch I assigned a static IP. while adding to the existing stack I can keep that IP or do I need to set to DHCP? I just want to replace the failed switch with a new one without removing anyone my existing configuration on the stack. please help.

[silvio]

It is very likely that with this big difference in the sw release you will have problems. So the best way is to upgrade the old stack to the newest release. Than delete boot.cfg and boot.slot.cfg in the new one - power down. Connect the new switch with the old (running) stack - than power up the new one. The new switch is than part of the stack - so there is no own config (like ip address) in this switch.
best regards
Silvio

[gowtham96760]

Hi Mr.Silvio, thanks for the quick reply. the new switch is running 6.7.2.191 and stack(3 switches ) are running 6.2 OS. customer doesn't want any downtime. so is there any way we can do it without any switch upgrade or downgrade. like I heard we can add the new switch directly to the existing stack and it will automatically take the configuration and software(will automatically downgraded to Stack running OS). is it true? if it is true what I need to? because I am new to Alcatel. simply removing boot.slot.cfg file from new switch and restart and connecting stacking cable will work?

pardon me for my dumb questions.

[silvio]

Yes - if the switch is empty than it tried automaticly to find an other stack master and joins correctly.
But for a correct work of this stack the software has to be "nearly" the same. Your difference is in my opinion to big. -So you need to downgrade your new switch to the old sw (6.7.2) and than all clear etc.
But often I have seen in this cases that the ports of the new chassis wasn't active. As solution you needed to reboot the whool stack - but this is unwished by you customer. Another way is to avoid this issue: downgrade the miniboot/uboot of the new switch to the same release like the old stack show hardware info) ..... This downgrade of miniboot is also not the prefered way and the success is not for sure (but at least you can try it without touching the old stack).
Best way is to upgrade (with short downtime) all to the newest release. Your customer has to decide.
regards
Silvio

[gowtham96760]

Good Morning, Silvio, I visited customer site 2 days back and everything went fine.
initially, they have 2 existing 6540 48P switches stacked and they need to add 3rd 48P SW running 6.7.2.191.R04 GA. the new switch also running the same version, so what I did, just power on the new switch and type the command "rm boot.slot.cfg" and shutdown immediately without saving. then I took DAC cable and connected to existing switches.it's like A1-->B1 B2-->C1 A2-->C2. and boot up the new switch. after 5 minutes new switch automatically took the slot ID 3 and is displayed on the screen. after 2 minutes slot ID become blank on the new switch and it came back after a while.
then I checked "show stack topology" and 3 switches are online.
Now we have 4 6450 24P core stack(6.6.4.221..R01 Service Release) and one of the switches got failed. the new 24P SW is running(6.7.2.191.R04).
the same way what I did for 48P switches I did here. I didn't do any downgrade or upgrade. I simply removed boot.slot.cfg from the new switch and added to the existing stack and after while it gave the slot id 2. (failed switch is no 2).
so everything went fine without any issues and downtime.
thanks for the support. hope this case will help someone.

[silvio]

Thanks for your reply
best regards
Silvio