Firmware Upgrading MX/MS/MR at the same time?

[NolanHerring]

Hey guys

I somehow have strangely found myself needing to upgrade MX/MS/MR all at the same time for a site. Figured I would have ran into this before but I can't recall having done so.

Anywho, I can't seem to find any documentation to see if it is OK to schedule the upgrade for the MX/MS/MR at the same time or if I should spread them out (seems safer).

Just wish the scheduling would give us more granular controls because we can only choose at the top of each hour, which means a blip 3 times over 3 hours, vs 3 blips during a 1 hour window.

[kYutobi]

Why not just schedule after hours 12:00am? Sorry @NolanHerring I don't want to assume anything because I do not know your infrastructure. Is there a reason? I've scheduled for MS/MR/MVs at the same time and (knock on wood) haven't had issues before.   

[NolanHerring]

It will be after hours, although some of the sites operate 24/7.

What I mean is if the MX/MS/MR are all downloading firmware at the same time. What if the MS finishes first, reboots, and the AP that was in the middle of downloading firmware loses power etc. Or the MX kills Internet during his reboot while the MS/MR are downloading.

I'm assuming its probably not a big deal but never occurred to me before, and I would prefer not not have any of those type of hiccups.

[kYutobi]

Wow lol I do get you once you put it that way. So just like you say I'd try doing MX first then follow suit. Just to avoid that type of hiccup.

[kYutobi]

@NolanHerring I actually asked about this. I was interested. Meraki said in a combined network for example it knows that if there's all these models it will do it by priority. MX, MS, etc or however the order goes to avoid the type of issue you described.

[Welles]

Yeah, I’d like to know about this too. I’ve submitted firmware switch upgrades, then 45 minutes later the switches reboot etc... Would be nice to see more visibility into what is actually happening. I understand the “set it and forget it” thoughts. However, on bigger networks some visibility would nice. 

[kYutobi]

Hey guys. I asked Meraki and this is the response on my ticket.

Problems Discussed:
- Firmware upgrade questions
Actions Taken:
- Combined network firmware is upgraded by device type
- Issues may only arise if switches in the same network are daisy chained

Next Steps:
- None for support

[Welles]

Hmm, yeah we daisy-chain .... 😕 

[BlakeRichardson]

@NolanHerring  You might run into issues with the MR and MS units failing to connect if the MX unit takes longer than the other two.

I would start the MX unit first, let it upgrade and then do the MS and MR in that order otherwise MR units might take a while to upgrade while the cloud tries to communicate with them but fails because the MS units they are plugged into are offline. 

[NolanHerring]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Yea I was hoping to not have to 'be awake' for this process lol. And the fact that they only let you choose time slots at the top of each hour is a tad annoying =(

[MerakiDave]

@NolanHerring sounds like you're totally on top of this, but if your requirement is to force the full-stack firmware upgrade in a very short window, I'd suggest working directly with Meraki Support for a live call full-stack upgrade.  You can certainly do what you need to with what's native in Dashboard, but there are also certain randomization timers to consider, which you cannot control via Dashboard, however Support will have back-end visibility into that and can also override them, and give you more predictable control over the exact sequence and timing that you need.  (And minimize the amount of time you'll need to watch over the upgrades.)  Plus it'll be that much faster to have an extra set of eyes confirming normal operations afterwards... or have them already on the live call if something doesn't go as planned.