Meraki firmware updates

[JessW]

Can anyone explain how the meraki firmware update system works? I had a few MS125 switches brick due to bad firmware in the release candidate firmware channel.

I have set to not try beta firmware in the general option but seems Meraki can still push release candidate firmware to a device. 

Would have thought that only stable firmware could be deployed to devices not enrolled for beta firmware?? Guess this is the world we live in now.

[redsector]

you can stop/postpone/deny the Meraki initiated updates.

[JessW]

You can postpone or ignore updates but not possible to deny.

There are also counters in place so you can only ignore updates for so long before they pushed and then you only have 30 days to postpone.

[redsector]

You can postpone them again and again.

[dieter_lievens]

I'm not sure how you bricked "a few" of them, to be honest.

Normally, the switch will always "remember" the old firmware in case of corruption/failure of the new firmware. If the image is corrups or fails to boot, it should revert to the previous version.

The best way(imo) is to just stay on the stable release and only take action when the dashboard reminds you to do so. Ofcourse this assumes you have no need or requirements that are only covered in beta features.

I've upgraded hundreds of switches and access points over the years and I have never ever had one die on me because of this. Even in networks with 100+ switches in a STP-topology, they seem to just upgrade fine and in a sane order.

I'm not sure if Meraki itself can confirm this, but I also believe switches in the same network will agree that a reboot can be simultaniously triggered on all devices, minimizing downtime.(? can someone confirm this)

[PhilipDAth]

>I had a few MS125 switches brick due to bad firmware in the release candidate firmware channel.

I've been using Meraki for quite some time, and only recently have I had a bad experience with MS upgrades.  Specifically from 11.x to 12.x.

In each of my problem cases Meraki support has been able to fix things remotely and get the switch working again.

What I do now is make sure all switches are upgraded to the latest 11.x (currently 11.31) and then do the jump to 12.x.  That has worked for me everytime.

I've only had an issue when jumping from lower versions.

[JessW]

Yes this has been my first bad experience aside from some buggy firmware which caused one of my mx devices to randomly reboot during business hours.

I should clarify that the 12.x didn't completely brick the switches as they still power on and I can login to the management dashboard. The issue is they never check into the meraki cloud which prevents the old 11.x firmware from being pushed down from support even after several factory resets.

No issue with the way the updates work but some feedback is they should have three rings of firmware (stable, release candidate and beta). Currently you can only opt out of beta but not rc and there appears to be a grey area of what they deem you should be pushed to whether the firmware is in the stable or release candidate channels.