This article is a reference guide for updating the firmware on switches. As I handle a broad range of switch vendors and models, I got tired of looking up the commands, and decided to bundle it all here in one place for easy reference.

Note that this document is not a step-by-step guide to update a specific switch but rather a reference for which CLI-commands to use.

First, look up current version and active boot bank. Can be either A: or B:

show boot system stack-unit 1upgrade system tftp://10.0.0.1/FTOS-SK-9.9.0.0P9.bin B:conf tboot system stack-unit 1 primary system://Bendwr memreload

When upgrading from USB-stick, change tftp:// to usbflash://. USB-stick needs to be FAT32.

To do

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When upgrading Dell Force10 switches, keep in mind that starting from FTOS version 9.10, MTU per port can no longer be set to 12000. It is now limited to a maximum of 9216, making it the same maximum as the DNOS (Dell Networking) firmware. After the firmware update, the MTU of each port will automatically be adjusted.

For jumbo frames, this doesn't really change anything. An MTU 9216 on the switch still results in a datagram MTU of 9000, sufficient for e.g. Equallogic storage.