Ruckus Switch Firmware Upgrade – A How-To

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Ruckus Switches - ICX 7150 Family

The Ruckus ICX 7150 family of LAN switches. Gigabit LAN switching with options for M-Gig, 90W PoE, stacking, and more.

Right now I’m upgrading a network from older Cisco Catalyst switches to brand new Ruckus ICX switches.  The project includes almost 30 closets across 9 buildings so I’ve been spending quite a bit of time doing switch firmware upgrades recently.  Luckily, Ruckus switch firmware upgrades are really easy because you can use a USB flash drive for the file transfer, unlike Cisco switches which usually require network connectivity and a live TFTP server for firmware upgrades.

For you guys looking to jump right in to your upgrade here’s a short list of the steps required.  If you get stuck or would like more detail about the Ruckus switch firmware upgrade process I have included a detailed explanation and command output examples below.  If you read through this list and still want some more help, please call us.  That’s what we’re here for!

Ruckus Switch Firmware Upgrade – Quick Steps

  1. Download the new firmware from the Ruckus support site.
  2. Unzip the firmware and put it on a small USB flash drive.
  3. Plug the flash drive into your switch’s USB port.
  4. Console into the switch and make sure the USB drive mounts (“mount disk0”).
  5. Copy the bootloader software to the switch’s bootrom (“copy disk0 flash mnz10110.bin bootrom”).
  6. Copy the firmware you plan to run on your switches to the primary partition (“copy disk0 flash SPS08061a.bin primary”).
  7. Verify that the flash contents are correct (“show flash”).
  8. Make sure the switch is configured to boot from the primary flash partition (“configuration terminal” then “boot system flash primary”).
  9. Verify that the configuration is set to boot from the desired partition (“show run | include boot”).
  10. Save the configuration (“write memory”).
  11. Reboot the switch (“reload”).
  12. Once reloaded, verify the proper firmware version is running (“show version”).
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Ruckus Switch Firmware Upgrade – Detailed Steps

1. Download firmware

Ruckus firmware is accessible from the Ruckus support website, as long as you have a Ruckus account.  Before downloading your firmware, I recommend you speak with your local Ruckus Sales Engineer and ask him or her for a version recommendation for your particular project and your particular hardware.  Different switch families are often best served by different firmware versions!

2. Unzip the firmware and put it on a flash drive

Sample file structure of a Ruckus switch firmware package

Sample file structure of a Ruckus switch firmware package

A Ruckus switch firmware package will generally include files for lots of different hardware platforms but you really only need two at a time – a bootrom (bootloader) file and a firmware image.  First, extract the .zip file and navigate to the folder matching your Ruckus ICX switch family.  Then copy the bootloader file from the “Boot” folder and the proper firmware files out of the “Images” folder.  Remember to always upgrade the switch bootloader when you upgrade your primary firmware!  If you don’t you could crash your switch.  In the end you should have three files on your USB drive that look similar to the following.  I’ll give more details on why you need all these a little further down in the instructions.

  1. spz10106.bin – Bootloader
  2. SPS08030q.bin – Layer 2 firmware image (switching only)
  3. SPR08030q.bin – Layer 3 firmware image (routing and switching – L3 features generally require an additional license)

One final but important note – larger, modern flash drives may not work with your switch!  For some reason Ruckus switches have a hard time reading drives that are 8+ GB in capacity.  Ruckus switch firmware is small so I’d recommend you use the oldest and smallest flash drive you have for this process – 4GB or less in size.  Also make sure your flash drive is formatted as FAT32, otherwise you might see the following error:

ICX7150-24P Switch#mount disk0
Are you sure?(enter 'y' or 'n'): y
ls: /dev/exusb: No such file or directory
External USB disk is not plugged in or not formatted with VFAT/FAT32 .

3. Plug the USB flash drive into your switch’s USB port

This is somewhat self-explanatory.

4.  Console into the switch and verify the USB flash drive has mounted

Usually if your flash drive is formatted properly as FAT32 it will mount automatically.  Try using the “show flash disk0” command to find out.  If the flash drive is already mounted you should see something like this:

ICX7150-24P Switch#show files disk0
F          786944 mnz10110.bin
F        28314668 SPR08061a.bin
F        24723488 SPS08061a.bin
D            4096 
[----] disk0/System Volume Information
53825100 bytes 3 File(s) in disk0
If it’s NOT already mounted, try “mount disk0” and that should do the trick. If you get a mounting error then 1) make sure the flash drive is formatted as FAT32 and 2) make sure the flash drive has < 4GB total capacity. If both those conditions are true and the drive STILL won’t mount try rebooting the switch.

5. Copy the bootloader software to the switch’s bootrom

The syntax for the Ruckus copy command is almost like Cisco’s except the flash storage has a few different partitions.  The basic syntax is:

copy <source device> <destination device> <filename> <destination partition>

For example:

ICX7150-24P Switch#copy disk0 flash mnz10110.bin bootrom
Flash Memory Write (8192 bytes per dot)
ICX7150-24P Switch#.................................................................................................
SYNCING IMAGE TO FLASH. DO NOT SWITCH OVER OR POWER DOWN THE UNIT(65536 bytes per dot)...
............
Copy Done.

6.  Copy the primary firmware to the switch’s primary flash partition

(Optional)  If your switch is already in production and you’d like to back up the existing firmware, use “copy flash flash [primary | secondary]” to place a backup copy of your current firmware into the switch’s named flash partition.  In other words, use “show version” to find out your current firmware version, then use “show flash” to find out where that firmware is stored. Lastly use the copy command above to put a copy of your firmware into the unused flash partition.  Please note that this command can not back up the bootloader/bootrom, though I believe newer versions of bootrom are backwards compatible with older versions of firmware in case you need to roll back your firmware upgrade.

Note that there are two firmware files in a Ruckus switch firmware package, as shown above in steps 2 and 4.  One starts with “SPS” and one starts with “SPR.”  ‘S’ is for switch (Layer 2 image) and ‘R’ is for router (Layer  3 image).  Typically when I deploy Layer 2 switches I’ll put the Switch code in the primary flash partition and the router code in secondary.  That way if it’s upgraded to Layer 3 down the road the code is already there in flash.  If I’m upgrading existing switches and I’m pretty sure the switch will not gain Layer 3 functionality in the near future I tend to use the secondary flash partition just to hold older, known-good firmware files.  That way if a new firmware image fails to boot I’ve already got a backup on-box and ready to go.

My point here is you don’t NEED to use the secondary partition for anything if you don’t want to but I do (as explained above).  If you just want to upgrade the bootloader and primary flash that’s fine too.

ICX7150-24P Switch#copy disk0 flash SPS08061a.bin primary
ICX7150-24P Switch#Load to buffer (8192 bytes per dot) ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
SYNCING IMAGE TO FLASH. DO NOT SWITCH OVER OR POWER DOWN THE UNIT(65536 bytes per dot)...
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Copy Done.
ICX7150-24P Switch#copy disk0 flash SPR08061a.bin secondary
ICX7150-24P Switch#Load to buffer (8192 bytes per dot) .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
SYNCING IMAGE TO FLASH. DO NOT SWITCH OVER OR POWER DOWN THE UNIT(65536 bytes per dot)...
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Copy Done.

7.  Verify the Flash Contents are Correct

(Optional)  After you’re done copying the firmware over, make sure everything is where you want it.

ICX7150-24P Switch#show flash
Stack unit 1:
Compressed Pri Code size = 24723488, Version:08.0.61aT211 (SPS08061a.bin)
Compressed Sec Code size = 28314668, Version:08.0.61aT213 (SPR08061a.bin)
Compressed Boot-Monitor Image size = 786432, Version:10.1.10T225
Code Flash Free Space = 1306935296

8.  Force the Switch to Boot from Primary Flash

(Optional)  As I discussed above, I usually put my chosen firmware on a switch’s primary partition, saving the secondary partition for a backup image.  By default, a Ruckus switch will boot any valid firmware found in its primary flash partition but I prefer to always specify which partition to use so there’s no chance that a switch will boot with the wrong firmware version.  Use the commands below to force the switch to boot from your primary partition.


ICX7150-24P Switch#configure terminal
ICX7150-24P Switch(config)#boot system flash primary
ICX7150-24P Switch(config)#write memory

9.  Verify the Switch will Boot from the Desired Partition

(Optional)   Before reloading a switch I like to confirm I know which flash partition the switch will be booting from.


ICX7150-24P Switch#show running-config | include boot
boot sys fl pri
ICX7150-24P Switch(config)#

10.  Save the Running Configuration

Make sure to save your configuration early and often!  This will make sure your boot settings from the previous step are saved through the reboot.


ICX7150-24P Switch#write memory

There is no startup config file, unable to save legacy config

Flash Memory Write (8192 bytes per dot)
.
Write startup-config done.
Copy Done.
ICX7150-24P Switch#

11.  Reload the Switch

For the firmware upgrade to take effect you have to reboot the switch.


ICX7150-24P Switch#reload
Are you sure? (enter 'y' or 'n'): y
Could not verify if the Running Config data has been changed.
Do you want to continue the reload anyway? (enter 'y' or 'n'): y
ICX7150-24P Switch#Unmounting the External USB
The system is going down NOW!
!
!Reload output snipped
!

12.  Confirm the Upgrade

Once the switch has reloaded make sure the correct firmware version is active.


ICX7150-24P Switch#show version
Copyright (c) 1996-2017 Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
UNIT 1: compiled on Aug 14 2017 at 06:54:44 labeled as SPS08061a
(24723488 bytes) from Primary SPS08061a.bin
SW: Version 08.0.61aT211
Compressed Boot-Monitor Image size = 786944, Version:10.1.10T225 (mnz10110)
Compiled on Sun Jun 25 09:25:15 2017

HW: Stackable ICX7150-24-POE
==========================================================================
UNIT 1: SL 1: ICX7150-24P-4X10GR POE 24-port Management Module
Serial #:FEA3217N0LA
Current License: 4X10GR
P-ASIC 0: type B160, rev 11 Chip BCM56160_B0
==========================================================================
UNIT 1: SL 2: ICX7150-2X1GC 2-port 2G Module
==========================================================================
UNIT 1: SL 3: ICX7150-4X10GF 4-port 40G Module
==========================================================================
1000 MHz ARM processor ARMv7 88 MHz bus
8192 KB boot flash memory
2048 MB code flash memory
1024 MB DRAM
STACKID 1 system uptime is 1 minute(s) 19 second(s)
The system started at 02:06:21 GMT+00 Wed Jan 05 2000

The system : started=cold start

13.  Let us Know if This Article was Useful

If you found this article helpful we would really appreciate if you would please take the time to rate us on Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn.  If this article didn’t help you with your Ruckus switch firmware upgrade please let us know.  We want to know how to make this article better!

As an aside, if you’re going to be stacking your switches (and if you’re deploying several Ruckus switches you really should stack them) we’ve written a guide for stacking ruckus switches too.

About the Author:

Phil is the President and founder of Denton Business Solutions. He's had a fascination with technology for as long as he can remember. Phil uses that fascination to guide manufacturers to technology solutions for enhancing their plant safety, cybersecurity, and productivity. Outside the office, Phil enjoys cooking, spending time with his wife and son, and reading up on the latest manufacturing news. You can connect with Phil on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn!

2 Comments

  1. Jenton April 16, 2022 at 3:15 am - Reply

    THANK YOU FOR THIS! Such a clear and straightfoward guide, and it finally helped me solve my issues of my switch booting into router mode. My switch kept failing when I tried to boot the primary switch image, so I needed to upgrade to the latest firmware. After following your instructions, it all worked!

    • administrator March 6, 2023 at 9:21 am - Reply

      Jenton, I’m glad the article was useful for you. It feels like I wrote it ages ago!

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