Switching

Is it possible to upgrade switch software on the EX4200 series through the USB port on the back?  I don't see an option when I do a "request system software add --- "  command.

See if these help:

 

http://kb.juniper.net/KB10386

 

Or

 

http://kb-beta.juniper.net/KB10759

 

 Cheers,

 

-Keith 

I saw that KB article earlier but didn't have any luck with it.  I spoke to one of our Unix engineers and we came up with a working solution.  From the cli I started the shell and did the following:

 

- we made a directory called /mnt/usb

- inserted the 1gig USB (fat32) with JUNOS 9.2R15 on it (jinstall-ex-9.2R2.15-domestic-signed.tgz)

- mounted the usb drive with the following command "mount -t msdosfs /dev/da1s1 /mnt/usb"

- changed over to /mnt/usb and copied the jinstall file to /var/tmp

- started the cli and ran the software upgrade

 

The software upgrade ran successfully

 

 

 

We just received a shipment of 5 new switches.  They were all shipped with 9.2R3.5.  That code did not accept the uplink module EX-UM-2X4SFP.  So rather than ripping out the module to upgrade the code, we did it with a USB stick.

 

We had to do a slightly different procedure to upgrade via USB:

 

Prep the USB stick with 2 different code revs - an interim and then the final (can't go to 10.0 from 9.2R3.5)

 

We loaded jinstall-ex-4200-9.4R4.5-domestic-signed.tgz & jinstall-ex-4200-10.0S6.1-domestic-signed.tgz onto a FAT32 formatted USB stick

 

- Insert the USB stick into the switch

- From the shell:

 

mkdir /mnt/usb
mount -t msdosfs /dev/da1 /mnt/usb
cp /mnt/usb/jinstall-ex-4200-9.4R4.5-domestic-signed.tgz /var/tmp/jinstall-ex-4200-9.4R4.5-domestic-signed.tgz

cli

request system software add /var/tmp/jinstall-ex-4200-9.4R4.5-domestic-signed.tgz reboot

*** Wait for the unit to come up on 9.4R4.5 ***

mkdir /mnt/usb
mount -t msdosfs /dev/da1 /mnt/usb
cp /mnt/usb/jinstall-ex-4200-10.0S6.1-domestic-signed.tgz /var/tmp/jinstall-ex-4200-10.0S6.1-domestic-signed.tgz

cli

request system software add /var/tmp/jinstall-ex-4200-10.0S6.1-domestic-signed.tgz reboot

*** Wait for the unit to come back up on 10.0S6.1 ***

If you are trying to do a upgrade from the usbkey during boot with a "install file:///JInstallxxxxxxx.tgz" most of the times it does new to be a fresh formatted key with just the jinstall package on it.

Very useful post and almost worked first time for me. The exact command that I found to work for me was:

 

mount -t msdosfs /dev/da1s1 /mnt/usb

This was using a FAT32 formatted USB that I copied my JUNOS image onto, inserted to EX4200-24T and then followed your sequence substituting the s1 into the above command.

 

Hope this helps.

Here's the procedure I use when recovering a system or if I just want to blow away the entire file system (including any config, etc):

 

Here's the procedure to upgrade by USB device:

1)      The USB stick that we are using, must be formatted in the FAT 32 file system (if using windows, right click on the device and select format).

2)      Copy the JUNOS image to the root of the USB stick.

3)      Once the image is on the USB stick, we need to do a safe remove from the client machine we are on, to ensure there are no CRC errors etc.

4)      We then need to plug the USB stick into the back of the switch (in the USB port). 

5)      Reboot the switch.

6)      After the switch reboots, wait for "Loading /boot/defaults/loader.conf/ kernel",  at which point press the space bar key.

 

This will take you to the loader prompt.

 

At this prompt do the following: 

 

Loader> install --format file:///<exact junOS image name>

 

 

 

In our case, we'd do this (notice there are 3 slashes😞

 

Loader> install --format file:///jinstall-ex-4200-10.0R4.7-domestic-signed.tgz

 

 

 

 

This should initiate the format + install process (it can take up to 15 minutes to complete).