Brocade Fabric Operating System is divided

No, no. It’s not in conflict with itself. It is now physically split up in multiple codebases each for a specific platform.

Ever since its inception, back in the late 90-ties, FOS has been distributed in one single image file. You download that file, extract it and use it as a base repository for every Brocade switch you own. That can be maintained for a long time but as soon as you reach a certain size and platform diversity the sheer size will become hard to work with. If you only own a small pizza box size switch you don’t really need the overhead of 3 generations of director class firmware sitting on you disks in the same repo, basically just eating space. When it comes to upgrading your switches it is much handier to be able to take a lean USB drive with all versions required for intermediate upgrade steps than a bag full of these thumbdrives filled with one or two versions.

So as of FOS 8.2.3a you now have the option to just download the code you need for you specific platform and do your thing.

Brocade calls these images PSD’s or Platform Specific Downloads. They basically come in two or three generations of platforms and two or three versions of code.

As for the naming convention it is relatively straightforward.

<Version>_<Platform Generation>_<Type>.<zip or tar.gz>

Gx is for the specific platform generation if applicable
EXT for the extention platforms
ENTRY for the low portcount switches
MID for the medium portcount switches
ENT for the high portcount switches
DIR for the director class switches
EMB for the chassis blade switches

For the first release on the 8.2.3a FOS version this translates to the following table.

v8.2.3a_EXT.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on 7840 and 7810 platforms
v8.2.3a_EXT.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on 7840 and 7810 platforms
v8.2.3a_G5_ENTRY.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on 6505 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_ENTRY.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on 6505 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_MID.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on 6510 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_MID.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on 6510 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_ENTP.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on 6520 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_ENTP.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on 6520 platform
v8.2.3a_G5_DIR.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on DCX 8510-8 and DCX 8510-4 platforms
v8.2.3a_G5_DIR.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on DCX 8510-8 and DCX 8510-4 platforms
v8.2.3a_G6_ENTRY.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on G610 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_ENTRY.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on G610 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_MID.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on G620 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_MID.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on G620 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_ENTP.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on G630 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_ENTP.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on G630 platform
v8.2.3a_G6_DIR.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on X6-8 and X6-4 platforms
v8.2.3a_G6_DIR.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on X6-8 and X6-4 platforms
v8.2.3a_EMB.tar.gz Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Linux to install on M6505, 6543, 6543, 6545, 6546, 6547, 6548 and 6558 platforms
v8.2.3a_EMB.zip Fabric OS 8.2.3a for Windows to install on M6505, 6543, 6543, 6545, 6546, 6547, 6548 and 6558 platforms

You have to be aware that the upgrade process through SANNav requires you to use version 2.1.1.3 or later. An upgrade via BNA is not possible except just placing the PSD’s in the ftproot directory of BNA and use the CLI on the switch.

Hope this helps

Regards,
Erwin

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