{"id":590,"date":"2017-06-16T10:10:21","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T23:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parablog-wordpress.dockerbox.rei.moe\/?p=590"},"modified":"2017-07-27T21:32:05","modified_gmt":"2017-07-27T11:02:05","slug":"updating-a-nortel-5520","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lewys.eu\/?p=590","title":{"rendered":"Updating a Nortel 5520"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello!<\/p>\n

Almost exactly (give or take a few days) one year ago, I was browsing eBay looking at Nortel 5520 switches, I was upset that in America you could get them for $75US a pop, whereas over here they were almost $500AU each!<\/p>\n

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I learned of two Nortel 5520-48T-POE that were destined to go to an IT recycling company.
\nI was able to negotiate my hands on these two switches for $25AU each!<\/p>\n

I got them home yesterday when I fired them up with my beautiful homemade serial cable (the one I got from Jaycar was crossover whereas the Nortel needs straight through)
\nI was greeted with an older version 5.0 software version!<\/p>\n

This was no good, all versions of the software before 6.3.3 had terrible web interface.
\nI know many people say you should stick with the CLI, but when im in a hurry to make a change, check the status of a port, or shutdown \/ turn on ports, I want a simple and fast method of doing this.<\/p>\n

So began the journey of upgrading the switch.<\/p>\n

It started with an hour or two of research, trying to find firmware files, and documentation on the upgrade process and path.
\nYou cannot skip major versions apparently, So I had to go from 5.0>5.1 and then to 6.3.<\/p>\n

I was getting worried that all of the ftp servers I was finding referenced were dead links, until I stumbled upon a reddit users dropbox<\/a>, which had everything I needed, PDF docs, firmware files for versions 5-6, I was set!<\/p>\n

I found a page detailing the update procedure, which was a pretty simple command.<\/p>\n

I reset the switch to factory settings, then gave it an IP address,<\/p>\n

Then it was just a case of flashing the diag image, and then the main image.<\/p>\n

A single command was all that was needed to flash each one:
\n5520-48T# download address 172.16.0.123 diag 55xx_diag.bin
\n5520-48T# download address 172.16.0.123 image 55xx_6.3.3.0s.img<\/p>\n

These commands aren’t exact, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n

After flashing each one the switch rebooted itself and did a pretty light show while flashing \/ booting.<\/p>\n

Once the switch had rebooted, I checked the web interface by navigating to the switch IP address in Google Chrome, and was met with a warning that my browser may not support the page!
\nDismissing the warning, the UI loaded, and it was far superior to the old one.
\nI suddenly have everything I need!<\/p>\n

I will be installing this switch in my homelab once I can mod it to be silent, ill replace the fans with Noctua 40mm fans and see what else I can do for it.<\/p>\n