Description

This article explains the cause and possible solution for one of the major alarm that is seen on EX devices.

 

The alarms observed is as follows:

 

root@switch> show chassis alarms no-forwarding
 
1 alarm currently active.
Alarm time               Class Description
2022-06-02 01:52:05 IST Major Upgrade bank is empty or corrupted for FPC <fpc-slot>, please do standard upgrade sequence.

 

Symptoms

One of the major alarms that is generated on EX devices is "Upgrade bank is empty"

 

For example:

 

root@switch> show chassis alarms no-forwarding
 
1 alarm currently active.
Alarm time               Class Description
2022-06-02 01:52:05 IST Major Upgrade bank is empty or corrupted for FPC <fpc-slot>, please do standard upgrade sequence.

This alarm is basically generated in case of Dual RE / VC stack, where if there is mismatch in the jloader version between the FPCs.

 

For example, below is the output seen for the "show chassis firmware detail", where it shows the jloader version mismatch:

 

FPC 4

  Boot SYSPLD            10

  PFE-0                  1

  PHY

     microcode           0x128

  Boot Firmware

     uboot               U-Boot 1.1.6 (Mar 26 2011 - 04:42:33) 1.0.0

     loader              FreeBSD/PowerPC U-Boot bootstrap loader 2.4 >>> Jloader at 2.4

FPC 5

  Boot SYSPLD            6

  PFE-0                  1

  PHY

     microcode           0x128

  Boot Firmware

     uboot               U-Boot 1.1.6 (May 19 2010 - 05:03:13)

     loader              FreeBSD/PowerPC U-Boot bootstrap loader 2.2 >> Jloader at 2.2

 

Sometimes it can also be seen on standalone switches and the reason could be that the jloader is not compatible with the current Junos version of the switch.

 

11.4R4 onwards, when an EX-Series switch boots from the flash memory, and a valid jloader firmware image does not exist or is corrupted in the upgrade bank, the following alarm is. You must install a new loader software package if you are upgrading to a release that supports resilient dual-root partitions (Release 10.4R3 and later) from an earlier release (Release 10.4R2 and earlier). (See 10.4 or 11.1 Release Notes for additional details).

 

This alarm is harmless, but its is recommended that we upgrade the jloader version as well to the recommended or the latest.

Solution

The only solution that is available id to upgrade the jloader version.

To download the latest jloader version you may check out the below link:

 

https://supportportal.juniper.net/s/article/Feature-Release-quot-Resilient-Dual-Root-Partitions-quot-for-EX-Series-Switches-Junos-OS-Release-10-4R3-and-later

 

Else if there is any issue downloading the jloader file, you may contact the Juniper support team to request the necessary jloader file.

 

Once the file is available, kindly follow the below steps:

Step 1: Copy the file in /var/tmp folder/ directory.

 

The file name will be:  jloader-ex-3242-12.1R3-signed.tgz ( it can change based on device model)

 

Step 2: Once the file is copied on /var/tmp, you can run the below mentioned command on the FPC where we have received this alarm.

For standalone devices:

root@switch> request system software add /var/tmp/<jloader-file-name>

For devices in VC:
w
e need to add / push the jloader file separately on each member in VC. 

root@switch> request system software add /var/tmp/<jloader-file-name> member <member-id> 

 

Step 3: Once the push is completed, you can then reboot the device and complete the installation.

 

Once the switch / member comes UP, kindly check for the Jloader version using the command:

 

root@switch> show chassis firmware detail
 

If the jloader firmware is still not same then raise a case with JTAC for further investigations.

Modification History

2023-12-25 : Article Created
2024-01-24 : Validated the article.

Related Information

Ref case:

2022-0820-533133

2021-0717-323016

2021-0717-168100