Can someone help me understand why there would a difference between what firmware is shown on the cnMatrix Support site vs. the XMS-C platform that we use to manage our cnMatrix switches?
4.2.1-r5 - Available on XMS-C as Mainline and cnMatrix Support site under Archive
4.3-r3 - Available on XMS-C but not listed as Mainline or Technology and under cnMatrix Support site under Archive
4.6.1-r1 - Available on XMS-C but not listed as Mainline or Technology, however is not listed at all on cnMatrix Support site under either Current or Archive
4.4-r3 - Not listed in XMS-C but is listed under Archive on cnMatrix Support site
4.5-r3 - Not listed in XMS-C but is listed under Current on cnMatrix Support site
Please see attached screenshots.
Why do these discrepancies exist?
Why can’t I tell what is a “Technology” firmware release in XMS-C
I would have expected the “Current” release on cnMatrix Support site to be the “Technology” release in XMS-C and the one release behind to be the “Mainline” release. Can anyone clarify this for me?
A number of cnMatrix firmware updates were removed (4.6.0, 4.6.1, and 5.0) due to issues that may corrupt configuration data. A field service bulletin will be issued soon.
That’s fine and I expect firmware to be pulled for such reasons. However, what I wasn’t expecting is to find differing firmware listed within the different platforms which makes it really confusing as to which latest firmware to choose. Presumably not the 4.6.1-r1 in XMS-C since that version is known to cause issues, but why is it still there? If 4.4-r3 is the latest, why isn’t it in XMS-C?
I would also like to understand what constitutes a “Mainline” vs. “Technology” firmware update? Is the “Technology” the very latest and therefore we may have already been on 5.0 were we on that setting, before the firmware was pulled? At what point is “Mainline” put on a later firmware?
When will XMS-C be updated with the latest firmware as it’s still as shown in the screenshot above where 4.6.1-r1 is the latest but is known to have issues, 5.0.1-r4 is no where to be seen, leaving 4.3-r3 as the only viable upgrade option.
XMS-C reverts the firmware back to the versions set within the platform so if I upgrade via the switch GUI, XMS-C reverts it back.
Hi @Jon_McNamara
Thank you for the follow-up!
The latest cnMatrix firmware version is 5.0.2-r4 released this week; however, this version will be tagged as “recommended” after a few weeks.
For now, we are marking version 5.0.1-r4 as “recommended”. This is already updated in cnMaestro, and expect it soon in XMS-C as well.
I will share an update here once it is done.
Hi Jon, my apologies for the delay. If you log into your XMS-Cloud account, you will see the message for cnMatrix firmware upgrade scheduled for this coming Saturday. Only those accounts with the Firmware Upgrade Type set to “Automatic Upgrades” will have their switches automatically upgraded on that day.
Hi Gary, we have our firmware type set to “Mainline” for stability but the update you mention will only occur if we’re set to “Technology”.
When will Mainline be updated with a later firmware revision, given the version currently aligned to Mainline is 4.2.1-r5 and is coming up to 2 years old?
Hi Gary, thank you for the update and I can see that now in the xms-c platform.
Can you clarify what the typical release schedule for mainline is? Presumably it should be at least one behind the technology release schedule?
Can you also clarify when the Technology firmware will be added to the manual update list of available firmware? Having that listed would at least allow us to test the latest firmware on specific switches.
Hi Jon. Correct, mainline branch is normally one release behind the technology branch. You will see that now 5.0.2-r4 (the latest release) is available in the drop-down list for manual firmware upgrades.
