Modding/upgrading Arista switches?

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zxv

The more I C, the less I see.
Sep 10, 2017
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can everyone with 7050qx-32S models paste the output of "show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal4"

curious what the latest version in the wild is since they don't provide or package aboot separately
Code:
Component       Version
--------------- ----------------------------
Aboot           Aboot-norcal2-2.0.10-1458058
Code:
show version
Arista DCS-7050QX-32-R
Hardware version:    02.11
This was purchased from Unixplus a couple of months ago.
 
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WANg

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can everyone with 7050qx-32S models paste the output of "show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal"

curious what the latest version in the wild is since they don't provide or package aboot separately
localhost#show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal4

Aboot Aboot-norcal4-4.1.0-3037060
 

spali

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Nov 4, 2018
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Just got mine today :D
After handcrafting an adapter between a RJ45 patchcable and a USBserial adapter I just updated to 4.21.0F.

can everyone with 7050qx-32S models paste the output of "show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal"
directly after the update:
Code:
localhost#show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal
Aboot           Aboot-norcal4-4.0.4-2086886
PS: mine seems to be the same hardware revision, also no SATA and the rest looks the same

Aboot Aboot-norcal4-4.1.0-3037060
which version of EOS do you have? I'm couros, because I know there is a 4.21.1F, but didn't find it somewhere.
 

WANg

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Just got mine today :D
After handcrafting an adapter between a RJ45 patchcable and a USBserial adapter I just updated to 4.21.0F.


directly after the update:
Code:
localhost#show version detail | grep -i Aboot-norcal
Aboot           Aboot-norcal4-4.0.4-2086886
PS: mine seems to be the same hardware revision, also no SATA and the rest looks the same


which version of EOS do you have? I'm couros, because I know there is a 4.21.1F, but didn't find it somewhere.
EOS-4.20.2.1F
 

WANg

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Okay, more fun with the 7050qx-32s - how to get around that stupid USB-DOM requirement.

Managed to get one of those standard 9 pin USB-pinout-to-port adapters from Amazon - however, realized that the pinout was mirrored.

If you look at Cactus Technology's super-helpful USB-DOM tech guide, they have a rather useful pinout right here:


Note that for the 9 pin connector only pins 1, 3 5 and 7 are needed (9 is keyed out as an anti-Murphy measure). Note that due to the way how the 9 pin connector is wired, you'll have a vertically mirrored image (where all the needed pins are on 2/4/6/8 intead of 1/3/5/7).

So what's the solution?

Offset it by a row so all the pins line up properly (sorry, not sure why embedding the photo failed).

I might dig the connectors out and re-terminate it later...or next time, buy and use one of these 4-pin-to-USB port adapters on Amazon instead and save the minor hassle. If you use that $4 adapter on Amazon you'll not need to buy a USB-DOM...it'll just be a simple USB thumbdrive instead. I'll recommend something small form-factor, like a Sandisk Cruzer Fit. Adapter + 16GB Cruzer fit is around $15 on Amazon prime 2-day shipping.
 
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fohdeesha

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which version of EOS do you have? I'm couros, because I know there is a 4.21.1F, but didn't find it somewhere.
latest is EOS-4.21.2F - sadly (at least in my OCD opinion) the EOS images do not upgrade/touch the aboot environment. I can understand why, more risky than flashing just fw and generally no need to. did find a hidden utility to flash a new coreboot/aboot bootloader, just need a source file. just grabbed aristas source code package, going to compile the latest coreboot + aboot with more options to boot other stuff easier (not needing to write to SPI).

I also have norcal4-4.1.0-3037060, looks like that's the latest out of our samples so far
 

fohdeesha

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yeah, nothing for normal users (except maybe some really niche physical security/boot security issues patched)

also here's a quick guide to properly format a new USB DOM so it appears like they do from factory. I originally just created a partition table on it, created sda1, then it would boot no problem, but kept getting weird "can't mount /dev/sda, /dev/sda1 already mounted" errors - so after looking through the aboot init scripts, it mounts the block device /dev/sda directly, no partitions, as vfat

So on a new USB DOM/internal USB storage:

Code:
#unplug front thumb drive
#power on
umount /mnt/flash
mkfs.vfat /dev/sda
reboot

#plug in front thumb drive
#copy the main image
cp /mnt/usb1/EOS-4.21.2F.swi /mnt/flash
#copy configs over from your thumb drive if they exist
cp /mnt/usb1/startup-config /mnt/flash
cp /mnt/usb1/zerotouch-config /mnt/flash
boot flash:EOS-4.21.2F.swi

#it will boot into EOS
#tell it to boot from internal flash automatically from now on
enable
config t
boot system flash:EOS-4.21.2F.swi
write
maybe obvious to most of you, not sure. Most embedded usb booting devices like this I've used in the past mounted a partition, so wasn't used to it wanting the raw black device

edit: neat, for aboot to boot the full SWI EOS image, it just kexecs the kernel from it, so coreboot does not get called again:
aboot > EOS boot stage 0
aboot >EOS boot stage 1
 
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fohdeesha

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also found a neat script that should speed up boot quite a lot, for people with onboard sata DOM or M2 flash.

instead of saving space by storing only the compressed SWI with a yet again compressed squashfs filesystem inside it, which must be decompressed, copied and mounted to boot the switch every time (which is what takes 80% of the boot time), there's /lib/image-install script in aboot - it takes an SWI image and extracts it to a directory of your choosing (like a directory on your fast m2 flash) where it permanently lives, now on each boot it just mounts that already extracted file system directly so no uncompressing stage. the script even updates /mnt/flash/boot-config for you so boots in the future automatically boot from your new dir:

Code:
sed -i -e "/^SWI=/ cSWI=dir:${target}" /mnt/flash/boot-config
it won't work with the onboard USB DOM, as the script requires an ext4 filesystem. You're welcome to attempt formatting the USB DOM as ext4, but aboot is hardcoded to mount it as vfat no matter what you do. Seems the only thing it's hardcoded to mount as ext4 is M2 flash or SATA DOMs.

also it seems the "dir" boot location argument is undocumented, the manual only mentions the usual options of flash, nfs, etc, all of which look for an SWI file. To install an SWI from a usb thumb drive to an extracted & uncompressed directory on an M2 drive that you have formatted to ext4:

Code:
/lib/image-install -d /mnt/drive /mnt/usb1/EOS-4.21.2F.swi
boot
you should then be able to boot much faster, since it's now booting EOS off of proper non-USB flash, and the image is already decompressed. I would say you could then pull out the USB DOM entirely and just boot off reliable M2 flash, but it seems it will still store your switch config and boot config on /mnt/flash (the usb dom). probably a way to change that as well I haven't found but I've already been up way too late

an install like this would also make it WAY easier to modify every bit of EOS to your liking: usually it's a read-only squashFS filesystem with just a couple persistent folders, but since this script unsquashes the FS to a static dir, you can edit away
 
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spali

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Nov 4, 2018
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Anyway thinking about if it is worth to replace my USB-DOM. I thought about just put the swi files on the M.2. and then just change the boot_config to load it from there. And as you suggest, this could be optimized by already extracting in beforehand.

Not tried yet, but if I'm right, then on every update, I would just need to image-install the swi to the disk (could be even a subdirectory!?) and point in boot-config to it. For me, this sounds like almost the same procedure as you would normally update the EOS.

according to the docs you would replace:
Code:
copy usb1:/sourcefile flash:/destfile
with
Code:
/lib/image-install -d /mnt/drive/4.21.2F /mnt/usb1/EOS-4.21.2F.swi
not sure if this can be done in the booted EOS instead of aboot.

and then replace
Code:
boot system flash:/EOS-4.13.2.swi
with
Code:
boot system drive:/EOS-4.13.2
or similar?

Should work in general.
Can anyone think of any caveat on not using this? I'm still to new to know what the impact could be.
 

spali

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Code:
/lib/image-install -d /mnt/drive/4.21.2F /mnt/usb1/EOS-4.21.2F.swi
not sure if this can be done in the booted EOS instead of aboot.
in booted EOS there the script available in /usr/sbin/image-install
so
Code:
bash /usr/sbin/image-install -d /mnt/drive/4.21.2F /mnt/flash/EOS-4.21.2F.swi
should do the trick.
Just can't test it now because I don't have the M.2 yet.
 

NathanM3

New Member
Dec 4, 2016
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Code:
Arista DCS-7050QX-32S-F
Hardware version:    21.32

Software image version: 4.20.2.1F
Architecture:           i386
Internal build version: 4.20.2.1F-7225656.42021F

Aboot           Aboot-norcal4-4.1.0-3037060
Is the M.2 Sata or NVME?
 

fohdeesha

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Anyway thinking about if it is worth to replace my USB-DOM. I thought about just put the swi files on the M.2. and then just change the boot_config to load it from there. And as you suggest, this could be optimized by already extracting in beforehand.

Not tried yet, but if I'm right, then on every update, I would just need to image-install the swi to the disk (could be even a subdirectory!?) and point in boot-config to it. For me, this sounds like almost the same procedure as you would normally update the EOS.

according to the docs you would replace:
Code:
copy usb1:/sourcefile flash:/destfile
with
Code:
/lib/image-install -d /mnt/drive/4.21.2F /mnt/usb1/EOS-4.21.2F.swi
not sure if this can be done in the booted EOS instead of aboot.

and then replace
Code:
boot system flash:/EOS-4.13.2.swi
with
Code:
boot system drive:/EOS-4.13.2
or similar?

Should work in general.
Can anyone think of any caveat on not using this? I'm still to new to know what the impact could be.
yup - it actually does it to a subdirectory named EOS by default (so if you point it to /mnt/drive it installs in /mnt/drive/EOS). the last line in the script automatically updates boot-config as well, so you shouldn't need to do that "boot system" command. if you did for some reason, the syntax is dir not drive, so something like boot system dir:/mnt/drive/EOS

only caveat I can think of is it still stores your switch startup-config file on the USB DOM, so you can't get rid of it. I guess this is no different than a normal install, but I'm going to poke around and see if I can get it putting everything on m2 automatically so I can remove the USB part completely and only have to rely on one flash unit
 
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spali

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Nov 4, 2018
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yup - it actually does it to a subdirectory named EOS by default (so if you point it to /mnt/drive it installs in /mnt/drive/EOS). the last line in the script automatically updates boot-config as well, so you shouldn't need to do that "boot system" command. if you did for some reason, the syntax is dir not drive, so something like boot system dir:/mnt/drive/EOS
no was by accident, repaced in in hurry ;)
only caveat I can think of is it still stores your switch startup-config file on the USB DOM, so you can't get rid of it. I guess this is no different than a normal install, but I'm going to poke around and see if I can get it putting everything on m2 automatically so I can remove the USB part completely and only have to rely on one flash unit
I don't care the config on the USB-DOM, because it shouldn't impact the performance to much just for the configuration. At least this was my intention and you can keep an swi file there for the case the M.2 dies, then you just need to update the boot config to get the switch up again with the same config. For me the USB-DOM is just a pain because of the limited size, so if I just move the swi (extracted or not) to the M.2, I'm not limited anymore. Would be cool if the boot config would support a kind of fallback if the extracted (on M.2) fails it would fall back to the swi on the USB-DOM. So you could have a upgrade path like copy to flash (as documented) and extract from there with the script and somehow edit the boot-config to first look at the M.2 and as fallback take the SUB-DOM.
 

WANg

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no was by accident, repaced in in hurry ;)

I don't care the config on the USB-DOM, because it shouldn't impact the performance to much just for the configuration. At least this was my intention and you can keep an swi file there for the case the M.2 dies, then you just need to update the boot config to get the switch up again with the same config. For me the USB-DOM is just a pain because of the limited size, so if I just move the swi (extracted or not) to the M.2, I'm not limited anymore. Would be cool if the boot config would support a kind of fallback if the extracted (on M.2) fails it would fall back to the swi on the USB-DOM. So you could have a upgrade path like copy to flash (as documented) and extract from there with the script and somehow edit the boot-config to first look at the M.2 and as fallback take the SUB-DOM.
Well, assuming that boot system drive:/EOS_4.3.swi works. I thought aboot or EOS config can only take usb1: or flash: as its boot device designator. Oh well, my Crucial MX500 might be coming on Saturday, so we can give it the old college try on Monday after work (I am tuning the switch to be as quiet as possible before it comes anywhere close to my apartment).
 

WANg

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looks like there's at least this many variants of the crow mgmt board:

Hm...I kinda doubt it - it looks like the powerucd profiles suggests that some Crow boards uses 1.5v DIMMs, while others uses the 1.35v DDR3L, but I am not sure the ECC RAM used by the Crows actually come in the 1.5v form, so while it is possible, it's fairly unlikely.

There are 2 versions of the Clearlake switch - a Clearlake (12MB packet buffer) and a ClearLakePlus (16MB packet buffer). I spent the evening unpacking the squashfs image so I can poke around without firing up the switch (which is in my $dayjob office going through a burn-in anyways).

So, fun times deciphering the entire 7050 family, here's the 411:

7050 (model number)
Connectivity type:
TX (10GBaseT/copper connectivity - I have no idea why anyone thinks that this is a good idea)
SX (10G SFP+ connectivity - much more like it)
QX (40GbE QSFP+ connectivity - can be broken out into quadruple SFP+ links)

If the Connectivity type is trailed with a 2, it's a "plus" model with more system RAM and a bigger packet buffer in the switch. The trailing S tells you whether you are getting 4 more SX ports on the switch or not. There is also a Q in certain models, but I think that's typically used by the SX models to denote the presence of 4 QX ports.

Example: The DCS-7050TX72Q will have, hmmm...48 10GBaseT copper ports and 6 40 GbE QSFP+ ports. That's a Crow-only model, BTW.

I'll come by tomorrow and drop the codenames for the switches, but they are a headache to decipher. I also found out that the CPU board model in a given switch is not defined by model (well, it is), but it could also be production date. It seems that there are 7050QX-32 and 32S models that can be both Raven and Crow, it only depend on whether it came out before or after the Turion II Neo CPUs are retired or not - if it's produced after the cutout it'll be the Crow (with the GX420CA). There are also some interesting information about the family of CPUs used by Arista in their hardware.
 

spali

Member
Nov 4, 2018
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Oh well, my Crucial MX500
I'm an idiot.... ordered an M-key only (NVMe)... had to send it back today.... did just not recognized it :) I think I'm ordering now too, a MX500.
Hm...I kinda doubt it - it looks like the powerucd profiles suggests that some Crow boards uses 1.5v DIMMs, while others uses the 1.35v DDR3L, but I am not sure the ECC RAM used by the Crows actually come in the 1.5v form, so while it is possible, it's fairly unlikely.
It seems that there are 7050QX-32 and 32S models that can be both Raven and Crow, it only depend on whether it came out before or after the Turion II Neo CPUs are retired or not - if it's produced after the cutout it'll be the Crow (with the GX420CA)
Checked mine after reading this, cpuinfo states GX-420CA.
Now I'm totally confused what kind of RAM I need to look for my 32S. But not only your fault ;) I found a pin-compatible old 1GB RAM module (SU3U1333B1G9-B) which I gave a shot... it worked... except it could not boot fine because during boot of EOS oom-killer killed all new processes :). But at least it was detected (but not as 1GB):
Code:
System RAM: 746104 kB
in the console.
And this module is (according to memoty4less.com) 1.5V non-ECC. So it seems that the switch isn't that picky?
@oddball mentioned in another thread what he had in his:
TriCor TRF7251U67G1600G8-MTEBP
ASMEM-00171
I have TRF7251U67G1600G8-NYCBP and SU3U1333B1G9-B was also detected. So my conclusion: 1.35V and 1.5V seems to work in mine and also ECC and non ECC.
I'm not a memory export, can't say what's a must for compatibility and what not... the only thing I know is ECC or Non-ECC should at least in theory not matter, what I proved on my side.

So I have following questions:
  • 1.35V vs 1.5V compatibility?
  • Single Rank vs Dual Rank compatibility?
  • Buffered vs Unbuffered compatibility?
  • Registered vs Unregister compatibility (I think not compatible)?
The problem of finding 16GB ECC for the 32S seems to be most because of Unregistered and Single/Dual Rank