Brocade ICX Series (cheap & powerful 10gbE/40gbE switching)
- Thread starter fohdeesha
- Start date
Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.
Bought an ICX7450-48P from ebay to replace my ICX6610-48P. What firmware train is the way to go these days - 9.0.10 or 8.0.95?
Last edited:
Ok, after spending a few more hours troubleshooting, I've come to several conclusions...
It's not a POE problem after all on the 7450-32ZP 2.5Gb ports. I brought back an extra Unifi AC HD AP (1Gb connection) and a Unifi U7 Pro (2.5Gb connection), all with latest firmware. The U7 works with POE on ports 25-32 now. The AC HD works on the non-2.5Gb ports with POE.
Only when I plug in the AC HD into the 2.5Gb ports (with settings "speed-duplex 1000-full" in pairs) it doesn't work. When I plug in a non-POE 1Gb connection into ports 31 & 32 (set to 1Gb) it connects. MORE IMPORTANTLY, when I plug in the AC HD w/ a POE injector into ports 31 & 32, it still doesn't connect. When I plug in this set up into a normal 1Gb port, it connects without using POE.
So it looks like some specific devices like the Unifi AC HD doesn't work in the 2.5Gb ports (despite the 1Gb forced setting). I was doing some light digging and it seems like older 1Gb devices (unmanaged switches, IoT, 1Gb NICs w/o link training fallback) might encounter problems perhaps in this case. And looks like the APs are very strict on the 802.3ab standard.
Would anyone be able to shed more light in consideration of these findings? It looks like I may need a separate switch for these APs. I'm hoping there might be something I can do in the Unifi or Brocade settings to make it work.
Last edited:
If I had more budget and can start over again, I’d go with Ruckus unleashedUbiquity = no good
I've been happily running with my Brocade ICX7250 48P-2X10G switch for a few months now. Recently I observed my Proxmox cluster nodes regularly rebooting my VMs and I think I have traced the problem to the Brocade switch. It seems to reboot intermittently multiple times per day and I don't see an obvious pattern to it.
I have syslog remote logging to a server so these logs persist whilst the show logging outputs don't seem to survive a reboot. I don't see anything weird in there other than regular warnings along the lines of:
May 26 19:42:24:A:System: Stack unit 1 Temperature 67.0 C degrees,
I see this steadily rise to about 80C then at some stage a reboot occurs and the temperatures can be closer to 60C again then start rising.
I wonder then if these issues are actually thermal related despite being below the shutdown temperature of 105C? I also note that recently I discovered one of my ports with an SFP+ to 10GBaseT adapter was not blinking LEDs or providing a network. On replacing the adapter the switch quickly went into a boot loop with all amber LEDs. I had the system powered off overnight then next day it powered on ok with the adapter in except for this more intermittent boot looping.
Am hoping someone can make sense of this/have seen something similar in their own switch, and suggest how I can fix this. Any advice would be very much appreciated at this stage as aside from this new issue I have been very happy with this device. Thanks for your help!
Here is some further debug output:
show version
Copyright (c) Ruckus Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.
UNIT 1: compiled on Aug 8 2023 at 23:06:54 labeled as SPR08095m
(33554432 bytes) from Primary SPR08095m.bin (UFI)
SW: Version 08.0.95mT213
Compressed Primary Boot Code size = 786944, Version:10.1.26T215 (spz10126)
Compiled on Tue Nov 29 23:13:15 2022
HW: Stackable ICX7250-48-HPOE
==========================================================================
UNIT 1: SL 1: ICX7250-48P POE 48-port Management Module
Serial #
Software Package: ICX7250_L3_SOFT_PACKAGE (LID: fwmINJKnGfb)
Current License: l3-prem-8X10G
P-ASIC 0: type B344, rev 01 Chip BCM56344_A0
==========================================================================
UNIT 1: SL 2: ICX7250-SFP-Plus 8-port 80G Module
==========================================================================
1000 MHz ARM processor ARMv7 88 MHz bus
8 MB boot flash memory
2 GB code flash memory
2 GB DRAM
STACKID 1 system uptime is 3 hour(s) 44 minute(s) 17 second(s)
The system started at 19:38:19 CST Mon May 26 2025
The system : started=cold start
show chassis:
Fan 1 Air Flow Direction: Front to Back
Fan 2 Air Flow Direction: Front to Back
Fan 3 Air Flow Direction: Front to Back
Slot 1 Current Temperature: 72.9 deg-C (Sensor 1), 22.0 deg-C (Sensor 2)
Slot 2 Current Temperature: NA
Warning level.......: 0.0 deg-C
Shutdown level......: 105.0 deg-C
I now believe the issue to be intermittent faults with its single power supply. It was quite dusty but cleaning this has not improved the situation, though may have contributed to the power supply failure n the first place.
I have identified that the power supply LED on the front of the switch is amber and according to the manual indicates failure:
Power LED is Amber: Internal power supply has failed. Contact Technical Support.
So I guess the remaining question is, does anyone know if I can replace/fix the power supply or is it time to buy a new switch?
Tried that... no luck. BUT I did manage to fix it. Ended up biting the bullet and bought some new serial cables from ebay from China and got the serial output I wanted. just testing all the PoE ports and things should be smooth for the rest of the new homelab.Thanks for all the suggestions though. Good to learn to troubleshootI got yesterday two 7150-24p and it didn't work on the first switch. After ten minutes I switched
You could try to let it run for 5minutes, restart it and then try pressing/mashing b
Attachments
If you are using 1000 Mbps connection devices is there a reason not to just use them on the 10/100/1000 ports and reserve the 2.5gb ports for 2.5gb devices only?
On my 7150-48zp 90w poe is only available on the 2.5GBE ports, maybe ipreferpie has the same "problem"
Hmm. Running into another problem now. For the ICX 7250-48P I replaced the 3 fans with noctua ones (I'd done the same thing with my old 6430). Ran fine. Went into console, followed Fohdeesha's guide and updated it. Now it runs into an error during boot saying
FATAL ERROR: At least one good FRU fan should be present in the system
and shuts itself off and bootloops. Issue wasn't there before so I'm really not sure why it's bootlooping now. I could just put back the old fans but I have this sitting on my desk and it's much noisier than I'd prefer.
FATAL ERROR: At least one good FRU fan should be present in the system
and shuts itself off and bootloops. Issue wasn't there before so I'm really not sure why it's bootlooping now. I could just put back the old fans but I have this sitting on my desk and it's much noisier than I'd prefer.
Not sure if anyone has done this before, but just wanted to mention that it is possible to run Noctua 40mm fans in the ICX 7250. By default, fan voltage is way too low for them. Even if they continue spinning after startup, they'll be marked as failed (and would not flow enough air to keep the switch cool anyway).
I got around this by pulling +12V off the RPSU board so that the fans would always spin at maximum RPM. The fans continue to report the tach signal to the board via the usual fan headers. At full speed, the switch has no problem with the RPM and considers the fans good. The noise level is SO much better even with the two fans at full speed. Switch temps are about 10'C higher in my case (from low 70s to low 80s now). This breaks fan speed control, obviously, but the switch has no idea.
I soldered two leads to one of the +12V pins on the rear of the RPSU board:
It's a bit ugly, but its on there very well. Here is a closeup of the fan wiring:
The fans I used were 3-pin 40x25mm NF-A4x20FLX models. I may see if I can get some additional cooling into the switch. Maybe a 3rd fan, but this would require a rear cutout. I may also see if a 10mm fan will have enough clearance to be mounted on top of the heatsink.
Ahh goddamn it.I'll put the old fans back in, boot in an configure everything then see if I mod the fans.
The 32zp has the opposite limitation, the 90w ports are a different set of 8 from the 2.5. Bit of a weird move on brocade's part.
first of all big thanks to fohdeesha for the great thread and guide on those switches.
I get following warning at each reboot Unable to open /fast_iron/ka_link_reg.txt - what actually does it mean and should i take any actions here? I have seen couple of users mentioning it but did not find any further info.
I get following warning at each reboot Unable to open /fast_iron/ka_link_reg.txt - what actually does it mean and should i take any actions here? I have seen couple of users mentioning it but did not find any further info.
Upgraded from an ICX6610-48P to an ICX7450-48P w/ 2x 40G modules and 1x Quad-10G module. I have a 10GTek SFP+ RJ45 module that worked fine in the 6610 and appeared to work in the 7450 but kept getting warnings and alarms of low voltage on the "optic" and it was at 2.95 volts and up to 3.05 at times and the interface started losing connectivity overnight. Is the Quad-10G module not capable of providing the power needed to drive this RJ45 adapter? Note: the rest of the SFP+ ports are unpopulated.
Well it turns out the issue is not at the switch-end but at the client-end in terms of connectivity. It appears one of the SFP+ ports has stopped working on my CX3 Pro card with this 10GTek SFP+ 10GBASE-T module. I still wonder if it is related to the fact that the voltage on the switch-end is below the alarm threshold (3.00 volts is the low voltage alarm) and perhaps caused damage on the other end?
FWIW, the Brocade 10G-SR optics I threw in the ICX7450 10G module to test all appear to get about 3.21V which is on the lower end but within spec.
EDIT: To be clear, the 10GTek 10GBASE-T transceiver on the CX3 client device is getting about 3.2V as reported by ethtool.
FWIW, the Brocade 10G-SR optics I threw in the ICX7450 10G module to test all appear to get about 3.21V which is on the lower end but within spec.
EDIT: To be clear, the 10GTek 10GBASE-T transceiver on the CX3 client device is getting about 3.2V as reported by ethtool.
Just lost my POE functionality on my ICX6610-48P
Power supplies are reporting good.
If I do
I get which is not promising
I try to flash a POE firmware I get
Does anyone have any thoughts on recovery?
I imagine that the POE board died somehow
Thanks!
Power supplies are reporting good.
If I do
show inline power detailI get which is not promising
Firmware
Version
----------------
00.0.0 Build 000I try to flash a POE firmware I get
SSH@switch-6610#inline power install-firmware stack-unit 1 tftp 10.9.8.11 ICX6610-FCX/fcx_poeplus_02.1.0.b004.fw
SSH@switch-6610#Flash Memory Write (8192 bytes per dot) ...............
tftp download successful file name = poe-fw
Sending PoE Firmware to Unit 1.
Firmware Update failedDoes anyone have any thoughts on recovery?
I imagine that the POE board died somehow
Thanks!
Hey guys, I'm new around here. I'm thinking about adding some PoE cameras to my setup, somewhere between 8 and 10, so after doing some research I found this thread
Question: Is the ICX 6450-24P @ ~$75 still a decent buy these days?
I want something that produces little noise and heat, and consumes as little energy as possible (this device will sit at, or very close to, my desk where I work from every day). I considered the ICX 7150-C12P @ ~$100 with a difference in price that would be offset during the first year based on power draw, but I'm a little afraid 10 PoE cameras could be too much for such fanless device at ~140W total, and I would be left with only 2 available ports after that. So, according to the first post, the next device with the lowest noise and power draw would be the ICX 6450-24P
Optional read (extra context): I recently started my homelab from scratch with a M920q and an Intel I350-T4 V2 (4x1GbE) network card, but now have access to a 3D printing service nearby so I would like to upgrade to a 2x10GbE network card (I'm thinking specifically about an Intel X520-DA2 that's posted on eBay at ~$17) since now I could print a custom cover for the card and a whole case cover for better thermals. I would use one of the card ports for the WAN, and the other one to connect to the switch. Ideally, besides my 2 (non-PoE) wireless access points I wouldn't need any extra network equipment. The ethernet runs go from my home office area to the rest of the house so that's why my router/server and the switch will sit at, or very close to, my desk
Question: Is the ICX 6450-24P @ ~$75 still a decent buy these days?
I want something that produces little noise and heat, and consumes as little energy as possible (this device will sit at, or very close to, my desk where I work from every day). I considered the ICX 7150-C12P @ ~$100 with a difference in price that would be offset during the first year based on power draw, but I'm a little afraid 10 PoE cameras could be too much for such fanless device at ~140W total, and I would be left with only 2 available ports after that. So, according to the first post, the next device with the lowest noise and power draw would be the ICX 6450-24P
Optional read (extra context): I recently started my homelab from scratch with a M920q and an Intel I350-T4 V2 (4x1GbE) network card, but now have access to a 3D printing service nearby so I would like to upgrade to a 2x10GbE network card (I'm thinking specifically about an Intel X520-DA2 that's posted on eBay at ~$17) since now I could print a custom cover for the card and a whole case cover for better thermals. I would use one of the card ports for the WAN, and the other one to connect to the switch. Ideally, besides my 2 (non-PoE) wireless access points I wouldn't need any extra network equipment. The ethernet runs go from my home office area to the rest of the house so that's why my router/server and the switch will sit at, or very close to, my desk
I have a 7150-C12 in my AV cabinet, and found that its ambient heat built up enough to trigger the temp controlled fans on and off. So I sat a spare AC Infinity fan on top of it and it now runs happily with a low temp, and it is basically impossible to hear over any other noise. I have the fan set to low, since that’s all it needs, but it has higher settings too
You’d still have to do the math of if it’s power budget is enough for the cameras you’re going to use, but it shouldn’t be a problem to keep it cool enough under load without much noise.
If port count really is an issue, you could track down a 7150-24P. Depending on how much PoE is going through it, you can run it fanless (there is a config option), or switch out the fans for something quieter. Look up the posts in this thread about the 7250 fan mods for good options.
That said, you will still be able to hear it, though you can probably get it down to a level akin to having a split system AC in the same room.
The 7150-24P looks promising. Any idea why it's not listed on the first post? (just curious)