Turbocharge your Quanta LB6M - Flash To Brocade TurboIron - Big Update!

[fohdeesha]

So uh, anyone buy a switch from this auction? LB6M Quanta 10GB 24 Port SFP Switch Dual Power Supply | eBay

Better yet, anyone buy one and receive it yet?

My buddy Hogie One Kanobi who ordered one from that listing last week got his and it wouldn't boot, upon opening it up we find out someone has drilled what looks to be the main flash: https://i.imgur.com/5cJbx9s.jpg

Both myself and @verygeeky have second LB6M's on order from this place so I guess we'll find out soon. Should have just gone with that UnixSurplus deal but this listing accepted a best offer that was too good to refuse

 

[StammesOpfer]

They are a reputable seller I know a lot of us have purchased from them in the past (CPUs for me). Hope it is just a fluke and that you get working gear otherwise unixsurplus coupon is good until 31-Dec. Could always order a few extra I'm sure you could unload a couple preflashed ones easy enough.

 

[fohdeesha]

Hoping that's the case! Also I just realized if you click on "see description" for that auction, it now says "Brand - BROCADE" LOL

 

[Jerrad]

Just wanted to say thanks, got mine working today with the instructions

 

[mangodoc]

I've confirmed that these SFP+ transceivers work in my LB6M/Brocade TurboIron 24x.

 

[T_Minus]

So uh, anyone buy a switch from this auction? LB6M Quanta 10GB 24 Port SFP Switch Dual Power Supply | eBay

Better yet, anyone buy one and receive it yet?

My buddy Hogie One Kanobi who ordered one from that listing last week got his and it wouldn't boot, upon opening it up we find out someone has drilled what looks to be the main flash: https://i.imgur.com/5cJbx9s.jpg

Both myself and @verygeeky have second LB6M's on order from this place so I guess we'll find out soon. Should have just gone with that UnixSurplus deal but this listing accepted a best offer that was too good to refuse

I have 2 LB6M I would sell, if interested PM me.

 

[fohdeesha]

Update regarding this auction - LB6M Quanta 10GB 24 Port SFP Switch Dual Power Supply | eBay

@verygeeky got his two in and they're both missing a bunch of case screws, and you guessed it, have had the main flash IC drilled out. Looks like this seller couldn't be arsed to actually test them (or even look at the case missing a bunch of screws) like his auction says he did.

Mine gets here tomorrow and I'm sure it'll be the same. Just a heads up to anyone thinking about buying one from this guy. Looks like I'm back in the market for a second LB6M

 

[AT S37=0]

I can confirm that my LB6M from UnixPlus is brand new, the flash was untouched. It is definitely worth the extra $20 or whatever.

 

[d.ohlin]

What the hell? Your definitely gonna return right mate?

Looks like the Unix guys have the most decent deal right now, as Ebay is full of dudes trying to ring a few extra bucks out of their used LB6M's.

I'm thinking its probably best to do Unix before the 31st if you can spare the extra bucks. At least they have 'em fairly new and in great condition with rack ears and everything. I'm headed over there now...

Quanta LB6M 24-Port 10GbE SFP+ 4x 1GbE L2/L3 Switch

Patrick posted this code: STH50LB6M17 that will give you $50 off, so this brings the price to $275. Coupon expires 12/31/17. So hurry my peeps. See the deal thread here: The Quanta LB6M Deal Thread

Yeah they're definitely brand new not even used. 100% worth the few extra bucks. Total for mine came to right at $300 shipped. Not bad at all.

 

[fohdeesha]

My LB6m from the doomed ebay seller got here and yup, it's drilled - https://i.imgur.com/Mtw1M1Z.jpg

After every single one he's sold has been reported as faulty he still hasn't pulled the listing either, so I'm mentally filing that seller under "a f*cking moron".

And yeah, I'm definitely picking one up from UnixSurplus tonight. Should have just done that in the first place (d'oh).

Jack @ UnixSurplus told me the STH coupon code for $50 off is also being extended to march, so no need to rush anymore either

 

[d.ohlin]

@fohdeesha Ok so I'm just getting a chance to walk through the tutorial, however right at the first step (where I run '
md 0xfff80000 20'), I get the following:

fff80000: 27051956 552d426f 6f742032 3030392e '..VU-Boot 2009.
fff80010: 30362028 41707220 31392032 30313120 06 (Apr 19 2011
fff80020: 2d203135 3a35373a 30362900 60000000 - 15:57:06).`...
fff80030: 3c20d000 60213f80 38000000 9401fffc < ..`!?.8.......
fff80040: 9401fffc 9421fff8 3c00ffff 6000fffc .....!..<...`...
fff80050: 9421fff8 9001000c 48000005 7dc802a6 .!......H...}...
fff80060: 800e171c 7dc07214 480020dd 3c600002 ....}.r.H. .<`..
fff80070: 60631200 7c600124 4c00012c 48002065 `c..|`.$L..,H. e

Whereas in the tutorial it says the output should match the following exactly:

fff80000: 27051956 552d426f 6f742032 3030392e '..VU-Boot 2009.
fff80010: 30362028 41707220 31392032 30313120 06 (Apr 19 2011
fff80020: 2d203135 3a35373a 30362900 60000000 - 15:57:06)....
fff80030: 3c20d000 60213f80 38000000 9401fffc < ..!?.8.......
fff80040: 9401fffc 9421fff8 3c00ffff 6000fffc .....!..<......
fff80050: 9421fff8 9001000c 48000005 7dc802a6 .!......H...}...
fff80060: 800e171c 7dc07214 480020dd 3c600002 ....}.r.H. .<..
fff80070: 60631200 7c600124 4c00012c 48002065 c..|.$L..,H. e

They look extremely similar, but if you look closely my output has quite a few additional ` marks on the right hand side. Is this cause for concern?? Thanks!!

 

[fohdeesha]

Nice catch! That's the ASCII interpretation of the raw hex on the left, and your raw hex matches the example, so you're good to flash. Looking briefly at the bootloader in a hex editor, it looks like your interpretation with the extraneous ' is the correct one, our example must have lost them during a copy paste somewhere or got formatted out.

before flashing, can you do me a favor and copy the entirety of the output of md 0xfff80000 20 and paste it in pastebin so the formatting doesn't get screwed up? Then I'll add that to the guide and replace the current example that's missing the `

 

[d.ohlin]

Nice catch! That's the ASCII interpretation of the raw hex on the left, and your raw hex matches the example, so you're good to flash. Looking briefly at the bootloader in a hex editor, it looks like your interpretation with the extraneous ' is the correct one, our example must have lost them during a copy paste somewhere or got formatted out.

before flashing, can you do me a favor and copy the entirety of the output of md 0xfff80000 20 and paste it in pastebin so the formatting doesn't get screwed up? Then I'll add that to the guide and replace the current example that's missing the `

Thanks for the quick reply! And I was somewhat figuring that, but it still caught me off guard lol.

And sure thing, here ya go! fff80000: 27051956 552d426f 6f742032 3030392e '..VU-Boot 2009. fff80010: 303 - Pastebin.com

 

[fohdeesha]

Thanks! and if it's not too late, can you also pastebin the outputs of the other two commands it asks you do to after doing the steps, (the ones that have MUCH in them ), as I have a feeling our examples there have also lost that character

 

[d.ohlin]

Thanks! and if it's not too late, can you also pastebin the outputs of the other two commands it asks you do to after doing the steps, (the ones that have MUCH in them ), as I have a feeling our examples there have also lost that character

Running 'md 0x100000 20' results in the following: 00100000: 4d554348 02057be5 0005a2d6 00004058 MUCH..{.......@X 00100010: 000 - Pastebin.com

Running 'md 0xfff80000 20' the second time (after erasing and flashing the brocade BL) gives me this: fff80000: 4d554348 02057be5 0005a2d6 00004058 MUCH..{.......@X fff80010: 000 - Pastebin.com

Unless I'm not seeing something, from what I can tell the first example is the only one that's not 100% correct.

 

[fohdeesha]

looks like you're right, better safe than sorry. I'll get the site updated with that tomorrow. I take it the flashing went well?

 

[d.ohlin]

looks like you're right, better safe than sorry. I'll get the site updated with that tomorrow. I take it the flashing went well?

It did!!

Understand that I'm quite the noob at some of this stuff, so from an unfamiliarity standpoint alone I took the liberty of making a few notes as I went along on a few points where I just assumed some stuff. Feel free to add or update the guide if you feel like any of this stuff is warranted for others

1. After the 'reset' command (when the switch is first going to reboot into the Brocade BL) I wasn't certain whether I should be expecting anything after "Monitor>". After waiting a little while I assumed that was the BL prompt, which turned out to be correct.

2. After the following block of commands:

enable
conf t
int management 1
ip addr 192.168.1.50/24
exit
write mem

You need another "exit" command. The first 'exit' takes you from the configuration of the management interface (prompt of 'TX24 Router(config-if-mgmt-1)#') back to global config (prompt of 'TX24 Router(config)#'). But the next 'copy...' command is invalid from this point. You need another 'exit' to bring you back to the base privileged exec mode (prompt of 'TX24 Router#') for the next 'copy...' command to be valid.

3. Towards the end you have 'copy tftp flash 192.168.10.49 brocadeboot.bin bootrom'. Maybe consider changing this to 'copy tftp flash 192.168.1.49 brocadeboot.bin bootrom' to line up with what the rest of your article?

4. After 'copy tftp flash 192.168.10.49 brocadeboot.bin bootrom' my unit hung at a prompt that said "Write to boot flash.". I was unsure on how long I was supposed to let it sit like this, and so after ~5 minutes when it still hadn't progressed any further I tried just hitting "enter" and it dropped me right back to the "TX24 Router#" prompt as expected.

Again, just a few notes on points where most anyone with a thinking brain could probably put 2 and 2 together and get through easily enough, but it might not hurt to add a couple more points of clarity if you agree! Overall superb documentation, I applaud it as too many of these types of things are done by people who are brilliant but can't for the life of them write well-detailed documentation! Thanks again!!

 

[fohdeesha]

That's *exactly* the kind of feedback we're looking for. Will add all of this tomorrow!

I think it says a lot about the community (in a good way) that all the testers made it past those without issue, I've seen people break things with much smaller mistakes

We have a 0% brick rate so far, let's see if we can keep it there forever

 

[thunderliu]

So uh, anyone buy a switch from this auction? LB6M Quanta 10GB 24 Port SFP Switch Dual Power Supply | eBay

Better yet, anyone buy one and receive it yet?

My buddy Hogie One Kanobi who ordered one from that listing last week got his and it wouldn't boot, upon opening it up we find out someone has drilled what looks to be the main flash: https://i.imgur.com/5cJbx9s.jpg

Both myself and @verygeeky have second LB6M's on order from this place so I guess we'll find out soon. Should have just gone with that UnixSurplus deal but this listing accepted a best offer that was too good to refuse

I happened to purchase from this seller too. The first one didn't work so he exchanged for me (I didn't see this thread earlier). Then I received the second unit, it didn't work either. Opened just now, surely it's drilled.

 

[fohdeesha]

I happened to purchase from this seller too. The first one didn't work so he exchanged for me (I didn't see this thread earlier). Then I received the second unit, it didn't work either. Opened just now, surely it's drilled.

It drove me nuts, he had gotten at least 4 reports of drilled flashes and still hadn't pulled the listing. After messaging him pictures back and forth today I finally got him to inspect the rest of his inventory and he replied with "it seems we have bad stock, we'll need to return them to the vendor". Ya think? Couldn't have taken a look at them *before* listing them as tested and working?