I've seen that 10.0.0.19 is now (wasn't initially) listed incompatible for the GSM7328FS. I do know that in some countries the M5300 line with a 24-Port SFP model was launched, but I hope GSM7328FS will not be EoL-ed too soon since our was bought in August this year...
I'm mostly interested in the new UDLD feature which is quite a nice addition to STP on fibre links. And since the GSM7328FS is essentially meant to be used on fibre links, well, you might see why I'm interested in UDLD.
Anything you can pass along (more or less publicly - PM?)
Well I thought it might be of interest for others? UDLD (and the iSCSI priorization) are quite nice features, additionally 8.0.0.34 firmware had a DST timezon bug (reported). 🙂
Anyway I also saw the issues with 10.0.0.19 firmware mentioned in forums. Initially when asking for 10.0.0.19 I was told that it was only M5300 series and and US only models but the download remained for another month (not that good) on the download page without notice about incompatibiliteis 😕
I may ask support or a rep in my country, but they usually don't know much more.
While they took some time to give an answer, here is what I got from a local Netgear guy when I asked him:
The GSM7328FS (v1) would not have enough flash memory to receive the 10.x firmware.
Indeed, the new M5300's have 128MB of flash, while the previous one had a mere 32MB. Also the memory has been doubled from 256 to 512MB.
Interestingly our other GSM7228PS also only has 32MB and is not "blacklisted" for 10.x. Hmm, we'll see, I haven't tried updating this one yet.
I've not received an answer whether this means EoL for this Model, or if it will just remain on the 8.x train but still receive critical fixes for some time to come.
Thanks, it also seems that the GSM7228PS is not able to flash the 10.0.0.19 firmware I have tried it on one. It reports back with an error that it's not a firmware intended for this box after uploading via TFTP. Although this Firmware is listed on the support portal for this box, I guess all L2+/L3 managed switches with 32MB flash will not receive 10.x and stay on 8.x.
I guessed and now somehow get confirmed that this can be a difference to other vendors. It's EoL when it's on this list, no previous announcements that it's going to be EoL'ed in which removes some planeability.
I'm definitely fine with such a policy granted that Netgear managed switches offer a solid and large feature set at a much lower cost point - including lifetime warranty - so that I can afford more of switches for the same buck than from other vendors, and still keep 1-2 spares around if one goes belly-up 🙂
For the first-generation GSM7228PS 10.0.0.31 has been made available. It is not the same firmware image as for it M5300 series brother (GSM7228PSv1h2) - actually another name and not same image size.
UDLD commands for example are definitely present with, cool
Just make sure that when with 8.0.3.x when you had 'spanning-tree bpduguard' (I) had to 'no spanning-tree edgeport' all uplink ports. (otherwise uplink port will be automagically shut down due to BPDU guard)
With 10.x it's consistent with the behavour I saw with of 9.x switches, which is actually inversed to 8.x. 'no spanning-tree edgeport' is now default, while 'spanning-tree edgeport' has to be explicitely configured.
Pay attention if you had edgeport configured on ports that you should revisit your startup-config after migration to 10.x.
I should definitely add that while GSM7228PS and a couple of other models are now supported by 10.0.0.31, the GSM7328FS isn't (yet?) as of their release notes. Applicable Models: GSM7328Sv2h1,GSM7228PSv1h1, GSM7352Sv2h1, GSM7252PSv1h1
I've contacted Netgear support whether GSM7328FS will get 10.x:
"Regarding your concern where you are asking whether GSM7328FS will take 10.0.0.31 firmware, no, the latest firmware for that model is v8.0.3.34."
That's bad. The messed up some things in the 8.x FW series, e.g. you cannot have 1024 ACLs, it's only 12 at each interface. Really bad! I think that I'll revert back to latest FW 7.x to see if feature is working right.
If you're the first owner of the device, register it and open a case, it can help.
I've run across an issue with DST updates happening too late on 8.0.3.34 and I've had to wait bit but theny they dropped me a time-limited download to an interim release that contained a bugfix.
Apparently if you have an issue and you bug them with a report you have a valid change to get a build - but not likely anything 9.x or 10.x based.
