Dell N3024F Switch Failure

Question

I have a Dell N3024F switch that connects fiber from various switches around our campus. While I was out of town, the switch went down taking down the entire network as it is the central switch in the main server room. Someone made a video of the front panel of the switch at the time and what I am seeing is the Status LED blinking red, the Locator (PSU 2) LED blinking green (which is odd as no one has the password to the switch except me to turn on locator) and the Fan LED was solid red. All LEDs on the individual switch ports were off.

The switch was rebooted (turned off and turned on) and the errors cleared and the switch has been operating normally since.

Unfortunately, the logs have been overwritten so I cannot tell what exactly happened other than there was apparently a fan failure somehow.

Is there any way I can determine what happened? Or run some sort of diagnostic that might give me a further clue?

The switch is running firmware version 6.3.2.7. Should I upgrade the firmware? If so, which version should I upgrade to? 6.3.3.14 or 6.5.3.4? I am not using the stacking functions of the switch if that makes any difference.

Thanks.

DELL-Josh Cr · Accepted Answer

Yes, 6.5.3.4. The older 6.3 version was left available for people that need to step up to a middle version.

DELL-Chris H · Answer

6.5.4.23 fixes the following;

Silent Reboot on Management Switch in Stacking Setup (6.5.4.21/N3048P) [NEE-9597]
Fix for CVE-2023-48795 [NEE-9684]

You can try upgrading the firmware to see if it resolves, then if that doesn't solve the issue you can try downgrading as Marco suggested.

zzmyers · Answer

Thanks. That was what I was afraid of. Do you recommend 6.5.3.4? Why is there also a 6.3.3.14 version also on the download page?

DELL-Josh Cr · Answer

Hi,

We would recommend running the newest firmware. If the logs have been cleared there is not a way to look at them anymore. If you configure an external syslog server that could keep records of all errors. Page 424 https://downloads.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_networking/esuprt_net_fxd_prt_swtchs/networking-n3000-series_user%27s-guide10_en-us.pdf

Adam_99 · Answer

@DELL-Josh Cr​  Hi i have the same problem too eventhough I have upgraded my firmware to 6.5.4.23

DELL-Marco B · Answer

Hi, could you please describe the exact issue you're experiencing with the switch? Also, could you let me know which firmware version is currently installed?

Adam_99 · Answer

@DELL-Marco B​  Hi, The issue I'm experiencing is that the switch powers on, but none of the port LEDs are blinking, and there is no network activity. The health status and fan indicator LED is red. However, when I power cycle the switch (turn it off and on), it starts working fine again. The current firmware version installed is 6.5.4.23

DELL-Marco B · Answer

Hello, here you have a firmware update, can you try to update it? Dell EMC Networking N3000 Series, Firmware Version 6.5.4.17 | Driver Details | Dell US Thanks

Adam_99 · Answer

Hi marco, What’s the difference between the firmware version that I currently installed and 6.5.4.17?  Thanks

DELL-Marco B · Answer

These are fixes for the last version, I don't know which ones are the previous ones

FIELD-5917 :: CS00011500877 :: DNSE/6.5.4.x - N-Series - Port-Channel with port-security enabled, member interfaces goes inactive after peer host/switch reload causing traffic outage
FIELD-5992 :: CS00011612505 :: DNSE/N4000/6.5.4.17/messages "MAC moving for entry type 9 to type 1"
FIELD-4977 :: CS00010282531 :: DNSE/N2048P/6.6.0.15 - N-series doesn't reply with agreement BPDU for the proposal BPDU in RPVST mode (ported to 6.54 because of CSP#CS00011532139)

Adam_99 · Answer

Can you confirm if there are known issues in 6.5.4.23 that could cause my switch's issue? Also, why do you recommend downgrading to 6.5.4.17 instead of upgrading? Thanks

Adam_99 · Answer

@DELL-Chris H ​  Alright, thanks!

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Dell N3024F Switch Failure

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