Applicable Models:

• M4300-12X12F(XSM4324S)
• M4300-24X(XSM4324CS)

Fixed Issues

1. 10G SFP port fails to link up after device is rebooted.
2. Fixed the problem where device may crash occasionally with the following task bcmATP-RX, unitMgrTask or spmTask, shown in the debugging log.

Since release 6.6.4.7, firmware 6.6.4.x enables M4300-12X12F and M4300-24X to mix-stack with S3300 series of Smart Switches.

Below are special notes and restrictions when stacking these two series of switches. These are the same contents as in the release notes of 6.6.4.7.

1.   M4300-12X12F/M4300-24X (thereafter referred to as M4300) and S3300 series have separate 6.6.4.x images to support this mixed stacking.

• Before these switches can be stacked together, each series need to be upgraded to their respective 6.6.4.x images.
• To load 6.6.4.x image onto M4300 unit running with firmware version older than 12.0.2.17, M4300 needs to be upgraded to 12.0.2.17 or newer version first.
• Once a M4300 unit is running with 6.6.4 image, it can be brought back to M4300 family by directly downloading and activating a 12.0.0.x/12.0.2.x image into it.

For the detailed procedures regarding M4300/S3300 firmware upgrading, please refer to section "Smart M4300/S3300 Firmware Upgrade Procedure" in S3300 User Manual (page 356~359) of 6.6.4.x firmware.

2.   On the two M4300 models, maximum 4 10G ports (any 4 from below 8 available ports) can be configured as stacking ports.

• M4300-24X: port 17~24
• M4300-12X12F: port 9~12 and port 21~24       

3.   M4300 with 6.6.4.x image scales down to S3300 feature set to become part of the stacking.

• AVB will not be available even in Standalone mode on M4300.
• All stacking functionalities of S3300 extend to these two M4300 platforms. However, NSF (Non-Stop Forwarding) is not be supported.
• Either S3300 or M4300 can be stack master or standby.
• CLI under console port is not supported.
• Service port is not supported for management or any other purpose.

4. New features for M4300 running smart 6.6.4.x image.

• SCC (Smart Control Center) can be used to discover the smart M4300 and do some basic settings; just same as that can be done on S3300.
• Reset button on front panel of M4300 models can be used to factory default the unit.
  • When the reset button is pressed for 2~5 seconds, the switch will simply reset (reload);
  • When the reset button is pressed for over 5 seconds, the switch will got for factory default (clear all configuration followed by reload).

Known issues

• SFP+ model AXM765 cannot be used as 10G stacking.

[Workaround]: Use other SFP+ models AXM761, AXM762, AXM763 or DAC cable AXC761/AXC763 instead.

Upgrade procedure

1. Save the current configuration data. Normally the firmware will preserve the original configuration in the switch, however, just in case something went wrong during the upgrade, you may want to save a copy of current running configuration. To do so, go to ‘Maintenance->Upload’ page, and select Text Configuration option and click Apply button to save the configuration file.
2. Using the Download Link below, download and extract the new firmware to a convenient place such as your desktop.
   
   Download Link: http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/M4300/XSM4324S_XSM4324CS_V6.6.4.9.zip
    
3. M4300 switch support dual image which means it has two firmware images calls ‘image1’ and ‘image2’. Before upgrading either one with the new firmware, check which image is active. You can check it using either web UI or CLI. In the following web example, the active image is image1 and backup image is image2. That means if the switch rebooted, it will use image1. Therefore if you upgrade image1, then upon reboot, the new firmware will be used.
   

   To check the same with CLI, issue the following command:

   show bootvar

   The output will show which image is used for next reboot. It is best practice to upgrade the one not being used for next reboot (“Next Active Image”).

4. There are two ways to download the new firmware from PC to the switch. One is using TFTP which requires a TFTP server be installed on the PC where the firmware is stored from step #2. The second method is to use web browser which requires of no TFTP server. If you preferred to use TFTP method, or you’re using telnet session to perform firmware upgrade, continue to step #6.
5. To use web method, go to the following web GUI page, and select the location of the new firmware via browse button, then click Apply button to start firmware upgrade. The upgrade will take about 2 minutes. Do not power cycle the switch before the process is complete. Assume image2 is backup image.
   

   After the Apply button is clicked, the file transfer will start, and followed by writing the new image to the Flash memory. Do not power cycle or reboot the switch until the process is complete and the success message shows up as below.

   

   After the successful message, proceed to step #9 to restart the switch.

6. Start a TFTP server on the PC where the new images are stored. If you do not have a TFTP server, you may want to try the following public domain TFTP servers
   PumpKIN - http://kin.klever.net/pumpkin/
7. You can use either web interface or CLI interface to perform upgrade using TFTP. To use web interface, select “File Upgrade’ page under Upgrade tab, and follow the screen instruction to complete the firmware upgrade. To use CLI, either telnet into the switch or use console port and follow these steps below.
8. On the switch console, type the following command on the console or telnet session window:

   copy tftp://<tftp server IP address><image name> image1 or image2

   “<tftp server IP address>” is the IP address where the TFTP server is running. The “<image name>” is the new firmware to upgrade to, and make sure the file is stored in the TFTP root directory. Select either to upgrade the image1 or image2.

   The switch will ask to confirm with input data displayed. Hit enter if all parameters look correct.The file transfer process should take about two minutes, then the new firmware will be checked for possible corruption, if all checked out, it will report firmware successfully upgraded.

9. At this point if you just reboot the switch, since the switch is not using the one you upgraded, then reboot will still using the old firmware. Follow the step below to change it to the new version.
10. To use GUI to change the backup image to active, go to web page ‘Maintenance->File Management -> Dual Image Configuration’ page.
    

    Assume image2 is the one upgraded. Select image2 on every unit in the stack (if you’re using a stack), and select ‘True’ in ‘Next Active Image’. Click ‘Apply’ button to make the change. If the new image is downloaded to the active image directly, please skip this step.

    To use CLI to change the image to be used in the next reboot, type the following command:

    boot system <image1 or image2>

    And issue the following command to reboot:

    reload

11. To use GUI to restart the switch, go to web page ‘Maintenance->Reset’ page, Device Reboot table.

    Make sure that “All” is selected in ‘Reboot Unit No’ drop down menu box. If it is shown with some other value like ‘1’, then only unit 1 in the stack will be rebooted, and this may result in stack failure after the stack is rebooted. You may select ‘Save prior to reboot’ option if you feel there are changes that may not have being saved. Click ‘APPLY’ button to start the reboot process.

12. After the switch is restarted, type the following CLI command to verify the version is correct.

    a. # show hardware

    Or go to GUI System main page to confirm the switch firmware is the one downloaded.

13. Verify the switch running configuration by issuing “show running-config” command. The output should match the configuration file saved on step #1. If there are not, please call Netgear customer support on discrepancy, or submit a trouble ticket from ‘my.netgear.com’. And manually reapply the missing configuration commands back to the switch.
14. You can now make additional configuration change for another other application need. And be sure to use “save” command to save the configuration after you’re done.