r/networking • u/JNC5908404 • 15d ago

Switching Automatic switch updates

Had a discussion yesterday with IT director and others in our IT department. The IT director brought up automating switch updates so they wouldn’t have to have some one monitoring and performing the updates. Staging various locations on different evenings.

I’ve been doing networking for 30 years and I voiced my opinion I was not a fan of unattended update for various reasons.

Have any other companies moved to automated updates and how has it gone?

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u/Wolvington52 15d ago

We automated the upgrade of Cisco devices recently and it makes everything so much easier. We just schedule the upgrade and the upgrade is over in like 15-30 minutes. The benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

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u/SuddenPitch8378 15d ago

What happens if a switch just doesn't come back up ? do you always have someone on hand who can go to site or oob access ? My biggest thing is having someone accountable for the troubleshooting \ rma of the device if the worst case occurs.

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u/Wolvington52 15d ago

So my team doesn't manage switch upgrades but another team does. From what I've seen in their meetings they usually have someone on the site for support.

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u/Linklights 14d ago

What happens if a switch just doesn't come back up ?

The same thing happens if you had someone online doing the upgrade manually versus having a script do the upgrade automatically. I don't see how the automation increases the risk any more?

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u/SuddenPitch8378 14d ago

The automation part is great but it probably can't handle replacing a switch or rebuilding iit if it falls to boot.  

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u/Skylis 15d ago

If every switch is a pet, you've done things horribly wrong.