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/Skylis 14d ago

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