Testing new firmware before installing it
You can test a new firmware image by temporarily running it from memory, without saving it to disk. By keeping your existing firmware on disk, if the evaluation fails, you do not have to re-install your previous firmware. Instead, you can quickly revert to your existing firmware by simply rebooting the FortiADC appliance.
To test a new firmware image
1. Download the firmware file from the Fortinet Technical Support web site:
2. Connect your management computer to the FortiADC console port using a RJ-45-to-DB-9 serial cable or a null-modem cable.
3. Initiate a connection from your management computer to the CLI of the FortiADC appliance.
4. Connect port1 of the FortiADC appliance directly or to the same subnet as a TFTP server.
5. Copy the new firmware image file to the root directory of the TFTP server.
6. If necessary, start your TFTP server. (If you do not have one, you can temporarily install and run one such as
tftpd (
Windows,
Mac OS X, or
Linux) on your management computer.)
| Because TFTP is not secure, and because it does not support authentication and could allow anyone to have read and write access, you should only run it on trusted administrator-only networks, never on computers directly connected to the Internet. If possible, immediately turn off tftpd off when you are done. |
7. Verify that the TFTP server is currently running, and that the FortiADC appliance can reach the TFTP server.
To use the FortiADC CLI to verify connectivity, enter the following command:
execute ping 192.168.1.168
where 192.168.1.168 is the IP address of the TFTP server.
8. Enter the following command to restart the FortiADC appliance:
execute reboot
9. As the FortiADC appliances starts, a series of system startup messages appear.
Press any key to display configuration menu........
10. Immediately press a key to interrupt the system startup.
If you successfully interrupt the startup process, the following messages appears:
[G]: Get firmware image from TFTP server.
[F]: Format boot device.
[B]: Boot with backup firmware and set as default.
[Q]: Quit menu and continue to boot with default firmware.
[H]: Display this list of options.
Enter G,F,B,Q,or H:
Please connect TFTP server to Ethernet port "1".
11. Type G to get the firmware image from the TFTP server.
The following message appears:
Enter TFTP server address [192.168.1.168]:
12. Type the IP address of the TFTP server and press Enter.
The following message appears:
Enter local address [192.168.1.188]:
13. Type a temporary IP address that can be used by the FortiADC appliance to connect to the TFTP server.
The following message appears:
Enter firmware image file name [image.out]:
14. Type the firmware image file name and press Enter.
The FortiADC appliance downloads the firmware image file from the TFTP server and displays a message similar to the following:
MAC:00219B8F0D94
###########################
Total 28385179 bytes data downloaded.
Verifying the integrity of the firmware image..
Save as Default firmware/Backup firmware/Run image without saving:[D/B/R]?
15. Type R.
The FortiADC image is loaded into memory and uses the current configuration, without saving the new firmware image to disk.
16. To verify that the new firmware image was loaded, log in to the CLI and type:
get system status
17. Test the new firmware image.
• If the new firmware image operates successfully, you can install it to disk, overwriting the existing firmware, using the procedure
“Installing firmware”.
• If the new firmware image does not operate successfully, reboot the FortiADC appliance to discard the temporary firmware and resume operation using the existing firmware.
See also