IOS XRv reference platform images are out of date or wont work (Segment Routing)

[doug_slone]

The problem I have with IOS-XRv  is that the demo images is too old and doesnt give me the features that i want to evaluate.   The XRv demo image was recently given an End of Life notice, and it isn't even up to the latest version of XR 7.X.X. The reference platform image is iosxrv-k9-demo-6.3.1.qcow2 which works well for most networking, but for new features like Segment Routing just doesn't cut it.   This makes it impossible to use for evaluation of cutting edge SR features like Flex Algo, PCEP and SR Policies.   I wonder if there any plans to respin CML reference platform with a newer IOS-XRv 7.2.1

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/routers/ios-xrv-router/eos-eol-notice-c51-739508.html

I first thought that IOS-XRv9K ASR9K would solve this problem because CML gives out Xrv9k at release 7.2.1. But there is a software bug which makes it difficult to use.   The problem with IOS-XRv 9000 (ASR9K virtual image) is a bug: CSCvm68136 SDR_MANAGER-3-MSG_VM_RELOAD_ON_HB_FAILURE. The frequent reloads are making it extremely difficult to evaluate anything. The claim on the bug search tool is that this issue is fixed in certain images, but it is not fixed in the latest CML 2.1.1 reference platform image XR9kv 7.2.1.  I wonder if there are any plans to respin CML reference platform with a fix to CSCvm68136?

This has been the biggest disappointment of the CML 2.1.1 reference platform.   If anyone has seen any way out of these conundrums please do share your thoughts...

https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCvm68136

This will seriously impact my decision on whether to renew my purchase of CML2.1.1 .   Whats the purpose of buying it if the images wont work?

[joel.francois]

Hi Doug,

Thanks for your feedback.

As far as I have understood from Cisco (to be confirmed), they are slowly replacing IOS XRv with XR9000v.

Actually a good release to use to lab SR with advanced features like PCE, SR-TE ,etc is the XR 6.6.3 (which is by the way the stable version to implement Flex-Algo).

Personnal, I was able to the the IOS XRv 6.6.3 directly from Cisco for labbing purposes. 

So, I would say, you can give a try with the equivalent version on XR9000v 6.6.3. Hopefully, you are able to get that version and give a try.

For your information, you can see very interesting live SR labbing using IOS XRv 6.6.3 here :

https://www.youtube.com/user/arunvoip/videos

In general, I think that Cisco should send an official statement regarding IOS XRv versus IOS XR9000v.

Have good labbing.

Cheers.

Joël

[doug_slone]

Joel.  Thanks for your feedback. Your lab looks nice.   The Videos you shared look interesting.  It would be nice to know what type of machine, memory, specs and platform  (Bare metal Linux?  Windows Vmware?)  this is running on.   Windows VMware cannot run more than 3 ASR9K because of the memory limit of 64K..  The latest spec says ASR9Kv needs 20G memory, which is quite daunting.  I am running on  an AMD Ryzen 2950 with 128G memory, but I cannot access all that due to the VMware limit..   I am thinking of switching to a bare-metal installation.

Despite that,  here's the problem:

 I have tried all of the ASR9K versions which have been released in CML since inception including 6.6.3.   In my experience, they are all plagued with the bug 

https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCvm68136

ASR9KV crashes and it is not reliable.    As a 14 year veteran and alumni of Cisco, I expect more from Cisco.  This is the reason why I am not buying Cisco CML 2.1.1 now until they fix it in a CML release.

[joel.francois]

Hi Doug.

Thanks for your answer and information provided.

I don't know what particular hardware specs is runnning on for those video labs.

I have review the Bug you mention. As far as I can understood, XR 6.6.3 is not impacted (not in the list).

Also what you can do in CML, is to set the memory on XR9000v to be 12Gb. Then, you can also change the CPU limit value (this will limit CPU consumtion during boot time and hence, alowing the routers to complete the boot process successfully).

I don't know if CML bare-metal deployment are 100% supported now by Cisco. If yes, then it could be on option for you.

In my case, I had the possbility to allow all my hypervisor ressource to the CML VM

Later, I will think to rollout my CPUs and buy some "bulk" memory.

Going back to your failed use case, what happen if you setup only 2 routers and implement the features you need. Do you still have a problem or hit any bugs ?

Cheers.

Joël