Add Route Switch Processor 720 as Standby

[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Hello Dear,

I have a 7606 Router with single Route Switch Processor 720 at the chassi works as active RP ( Route Processor ). Can I add another RP to the chassis as standby incase of fialure of the first RP ?

your reply is much appreciated.

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin · Accepted solution]

Hello Ahmed,

Sure, you can. Slots 5 and 6 are for RSP720, so if you have one RSP in slot 5, you can install 2nd in slot 6 to be a standby. See this guide:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/routers/7600/Hardware/Module_and_Line_Card_Installation_Guides/7600_Series_Router_Module_Installation_Guide/03inst.html#wp1015075

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

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[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Dear Ivan,

thank you for your reply. that is good news to update my chassis. Now when i will install the 2nd RSP720 at slot 6,what is the required configuration commands to use the 2nd RSP as standby, means when 1st RSP faces any fialure it will switchover to 2nd RSP ? I need the configuration guide for this operation.

Thanking You

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin]

Hello Ahmed,

You are very welcome! Before you install the 2nd supervisor, make sure you have SSO redundancy configured:

     show run | b redundancy

     or

     show redundancy states

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/routers/7600/ios/15S/configuration/guide/nsfsso.html#wp1119694

SSO is default mode, so if you did not change it  - it will be there set already. SSO switchover is much stateful and much faster than in RPR mode.

Installation procedure is the same as for active:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/routers/7600/Hardware/Hardware_Guides/Supervisor_Engine_and_Route_Switch_Processor_Guide/SupE03_ps368_TSD_Products_Installation_Guide_Chapter.html#wp1136865

Redundant supervisor should have same image as active one in slot 5, in the same location since boot string will be syncronized. After you insert it and it boots, standby will automatically syncronize with active, load configuration and be ready to takeover in case active fails.

You should check after the sync process that the supervisor are really in SSO mode, as HW or SW mismatches may cause it to fall back to RPR mode. Do that with "show redundancy" (operating mode should be SSO) or "show module" (standby should be seen in STANDBY HOT status).

The issues that may cause sync or redundancy problems:

- different sup model

- different amount of memory on RP or SP

- different images

- incorrect config-register on either standby SP or RP, so that RSP boots in ROMMON. I recommend to have console connection ready to standby to see immediately if it fails to boot.

- specific issues with config sync. you will get corresponding message explaining what is mismatched.

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

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[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

please any reply ?

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin]

see above, Ahmed.

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Thank you Ivan,  i will check it out then i will inform you how things are.

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin]

All right, Ahmed. Post if you encounter any issues.

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Dear Ivan,

I have checked it out, i will tell you the whole procedure that i will do it during the installation:

1-Insert a flash disk into slot1 ( disk1) at active RSP:

   - format it

   - copy mbi image from disk0 to disk1

2- Bring RSP720 and plugin the new flsh disk ( that contains the mbi image ) then insert RSP720 into chassis

3- Excute these commands at active RSP:

    - show version | inc register ( to know the register value of active and standby slot )

    - config-register 0x0 location 0/6/CPU0 ( to enter the ROMMON mode at standby slot )

4-Consol connection to access slot6 standby RSP:

    - rommon 1 > boot disk0:mbiprp-rp.vm

    -rommon 2 >show redundancy ( to check status of slot5 is active and slot6 is ready )

5- Excute this command at slot5 active:

   -config-register ( value) location 0/6/CPU0

now  i think the standby is ready to switchover when the active RSP fails ..... what do you think ? are there any missing steps ( sure there are ... lol )? please clarify it

Regarding the issues that you said :

  - I have same HW ( typically )

  - I have same configuration file (typically)

  - Same capacity of flash disk

My questions are :

A- Are the steps right ?

B- Regarding the switchover , i will face down time in the rpoter operation or not ? coze switchover will take 0-3 Sec

C-If i fails how can i rollback ?

thank you for being patient to read my message, your reply to questions one by one is highly appreciated.

Please advice.

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin]

Hello Ahmed,

It seems to be you are trying to use the upgrade procedure for XR platform on 7600 running IOS. That won't work due to commands and general OS difference.

Also, by different amount of memory I meant DRAM on Switch and Route processor. You can check the mmeory about using the "show ver | i memory" for RP and "remote command switch show ver | i memory" for SP on active supervisor.

Standby could be checked before insertion by following this guide, see Figure 3-6:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/routers/7600/Hardware/Hardware_Guides/Supervisor_Engine_and_Route_Switch_Processor_Guide/SupE03_ps368_TSD_Products_Installation_Guide_Chapter.html#wp1165752

I suggest to proceed with that plan:

1)  Check the memory on standby before inserting it per the above mentioned steps.

2)  Insert a flash disk into active RSP:

   - format it

   - copy IOS image on a flash disk. You can find the location of currently used image from "show version" command.

2)  Plug your laptop into the console port of the standby supervisor and get your terminal program working.

3)  Insert the flash disk into a standby supervisor, then insert standby supervisor into the chassis, firmly seating the supervisor into the chassis.

4)  Watch the standby supervisor come up, making sure that it boots properly and doesn't get stuck in . If it does, make sure the config-register is correct and that there is image to load from:

    rommon> confreg 0x2102

    rommon> sync

    rommon> reset

5)  Log in to the current active supervisor.

6)  Run the command: show redundancy             

             You're looking to see that the new supervisor is listed as or .

7) If the above is true continue to step 8, if the state is or - check whether the new supervisor is in rommon.

8)  Run the command "copy "

    Example:

        copy bootflash:s72033-advipservicesk9_wan-mz.122-33.SRE1.bin slavebootflash:s72033-advipservicesk9_wan-mz.122-33.SRE1.bin   

9)  Run the command "dir " and confirm that the IOS is in the expected standby flash file system, e.g. slavebootflash:.

        dir slavebootflash:

10) Run the command "verify " and confirm the CRC is correct:

        verify slavebootflash:s72033-advipservicesk9_wan-mz.122-33.SRE1.bin   

11) Run the command "hw-module module reset" to reload standby and make it come up with correct image.

    The value is the slot number of the standby module. If you enter this incorrectly you may reload the entire chassis, use with caution. x in you case will likely be 6.

12) Wait for the standby supervisor to fully load.

13) Run the command "show redundancy". It should show the state of the standby supervisor as "Standby Hot".

14) Now you're done.

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

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[Ivan Shirshin]

PS: this steps should not cause any service impact as the procedure is not affecting active supervisor. You have to be careful at steps 3 and 11, though. Step 3 could be affecting if you improperly insert new supervisor and in step 11 you could reset active supervisor if you mistype the slot number.

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

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[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Well said dear Ivan, let me investigate this matter and reply you back.

Thank you for nice explanation.

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Dear Ivan,

Regarding to installation procedure:

the RSP720 that i am using is RSP720-3C-GE and the one will be installed RSP720-3C-GE.

1- I have checked the memory by commands you reported :

  -show version | i memory

   cisco CISCO7606-S (M8500) processor (revision 1.0) with 851968K/65536K bytes of memory.

   3964K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

  -remote command switch show version | i memory 

   cisco Catalyst 6000 (M8500) processor with 851968K/65536K bytes of memory.

   3964K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

it seems the mount of memory is same, right ?

2- about IOS image, My questions are:

   -flash disk for standby superviso, 1GB ATA flsh ?

   - I have one slot at active supervisor for flsh disk, so how can i copy the image file ? source and destination path ?

  - sh version | i image

    System image file is "disk0:c7200p-js-mz.122-31.SB12.bin

May you clarify this process of copy IOS image ?

3-Flash disk is ready with image file ( just suppose  that) and Laptop is connceted by console port to standby supervisor    and standby supervisor is inserted into chassis firmly

4- Once the standby supervisor inserted, my questions are :

  - Does it come up directly and enter rommon mode?

  - Does it boot dirctly from  disk0: ?

5- At active supervisor,

  - show redundancy

   if the status is not standby, then go standby supervisor and confirm that is running in rommon mode, is there any          command to make the standby reboot again ?

6- Regarding to step 8, is it at standby supervisor rommon mode right ? or at active supervisor ?

  - Why we use slavebootflash ? is it for flsh disk at standby superviso ?

  - copy disk0:c7200p-js-mz.122-31.SB12.bin slavebootflsh:c7200p-js-mz.122-31.SB12.bin  ... what this location         used for ?

    would you explain it ?

these are my questions, and really i am so grateful for you cooperation .

thank you so much in advance

Regards,

Ahmed

[Ivan Shirshin]

Hello Ahmed,

1. I think I did not phraze it clearly about the memory. I meant that SP on active should have same memory as SP on standby. Same with RP.

SP and RP on the same supervisor could have different memory amount.

2. You can safely remove the disk temporarily from active supervisor and put to standby. The flash disk is used only to load the image to DRAM memory during the boot.

c7200p-js-mz.122-31.SB12.bin is the image for 7206 router, not 7606. Could you share complete output of "show version" and "show boot"?

4. Standby comes up automatically and boots from the image specificed in boot string (disk0), if config-register is set to 0x2102. Then it syncs with active.

If config-register is 0x0, router will get into ROMMON mode.

5. From standby ROMMON mode you can reset using "reset" command. From active IOS command line you can use

"hw-module module reset" to do the same.

6. Standby has to load image from local file system. Active sees those with prefix "slave". So it is either slavebootflash or slavesup-bootflash. slavesup-bootflash is better to use as SP does not see RP bootflash in ROMMON mode and that could cause issues later in case of fallback to ROMMON.

Ahmed, please double check the image you want to run. 7200 image is not compatible with RSP720!

Kind Regards,
Ivan Shirshin

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[Ahmed Erfan Mehdi]

Hello Dear Ivan,

I am so sorry for being late to reply , you know i was busy with another issue ( flash upgrade ) that was done ... now let us back to our topic ... after the study of this upgrade RSP720 , i can summary the steps that you adviced me to follow ...

  A- please check the output of these commands at active PRP:

       -show version | i memory

       cisco CISCO7606-S (M8500) processor (revision 1.0) with 851968K/65536K bytes of memory.

       3964K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

     -remote command switch show ver | i memory

       cisco Catalyst 6000 (M8500) processor with 851968K/65536K bytes of memory.

       3964K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

      and i have checked the SP and RP at the new PRS720, they were 1GB for each ..... it means the SP and RP will           match between active and standby RSP ... am i right ?

now we start the insertion procedure :

1- check the SP and RP memory for each active and standby ... it is already matched

2- insert a new flash disk 1GB to disk1 at active RSP :

    show version | i image

    System image file is "bootdisk:c7600rsp72043-advipservices-mz.122-33.SRB2.bin"

    format disk1:

    copy bootdisk:c7600rsp72043-advipservices-mz.122-33.SRB2.bin disk0:

      ( Is this location right or to which location i should copy the IOS ? )

3- Insert the new flsh disk to standby RSP and insert the RSP into chassis firmly

4-Should standby RSP come up with rommon mode directly ? if doesnt come up with rommon mode , or it will boot from disk0: ? if it doesnt boot so shall i do :

    rommon> confreg 0x2102

    rommon> sync

    rommon> reset

    but i think, the standby will stay at loop coze of sync command .. what do you think ?

5- at active RSP:

    show redundancy

    check the state if is not ( or ), then go to standby rommon , what shall do to fix it ? like       above step ?

6- would you please clarify this step :

    Run the command "copy "

    Example:

    copy bootflash:s72033-advipservicesk9_wan-mz.122-33.SRE1.bin slavebootflash:s72033-advipservicesk9_wan-               mz.122-33.SRE1.bin  

    is this step at RSP standby , right ? just clarify the location from where to where should i copy ?

7- about register value , when i will insert the new PRP, which value will take ? for booting , should be in 0x2102 ?

8- now the new flsh disk has ios image at disk0: , so how can i use slavebootflash or slavesup-bootflash ?

thank you for being patient to read this message and thank you in advance for reply ... thanking you ..

Regards,

Ahmed