ASR9006 IOS upgrade from 5.1.3 sp2/5.3.3 sp2 to 6.1.4

[H D S A Chanaka]

Hi,

I'm in the process of upgarding a set of ASR9006s from 5.1.3 sp2/5.3.3 sp2 to 6.1.4. This required a 2 reload process . One for mini.px upgarde and the other for the fpd upgarde. From the moment of existing package removal to fpd upgarde completion routers experience a outage. This take 80min. Since the downtime is high we need to find an alternative. One suggestion is as below.

1. Upgarde a spare RSP pare to 6.1.4
2. Shut down the live node
3. Replace the RSPs of the live node with spare RSP nodes which were upgraded.
4. Switch on the device and upgrade the fpd

With this approach we can reduce the down time since package installation is done before the maintainance window. But my concern is whether this will create any issues in the line card operation. Here are my concerns.

1. During the install activate phase is there any operations done to the line cards?
2. Is the fpd upgarde the only thing affecting the line cards during IOS upgrade?

Your prompt response is highly appreciated.

FYI

RSPs = A9K-RSP440-TR

[Peter L]

Hi

You can use the fpd auto-upgrade command in admin config to get the box to upgrade the fpds at the same time as you doing the upgrade of sw.

Automatic FPD Upgrade

By default, the FPD image is not automatically upgraded. Generally, you must manually upgrade the FPD image running on the SPA or SIP when you upgrade the Cisco IOS XR software image. However, if you enable the fpd auto-upgrade command in administration configuration mode, FPD images are automatically updated whenever you perform a software upgrade. For the automatic FPD upgrade to work, the following conditions must be met:

    The FPD package installation envelope (PIE) must already be installed on the router.
    The FPD PIE must be activated together with the new Cisco IOS XR image.
    The fpd auto-upgrade command must be enabled.

See https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/asr9000/software/asr9k_r4-0/system_management/configuration/guide/b_yc40asr9k/b_yc40asr9k_chapter_0111.html?referring_site=RE&pos=3&page=https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/7200/configuration/fe... for more info

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 Regards Peter

[smailmilak]

Hi,

the hint from Peter Leandersson will work. Configure fpd auto-upgrade under admin mode. You will probably need to upgrade FPD on the Power Supplies after reload, but don't worry, there will be no outage if you can reload one PS at a time.

You may also do this.

The upgrade procedure should not be that long. First, install all required packages, then do "install activate test". If everything is ok then you can remove "test" and start the upgrade procedure.

After the chassis has been reloaded you can start to upgrade FPD for every LC and Power Supply.

Please note that the router will be operational while FPD is being upgraded, don't worry. 

After the procedure has finished you can start to reload every LC, one by one. In that case, you will experience an outage only on one LC at a time. This will take a long time, though.