upgrade IOS XR 3.9.x to 4.2.x

[Banglalink GSM]

Hi,

We are planning to upgrade ASR9K IOS XR 3.9.1 to 4.2.3. Following are the curent hardware inventory and XR package details (attached):

A9K-RSP-4G

A9K-40GE-B

A9K-8T/4-B

Please let us know the upgrade process.

Can we do the upgrade straightway or do we need to go for any intermediary version and then go for the final version?

What SMUs do we need to activate and also FPDs to upgarde?

Thanks in advance

Cheers,

AM

[Alexei Kiritchenko]

Hello AM,

You can go from 3.9.x to 4.2.0.

Here you can find all supported upgrade paths and upgrade procedures including required SMU.

http://www.cisco.com/web/Cisco_IOS_XR_Software/index.html

Regards,

Alex.

[Pedro Morais]

Hi AM,

Did you made the upgrade? Were you able to go straightaway from 3.9.1 to 4.2.3?

Hi Alexei,

I cannot find the upgrade procedure to go from 3.9.x to 4.2.3. Is that possible?

Thanks!!

Cheers,

Pedro

[Michel Bou Sleiman]

Hi Pedro,

You need to do it in two phases:

1- Upgrade from 3.9.1 to 4.2.0 (or 4.1.1) (you need to have the upgrade pie as well)

2- Upgrade from 4.2.0 (or 4.1.1) to 4.2.3 (4.2.3 is a safe harbor release of XR, and dont forget to add the mandatory SMU afterwards)

The problem in upgrading to 4.2.0 in the first phase is that you need to add lots of SMU's prior going up to 4.2.3 and that might give you a problem in the Flash space with the ASR-RSP-4G you have, espcially that you only have about 850MB of free space and that is only needed to just activate the "mini" pie.

So i would suggest to partition your Flash first to (3.5G/0.5G, FAT 32) or try upgrading to 4.1.1 as interim where no additional upgrade SMU are required and could save on some space. Remember to copy the PIE into the "harddisk:" and during the "install add" operation let the "harddisk:" be your source.

Then after the "install commit", remove the old version files from the Flash with the "install remove" command.

Regarding FPD upgrade; you could enbale the "fpd auto-upgrade" feature in the admin mode and that would allow to automatically update the FPD after "install activate"

HTH,

Michel.

[Pedro Morais]

wow!!! Two upgrades in a row... Not practical at all...

Do you know the reason why it is not possible to upgrade directly from 3.9.1 to 4.2.3?

Cheers,

Pedro

[Michel Bou Sleiman]

Hi Pedro,

Well the above is a classical method. XR updates are moving fast and you should consider upgrading once per year (at least)

To note that the above are indeed two upgrades but actually might require five reloads ... Since the "fpd auto-upgrade" is available starting 4.0.1 thus in the process of upgrading from 3.9.1 you would still required to issue the "upgrade hw-module fpd all location all" after your first "install commit" to upgrade the fpd (2 reloads for this one). However in the upgrade guide, it is explicitely mentionned to disable the "fpd auto-upgrade" as well whrn upgrading form 4.x to .4.2.3 (additional 2 reloads). Then the last reload is required with the 4.2.3 mandatory SMU !

Well, if you want to save reload counts and go directly from 3.9.1 to 4.2.3, you may use the TURBOBOOT procedure :

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-29251

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-34111

Turboboot is like doing a fresh installation of the XR software on the RSP rather then doing a step-by-step upgrade! It wipes out everything if you wish to clean sweep the system or installs the new OS along with the existing one. (dont forget to save your config somewhere, though).

For your info, A9K BU is trying pretty hard to make the XR upgrades much more easier:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/blogs/asr9k/2013/07/02/easier-upgrades-with-ios-xr

HTH,

Michel.

[Pedro Morais]

Hi Michel,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I'm totally aware of all of that. However, I cannot understand why I cannot upgrade directly from 3.9.1 to 4.2.3, it completely makes no sense. Specially when we are able to go from 3.9.1 to 4.2.0. I simply cannot understand it.

Thanks for your inputs.

Cheers,

Pedro

[Eddie Chami]

Because at the time of 4.2.3 testing 3.9.1 had already reached its EoX policy and it wasn't being used/supported/tested by engineering. You need to keep up with XR releases.

Eddie.

[Pedro Morais]

Hi Eddie,

As you might understand the decision to upgrade or not is purely from the client. I can try to influence them, but at the end, it is up to them. Also it is extremely difficult to explain that they will have to do intermediate upgrades when they have other experiences (mainly ALU) where the upgrades are smoother.

Thanks for your reply.

Cheers,

Pedro