cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
2183
Views
5
Helpful
7
Replies

Using CSM for IOS XR Upgrades

I am planning a ASR9K upgrade and I see Cisco recommends to use CSM.

 

I don't particularly want to execute the upgrade using CSM but after installing version 3.5 on a Fedora VM and installing 2.0 on Windows it would be nice if it could possibly get some assistance from it.

 

Ideally I would like it to give me all the SMU's I need but considering the version I am going to and the PIE's I have installed.

I can see how it uses the admin show install active sum to give you recommendations for current SMU's and I can see that it will give me all the recommended SMU's I need for any particular version of IOS XR, but how can I get the SMU's for a particular version running particular PIE's?

 

Thanks

7 Replies 7

Todd Graham
Level 4
Level 4

We have looked at this option also, the problem we've run into on all XR versions is the limit of SMUs that can be configured in a CSM profile.  While it works during an initial software release once the number of SMUs exceeds a certain number CSM will not perform full compliance upgrades from a base router.  I think this is the number that will fit on one line for an install add.  So for us CSM is unusable for upgrades.  

Why don't you install service packs and SMU's that do not have mbi changes?

Service packs don't allow an individual SMU to be loaded in the event it's needed.  With a single SMU they can be non reload (depending on SMU).  

The constraints to limit the number of SMU's that can be added or activated by one install command are really in IOS-XR. In older releases (< 5.3.3), the limit was 16 SMU's. In 5.3.3, the constraint was relaxed a little bit. The theoretical number becomes 30 for 'install add' and 25 for 'install activate'.  However, there is the 2nd constraint that is the input buffer limit. For 5.3.3, after downloading the SMU's from CCO, the real limit for install add is 27 before the input buffer overflow. Hence, the best approach is to group all the SMU's in one tar file before install actions. CSM supports the creation of tar file from CCO or server repository. Please click 'Tools' from the top menu bar, then select 'Create Tar File'. If the GUI is not intuitive, please click on 'Help' from the top menu bar, then 'Tools'. And scroll down to the page 'Create Tar File' for an example.

jawei
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

CSM 2.0 (Java Client Application) is an end-of-life product. There is no new development as the Cisco internal architecture has evolved.
https://supportforums.cisco.com/t5/service-providers-blogs/csm2-0-not-able-to-retrieve-smu-list-starting-august-2017-how-to/ba-p/3098662

CSM has evolved to a Python and Web Server based application. The latest version is v3.5.

 

CSM Web Server does not list SMU's for a particular version running particular PIE's. However, it provides SMU's for a particular version with functional areas, such as L2VPN, MCAST, FPD, etc. This is because a SMU often involves multiple PIE's. From the functional areas. 

 

To get to this information, please click on 'CCO' from the top menu bar, and select the platform and IOS-XR version. Then under the 'SMUs' tab, scroll to the right and look for the column 'Functional Areas'.

 

The other useful column is 'Impact' which includes 'Hitless', 'Traffic Loss', and 'Needs Reboot'. 'Hitless' means no traffic loss. 'Traffic Loss' means that traffic continues to be forwarded without interruption, but the control plane protocol sessions are re-established. 'Needs Reboot' indicates that traffics have to be diverted away from this router.

 

If you are not able to locate the SMU you are looking for, please change the filter on the upper right corner to 'All' (the default is 'Optimal').

Having just moved from 2.0 (java) based to CSM a few feature requests for the python based server version. 

1. The ability to create tar file from any repo area. It seems you can only do so from the transitive  /usr/local/csm_data/repository directory (?).   I'm using a separate volume for a repository and after downloaded files are moved  (successfully & automatically) I cannot create a tar using files in that non-default directory.  
2. When creating a tar file be able to search and select files. 
I think the ability to search and select SMUs as a group ex. "6.1.4 and hitless" or  ex."bgp and requires-reboot" instead of having to scroll through and select individual SMUs would be helpful

Hi Garry,

 

First of all, thank you for sharing your thoughts!

 

For 1), you are correct that the tar file is only created from images in /usr/local/csm_data/repository directory. This is because CSM Server is not able to create a tar file on the remote ftp/tftp/sftp server without copying all the images to the local directory, creating the tar file, then copying the tar file back to the remote server.  Say if you are able to mount the remote repository locally on CSM server, and CSM server can create the tar file directly, do you see this could be a good use case?

 

For 2), to create a tar file by searching and selecting SMU's is already supported, but it is only applicable to images in /usr/local/csm_data/repository directory. Here you are suggesting to allow additional selection criteria/filters besides just SMU ID. The suggestion is well received. We need to investigate how that can be easily implemented.

 

Cheers,

 

-James

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community: