Updating Cisco 6100 Software

This chapter presents the information and procedures necessary to download new software images to the Cisco 6100. With the current release of this feature, you can download new software images to any of the following modules:

ATU-C module
LIM controller module (LCM)
Network interface (NI) module
System controller (SC) module
DS3 subtend host module (STM)

14.1 Procedures Overview

System Software Download is the method by which a Cisco 6100 can upgrade the software in each of the modules that support downloading to the module. The software download procedure requires a TFTP server. It is recommended that you use the TFTP server on the same workstation as the ViewRunner servers. The TFTP server must be configured correctly on the workstation. The TFTP IP address and TFTP path are configured during ViewRunner installation.

The wizard will validate that the images are present in the TFTP path on the ViewRunner server workstation, even if another workstation has been selected as the TFTP server. If images are not found, then a warning message is displayed and the user is given the choice to cancel or continue.

Software Download can be used to update the software in an entire network of Cisco 6100 DSLAMs. Operators are not required to attend the node during the download process, yet it provides progress and failure notifications.

During software upgrade, when moving to a release which supports new subscriber data which is not supported in the release being upgraded from, defaults are taken from the vrconstants.conf file instead of relying on node defaults. This allows the user to upgrade software and get default subscriber values set to their site defaults. Otherwise, if the node default does not contain the desired values, you would have to modify each subscriber manually after the upgrade. For new non-subscriber data, the values are left in their default states.

ViewRunner for HP OpenView support software downloads to nodes that are being managed through the inband channel, provided that both the current SC software version and the SC version listed in the RDF file support inband upgrades.

14.2 Things to Remember

The following are some things to remember when upgrading your software images:

Software download automatically does a Save/Restore of configuration information when the SC image is being changed as part of the download. If the SC image is not being changed, then no Save/Restore of configuration is performed. However, as a fail-safe measure, the user should use the configuration save wizard to store the current NVRAM configuration for later retrieval in case it becomes necessary.
If the TFTP transfer for the SC image succeeds, but TFTP for other images fails, the operation will not be aborted. In this case, the software download will complete with exceptions which you can view by double clicking on the node in the wizard or by looking in the vrNetMon log file. The images that failed should be fixed and the software download should be repeated. This is to ensure that the configuration is properly saved and restored.
After a software download, it may take a few minutes for the modules to load the new images. You will have to do a configuration synchronization after the download if you are not receiving traps on the ViewRunner server workstation. This is so the Chassis View will display the modules with the proper status color.

14.3 Release Definition File

The software images are grouped by system software release number. The Release Definition File (RDF) identifies, for a given software release, the software that is compatible with each hardware module/revision. ViewRunner uses the RDF to download the appropriate images required to update the modules in its configuration. A new RDF is released with each Cisco 6100 release.

The RDF file is located in $VRS_HOME/RDF. The images must be located in the directory specified by the TFTP path which is configured during ViewRunner installation. ViewRunner can upgrade to any supported release as long as the RDF and corresponding images have been installed.

14.4 Download Procedures

Note Use the Save Configuration wizard to save the current provisioning information and system configuration out to a file. This is so you can recover your configuration as quickly as possible if it becomes necessary.

The following are the procedures to download new software images to the Cisco 6100.

Step 1 In the ViewMap window, select the Cisco 6100s that you want to download by using the left mouse button to drag the mouse around the Cisco 6100 icons whose configurations you want. Additional Cisco 6100s can be added to the list before the operation is started via the right click menu option.

Step 2 Select Download System Software from the Configuration menu on the ViewRunner Submap window to begin the software download.

Step 3 Alternatively, you may select Download System Software from the Configuration menu on the Chassis View window.

Figure 14-1: Configuration Menu

Step 4 The first screen that appears provides instructions to the user with a list at the bottom of the Cisco 6100s to have software downloaded to them. The list includes the current software release information. Read the instructions and verify that you want to download new software images to these Cisco 6100s.

Figure 14-2: Software Download Wizard

Note If you have a BOOTP server present, the SC image used will be the one specified in the BOOTP table, not the one in the RDF.

Step 5 Click Next to continue to the next screen where you choose which software version to download.

Figure 14-3: Cisco 6100 Software Images

Step 6 Once you select the software version you want to download and click Next, you will be asked to confirm that you want this version downloaded to all the Cisco 6100s you selected. If so, click OK.

Figure 14-4: Software Upgrade Confirmation

Step 7 If the images to be downloaded are not on the TFTP path configured during ViewRunner installation, you will get a warning message telling you that the images needed for the download are not where expected. You are given an opportunity to cancel the operation and place the images where they are expected.

Note If either the images or the TFTP server is not available, then the software download operation will fail.

Step 8 Once you click OK, the software download starts. You can get a detailed status of the progress of the download on any Cisco 6100 in the list by double clicking on that
Cisco 6100.

Step 9 Double click on the status line of the Cisco 6100 that shows a software download failure to get a log of the exact problems encountered to cause the failure.

Figure 14-5: Software Upgrade Progress

The software download continues. If you try to cancel the download before it completes, you will get a message similar to the following one warning you that there are still operations in progress. If you select Yes, the wizard will close, but the operations that are already in progress (not pending) will not be cancelled.

Figure 14-6: Interruption Notice

You will also receive a warning if you try to add Cisco 6100s to the list after the download process has begun. This is not allowed.

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