Brocade BigIron RX Series Hardware Installation Guide 143
53-1002483-03
Upgrading images independently 6
•The total time it takes for the hitless upgrade process to finish varies between approximately 1
and 10 minutes. This depends on the size of the MAC table, the number of OSPF and BGP
neighbors and the size of the routing table. Router configuration is unavailable during the
entire hitless upgrade process. The message "---SW Upgrade In Progress - Please Wait---" is
printed at the console when configuration is attempted. Operational command of the router is
allowed during the upgrade process.
•The active management module changes from the initial active management module to the
standby management module during the hitless upgrade process. This makes it necessary to
have a connection to the console interface on both management modules.
•Upon being reset, the management and interface module CPUs are unable to send and receive
any packets. Once the management and interface modules are up and running, their CPUs are
able to send and receive packets, even before the hitless upgrade process is complete.
•Router configuration is not allowed to be changed during the entire hitless upgrade process.
•System-max parameter changes or other configuration changes that require a system reload
such as "cam-mode" and cam-profile" changes do not take effect upon hitless upgrade.
•FPGA images cannot be upgraded using the hitless upgrade process.
•This feature cannot be used to downgrade an image to an older major version than the version
that the device is currently running.
•If there are protocol dependencies between neighboring nodes, it is recommended that only
each node is upgraded: one node at a time.
•After hitless upgrade, the BigIron RX router will still have the same running configuration as it
does before the upgrade. A configuration that is not saved before hitless reload is not removed
and the existing startup configuration does not take effect. This behavior is the same as
displayed by the management module switchover feature.
NOTE:
•Hitless upgrade is only supported from version 2600c or later 2600x patch releases and
hitless downgrade to version 2600c or later 2600x patch releases.
•Due to Internal changes introduced in patch release version 02.6.00c, hitless upgrade is not
supported on 02.6.00c and hitless downgrade is not supported from 02.6.00c.
•Due to Internal changes introduced in patch release version 02.3.00e, users cannot perform a
hitless upgrade from earlier 02.3.00 versions to 2.3.00f or higher versions.
•Due to Internal changes introduced in patch release version 02.3.00f, users cannot perform a
hitless upgrade from earlier 02.3.00 versions to 02.3.00g or higher versions.
•The hitless upgrade feature is not supported on release 02.5.00b to 02.5.00c for the BigIron
RX-32 only. It is supported on all other BigIron RX devices.
The hitless OS software process
Follow the steps given below to perform hitless upgrade of Multi-Service IronWare software.
1. Version 02.3.00 or later of the Multi-Service IronWare software is installed in flash memory to
the primary and secondary image on the active and standby management modules and
interface modules.
2. The hitless-reload command is executed on the active management module.
3. The hitless upgrade process is begun on the active management module which initiates the
upgrade process on the standby management module.