RuggedCom RX1100, RX1000 manual Upgrading Considerations

Appendix A – Setting Up A Repository

Upgrading Considerations

The RuggedRouter offers you the ability to perform automatic daily upgrades, specify the download time and limit the download bandwidth. These tools automate the upgrade process and minimize the impact of upgrading on the network.

When automatic daily upgrades are used, you may wish to stagger the upgrade time of the routers. If your network has a natural “ebb flow” period of traffic activity, schedule the upgrades during this time. As an example if you have 20 routers to upgrade and they must be upgraded over an eight hour period, configure each router to start its upgrade 20 minutes after the previous router.

Be careful with limiting download bandwidth in the router. Typical upgrades will involve less than 5 MBytes of traffic. If bandwidth limiting is employed and set to 8 Kbps the upgrade will require upwards of 1.5 hours to complete.

Administrators should also be wary of routers which concentrate locally connected routers as the upgrade bandwidth consumed on the network link could reach the sum of all bandwidth limiting settings.

Routers using Frame Relay with CIR under-subscription may also encounter lengthier downloads because of retransmission.

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