Contents

Upgrading software· 1

About software upgrade· 1

Software types· 1

Software release forms· 2

Upgrade methods· 2

Software image loading· 2

Digitally signed software images· 3

Restrictions and guidelines: Software upgrade· 3

Upgrading device software by using the boot loader method· 3

Software upgrade tasks at a glance· 3

Prerequisites· 4

Preloading the BootWare image to BootWare· 4

Specifying startup images and completing the upgrade· 4

Installing or uninstalling features and patches· 5

About installing or uninstalling features and patches· 5

Restrictions and guidelines· 5

Prerequisites· 5

Installing or upgrading features· 5

Installing patches· 5

Uninstalling features or patches· 6

Display and maintenance commands for software image settings· 6

Software upgrade examples· 6

Example: Upgrading device software· 6

Upgrading software

About software upgrade

Software upgrade enables you to upgrade a software version, add new features, and fix software bugs. This chapter describes software types and release forms, compares software upgrade methods, and provides the procedures for upgrading software from the CLI.

Software types

The following software types are available:

·     BootWare image—Also called the Boot ROM image. This image contains a basic segment and an extended segment.

¡     The basic segment is the minimum code that bootstraps the system.

¡     The extended segment enables hardware initialization and provides system management menus. When the device cannot start up correctly, you can use the menus to load software and the startup configuration file or manage files.

Typically, the BootWare image is integrated into the Boot image to avoid software compatibility errors.

·     Comware image—Includes the following image subcategories:

¡     Boot image—A .bin file that contains the Linux operating system kernel. It provides process management, memory management, file system management.

¡     System image—A .bin file that contains the Comware kernel and standard features, including device management, interface management, configuration management, and routing.

¡     Feature image—A .bin file that contains advanced or customized software features. You can purchase feature images as needed.

¡     Patch image—A .bin file that is released for fixing bugs without rebooting the device. A patch image does not add or remove features.

Patch images have the following types:

-     Incremental patch images—A new patch image can cover all, part, or none of the functions provided by an old patch image. A new patch image can coexist with an old patch image on the device only when the former covers none of the functions provided by the latter.

-     Non-incremental patch images—A new non-incremental patch image covers all functions provided by an old non-incremental patch image. Each boot, system, or feature image can have one non-incremental patch image, and these patch images can coexist on the device. The device uninstalls the old non-incremental patch image before installing a new non-incremental patch image.

An incremental patch image and a non-incremental patch image can coexist on the device.

Comware images that have been loaded are called current software images. Comware images specified to load at the next startup are called startup software images.

BootWare image, boot image, and system image are required for the device to operate.

You can install up to 32 .bin files on the device, including one boot image file, one system image file, and up to 30 feature and patch image files.

Software release forms

Software images are released in one of the following forms:

·     Separate .bin files. You must verify compatibility between software images.

·     As a whole in one .ipe package file. The images in an .ipe package file are compatible. The system decompresses the file automatically, loads the .bin images and sets them as startup software images.

 

NOTE: Software image file names use the model-comware version-image type-release format. This document uses boot.bin and system.bin as boot and system image file names.

 

Upgrade methods

Upgrade method	Software types	Remarks
Upgrading from the CLI by using the boot loader method	·     BootWare image ·     Comware images (excluding incremental patches)	This method is disruptive. You must reboot the entire device to complete the upgrade.
Upgrading from the BootWare menu	·     BootWare image ·     Comware images	Use this method when the device cannot start up correctly. To use this method, first connect to the console port and power cycle the device. Then, press Ctrl+B at prompt to access the BootWare menu. For more information about upgrading software from the BootWare menu, see the release notes for the software version.  IMPORTANT: Use this method only when you do not have any other choice.

 

Software image loading

Startup software images

To upgrade software, you must specify the upgrade files as the startup software images for the device to load at next startup. You can specify two lists of software images: one main and one backup. The device first loads the main startup software images. If the main startup software images are not available, the devices loads the backup startup software images.

Image loading process at startup

At startup, the device performs the following operations after loading and initializing BootWare:

1.     Loads main images.

2.     If any main image does not exist or is invalid, loads the backup images.

3.     If any backup image does not exist or is invalid, the device cannot start up.

Digitally signed software images

The software images for the device are digitally signed for authenticity and integrity verification. This mechanism ensures that the software installed on the system is from a trusted source and has not been tampered with in the transfer, storage, or installation phase.

The system performs software digital signature verification for authenticity and integrity in the following situations:

·     Before the system loads a software image during startup. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not load the image and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

·     When you specify a software image to upgrade the device from the BootWare menu. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not set the image for upgrade and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

·     Before the system loads a BootWare image to the Normal area of BootWare. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not load the image and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

·     When you specify a software image as a startup image through the boot loader. The system will verify the digital signature of the image before it updates the startup image list with the specified image. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not update the startup image list and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

·     Before the system activates a feature or patch image. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not activate the image and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

Restrictions and guidelines: Software upgrade

The device supports using FTP or TFTP to download a software image to the root directory on a file system only through a management Ethernet interface.

Do not execute the install, issu, or boot-loader command before the current upgrade action completes.

As a best practice, store the startup images in a fixed storage medium. If you store the startup images in a hot swappable storage medium, do not remove the hot swappable storage medium during the startup process.

Upgrading device software by using the boot loader method

Software upgrade tasks at a glance

To upgrade software, perform the following tasks:

1.     (Optional.) Preloading the BootWare image to BootWare

If a BootWare upgrade is required, you can perform this task to shorten the subsequent upgrade time. This task helps reduce upgrade problems caused by unexpected power failure. If you skip this task, the device upgrades the BootWare automatically when it upgrades the startup software images.

2.     Specifying startup images and completing the upgrade

Prerequisites

1.     Use the display version command to verify the current BootWare image version and startup software version.

2.     Use the release notes for the upgrade software version to evaluate the upgrade impact on your network and verify the following items:

¡     Software and hardware compatibility.

¡     Version and size of the upgrade software.

¡     Compatibility of the upgrade software with the current BootWare image and startup software image.

3.     Use the dir command to verify that devices have sufficient storage space for the upgrade images. If the storage space is not sufficient on device, delete unused files by using the delete command. For more information, see "Managing file systems."

4.     Use FTP or TFTP to transfer the upgrade image file to the root directory of a file system. For more information about FTP and TFTP, see "Configuring FTP" or "Configuring TFTP." For more information about file systems, see "Managing file systems."

Preloading the BootWare image to BootWare

To load the upgrade BootWare image to the Normal area of BootWare, execute the following command in user view:

bootrom update file file slot slot-number-list

Specify the downloaded software image file for the file argument.

 

	NOTE: The system will verify the digital signature of a BootWare image before it loads it to the Normal area of BootWare. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not load the image and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

 

The new BootWare image takes effect at a reboot.

Specifying startup images and completing the upgrade

Perform the following steps in user view:

5.     Specify main or backup startup images for the device.

¡     Use an .ipe file:

boot-loader file ipe-filename [ patch filename&<1-16> ] { all | slot slot-number } { backup | main }

¡     Use .bin files:

boot-loader file boot filename system filename [ feature filename&<1-30> ] [ patch filename&<1-16> ] { all | slot slot-number } { backup | main }

 

NOTE: The system will verify the digital signature of the specified images before it updates the startup image list with the specified images. If the digital signature verification fails, the system will not update the startup image list and you will receive a digital signature verification failure message.

 

6.     Save the running configuration.

save

This step ensures that any configuration you have made can survive a reboot.

7.     Reboot the IRF fabric.

reboot

8.     (Optional.) Verify the software image settings.

display boot-loader [ slot slot-number ]

Verify that the current software images are the same as the startup software images.

Installing or uninstalling features and patches

About installing or uninstalling features and patches

You can install a new feature or patch image, or upgrade an existing feature image.

Restrictions and guidelines

To ensure a successful image installation or upgrade, do not reboot the device during the image installation or upgrade.

After installing a feature image, you must log in to the device again to use the commands provided in the image.

Prerequisites

Use FTP or TFTP commands to transfer the image file to the default file system on device. For more information about FTP and TFTP, see "Configuring FTP" and "Configuring TFTP."

Installing or upgrading features

9.     Activate features in the specified files.

install activate feature filename&<1-30> slot slot-number

10.     Commit the software change.

install commit

For the image changes to take effect after a reboot, you must perform a commit operation.

Installing patches

11.     Activate patches in a file.

install activate patch filename { all | slot slot-number }

You can specify only one patch image file for this command at a time. However, you can execute this command multiple times to install multiple patch image files.

Patches images installed by using the install activate patch filename all command can survive a reboot. You do not need to execute the install commit command for the installation.

12.     Commit the software change.

install commit

Images run in memory immediately after they are activated. However, only patch images activated by using the install activate patch filename all command can survive a reboot. For other images to take effect after a reboot, you must execute this command to commit the software change.

Uninstalling features or patches

Restrictions and guidelines

After uninstalling a feature image, you must log in to the device again for the commands in the image to be removed.

Procedure

13.     Deactivate the features or patches installed from an image file.

install deactivate feature filename&<1-30> slot slot-number

install deactivate patch filename { all | slot slot-number }

You can specify only one patch image file for this command at a time. However, you can execute this command multiple times to deactivate multiple patch image files.

Images deactivated by using the install deactivate patch filename all command do not run after a reboot. To prevent other deactivated images from running after a reboot, you must commit the software change by using the install commit command.

14.     Commit the software change.

install commit

This step removes the image file from the startup image list but does not delete the image file from the default file system.

The device will not load features and patches from the image files at startup.

Display and maintenance commands for software image settings

Execute display commands in any view and execute reset commands in user view.

 

Task	Command
Display current software images and startup software images.	display boot-loader [ slot slot-number ]
Display active software images.	display install active [ slot slot-number ] [ verbose ]
Display main startup software images.	display install committed [ slot slot-number ] [ verbose ]

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Software upgrade examples

Example: Upgrading device software

Network configuration

As shown in Figure 1, use the file all.ipe to upgrade software images for the device.

Figure 1 Network diagram

 

Procedure

# Configure IP addresses and routes. Make sure the device and the TFTP server can reach each other. (Details not shown.)

 

NOTE: IP addresses and routes can be configured only on the management Ethernet interface.

 

# Configure TFTP settings on both the device and the TFTP server. (Details not shown.)

# Display information about the current software images.

<Sysname> display version

# Back up the current software images. Skip this step if the device has limited storage space.

<Sysname> copy boot.bin boot_backup.bin

<Sysname> copy system.bin system_backup.bin

# Specify boot_backup.bin and system_backup.bin as the backup startup image files for the device.

<Sysname> boot-loader file boot flash:/boot_backup.bin system flash:/system_backup.bin slot 1 backup

# Use TFTP to download the all.ipe image file from the TFTP server to the root directory of the flash memory on the device.

<Sysname> tftp 2.2.2.2 get all.ipe

# Specify all.ipe as the main startup image file for the device.

<Sysname> boot-loader file flash:/all.ipe slot 1 main

# Verify the startup image settings.

<Sysname> display boot-loader

# Reboot the device to complete the upgrade.

<Sysname> reboot

# Verify that the device is running the correct software.

<Sysname> display version