Table of Contents

Introduction
Upgrade Steps Required

Upgrading from 9.1 to 9.2
VSI Configuration Upgrade

Compatibility
Capabilities

Upgrading MPLS Networks to Switch SW Rel. 9.2 and BXM FW Rel. E

This chapter provides procedures to upgrade MPLS networks from BPX switch software Release 9.1 and BXM firmware Release C, to switch software Release 9.2.x and BXM Firmware Release E. The chapter contains the following:

• Introduction

• Upgrade Steps Required

• Compatibility

• Capabilities

Introduction

The procedure for upgrading Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) (also referred to as tag switching) networks from BPX switch software Release 9.1 and BXM firmware Release C, to software Release 9.2.x and firmware Release E is not as automatic for this release as it is for other BPX 8600-series software and firmware upgrades. There is no backward compatibility between BXM firmware Release E and BXM firmware Release C with respect to Virtual Switch Interface (VSI) functionality. Therefore, for this release, a number of upgrade steps are required.

Upgrade Steps Required

The steps to upgrade from switch software Release 9.1 to Release 9.2 and the VSI configuration upgrade are described.

Upgrading from 9.1 to 9.2

1. Upgrade the Tag Switch Controller (TSC)

  The TSC is upgraded to CoS VSI Version capable release (IOS 12.XX). This image is VSI bilingual, meaning it understands both VSI Version 1 and Version 2.

2. Upgrade the BXMs

  All the BXM cards in the node are upgraded to Revision E, which is VSI Version 2 and CoS capable. After each BXM card is downloaded with the Revision E image, it temporarily experiences VSI outage until the BCC software is upgraded to the 9.2.x image. The VSI outage during the upgrade is caused by the Revision E firmware not being backward compatible with VSI Version 1 features.

  Note that from the TSC perspective, after a BXM is upgraded to Revision E image the interfaces that used to be on the card will "disappear." The TDP sessions that were on the interfaces will be lost. When all the BXMs are upgraded to the Revision E while still running Release 9.1 software on the BCC, the node will experience a complete outage of MPLS traffic. Autoroute will have a hitless upgrade.

3. Upgrade the BCC

  As the BCC is upgraded from software Release 9.1 to Release 9.2.x, the BCC recognizes the Revision E BXMs and downloads the VSI partition configuration. This causes the BXMs to issue ifc cfg traps to the TSC, allowing the TSC to rediscover all the BPLS interfaces on the BPX. The TDP sessions are reestablished and BPLS traffic starts flowing again through the BPX.

VSI Configuration Upgrade

VSI configuration (VSI partition information and controllers) is maintained across the switch sw upgrade. A MPLS template is assigned to all interfaces in the switch, allowing the TSC to reassert the pre-upgrade connections without changes in the switch configuration. The MPLS template has the service-class to qbin mapping shown in Table 25-1.

Compatibility

Support for the VSI features in the BPX requires BCC-3-64 or BCC-4 (4 MB BRAM BCCs). VSI 9.2 features are first supported in Release 9.2.x. Support for the VSI 9.2 features requires switch software Release 9.2.x and firmware Release E. Firmware Release E is not backward compatible with respect to 9.1 VSI functionality. Since there is no backward compatibility with 9.1, and VSI 9.2 features are only available in 9.2.x. VSI 9.1 networks cannot be upgraded to 9.2 until the upgrade to 9.2.x is performed.

All BXMs slated for 9.2.x switch software must be first upgraded to use Revision E firmware. The BXM cards use the VSI protocol to communicate both with the VSI controller and among themselves. The BXM firmware Revision C supports VSI version 1 and Revision E supports VSI version 2. Both versions can communicate with the VSI controller that supports version 2, because the controller supports both versions simultaneously. However Revision E BXM firmware is not backward compatible and is therefore not able to interoperate with Revision C firmware. For this reason VSI connections cannot be established between BXMs running Revision C and Revision E. Switch software Release 9.2.x will mismatch BXM cards with firmware Revision C if VSI is configured on the slot. Switch software Release 9.2.x will block the user from enabling VSI on cards with firmware Revision C. Different nodes in the Multi Protocol Layer Switch Network may be running different switch software versions and therefore be operating with different VSI versions and different VSI features supported. The network application defines the limitations that must be enforced in a hybrid network of this kind.

Capabilities

VSI is considered configured on a given slot if at least one partition is enabled in the slot, or if a VSI controller is connected to a port in the slot. A summary of the firmware and switch software capabilities is shown in Table 25-2.

Posted: Thu Jul 26 18:15:04 PDT 2001
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