eXR File Copy and Install

Copying via USB

On cXR/32bit an external usb drive shows in the output of "show filesystem" as "usb:". On eXR/64bit it shows as "disk2:"

 

Copying via SCP

In eXR it is possible to copy files at reasonable speed via a network protocol such as SCP, whereas in cXR it could take several hours.

RP/0/RSP0/CPU0:ASR9904-RP5#show run | inc tcp
tcp selective-ack
tcp window-size 65535
tcp path-mtu-discovery
tcp timestamp

 

With the above configuration it was possible to push files to the router at circa 100Mbps from a server on the local OOB management LAN:

$ scp asr9k-mini-x64-6.5.3.iso user@10.200.78.206:/disk0:/asr9k-mini-x64-6.5.3.iso

 

Upgrading eXR

To install eXR or install a newer version, the base IOS-XR package needs to be installed from the ISO image available on the Cisco download site. This doesn't need to be installed via USB drive, it can be copied from a remote location using SCP, for example. It can then be installed using the normal "admin install..." commands.

In the below example IOS-XR 6.5.2 on an RP5 is being upgraded to IOS-XR 6.5.3:

# Add the ISO file which contains the IOS-XR 6.5.3 base package, and the tar file which contains all additional IOS-XR 6.5.3 packages in RPM form:
install add source /harddisk: ASR9K-x64-iosxr-px-k9-6.5.3.tar asr9k-mini-x64-6.5.3.iso

# Remote any unwanted IOS-XR 6.5.3 additional packages
 install remove asr9k-eigrp-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-mcast-x64-2.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-m2m-x64-2.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-ospf-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-9000v-nV-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-bng-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-li-x64-1.1.0.0-r653

# Create an install package from the remaining wanted 6.5.3 packages and the IOS-XR 6.5.3 base/core package "mini":
 install prepare pkg asr9k-mpls-te-rsvp-x64-2.1.0.0-r653 asr9k-k9sec-x64-2.1.0.0-r653 asr9k-mpls-x64-2.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-optic-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-isis-x64-1.1.0.0-r653 asr9k-mini-x64-6.5.3 asr9k-mgbl-x64-2.0.0.0-r653
# ^ On some newer IOS-XR versions the "pkg" keyword isn't required

# This above might not work if 6.5.3 is not already the active base image, in that case try:
 install activate asr9k-mini-x64-6.5.3 asr9k-k9sec-x64-2.1.0.0-r653
# Then prepare the remaining packages:
 install prepare pkg asr9k-mpls-te-rsvp-x64-2.1.0.0-r653 asr9k-mpls-x64-2.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-optic-x64-1.0.0.0-r653 asr9k-isis-x64-1.1.0.0-r653 asr9k-mgbl-x64-2.0.0.0-r653

# Install the packages (this should force a reboot after the activate is completed, after a minute or two of delay):
 install activate

# Commit the packages after they are activate and the forced reboot:
 install commit

# After a successful reboot, remote any unwanted packages.
show install active
show install inactive
show install committed

# Remove any unused packages
install remove ....

 

---