Title: DECbrouter90: Upgrading the Brouter software using Flash-load helper. Product: DECbrouter90 with Bootrom of 4.14(8) or later. Question: I have a later model DECbrouter90 ("Show Version" shows a Bootrom version of 4.14(8) or later). How do I upgrade the IOS software running on the DECbrouter to the latest version, using Flash-Load Helper? Solution: The following assumes that you have obtained the correct version of the MOP or tftp DECbrouter90 software from your Digital support organization, and have loaded that software onto a MOP or tftp load host. Basic Instructions: From the enabled prompt, type either "copy tftp flash" or "copy mop flash", and answer the questions which the DECbrouter asks. Note that any time you upgrade the DECbrouter90's software, the brouter will *not* perform any routing or bridging functions during the upgrade process, which will take several (3 to 5, typically) minutes. Detailed Instructions, with examples: Using Flash Load Helper The following sections describe Flash Load Helper, which now comes standard with the 4.14(8) boot flash being shipped with the current DECbrouter90 product. Overview This section describes the requirements, purpose, and advantages of Flash Load Helper. Flash Load Helper is a software function that provides a method for users of the DECbrouter90 to upgrade their system software. The main advantage of Flash Load Helper is that it simplifies the upgrade procedure without requiring additional hardware; however it does require some brief network downtime. Flash Load Helper involves an automated procedure that switches from the current running image to the ROM based bootstrap image, downloads to Flash, and switches back to the newly downloaded image. Flash Load Helper includes the following features: It performs extensive validations before erasing the current Flash image. That is, it confirms access to the specified source file on the specified server before erasing Flash and reloading to the ROM image for the actual upgrade. It warns the user if the image being downloaded is not appropriate for the system. Though the Flash Load Helper will not detect over sized files which are too large for the DECbrouter90. It has improved recovery chances after Flash upgrade failures for remote Telnet users without console access. Flash Load Helper prevents reloads to the ROM image for Flash upgrade if the system is not set up for auto booting and the user is not on the console terminal. By doing this, at least the boot ROM image can be brought up as a last resort rather than have the system wait at the ROM monitor's prompt for input from the console terminal. Flash Load Helper retries Flash downloads automatically up to six times. The retry sequence is as follows : - first try - retry after 120 seconds - retry after 240 seconds - reload ROM image - first try after reloading ROM image - retry after 120 seconds - retry after 240 seconds Users have an opportunity to save any configuration changes made before they exit out of the system image. Users logged into the system are notified of the impending switch to the boot ROM image, so that they do not lose their connections unexpectedly. Console output during the Flash Load Helper operation is logged into a buffer that is preserved through system reloads. Users can retrieve the buffer contents from a running image; the output would be useful where console access is unavailable or there is a failure in the download operation. Reconfiguring before Upgrading Flash There may be some cases when, because of your current configuration, the Flash Load Helper operation may fail. For example, this could occur when IP is being bridged, or when IP-unnumbered is being used for the IP address on a serial interface. The host the router is trying to retrieve the TFTP or MOP image from must have a routed or bridged connect to the DECbrouter90 independent of the DECbrouter90 itself. The DECbrouter90 does will not route or bridge any traffic while in the rom boot mode. In these cases, you may have to reconfigure your network and system(s) before attempting to upgrade the Flash image. Executing Flash Load Helper for Copy TFTP Flash This section describes how to execute Copy TFTP Flash from the ROM based bootstrap image to Flash memory. Enter the COPY TFTP FLASH command beginning in privileged EXEC mode, which automatically invokes the Flash Load Helper. The COPY TFTP FLASH command can always be invoked from a console terminal. The command can, however, be invoked from a virtual terminal (for example, a Telnet session) only if the system is configured for auto booting. This means that the boot bits in the system configuration register must be non-zero. Router# copy tftp flash ERR: Config register boot bits set for manual booting The above error message is displayed if the user is on a Telnet session and the system is set for manual booting (the boot bits in the configuration register are zero). This step helps minimize the chance of having the system go down to the ROM monitor prompt (and taken out of the remote Telnet user's control) in case of any catastrophic failure in the Flash upgrade. The system would try to bring up at least the boot ROM image if it cannot boot an image from Flash. The user must go into global configuration mode and change the configuration register value (through the CONFIG-REGISTER command) so that the boot bits are non-zero before reinitiating the copy tftp flash command. *************************** NOTICE ******************************* Flash load helper v1.0 This process will accept the TFTP copy options and then terminate the current system image to use the ROM based image for the copy. Router functionality will not be available during that time. If you are logged in via Telnet, this connection will terminate. Users with console access can see the results of the copy operation. ****************************************************************** If any terminals other than the one on which this command is being executed are active, the following message appears: There are active users logged into the system. Proceed? [confirm] y System flash directory: File Length Name/status 1 3534848 igs-bfpx.10-06 [3534912 bytes used, 659392 available, 4194304 total] Enter the IP address or name of the remote host you are copying from: Address or name of remote host [255.255.255.255]? 16.135.16.188 Enter the name of the file you want to copy: Source file name? /igs-bfpx.10-06 Enter the name of the destination file: Destination file name [default = source name]? Accessing file '/igs-bfpx.10-06' on 16.135.16.188.... Loading from 16.135.16.188: Erase flash device before writing? [confirm] If you indicate "yes," erase Flash, the dialog continues as follows. The COPY TFTP FLASH operation verifies the request from the running image by trying to TFTP a single block from the remote TFTP server. Then the Flash Load Helper is executed, causing the system to reload to the ROM based system image. Erase flash device before writing? [confirm] y Flash contains files. Are you sure? [confirm] If the file does not seem to be a valid image for the system, a warning is displayed and a separate confirmation is sought from the user: Copy '/igs-bfpx.10-06' from TFTP server as '/igs-bfpx.10-06' into Flash WITH erase? y %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested %FLH: rxboot/igs-bfpx.10-06 from 16.135.16.188 to flash ... If you had indicated "no," do not erase Flash, and there was no file duplication, the dialog would have continued as follows: Erase flash device before writing? [confirm] n Copy '/igs-bfpx.10-06' from TFTP server as '/igs-bfpx.10-06' into Flash WITHOUT erase? y If you had indicated "no," do not erase Flash, and there was file duplication, the dialog would have continued as follows: Erase flash device before writing? [confirm] n File '/igs-bfpx.10-06' already exists; it will be invalidated! Invalidate existing copy of '/igs-bfpx.10-06' in flash memory? [confirm] y Copy '/igs-bfpx.10-06' from TFTP server as '/igs-bfpx.10-06' into Flash WITHOUT erase? y If the configuration has been modified but not yet saved, you will be prompted to save the configuration, as follows: System configuration has been modified. Save? [confirm] If you confirm to save the configuration, you might also receive this message: Warning: Attempting to overwrite an NVRAM configuration previously written by a different version of the system image. Overwrite the previous NVRAM configuration? [confirm] Users with open Telnet connections will be notified of the system reload, as follows: **System going down for Flash upgrade** In case of TFTP failures, the copy operation will retry up to three times. If the failure happens in the middle of a copy (part of the file has been written to Flash), the retry will not erase Flash unless you specified an erase. The partly written file will be marked as deleted and a new file opened with the same name. If Flash runs out of free space in this process, the copy is terminated. After the Flash Load Helper finishes its copy (whether successful or not), it attempts to do a default boot from Flash. This means that if the Flash was erased and a new image downloaded, the new image is booted up. If Flash was not erased and a file appended in Flash, the original Flash image is booted up. If the default boot from Flash fails, the bootstrap image in ROM is booted up. Executing Flash Load Helper for Copy MOP Flash This section describes how to execute Copy MOP Flash from the ROM based bootstrap image to Flash memory. Enter the COPY MOP FLASH command beginning in privileged EXEC mode, which automatically invokes the Flash Load Helper. The same rules outlined in the Copy TFTP Flash example pertain to this section also. DBR90#copy mop flash **** NOTICE **** Flash load helper v1.0 This process will accept the copy options and then terminate the current system image to use the ROM based image for the copy. Routing functionality will not be available during that time. If you are logged in via Telnet, this connection will terminate. Users with console access can see the results of the copy operation. ----******** ----- Proceed? [confirm] y System flash directory: File Length Name/status 1 3534848 igs-bfpx.sys [3534912 bytes used, 659392 available, 4194304 total] Source file name? igs-bfpx.sys Destination file name [igs-bfpx.sys]? igs-bfpx.sys Erase flash device before writing? [confirm] y Flash contains files. Are you sure you want to erase? [confirm] y Copy 'igs-bfpx.sys' into Flash WITH erase [yes/no] y %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested %FLH: igs-bfpx.sys from MOP server to flash ... System flash directory: File Length Name/status 1 3534848 igs-bfpx.sys [3534912 bytes used, 659392 available, 4194304 total] Erasing device... ... erased Mop2flash: Loading igs-bfpx.sys into flash from interface Ethernet0 address 08002b002469 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Verifying checksum... OK (0x6390) Flash copy took 223964 msecs %FLH: Re-booting system after download Loading igs-bfpx.sys at 0x3000040, size = 3534848 bytes [OK] F3: 3436364+98252+305340 at 0x3000060 Restricted Rights Legend Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights clause at FAR sec. 52.227-19 and subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS sec. 252.227-7013. cisco Systems, Inc. 170 West Tasman Drive San Jose, California 95134 Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software IOS (tm) 3000 Software (IGS-BFPX), Version 10.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1) Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems, Inc. Compiled Tue 25-Oct-94 19:08 by dougs DECbrouter 90 router (68030) processor (revision A) with 6140K/2048K bytes of m. Processor board serial number 00000000 X.25 software, Version 2.0, NET2, BFE and GOSIP compliant. Bridging software. SuperLAT software (copyright 1990 by Meridian Technology Corp). 1 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface. 2 Serial network interfaces. 32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory. 4096K bytes of processor board System flash (Read ONLY) DBR90> Monitoring Flash Load Helper Use the show flh-log command in EXEC mode to view the system console output generated during the Flash Load Helper operation. Since you may be a remote Telnet user performing the Flash upgrade without a console connection, this command allows you to retrieve console output when your Telnet connection has terminated due to the switch to the ROM image. The output indicates what happened during the download, and would be particularly useful if the download failed. Assuming the sample Flash Load Helper operation shown in the preceding section, "Executing Flash Load Helper," our output would appear as follows: DBR90# show flh-log %FLH: /igs-bfpx.10-06 from 16.135.16.188 to flash ... System flash directory: File Length Name/status 1 4154032 igs-bfpx.sys [4154096 bytes used, 40208 available, 4194304 total] Accessing file '/igs-bfpx.10-06' on 16.135.16.188... Loading from 16.135.16.188: Erasing device... ... erased Loading from 16.135.16.188: !!.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![OK - 3534848/4194304 bytes] Verifying checksum... OK (0x6390) Flash copy took 223964 msecs %FLH: Re-booting system after download Loading igs-bfpx.sys at 0x3000040, size = 3534848 bytes [OK] F3: 3436364+98252+305340 at 0x3000060 Restricted Rights Legend Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights clause at FAR sec. 52.227-19 and subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS sec. 252.227-7013. cisco Systems, Inc. 170 West Tasman Drive San Jose, California 95134 Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software IOS (tm) 3000 Software (IGS-BFPX), Version 10.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1) Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems, Inc. Compiled Tue 25-Oct-94 19:08 by dougs DECbrouter 90 router (68030) processor (revision A) with 6140K/2048K bytes of m. Processor board serial number 00000000 X.25 software, Version 2.0, NET2, BFE and GOSIP compliant. Bridging software. SuperLAT software (copyright 1990 by Meridian Technology Corp). 1 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface. 2 Serial network interfaces. 32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory. 4096K bytes of processor board System flash (Read ONLY) DBR90>