[c-nsp] 6500/SUP32 - RP ROMMON upgrade?

[Jay Hennigan]

Dale Shaw wrote:

> I'm curious about how many people out there manage ROMMON/bootflash
> images in the same way the 'main' image is managed.
> 
> In one customer network, there are tens of 7200s running 12.4T code
> with 12.3-based boot code. The same network has 20+ 6500s
> (sup32/sup720) running various 12.2(18)SXF images and I doubt anyone's
> ever given a second thought to 'auxiliary' code like ROMMON or any
> other flashable components.
> 
> So, is stuff like ROMMON a set-and-forget or
> never-even-thought-about-it thing for you, or do you actively track
> image availability and factor upgrades in to your broader platform
> management activities? Is it considered good practice, for example, to
> match 7200 series boot flash revs with the main image, or does this
> fall into the "if it ain't broke, .." category?

7200s have three places where code is stored, ROMMON, Bootflash, and the 
main image.

ROMMON is a physical "Yank this chip out of its socket and replace it 
with another chip" so not flashable.   Not DIY unless you have an EPROM 
burner and a factory chip with newer code to dump.

I typically don't worry about bootflash unless there's a compatibility 
issue with that and a newer IOS, but this is indeed flashable and images 
are available on CCO.

On smaller platforms the ROMMON and bootflash are combined onto a single 
BootROM.  This is also a "Yank the physical chip and replace it" type of 
thing.  Occasionally this needs to be upgraded when newer code becomes 
too large for the original design to address, but it's been a long time 
since I've needed to deal with it, IIRC the 2500 and maybe early 2600 
series routers.

In my experience on most platforms these are "set and forget", but I 
don't have a lot of hands-on with the 6500.

--
Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Engineering - jay at impulse.net
Impulse Internet Service  -  http://www.impulse.net/
Your local telephone and internet company - 805 884-6323 - WB6RDV