[c-nsp] Upgrading VSS from Modular SXH to Monolitich SXH > Monolithic SXI

[Kevin Graham]

At least for "normal" (non-VSS), mixed modular/monolithic is unsupported, even for basic RPR. Failure mode is really inelegant -- secondary will just go into a constant crash/reboot cycle. Tried about a year ago to get the DDTS reopened for this to get reported sanely and ran into the "no, it's unsupported" roadblock. The "target" OS needs to be running before the secondary sup is taken out of rommon. Though I'm not certain, I would be surprised if VSS handled this any better.



On Jan 7, 2011, at 5:14 AM, David Crane <david.crane at webfusion.com> wrote:

> Hi guys,
> 
> We have a VSS setup on a pair of 6509-E Chassis, and we’re currently running
> Version 12.2(33)SXH6. Due to a desire for some features, and the ability to
> run FWSM’s in this configuration, we’re wanting to upgrade to SXI.
> 
> After some discussions, it was decided that we’d first go from SXH6 Modular
> to SXH6 monolithic, then schedule in another upgrade for SXH6 Monolithic to
> SXI, however, we’ve hit a bump with the Modular > Monolithic change.
> 
> Procedure we followed was:-
>  
> TFTP'd software images to both SUPS ahead of schedule, and did the
> following.
> 
> 
>        * No Boot System
> 
>         * Config-Register 0x2102
>       
>         * Boot System Flash
> sup-bootdisk:s72033-advipservicesk9-mz.122-33.SXH6.bin (The non-modular
> image installed)
> 
>         * Write mem (this should sync the bootvar across the two chassis,
> telling both supervisors to boot the new image upon reload)
> 
>         * Redundancy reload shelf 2 (to reload the standby. Chassis 1 is
> active.)
> 
> At this point, the failover should be RPR mode, chassis 2 boots off the new
> IOS image, and we’re at 50% off the current active chassis.
> My next step would be  “redundancy force switchover” to failover to the
> other chassis, and re-boot this currently active unit with the new code. 
> 
> However, the 2nd chassis re-boots, and goes right back into SSO mode.
> 
> Looking at it boot through console, you can see it booting the Modular image
> from the /sys folder, seemingly ignoring anything the bootvar is set-to, so
> essentially, it’s re-booting with no change, and just re-pairing with the
> VSS, which is why it’s re-entering SSO immediately.
> 
> At first I thought because it was the same IOS version, just modular/non
> modular, that it may still be enabling SSO although the IOS images are the
> same version, just modular/monolithic, but it’s definitely the modular image
> that is being loaded.
> 
> It’s the only line in the “boot-start-marker” in the config, and the other
> lines have been removed, but it still re-boots on the modular image every
> time.
> 
> Henceforth, I'm stuck! I can't get the standby sup to boot off the new image
> and go into RPR, and I don't want to reload both boxes at the same time with
> no confidence it's going to work.
> 
> Anyone any idea what's going on?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Dave.
> 
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