[c-nsp] ASR9k RSP440

[James Jun]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2020 at 04:59:38PM -0500, Aaron wrote:
> 
> What is everyones opinion of the 64bit XR?
>

No particular opinion other than the fact that every new A9K deployment here is eXR (64-bit) as new HW doesn't run on 32-bit anymore.


A few things I noted:

1.  ssh latency (latency for each keystroke typed) within CLI is reduced/noticeably improved over 32-bit.

1b. access to 'admin' CLI context is noticeably slower in eXR, as admin runs in different (sysadmin-vm) VM.
    However, recent eXR builds (6.5.1 and newer) appear to have improved this quite a bit now, that it's not as bad.

2.  Non-stop routing (NSR) is on by default for many protocols.  This is *really* nice!

3.  Upgrading software is somewhat improved / less convoluted with RPMs (compared to 32-bit's PIE installs).
    Golden ISO is certainly a lot easier "install, reboot and forget" improvement over turboboot, when blowing away
    everything and starting over fresh for a clean install.

    FPD upgrade process and corresponding CLI commands are also improved/easier to understand and follow.

4.  Some commands (such as 'admin show alarms', 'admin show env power') are cleaned up in eXR and improved.

5.  **knock on wood** ISSU actually, kind of.. seems to work? (omg)


Long story short, for SW sake, I don't think eXR makes lot of difference over cXR for most users.  But, the main reason for us to standardize to 64-bit is HW support.  Every new A9K deployment we have is eXR/64-bit now, because new HW (99xx chassis, Lightspeed LCs) will only run on eXR.


HTH,
James