[c-nsp] NCS IOS-XR rant (was:Re: Internet border router recommendations and experiences)

[Tarko Tikan]

hey,

> XR for a number of years now has had the concept of a “golden ISO”.
> It’s a single image either built by Cisco or customers can build
> their own that include the base software and the SMUs in a single
> image.  You just issue a single “install replace myiso.iso” and
> that’s it.

Well, not so in practice.

You can't issue install from http:// or any other remote URL.

You have to sit around and issue "install apply" after "install replace" 
is finished. Replace is async so you have to sit around and poll the 
process.

After reboot you have to reconnect to device and issue "install commit".

In some cases direct upgrades from version X to Y fail so you have to go 
through this whole process twice (X to Z to Y) that takes around 2 hours 
on NCS540.

In some other X to Y cases there is not sufficient diskspace to complete 
"install replace".

We personally have automated the whole install process via netconf and 
can workaround the quirks relevant for our platforms and versions. Many 
people can't do that or can't justify the expense (when they have small 
number of devices).

Some other issues have been solved by Cisco in latest releases, I belive 
install replace can now be sync operation, maybe not on NCS540 but on 
larger platforms (IOS-XR consistency between platforms is an issue itself).

So I totally get what Mark and Gert are saying. IOS-XR is currently 
worst NOS operational experience from all large NOSes out there.

-- 
tarko