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

[Mark Tinka]

On 2/26/23 16:44, Tarko Tikan via cisco-nsp wrote:

> 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.

Oh gosh - it's such a shame that it's 2023 and we still have to put up 
with shoddy software maintenance processes, just because a vendor 
insists that their next generation OS core is worth the daily-use pain.

I could be okay with doing for this for about 10 - 20 nodes in the core. 
But even with some level of automation (because you have to baby-sit the 
automation, especially when the vendor changes things in a bid to 
"improve" life with their OS), trying to manage this on 100's - 1,000's 
of nodes in the Metro (or anywhere, really) is just too much of a nightmare.

So you either end up with network gear running very old code because 
operators can't be asked to spend 2hrs on upgrading a single device, or 
simply tying up too many engineer hours at the expense of other projects.

Mark.