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

[Tarko Tikan]

hey,

> You can, at least in later versions use install replace with http, at 
> least with GISO.  You also do not need the apply command, and you can 
> include “commit” in the replace command so it’s not required after the 
> device reboots.

Not sure all those improvements have been delivered for NCS540 for 
example. But thats not the point.

The problem is, when doing deployment, you need to work with whatever 
software is on the devices from factory. You might have hundreds of 
devices in stock with XR 7.2 so you have to work with that.

Unfortunately XR ZTP doesn't allow for automatic GISO upgrades either 
(before anyone mentions, yes it's possible with iPXE via OOB management 
but thats unusable on the field).

Some other vendors allow sending device config *and* software images in 
the ZTP process so you don't have to automate that part yourself, only 
the upgrades that follow and these you can then baseline from whatever 
version you are deploying.

ZTP is such a low hanging fruit and vendors constantly get it wrong 
(little details matter). Sure, they deliver fixes and improvements but 
this may be after you already have thousand devices delivered that don't 
behave.

-- 
tarko