This chapter describes software installation tasks. Software installation topics include:
SR Linux can be installed on the 7250 IXR, 7220 IXR-D, and 7220 IXR-H series systems.
Installations can be completed using the CLI. To perform either an initial imaging, reinstallation, or an upgrade or downgrade of a system, the operation requires pushing the new image to the device, changing the boot configuration, and rebooting.
In the installation procedure examples, commands preceded by $ require root privilege. Commands preceded by # should be executed from a bash shell.
The basic installation actions performed on the system do not change, regardless of the method used to install the SR Linux (either using the CLI or manually), but the CLI method is dependent on having a working system whereas the manual method is not.
The software image is a set of files provided as part of an SR Linux distribution. The files contained in an image are:
To perform an installation, you must have an SR Linux image, which is a bin containing these files, along with some other files used for operations and maintenance (for example, YANG models and SNMP MIBs).
On a 7250 IXR system, SR Linux boots from an internal SD card. On a 7220 IXR-D or 7220 IXR-H system, SR Linux boots from a the internal SSD. No other boot devices may be used with the system. The internal SD or SSD contains:
Installations can be performed manually without using the CLI. The process may also require partitioning an SD card external to the system, installing Grub into the MBR of the card, and copying the SR Linux image to the device. Use of the manual method requires advanced knowledge of Linux commands, including disk formatting, copying files, unpacking compressed images, and editing of text files. Basic knowledge of editing text files in Linux is mandatory. The manual method requires a Linux server, with an empty SD card mounted (or use of a USB-SD card adapter).
You can upgrade and deploy a new software image using the tools system deploy-image command in the CLI. With this command, there are two methods you can use to deploy an image. You can choose to deploy using an HTTP/HTTPS link to the software, or you can copy the image bin file onto the system, then deploy it.
The tools system deploy-image command can be run with or without a reboot option. The reboot option deploys the image and reboots the system automatically to bring up the specified image. If the reboot option is not added, the image is only deployed. To then perform the upgrade, the system must be rebooted separately using the tools platform chassis reboot command.
Deploy a software image with the deploy-image command using either of the following methods:
This procedure upgrades the software from the bash shell using the CLI.
![]() | Note: The info from state system boot image output only lists images present in the grub.cfg file. The tools system boot available-images output lists all of the images present in the system. |
Example:
If the validation is successful, proceed with the warm reboot.
An unsuccessful validation or a failed warm reboot attempt cannot be forced using the additional force option in the following cases:
![]() | Caution: Forcing a warm reboot may result in a service outage. The force option overrides any warnings, such as peers that are not configured, or peers that do not support graceful restart. |
Example:
You can perform an ISSU on 7220 IXR-D2 or D3 systems only. Instead of rebooting the chassis to bring up the new software image, you will perform a warm reboot to conclude the upgrade. During the warm reboot, the system maintains non-stop forwarding.
The examples in this section show an ISSU from SR Linux R21.6.1 to the next available maintenance release.
![]() | Note: When the control plane goes down during an ISSU, all SSH sessions are disconnected. Nokia recommends that you perform ISSU via a console session. |
![]() | Note: Prior to performing an ISSU, Nokia recommends backing up your existing configuration. |
You can perform an ISSU upgrade in conjunction with the tools system deploy-image command. With this command, you can choose between two methods to deploy an image; you can choose to deploy using an HTTP/HTTPS link to the software, or you can copy the image bin file onto the system, then deploy it.
This section describes recovery procedures applicable to 7250 IXR systems.
Installing the software requires a working Linux system running CentOS 7, with access to an SD card (preferably 16 GB). A USB adapter may be used, as most servers do not have SD card slots. The SD card should be formatted and have no important data present on it. Any data on the card is wiped during the procedure. Installing the software manually requires downloading a script. In the following examples, /dev/sdb is used as the SD card device, and all steps should be completed as a user with root privileges.
This section describes methods to create a bootable SD card containing the SR Linux software image to use on a 7250 IXR system.
Using a Linux machine (running CentOS 7), you can install the SR Linux image on a 7250 IXR system using a flash script.
![]() | Warning: If used incorrectly, this procedure could be destructive and may render the system creating the SD card inoperable. Verify the correct drive is being used before completing the installation. |
Using a Linux machine (running CentOS 7), you can copy an SR Linux image from one SD card to another SD card. You can then use this second SD card to install the SR Linux software image onto a 7250 IXR system.
From a 7250 IXR system running SR Linux, you can create a bootable SD card locally on the DUT, which can then be transferred and used in another system.
This section describes ONIE installation procedures applicable to 7220 IXR-D and 7220 IXR-H systems.
If you do not host the SR Linux images from a ZTP server, you must perform a manual bootstrapping to retrieve the image.
![]() | Note: |
Installing an ONIE image on a 7220 IXR-D or 7220 IXR-H system requires a working Linux system and a USB device. Installation also requires the ONIE boot loader install environment.
![]() | Warning: Installing the ONIE from the USB wipes out all SSD partitions. |
![]() | Note: If you do not host the SR Linux images from a ZTP server, you must perform a manual bootstrap procedure to complete the installation. See the Image upgrade from ONIE prompt procedure to continue. |