Software upgrades

Software upgrade requirements
CAUTION 

CAUTION

Service Degradation

Ensure that you regularly remove from the NFM-P the device software images that are no longer required, for example, by deleting the images.

An accumulation of device software images can dramatically increase the length of an operation such as an NFM-P database backup, restore, or reinstantiation.

A software upgrade requires a software upgrade policy that specifies the device family, software image and image backup locations, and the actions to perform; for example, image download, activation, or ISSU. Depending on the device family, the activation function supports the reboot and reboot upgrade options. See Reboot and reboot upgrade in this section for more information.

Using software upgrade policies

Using a software upgrade policy, an NFM-P operator can independently perform the image download, upgrade, and activation tasks. For example, you can configure a policy to perform the time-consuming software image downloads only, and then schedule the image activations as a separate task. When the images are downloaded in advance, the NFM-P can perform more activations in a maintenance period.

Nokia recommends that you plan the image download tasks independent of upgrade and activation tasks. The download tasks can be time-consuming depending on the software image size, network bandwidth, and number of NEs the image is being downloaded to.

Note: The NFM-P limits the software image download to 10 NEs at a time.

Software compatibility and upgrades

During a software upgrade, the NFM-P verifies that the new software is compatible with the device and that the required files are present; otherwise, the upgrade is not attempted. You can use the NFM-P to roll back a software upgrade in the event of an upgrade failure.

You cannot upgrade an NE to a chronologically older release, regardless of the release identifier; for example, the R1 revision of a release may predate the R9 revision of the previous release. See the NSP NFM-P Network Element Compatibility Guide for information about the supported device upgrade paths.

VSR-a software (SROS) upgrade is not supported in NFM-P.

Nokia recommends that you import all of the images that are bundled for a release. All 7x50 NEs use the same bundle. When downloading the software, the NFM-P automatically chooses the required files for a specific NE variant.

For SR NEs, the NFM-P downloads a complete list of software bundles regardless of chassis type.

For IXR NEs, the NFM-P downloads only the required list of image files based on the chassis type.

GNE software upgrades

The NFM-P NE software upgrade function is supported for GNEs, depending on the device type and release. Upgrading a GNE requires a valid NFM-P GNE driver that supports the function.

Note: Some GNE devices may have specific upgrade requirements. Before you attempt to perform a GNE upgrade, see the appropriate domain user guide for information about driver capabilities and driver-specific information.

GNE software upgrades are configured and performed using the policy-based mechanism that is used for natively managed devices; the type of upgrade policy required for GNEs is Generic NE Node. In a Generic NE Node upgrade policy, you must specify FTP or SFTP user credentials and a directory on the main server that is used for transferring the software image files to and from the GNEs.

Note: GNE software upgrades have the following special requirements.