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Configuring Line-Card Upgrade Groups for Nonstop Software Upgrade

You can configure line-card upgrade groups for nonstop software upgrade (NSSU) operations on supporting platforms. Line-card upgrade groups can reduce the total time required to complete an NSSU operation and enable you to control the upgrade sequence among the switches being upgraded.

How Line-card Upgrade Groups Work with Nonstop Software Upgrade

With NSSU, you can upgrade software on supporting switches with redundant Routing Engines, a Virtual Chassis, or a Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF) using a single command with minimal disruption to network traffic.

In its default configuration, NSSU upgrades each line card in a switch or linecard role member in a Virtual Chassis or VCF one at a time. Traffic continues to flow through the other line cards or members while each one is being restarted as part of the upgrade. This behavior minimizes traffic disruption if you configure link aggregation groups (LAGs) such that the member links of each LAG reside on different line cards or members. As a result, when one member link of a LAG is down, the remaining links are up, and traffic continues to flow through the LAG.

When you configure line-card upgrade groups for NSSU, NSSU upgrades all of the devices in each upgrade group at the same time instead of sequentially, reducing the total time needed to complete the upgrade on all line cards or members.

To achieve minimal traffic disruption during an NSSU operation, you must define the line-card upgrade groups such that the member links of the LAGs reside on line cards or members that are in different upgrade groups. For information on how to configure LAGs, see Configuring Aggregated Ethernet Links (CLI Procedure).

NSSU upgrades the groups in the order that they appear in the configuration (in other words, in the order you configure them). As a result, you can also define upgrade groups to control the upgrade sequence during an NSSU operation.

To configure upgrade groups, use the upgrade-group configuration statement in the [edit chassis nssu] hierarchy.

Line-card Upgrade Groups Support

The following platforms support NSSU line-card upgrade groups:

  • EX4650 Virtual Chassis with more than three member switches

  • QFX3500, QFX3600, and QFX5100 Virtual Chassis

  • QFX5100 Virtual Chassis Fabric (VCF)

Configure Line-Card Upgrade Groups on an EX4650 Virtual Chassis, a QFX Series Virtual Chassis or a QFX5100 VCF

When you configure line-card upgrade groups on an EX4650 Virtual Chassis, a QFX Series Virtual Chassis, or a QFX5100 VCF, whose switches do not have separate line cards, you use only the fpcs option to specify the Virtual Chassis or VCF member IDs that you want to include in an upgrade group. You don’t need to use the member option.

  • To create an upgrade group and add a Virtual Chassis or VCF member switch to the upgrade group, configure the upgrade group name and specify the member number using the fpcs option:

    For example, to create an upgrade group called vcf and add linecard role member 2 to that group:

    If vcf already exists, this command adds member 2 to vcf.

  • To create an upgrade group that contains multiple members in a Virtual Chassis or VCF, specify multiple member numbers enclosed in square brackets after the fpcs option:

    For example, to create an upgrade group called vc1 that contains members 1 and 2:

Make sure you commit the configuration before starting an NSSU operation.

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