Manage Software Images

Software image management helps you ensure that all devices in your network run on the latest, most secure software versions.

This section contains the following topics:

Set Up Software Image Management (SWIM)

A software image is a file containing the installable network operating system software (such as Cisco IOS-XR, PnP ZTP, Cisco IOS-XE) that enables a network device to function. The software image management page ( Device Management > Software Management) provides a consolidated view of the various aspects of image management such as adding and deploying an image, exporting an image, deleting an image summary, and viewing job details. Before you upload software images:

  • Ensure your devices are configured correctly with the right credentials.

  • To perform any SWIM related activities such as viewing image information or performing install-related operations, it's essential that you have read/write access permissions for both SWIM related roles and Inventory APIs.

  • If you are using FTP, SFTP, or SCP make sure that it is enabled and properly configured.

  • Adjust your image transfer and distribution preferences. From the main menu, go to Device Management > > Software Management Preferences. Under the Basic tab, choose the following preferences.

Basic Settings

Description

Default Setting

Backup running image

Before image distribution, backs up the running image to the software image repository

Disabled

Smart flash delete

Deletes the unnecessary files from flash to free up the memory space before distribution

Disabled

Insert boot command

Inserts the boot command into the running image, after image distribution

Disabled

Continue on failure

If distributing images to multiple devices and distribution to a device fails, continues the distribution to other devices

Enabled

Remove the option to activate software during distribution jobs

Choose this option to remove the option to activate the software during distribution jobs.

Disabled

Copy operation to be initiated by the Crosswork Network Automation Manager server

Choose this option if you want to copy the software images on the Crosswork server.

Enabled

  • Click the Protocols tab and drag and drop to specify the default protocol Crosswork should use when transferring images in the Image Transfer Protocol Order. Arrange the protocols in order of preference. If the first protocol listed fails, Crosswork will use the next protocol in the list.


Note

Refer to the Cisco Crosswork Network Controller Essentials Supported Devices for more information about support for SWIM on different devices.

Add a Software Image to the Image Repository

Procedure

Step 1

From the main menu, go to Device Management > Software Management

Step 2

Click the Add icon under the Images tab.

Step 3

There are different ways that you can add software images to the image repository.

  • If you want to add a software image from a client machine file system, select the File radio button. Browse to choose the image and click Add.

  • If you want to add a software image from an IPv4 or IPv6 server, select the URL radio button. The file that you import must follow the recommended file naming convention. For example, the naming convention for .tar files is image family-*-image version.tar. Here, the image family must be in capital case. For example, based on the naming convention, the name for the NCS540.tar file must be NCS540-iosxr-k9-7.0.0.tar. Add the other details and click Next. Choose to Run Now or Schedule Later and click Schedule.

  • If you want to add a software image from a managed device or a group of devices, select the Device radio button. Select the device name and click Next. Choose to Run Now or Schedule Later and click Schedule.

Step 4

Verify that the image is listed on the Software Images page ( Device Management > Software Management).

Deploy a New Software Image to Devices

The image distribution operation copies a new software image to a specified location on a device. You can deploy images for similar devices in a single deployment, adjusting your choices per device. When you select an image to be deployed, Crosswork only displays devices that are suitable for the image. When you create the distribution job, you can specify whether Crosswork should deploy the image immediately or at a later time.

Before deploying an image:

  • Find out if there is sufficient memory, clear the disk space for distributing the image or package.

  • Check the suitability of the device for the chosen image.

  • When distributing an image to a device, use the most secure protocols supported by the device.

  • Crosswork supports up to five active Distribute operations in parallel. These Distribute operations will not include the Active operations.

Crosswork displays feedback and status as the operation proceeds. If you are distributing an image to many devices, you can stagger reboots so that the service at a site is not down during the upgrade window. For image distribution to work efficiently, the device and server from which the distribution is performed must be in the same geographical location or site. The distribution job returns an error if the distribution takes more time due to slow network or low speed.

Procedure

Step 1

From the main menu, choose Device Management > Software Management.

Under the Images tab, you can view the list of software images that you have added to your repository.

Step 2

Select the Image ID that you want to distribute and click the Deploy Image button. When you create a distribution job, you can configure the image for each device or do a bulk distribution for a type of devices

Note

 

If the required device is not listed, ensure that the Image Family associated with the file is same as the selected device's family.

Step 3

From the Software image window, select the devices for image distribution and click Next.

Step 4

The Select devices window is displayed. Select the devices that you want to deploy and click Next.

Step 5

The Verification window is displayed which lists the details of the software image on the device. If the images that you have chosen are compatible with the devices, the Status column displays a SUCCESS message. Based on the status (Success or Failure) you can decide on the compatibility state of the device chosen. For example, if the state is success, then there is enough space to proceed with the distribution of an image. Crosswork also displays a recommended software under the Compatible Software column and a recommended storage partition under the Location column for your image. For each device, check the location where the image will be copied. You can choose to deploy the images on a device or on an external server by selecting the options under the Software Management column.

Step 6

Click Next. The Deployment window is displayed.

In the Deployment window, configure the behavior for the distribution job—for example, if it is a bulk distribution job, whether to continue the distribution in case of a failure.

The image deployment options that are available are:

  • Distribution Settings:

    Smart flash delete Delete any file (other than the running image) to recover disk space in case the device has insufficient memory (additional image files are deleted until adequate space is available in the selected flash).

  • Activation settings:

    • Activate: If you are deploying more than one image, you can choose to sequentially or parallelly deploy your images by selecting the appropriate option.

    • Commit: Select the checkbox to commit the image on the device post distribution. This applies only for XR devices and is not needed for XE devices.

    • Upgrade FPD Image: Field Programmable Devices (FPDs) are hardware devices implemented on router cards that support separate software upgrades. Enable the slider to automatically choose FPD image packages for the upgrade during image distribution and activation processes. Additional features include:

  • Advanced Settings:

    • Continue on Failure: Select to continue the activation or distribution on other devices even if it fails on a device.

    • Distribute via VRF: Enable the slider to distribute images through VRF.

      VRF name: Enter an appropriate VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) name to be used during distribution of an image and for the file transfer.

      Note

       

      This field is available only when the Distribute via VRF slider is enabled.

      If multiple devices are selected, only the common VRF name is displayed in the VRF name field.

Support for Image Deployment options on different devices are listed below in the following tables:

Table 1. Device support for image deployment options: Table 1

Devices

Smart flash delete

Continue distribution on failure

Insert boot command

Cisco IOS (Cisco ASR 901 series routers)

Y

Y

Y

Cisco IOS-XE (Cisco ASR 903 router/Cisco ASR 920 router)

Y

Y

Y

Cisco IOS-XE (Cisco ASR 907 routers)

Y

Y

Y

Cisco IOS-XR devices

Y (for Cisco ASR 9000 series routers, the .tar images with version lower than the running image will be deleted)

Y

-
Table 2. Device support for image deployment options via VRF: Table 2

Devices

Distribute via VRF

Cisco IOS (Cisco ASR 901 routers)

Y

Cisco IOS-XE (Cisco ASR 920 routers)

Y

Cisco IOS-XE (Cisco ASR 903 routers, Cisco ASR 907 routers)

Y

Cisco IOS-XR devices

-

Step 7

Click Next. In the Schedule window, choose whether to run the job immediately or later, and then click Schedule.

To view details about the image distribution job that you created, click the Jobs tab.

Activate a New Software Image on Devices

When a new image is activated on a device, it becomes the running image on the disk. Deactivated images are not removed when a new image is activated; you must manually delete the image from the device.

To activate an image without distributing a new image to a device—for example, when the device has the image you want to activate—use the following procedure.

Procedure

Step 1

From the main menu, go to Device Management > Software Management.

Step 2

Click the Jobs tab to view details about the image distribution jobs that you have created. This section lists job details such as job type, status, and run time. For more information on a specific job instance, click on the corresponding hyperlink.

Step 3

Select a software image distribution job which has been run successfully and click the Activate button,

Step 4

Select the devices for the image distribution and click Next.

Step 5

In the Activation settings window, choose the following settings according to your preference.

  • Activation settings:

    • Activate: If you are deploying multiple images, you can choose to deploy them sequentially or in parallel by selecting the appropriate option.

    • Commit: Select the checkbox to commit the image on the device post activation. This applies only for XR devices and is not needed for XE devices.

    • Upgrade FPD Image: Field Programmable Devices (FPDs) are hardware devices implemented on router cards that support separate software upgrades. Enable the slider to automatically choose FPD image packages for the upgrade during image distribution and activation processes. Additional features include:

  • Advanced settings:

    • Continue on failure: Enable the slider to continue the distribution even if it fails on a device.

    • Distribute via VRF: Enable the slider to distribute images through VRF.

      VRF name: Enter an appropriate VPN routing and forwarding (VRF) name to be used during distribution of an image and for the file transfer.

      Note

       

      This field is available only when the "Distribute via VRF" check box is enabled.

      If multiple devices are selected, only the common VRF name is displayed in the VRF name field.

Step 6

Click Next and choose Run Now or Schedule Later to activate the software image in the selected devices.

Step 7

Click the Schedule button to submit the changes.

See the table below for information on Cisco devices and the protocols that they support for image distribution:

Table 3. Cisco Devices and Supported Image Distribution Protocols
Cisco Devices FTP SCP SFTP HTTPS

Cisco ASR 1000 series routers

Yes

No

Yes

No

Cisco ASR 9000 series routers

No

No

Yes

No

Cisco IOS-XR (except Cisco ASR 9000 series routers)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Cisco ASR 900 series routers Yes Yes No No

Delete Software Image Files from the Image Repository

Software images can only be manually deleted from the image repository. If you have the right privileges, you can use the following procedure to delete software image files from the image repository.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Device Management > Software Management.

Step 2

From the Images window, select one or more images that you want to delete.

Step 3

Click the Delete icon to delete the image.