Step 1

Create a bootable USB flash drive from your local machine (Windows or MAC):

1. Connect the USB flash drive to your local machine and format it with File Allocation Table (FAT) 32 file system using the Windows Operating System or Apple MAC Disk Utility. Formatting the USB drive to FAT creates addressable sectors that ensures that each piece of information in the file can be found by the computer.

   After formatting the USB flash drive, right-click on the USB disk and view the properties.

2. On the Software Download page, navigate to the required Cisco IOS XR product and release. The USB boot image is available in the format <platform>-usb-<version>.zip compressed file. For example, the USB boot image for Cisco 8000 series routers for release 7.10.1 is 8000-x64-usb-7.10.1.zip file.

3. Download the compressed USB boot image from the Software Download page to your host computer.

4. Verify that the copy operation is successful. To verify, compare the file size on the Software Download page and the copied file on your computer. You can also verify the MD5 checksum value. This value ensures that the copied file is valid and untampered.

5. Unzip the file to extract the content of the compressed boot file inside the USB flash drive. This converts the USB flash drive to a bootable drive.

   

   Note	The content of the zipped file (EFI and boot directories) should be extracted directly into the root of the USB flash drive. If the unzipping application places the extracted files in a new folder, move the EFI and boot directories to the root folder of the USB flash drive.

6. Remove the USB flash drive from your computer.

   The USB flash drive is ready to be used as a bootable disk to install and boot the Cisco IOS XR image.

Step 2

Boot the router using the bootable USB flash drive.

1. Use this procedure only on active RP; the standby RP must either be powered OFF or removed from the chassis. After the active RP is installed with images from USB, insert or power ON the standby RP as appropriate.

2. Connect to the console.

3. Insert the USB flash drive in the USB Port Type-A on the router.

   Ensure that the router is powered ON. When the USB bootable drive is plugged into an operational router, the device is detected as disk2:. Verify using show media location all command.

   Router#show media location all
   Fri Jan 27 08:29:00.808 UTC
   
   Media Info for Location: node0_RP0_CPU0
   Partition         Size           Used          Percent        Avail
   --------------------------------------------------------------------
   rootfs:           54.4G          16.5G          30%           38G
   data:             77.3G          20.5G          27%           56.8G
   disk0:            3.9G           12M            1%            3.6G
   /var/lib/docker   6.6G           17M            1%            6.2G
   disk2:            15G            6.1G           42%           8.6G
   log:              5.3G           572M           12%           4.4G
   harddisk:         61G            19G            32%           39G

4. View the contents of the USB drive.

   Example:

   Router#dir disk2:

5. Initiate the reimage from the USB bootable drive.

   Example:

   Router#reload bootmedia usb noprompt

   Note

   If the router was powered OFF, power ON the router. Press the Esc key continuously to pause the boot process and get the RP to the BIOS menu. Use the arrow key and navigate to the USB Flash Memory option in the Boot Manager menu, and press the Enter key. The BIOS GRUB automatically detects the image from the USB flash drive, starts the installation, and displays the progress of the installation operation.

   The router reboots after the reimage with new version available in the USB drive. After the installation is complete, the router reboots and enters the prompt to configure the root username and password.

Step 1

Configure the DHCP server for IPv4, IPv6, or both communication protocols before you use the iPXE boot.

1. Create dhcpd.conf file in /etc/ or /etc/dhcp directory. This configuration file stores the network information such as the path to the script, location of the ISO install file, location of the provisioning configuration file, serial number, MAC address of the router. The following example shows a sample dhcpd.conf file.

   Example:

   allow bootp;
   allow booting;
   ddns-update-style interim;
   option domain-name "cisco.com";
   option time-offset -8;
   ignore client-updates;
   default-lease-time 21600;
   max-lease-time 43200;
   option domain-name-servers <ip-address-server1>, <ip-address-server2>;
   log-facility local0;
    :
   subnet <subnet> netmask <netmask> {
     option routers <ip-address>;
     option subnet-mask <subnet-mask>;
     next-server <server-addr>;
   }
     :
   host <hostname> {
     hardware ethernet e4:c7:22:be:10:ba;
     fixed-address <address>;
     filename "http://<address>/<path>/<image.bin>";

2. Test the server once the DHCP server is running. For example, for IPv4 protocol:

• Use the MAC address of the router:

  Note	Using the host statement provides a fixed address that is used for DNS, however, verify that option 77 is set to iPXE in the request. This option is used to provide the boot file to the system when required.

  host <platform>
  {
  hardware ethernet <router-mac-address>;
  if exists user-class and option user-class = "iPXE" {
  	filename = "http://<httpserver-address>/<path-to-image>/<image>";
  }
  

  Ensure that the above configuration is successful.
• Use the serial number of the router:

  host <platform> 
  {
  option dhcp-client-identifier "<router-serial-number>";
    filename "http://<IP-address>/<path-to-image>/<image>";
    fixed-address <IP-address>;
  }

  The serial number of the router is derived from the BIOS and is used as an identifier.

Step 2

Recover the router using iPXE boot.

1. Connect to the console.

2. Power ON the router.

3. Press Esc key continuously to pause the boot process and get the RP to the BIOS menu.

4. Use the arrow key and navigate to the Built-in EFI iPXE option in the Boot Manager menu, and press the Enter key.

   Example:

   iPXE> ifstat
   net0: 00:a0:c9:00:00:00 using i350-b on PCI01:00.0 (closed)
     [Link:up, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
   net1: 00:a0:c9:00:00:01 using i350-b on PCI01:00.1 (closed)
     [Link:up, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
   net2: 00:a0:c9:00:00:02 using i350-b on PCI01:00.2 (closed)
     [Link:down, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
     [Link status: Down (http://ipxe.org/38086193)]
   net3: 00:a0:c9:00:00:03 using i350-b on PCI01:00.3 (closed)
     [Link:down, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
     [Link status: Down (http://ipxe.org/38086193)]
   net4: 00:00:00:00:00:04 using dh8900cc on PCI02:00.1 (closed)
     [Link:down, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
     [Link status: Down (http://ipxe.org/38086193)]
   net5: 00:00:00:00:00:05 using dh8900cc on PCI02:00.2 (closed)
     [Link:down, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
     [Link status: Down (http://ipxe.org/38086193)]
   net6: 04:62:73:08:57:86 using dh8900cc on PCI02:00.3 (closed)
     [Link:up, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
   
   iPXE> set net6/ip 10.0.0.0
   iPXE> set net6/netmask 255.0.0.0
   iPXE> set net6/gateway 10.48.42.1
   iPXE>
   iPXE> ifopen net6
   
   iPXE> ping 10.48.42.1
   64 bytes from 10.48.42.1: seq=1
   64 bytes from 10.48.42.1: seq=2
   Finished: Operation canceled (http://ipxe.org/0b072095)
   

5. Boot the image using one of the following options:

   • Option 1: Boot with ISO image. After the reimage is successful, add optional RPMs, bug fixes and update running configuration file.

   • Option 2: [Preferred option] Boot with Golden ISO (GISO) image that contains the ISO image, optional RPMs, bug fixes and configuration file. Booting with GISO saves time by eleminating the need to update the files individually.

BIOS Ver: 09.19 Date: xx/xx/xxxx 17:02:33

Press <DEL> or <ESC> to enter boot manager.                                     iPXE initialising devices...ok



iPXE 1.0.0+ (5fbe7) -- Open Source Network Boot Firmware -- http://ipxe.org
Features: DNS HTTP TFTP VLAN EFI ISO9660 NBI Menu
BootMode : 1
Trying net0...
net0: 00:00:01:1c:00:00 using i350-b on PCI01:00.0 (open)
  [Link:up, TX:0 TXE:0 RX:0 RXE:0]
Configuring (net0 00:00:01:1c:00:00).................. ok
net0: 127.0.0.28/255.0.0.0
net0: fe80::2a0:c9ff:fe00:0/64
net1: fe80::2a0:c9ff:fe00:1/64 (inaccessible)
net2: fe80::2a0:c9ff:fe00:2/64 (inaccessible)
net3: fe80::2a0:c9ff:fe00:3/64 (inaccessible)
net4: fe80::200:ff:fe00:4/64 (inaccessible)
net5: fe80::200:ff:fe00:5/64 (inaccessible)
net6: fe80::662:73ff:fe08:1dba/64 (inaccessible)
Next server: 127.0.0.27
Filename: http://127.1.1.27/system_image.iso
http://127.1.1.27/<image>... ok

Router# hw-module location all bootmedia network reload
Wed Dec 23 15:29:57.376 UTC
Reload hardware module ? [no,yes]