Cisco Optical Automation Solution for Protected Point-to-Point Managed Optical Fiber Network

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Cisco Optical Automation Solution for Protected Point-to-Point Managed Optical Fiber Network

Upgrade Your Optical Network with Cisco Optical Network Controller

Updated: October 26, 2026

Describes the SWIMU workflows and preparation requirements for upgrading Cisco Optical Site Manager hosts and managed optical devices.

Upgrade Cisco Optical Site Manager hosts and their managed devices using the SWIMU → Upgrade Orchestrator application in Cisco Optical Network Controller. An upgrade domain is a group of connected devices that should remain release-aligned during the upgrade.

Table 1. Upgrade workflow selection
Workflow title	When to use
Upgrade a mixed-device optical network	Use when the upgrade domain contains a mixture of Cisco NCS 1010, Cisco NCS 1014, Cisco NCS 1004, or Cisco NCS 1001 devices.

Complete these preparation items before upgrading the optical network:

Upgrade Cisco Optical Network Controller to the required target release.
Verify that the target software release supports all host and managed-device combinations in the upgrade domain. For more details about the supported upgrade matrix, see Supported platform and software combinations.
Upload the required software images to the external SFTP server.
Verify that the remote path folder has write permissions that allow the external user to upload files.
Verify that the SFTP server uses SSH version 7.x or 8.x.
Verify connectivity between Cisco Optical Network Controller, Cisco Optical Site Manager, and the external SFTP server.
Configure static routes from devices that host Cisco Optical Site Manager to the external SFTP server.
Configure the SFTP server in the SWIMU application in Cisco Optical Network Controller.
Confirm that sufficient storage is available on the Cisco Optical Site Manager hosts and managed devices.
Resolve upgrade-impacting active alarms, licensing-compliance conditions on IOS XR, and incomplete IOS XR install operations before starting the upgrade.
Back up the current Cisco Optical Site Manager and managed-device configurations.
Plan the activation window so that directly connected devices do not remain on different software releases longer than necessary.
Verify that the Cisco Optical Network Controller VM time is synchronized with the device backend time.
Ensure that the target GISO contains the Cisco Optical Site Manager RPM.
For upgrades from 24.3.1 or 25.1.1 to 26.1.1, ensure that the GISO includes the required bridge SMU.

Note

Use an external SFTP server to distribute software images.

Prepare for Cisco Optical Network Controller rollback scenarios

Use this procedure to prepare rollback requirements before upgrading Cisco Optical Network Controller. It helps you complete the related Cisco Optical Network Controller workflow and verify the expected result.

Upgrade a standalone Cisco Optical Network Controller deployment

Use this procedure to upgrade a standalone Cisco Optical Network Controller deployment to a new version. It helps you complete the related Cisco Optical Network Controller workflow and verify the expected result.

Upgrade a mixed-device optical network

Use this workflow when the upgrade domain contains a mixture of Cisco NCS 1010, Cisco NCS 1014, Cisco NCS 1004, or Cisco NCS 1001 platforms.

Recover from an incomplete optical network upgrade

Use this task to recover when an IOS XR install operation remains active or a Cisco Optical Network Controller activation job fails.

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