This section explains the headless operation mode for Cisco NCS 1010 and its impact on system availability and management.
A headless mode is a system operation mode that
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enables Cisco NCS 1010 to continue forwarding traffic when the controller card is absent, failed, or being restarted
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maintains errorless operation unless there is any line-level activity, or if the traffic is encrypted and the keys have expired beyond a predefined maximum duration, and
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restricts provisioning and viewing operational data, until the controller is restored.
During headless mode, NCS 1010 ensures ongoing traffic forwarding without interruption, even when the controller card is physically missing, in a failed state, or undergoing upgrades or reloads. During this period, the control plane will be unavailable. You cannot provision, view operational data, or perform performance monitoring without a functional controller. After restoration, normal management access and monitoring resume.
OIR is a hardware maintenance procedure performed during controller card upgrade or replacement. During OIR, Cisco NCS 1010 is temporarily unreachable, but returns to normal operation upon completion.
Examples of scenarios that require OIR-
FPD (Field Programmable Device) upgrade failure
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Software image update failure
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Bootup failure