The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers can be configured to run using individual subpackages and optional subpackages.

When the router is configured to run using individual and optional subpackages:

• Each individual subpackage within a consolidated package is extracted onto the router as its own file.
• Additionally, any optional subpackages must be separately downloaded and stored in the same directory with the provisioning file and the other individual subpackages that have been extracted.
• The router then runs by accessing each file as needed for operational purposes. All individual and optional subpackage files must be stored in the same directory on the router for the router to run properly using individual subpackages.

When a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router is configured to run using individual and optional subpackages, software image content from the RP is copied into memory on an as-needed basis only. Memory is conserved for other router processes, such as passing traffic. The router, therefore, allows for the highest peak traffic load when configured to run using individual subpackages.

When running the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers using individual and optional subpackages, the router must be configured to boot using the provisioning file that was included in the consolidated package with the individual subpackage files. This provisioning file must also be in the same directory as the individual and optional subpackage files. The router boots faster when configured to run using individual and optional subpackages than it does when configured to run using a consolidated package.

A Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router cannot be configured to run individual and optional subpackages stored on a TFTP or any other network server. The individual and optional subpackages along with the provisioning file must be copied onto the bootflash: file system to run the router using this method.

The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers can also be configured to run using a consolidated package.

Note	Booting the router from a consolidated package is not supported for installation of optional subpackages. For more information, see the Running the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers Using Individual and Optional SubPackages: An Overview.

When the router is configured to run using a consolidated package, the entire consolidated package file is copied onto the router or accessed by the router via TFTP or another network transport method. The router runs using the consolidated package file.

When a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router is configured to run using the consolidated package file, more memory is required to process router requests because the router has to search one larger file for every request. The peak amount of memory available for passing network traffic is therefore lower when the router is configured to run using a consolidated package.

A Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router configured to run using a consolidated package is booted by booting the consolidated package file. Because this file is large, the boot process for routers running using the consolidated package is slower than the boot process for routers running individual subpackages.

A Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router configured to run using a consolidated package does have some advantages over a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router configured to run individual subpackages. First, a consolidated package can be booted and utilized using TFTP or another network transport method. Secondly, configuring the router to use the one consolidated package file is easier than managing several individual subpackage files. Running the router using a consolidated package may be the right method of running the router in certain networking environments.

The consolidated package should be stored on bootflash:, usb[0-1]:, or a remote file system when this method is used to run the router.

This section summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of each method of running your Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers.

The advantages of running your router using individual subpackages include:

• Optimizes router memory usage—When the router is booting using the individual and optional subpackage method, software image content from the Router Processor (RP) is copied into memory on an as-needed basis only, which conserves memory for other router processes. The router boots fastest and allows for the highest peak traffic load when booted using the individual subpackage boot approach.

The advantages of running your router using a consolidated package include:

• Simplified installation—Only one software file needs to be managed instead of several separate images.
• Storage—A consolidated package, unlike individual subpackages, can be used to run the router while being stored in bootflash:, on a USB Flash disk, or on a network server. A consolidated package can be booted and utilized using TFTP or another network transport method, while the individual subpackage method requires the individual subpackage files to be copied into the bootflash: file directory on the router.

Table 1 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches.

The request platform software package command is part of the larger request platform command set being introduced on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers. For additional information on each request platform command and the options available with each command, see the Cisco IOS Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference .

The request platform software package command, which can be used to upgrade individual subpackages and a complete consolidated package, is used to upgrade software on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers. Notably, the request platform software package command is the recommended way of performing an individual subpackage upgrade, and also provides the only method of no-downtime upgrades of individual subpackages on the router when the router is running individual subpackages.

The request platform software package command requires that the destination device or process be specified in the command line, so the commands can be used to upgrade software on both an active or a standby processor. The request platform software package command allows for no downtime software upgrades in many scenarios.

The basic syntax of the command is request platform software package install rp rp-slot-number file file-URL , where rp-slot-number is the number of the RP slot and file-URL is the path to the file being used to upgrade the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router. The command has other options; see the request platform software package command references for information on all of the options available with this command set.

In Cisco IOS XE Release 2.4, the request platform software package uninstall command is introduced on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers to remove provisioning of an optional subpackage from an RP. The syntax for the command follows the install form of the command: request platform software package uninstall rp rp-slot-number type pkg , where rp-slot-number is the number of the RP slot and pkg is the type of optional subpackage file to be removed.

Note	For additional information on limited downtime upgrades using the request platform software package command set, see the “Software Upgrade Processes Supported by Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers” section on page 6-1 .

The copy command can be used to move consolidated packages and individual subpackages onto the router, though using this command to move individual subpackage files from one storage area to another is often inefficient (in these scenarios, it is almost always preferable to move the consolidated package, then extract the subpackages, or to extract the subpackages without moving the consolidated package).

To upgrade a consolidated package on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers, copy the consolidated package onto a file system, usually bootflash: or usb[0-1]: on the router, using the copy command as you would on most other Cisco routers. After making this copy, configure the router to boot using the consolidated package file.

To upgrade the router and reboot using individual subpackages, copy the consolidated package onto the router using the copy command, enter the request platform software package expand command to extract the individual subpackages, and configure the router to boot using subpackages. Other methods, such as copying each individual subpackage in the same consolidated package from a directory or using the request platform software package command to extract the subpackages onto a router directory are also usable, though copying individual subpackages is often inefficient.

See the copy command reference for a list of the options that are available with the copy command.

The issu command set that is available on other Cisco routers is also available on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers. The issu command set can be used to perform both consolidated package and individual subpackage upgrades.

The issu command set includes the issu command with the loadversion , runversion , commitversion , and abortversion options. See the issu command references for information on all of the options available with each of these commands.

A confirm prompt is displayed when the command issu abortversion is issued and when the standby has not reached the terminal (hot) state.

The following example shows a confirm prompt notification:

The system is without a fully initialized peer and service impact will occur. Proceed with abort? [confirm]

The issu runversion command is optional for completing a consolidated package upgrade on the Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers. You can enter issu commitversion from the active RP to complete the software upgrade, then use the redundancy force-switchover command to switch to the upgraded RP on this platform, if desired.

Note	For additional information on limited downtime upgrades using the issu command set, see the “Software Upgrade Processes Supported by Cisco ASR 1000 Series Routers” section on page 6-1 .

Note	Do not use this procedure if you also need to install any optional subpackages.

This section documents the following procedures:

To run the router using individual subpackages from a consolidated package, follow one of the following procedures:

To manage and configure a Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router to run using optional subpackages, perform the following tasks:

In the following example, the request platform software package install command is used to upgrade a SIPSPA subpackage for the SPA in bay 0 of the SIP in router slot 1. In this example, the force option, which forces the upgrade past any prompt (such as already having the same subpackage installed), is used.

Caution

Do not run your router using subpackages from different consolidated packages.The Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router is not designed to use multiple subpackages from different consolidated packages. Running subpackages from different consolidated packages is not recommended and can cause unpredictable router behavior.Individual subpackages should only be upgraded individually if you or a Cisco customer support representative has determined that upgrading to the same subpackage that is running could have some benefit for your Cisco ASR 1000 Series Router.

Router# request platform software package install rp 0 file bootflash:asr1000rp1-sipspa.02.01.00.122-33.XNA.pkg slot 1 bay 0 force
--- Starting installation state synchronization ---
Finished installation state synchronization
--- Starting file path checking ---
Finished file path checking
--- Starting image file verification ---
Checking image file names
Verifying image file locations
Locating image files and validating name syntax
Inspecting image file types
Processing image file constraints
Creating candidate provisioning file
Finished image file verification
--- Starting candidate package set construction ---
Verifying existing software set
Processing candidate provisioning file
Constructing working set for candidate package set
Constructing working set for running package set
Checking command output
Constructing merge of running and candidate packages
Finished candidate package set construction
--- Starting compatibility testing ---
Determining whether candidate package set is compatible
WARNING:
WARNING: Candidate software combination not found in compatibility database
WARNING:
Determining whether installation is valid
Software sets are identified as compatible
Checking IPC compatibility with running software
Checking candidate package set infrastructure compatibility
Checking infrastructure compatibility with running software
Finished compatibility testing
--- Starting impact testing ---
Checking operational impact of change
Finished impact testing
--- Starting commit of software changes ---
Updating provisioning rollback files
Creating pending provisioning file
Committing provisioning file
Finished commit of software changes
--- Starting analysis of software changes ---
Finished analysis of software changes
--- Starting update running software ---
Blocking peer synchronization of operating information
Creating the command set placeholder directory
  Finding latest command set
  Assembling CLI output libraries
  Assembling CLI input libraries
  Applying interim IPC and database definitions
    interim IPC and database definitions applied
      Replacing running software
      Replacing CLI software
      Restarting software
Restarting SPA CC1/0
      Applying interim IPC and database definitions
      Notifying running software of updates
      Unblocking peer synchronization of operating information
    Unmounting old packages
    Cleaning temporary installation files
      Finished update running software
      
SUCCESS: Finished installing software.
Router#