How can I upgrade an XPort-AR from v2.x to v3.x remotely without losing it's configuration?

XPort-AR V2 to V3.4.0.0R2 Remote Upgrade Instructions

NOTE: These instructions only apply when upgrading to the latest (3.4.0.0R2) release.  Earlier V3.x releases will not recover critical network information.  Using this procedure with an earlier v3.x may cause loss of connectivity to the XPort-AR.

1) Be aware that this upgrade will destroy any files on the file system. If you maintain any files on these devices that you need, copy your files off of the device before proceeding.

2) Find or produce an XML configuration file for each V2 device.

a. If you already have been using XML to manage the configuration, identify each file and send it to the corresponding V2 device to confirm that it is both current and correct.

b. Otherwise, dump the XML configuration of each device.

c. If you use any security features, notice that the secret information is not present, instead there is a placeholder "configured and ignored".

d. Edit each XML configuration file, filling in a suitable value for the "configured and ignored" field.

e. Test the edited file by sending it to the corresponding V2 device.

3) Try this procedure with a local device first so you become familiar with these steps and can witness the time span required at each step under normal conditions.

• Rename "xport_ar_v2000.rom" (available at the end of this FAQ) to "xport_ar.rom"
• Load the renamed "xport_ar.rom"file onto the XPort-AR.  This sets the XPort-AR back to V2
• Format the file system, compact, format again to get a completely clean V2 device.
• Then configure it with your test "as-is" settings and finally follow the steps below.

4) After confirming that the V2 device is configured as desired, perform a filesystem "compact". This will duplicate the contents of the filesystem into the next Bank, assuring that Bank B contains fresh configurartion. The upgrade to the larger V3 program image will destroy Bank A.

5) Set up ping to monitor the remote device.

6) Use FTP to send the V3 program as "xport_ar.rom" to the device.

7) The device will

• verify the image, erase Flash
• program the new image in Flash
• run it
• discover that the Flash configuration data is still at V2
• recover critical network settings from the V2 data
• clear the file system
• create a new configuration containing only the recovered critical network settings.

This will take a while. The critical settings comprise:

a. DHCP enabled/disabled
b. BOOTP enabled/disabled
c. IP Address
d. IP Mask
e. Default Gateway

8) Watch for ping responses to see when the previous step completes.

9) Load the XML configuration file for this device from step 2.

10) Load files into the device. Load the new set of V3 web files. Restore any of your own files from step 3.

a. NOTE: If you have trouble sending FTP files because of a firewall, as an alternative you can use the CLI on the device to get individual files from your TFTP server on the network. These commands are in the enable…filesystem level (tftp get …).

[Originally Published On: 05/30/2008 03:44 PM]