Command Line

As I am in the process of upgrading Huawei ATN950B routers, I decided to describe very useful command, supported by carrier class routers like NE40E, CX600 and ATN950B – “upgrade rollback enable rollback-timer time”

When you are doing upgrade, there is always a small risk that something goes wrong and you will lose this router, I mean it will fall out of management. To minimize such risk, you can use the command in question.

Let’s look at the upgrade procedure:

<labnario>startup system-software v200r002c00spc300.cc
Info: Succeeded in setting the software for booting system.
<labnario>startup system-software v200r002c00spc300.cc slave-board
Info: Succeeded in setting the software for booting system.

<labnario>startup patch v200r002sph008.pat
Info: Succeeded in setting main board resource file for system.
<labnario>startup patch v200r002sph008.pat slave-board
Info: Succeeded in setting slave board resource file for system.

Very useful command, especially when you are preparing and executing upgrade of a software of Huawei carrier class devices, like NE40E and CX600. Let’s look what can be checked by this command:

<labnario>check ?
  hardware-compatibility  hardware compatibility
  startup                 Check the version of the resource file
  system-software         system-software
  version                 check version

I personally use “check hardware-compatibility” before all planned upgrades. During a preparation phase of an upgrade, you have to read software release notes, to be sure that all software and hardware components will be compatible with the new software. You can check hardware compatibility by the command, instead of searching software documents.

Imagine that you’ve just uploaded a new software to CFcard of a router. The new software is v600r006c00spc300.

<labnario>check hardware-compatibility v600r006c00spc300.cc
Slot#    BoardType        Result           Detail
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3        CR57LAXFB00      Compatible       NA
4        CR57LAXFB00      Compatible       NA
5        CR57EMGFB20      Compatible       NA
6        CR57EMGFB20      Compatible       NA
9        CR57SRU200A5     Compatible       NA
10       CR57SRU200A5     Compatible       NA
11       CR57SFU200C0     Compatible       NA
12       FRA200A          Compatible       NA
13       FRA200A          Compatible       NA

It’s very simple, isn’t it?

I have never used it but it looks interesting. Arp-ping lets us to check whether a specified IP address or MAC address is being used in a LAN. Intrigued, I opened Huawei eNSP simulator to check this feature. Results are not fully satisfied. As arp-ping IP works correctly, I cannot say the same about arp-ping MAC. There are some problems with communication between router and hosts. It looks like router does not receive ICMP Echo Reply packets from hosts in the LAN. I checked the same between router and switch “labnario_SW2″. Results look promising. Let’s pass on to the lab.

Labnario_RT config:

#
vlan batch 100 200
#
interface Vlanif100
 ip address 10.0.0.100 255.255.255.0 
#
interface Ethernet0/0/0
 port link-type trunk
 port trunk allow-pass vlan 100
#
interface GigabitEthernet0/0/1
 ip address 172.16.0.100 255.255.255.0

Huawei devices support generic MAC (GMAC) ping and trace on Layer 2 networks. Network administrators can use GMAC ping and trace functions to detect Layer 2 network faults, without configuring CFM.

ping mac mac-address vlan vlan-id [ interface interface-type interface-number | -c count | -s packetsize |-t timeout | -p priority-value ]

GMAC ping works at the same manner like 802.1ag MAC ping. It uses the Loopback Message and Loopback Reply (LBM/LBR) and is similar to ICMP ping function. GMAC ping can be used without configuring the MD (Maintenance Domain), MA (Maintenance Association), or MEP (Maintenance association End Point) on the source device, intermediate device, and destination device, as it is required when using 802.1ag. You only need to enable the GMAC function on the intermediate device. Therefore, GMAC ping is applicable to part of or a whole network without reference to MD, MA, and MEP configurations.

trace mac mac-address vlan vlan-id [ interface interface-type interface-number | -t timeout ] *

GMAC trace works at the same manner like 802.1ag MAC trace and uses Link Trace Message/Reply (LTR/LTM), so its function is similar to “trace route”. But GMAC trace can be implemented without configuring the MD, MA, or MEP on the source device, intermediate device, and the destination device. All the intermediate devices can respond with an LTR. Therefore, GMAC trace is applicable to part of or a whole network without reference to MD, MA, and MEP configurations.