Cisco IOS XR

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"IOX" redirects here. For the remote sensing satellite package, see Ionospheric Occultation Experiment.
Cisco IOS XR
DeveloperCisco Systems
OS familyUnix-like
Working stateCurrent
Source modelClosed source
Latest release7.5.1 / November 30, 2021; 53 days ago (2021-11-30)
PlatformsNCS 5x0 NCS, NCS 5x00, 8000, ASR 9000 and XRv 9000 Series Routers
UserlandLinux
Official websiteCisco IOS XR
Line card running IOS XR.

IOS XR is a train of Cisco Systems' widely deployed Internetworking Operating System (IOS), used on their high-end Network Convergence System (NCS), carrier-grade routers such as the CRS series, 12000 series, and ASR9000 series.

Architecture[]

According to Cisco's product literature, IOS XR shares very little infrastructure with the other IOS trains, and is instead built upon a "preemptive, memory protected, multitasking, microkernel-based operating system".[1] The microkernel was formerly provided by QNX;[2] versions 6.0 onwards use the Wind River Linux distribution.[3]

IOS XR aims to provide the following advantages over the earlier IOS trains:

  • Improved high availability (largely through support for hardware redundancy and fault containment methods such as protected memory spaces for individual processes and process restartability)
  • Better scalability for large hardware configurations (through a distributed software infrastructure and a two-stage forwarding architecture)
  • A package based software distribution model (allowing optional features such as multicast routing and MPLS to be installed and removed while the router is in service)
  • The ability to install package upgrades and patches (potentially while the router remains in service)
  • A web-based GUI for system management (making use of a generic, XML management interface)

History[]

IOS XR was announced along with the CRS-1 in May 2004.[4] The first generally available version was 2.0. The most recent release is version 6.5.3[5] which was released in March 2019.

Other significant releases include the following.

  • 3.2 – first generally available version for the 12000 router series
  • 3.9 – first generally available version for the ASR9000 series
  • 5.0 (September 20, 2013) – first generally available version for the NCS6000 series, which is based upon a Linux kernel[6]
  • 6.1.1 - Introduces support for the 64-bit Linux-based IOS XR operating system on ASR9000 series [7]

Differences between IOS and IOS XR[]

Example BGP configuration for both IOS and IOS XR. More examples can be found in the Cisco document Converting Cisco IOS Configurations to Cisco IOS XR Configurations.[8] 

! Cisco IOS
!
router bgp 109
  no synchronization
  bgp log-neighbor-changes
  neighbor 203.0.113.1 remote-as 109
  neighbor 203.0.113.1 update-source Loopback0
  no auto-summary
!
! Cisco IOS XR
!
router bgp 109
  neighbor 203.0.113.1
    remote-as 109
    update-source Loopback0
  !
!

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Products & Services". Cisco.
  2. ^ QNX press release confirming use of their microkernel in IOS XR
  3. ^ "Cisco IOS XR Software Release 6.0 Operational Enhancements Data Sheet". Cisco.
  4. ^ "Cisco press release announcing CRS-1 and IOS XR". Archived from the original on March 9, 2005.
  5. ^ Cisco's release notes, for the various IOS XR versions
  6. ^ "Release Notes for Cisco NCS 6000 Series Routers, Release 5.0.0". Cisco.
  7. ^ "Release Notes for Cisco ASR 9000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, Release 6.1.2".
  8. ^ "Converting Cisco IOS Configurations to Cisco IOS XR Configurations" (PDF). cisco.com. Cisco Systems. Retrieved August 4, 2017.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""