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Cisco Broadband Access Center 3.8 Administrator Guide
OL-27172-01
Chapter 6 Firmware Management
Firmware Management Mechanisms
In this model, you can make convenient updates to the definition of the rules, which apply to a large
number of devices. When the rules template is updated, CPE that are indirectly associated with the
template through the Class of Service are managed according to the new policy.
When the device establishes a connection with Cisco BAC, its firmware and configuration are
automatically synchronized based on the configuration and firmware rules cached at the DPE. First, the
firmware rules are executed, and if appropriate, the device firmware is updated. Then, the device
configuration is synchronized.
Earlier to this release, the only file type supported by Cisco BAC was "1 Firmware Upgrade Image".
With this release of Cisco BAC, firmware download is enhanced to allow upgrade of CPE devices with
different vendor specific TR-069 download file types. Now vendor can define file type in both internal
and external firmware rule tag.
Cisco BAC provides a two-stage firmware rule processing. First, the templates are processed at the RDU
where template constructs such as conditionals and substitutable parameters are interpreted (See Using
Template Constructs with Firmware Rule Templates, page 6-13).
This processing allows customization of rules for devices based on data available at the RDU (such as
device properties and grouping). This data could be preprovisioned by using the API. Data previously
discovered from the device and stored at the RDU can also be used in constructing the templates.
After the template has been processed, the resulting rules are sent to the DPEs in the device’s
provisioning group. The rules, in turn, can have dynamic matching criteria, which enable further
granularity in firmware rules policy.
To determine if a firmware update is needed, the rules engine at the DPE evaluates the firmware rules.
Firmware rules allow a firmware update to be triggered on match of:
• Inform event types
• Device RequestDownloadRPC arguments
• Inform parameter values
• Any other device parameter values
• MaintenanceWindow time
Note You can use the MaintenanceWindow option to schedule firmware downloads to a device.
For details, see Device Contact During MaintenanceWindow, page 5-12.
Together, these rules provide a powerful mechanism to create policy for managing firmware. For
example, an administrator can write a rule that forces all devices of a certain model with a certain current
firmware version to upgrade to a different firmware, during a specific service time window.
The DPE logs an entry for all cases of firmware selection by using rules. It also logs an entry if none of
the rules match. This logging mechanism can be useful to track devices that have no firmware image file
associated with them or if the device firmware is simply up to date.
Cisco BAC uses the XML schemas that are defined in various files to generate instructions for device
configurations. Table 6-1 lists these files and their locations.