Introduction
A powerful feature of AlliedWare Plus (AW+) is the ability to boot from a variety of sources. With AlliedWare Plus the unit can boot directly from sources such as a USB drive, SD card or network server. This provides a very flexible system, with multiple options to upgrade software releases and for system recovery.
You will need physical access to the unit and a console cable in order to connect to the unit “Console” port and reboot it.For details, see Local management through the Console port
Boot menu
When the following prompt is displayed during startup, enter “Ctrl+B” immediately to access the bootloader menu where boot options can be set.
Note: To enter the boot menu, Ctrl+B must be entered when prompted before the software modules start loading. This window is usually very short (about 2 seconds).
Bootloader 4.1.1 loaded
Press <Ctrl+B> for the Boot Menu
The boot options shown are the following:
Boot Menu:
WARNING: The bootloader is not currently password protected.
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S. Security Level
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0. Restart
1. Perform one-off boot from alternate source
2. Change the default boot source (for advanced users)
3. Update Bootloader
4. Adjust the console baud rate
5. Special boot options
6. System information
7. Restore Bootloader factory settings
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9. Quit and continue booting
Enter selection ==>
When you are prompted, press “1” to access the Perform one-off boot from alternate source menu.
Select device:
0. Return to previous menu
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1. Flash (flash:)
2. SD Card (card:)
3. TFTP (tftp://)
4. YMODEM (ymodem:)
6. USB (usb:)
Enter selection ==>
You can select a one-off boot from Flash, USB drive or SD card (It depends on the device model), Network server (TFTP), or ymodem. The selected option will be used for the next restart (only) of the unit.
Note: The options that will appear in your prompt depends on the availability of the parameters of your device.
Boot from Flash
If you select to boot from Flash, the bootloader will show you the release files that are present on the unit.
Reading filesystem...
Listing of usable files (root directory only)
1. flash:<device>-5.4.7-0.4.rel
2. flash:<device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel
Enter selection (1-2, 0 to cancel) and press enter ==> 1
Warning: System has been forced to boot from a non-standard location
To restore the system to default behaviour [sic], enter the Boot Menu,
Choose option 2, then option 9
Reading flash:<device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel…
Boot from USB/SD Card
If you select to boot from USB or an SD Card, the bootloader will show you he release files that are present on the USB/SD Card.
Reading filesystem...
Listing of usable files (root directory only)
1. usb:<device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel
2. usb:<device>-5.5.0-1.2.rel
Enter selection (1-2, 0 to cancel) and press enter ==> 1
The unit will boot as soon as the file is transferred without sending any message.Note: Boot from an USB is no available on NGFW devices, even though the device has an USB port.
Boot from TFTP
If you select to boot from TFTP, the bootloader prompts for the required network address details.
Enter physical download port (1-8)... []: 1
Enter IP version [4|6]................ [4]: 4
Enter IP address for this device ..... [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.1.1
Enter subnet mask .................... [0.0.0.0]: 255.255.255.0
Enter gateway IP ..................... [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.1.254
Enter TFTP server IP ................. [0.0.0.0]: 192.168.1.10
Enter filename ....................... [uImage]: <device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel
Loading tftp://192.168.1.10/ <device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel...
Downloading from port 1
With the option “Enter physical download port (1-8)”, in this case was an 8-port switch, you are prompted to use one of the ports of your device where the TFTP server will connect to the device.
The IP address, subnet mask and the gateway IP that the device used to connect to the TFTP server will not be in the running configuration from the device, it is only used for transferring the file from the TFTP server.
The unit will boot as soon as the file is transferred without sending any message.
Boot from YMODEM
YMODEM is a file transfer protocol used between microcomputers connected using modems.
If you select to boot from YMODEM, the transfer process from the modem to the device will begin automatically.
Starting YMODEM Transfer...
## Ready for binary (ymodem) download to 0x8000000020010000 at 115200 bps...
C
Note: If you see multiple “C” outputs, it means that the device is waiting for the modem to start the transfer.
In this case, the modem was a laptop connected to the device using the console cable and TeraTerm as the software.
Note: The Baud rate was changed from 9600 (default for this device) to 115200 on the console cable for faster transfer.
After the file is transferred to your device, you will see the following:
Starting YMODEM Transfer...
## Ready for binary (ymodem) download to 0x8000000020010000 at 115200 bps...
CCxyzModem - CRC mode, 4(SOH)/56381(STX)/0(CAN) packets, 6 retries
Verifying release... OK
Booting...
Note: Take in consideration that this is a very slow process since the transfer rate is KB/s; use this method if you don’t have an Ethernet cable to use a TFTP Server, or a USB drive/SD Card available.
The unit will boot as soon as the file is transferred without sending any message.
After the boot process has been completed
When the unit is booted up using the “one-off” selected source for the software release, it provides the option to copy the release just used to Flash for further/permanent use:
login: manager
Password: ******
AlliedWare Plus (TM) 5.5.0 09/02/20 21:12:37
The system has been booted using the one off boot/recovery mechanism.
Bootup has successfully completed.
Use the "copy current-software" and "boot system" commands to save this
release file for future use.
The command to copy the transferred file to the Flash memory of the device is the following.
awplus#copy current-software flash
Enter destination file name[]:<device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel
Once the file is on the Flash of the device, use the following command to make it the boot image.
awplus#configure terminal
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
awplus(config)#boot system <device>-5.5.0-1.3.rel