xNIC Linux Upgrade

  • Updated on Feb 8, 2024
  • Published on Mar 7, 2023
  • 1 minute(s) read
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BEFORE YOU START

When a cloudSwXtch has been updated, it's recommended to update connected xNICs as well.

In this article, users will be able to use the appropriate script to upgrade their xNIC.

Upgrading Linux xNIC

24/7 Operations

If the services need to be up and running 24/7, swXtch.io suggests that redundant systems exist for which will be referred to as "Main" and "Backup". During an upgrade the Backup system should be upgraded, then the traffic should be routed to the Backup while the Main is upgraded.

You can use the following command to uninstall the existing xNIC and upgrade it.

  1. Run the installer script:
    Shell
    curl http://<swxtch-instance-name/services/install/swxtch-xnic-install.sh | bash

Additional Arguments

There are additional options when installing the xNIC.

Note that the ctrl- and data- interfaces are from the VM the xNIC is installed. These will be set automatically by the installer. There may be some instances where you will need to specify them. For example, if you have three network interfaces and you want to specify what you want to use for ctrl or data, you can manually select them using the -ctrl_interface  or -data_interface  arguments. Also, these argument help in complex contexts where the agent is in a different vNet/VPC from the cloudSwXtch.

For xNIC 1 on Linux, multiple xNICs can be installed on one VM by using the -i and the --tun-subnet arguments. In this case, the control interface will be the same while the data interface will differ for each xNIC on the Linux VM.

A full list of arguments is detailed below:

$ ./swxtch-xnic-install.sh -h
Usage: ./swxtch-xnic-install.sh [OPTIONS]
  -t <1|2>                            xNIC type to install (default: 2 if supported in this OS, 1 otherwise)
  -u                                  uninstall xNIC instances
  --ctrl_interface <interface name>   manual selection of the Control interface
  --data_interface <interface name>   manual selection of the Data interface
  --ptp <true|false>                  installing of Precision Time Protocol (default: true)
  -h | --help                         shows this help