Installation Guide
QX-S6600 Series Ethernet Switches
6-1
6 Upgrading software
This chapter describes types of software used on the switch and how to upgrade software
while the switch is operating normally or when the switch cannot correctly start up.
System software file types
Software required for starting up the switch includes:
Comware images
- Includes boot images and system images.
Boot image - A “.bin” file that contains the operating system kernel. It provides process
management, memory management, file system management.
System image - A “.bin” file that contains the minimum modules required for device
operation and some basic features, including device management, interface
management, configuration management, and routing management.
The Comware software images that have been loaded are called “current software images”.
The Comware images specified to load at the next startup are called “startup software
images.”
Boot image, and system image are required for the system to work. These images are
released as a whole in one “.ipe” package file(Comware images). If an “.ipe” file is used, the
system automatically decompresses the file, loads the “.bin” boot and system images and
sets them as startup Software images.
CAUTION:
When doing an update of software, be sure to use a ".ipe" file (Comware Images).
When Boot image and System software image are the different version, a system
doesn't normally operate.
System startup process
Upon power-on, the Boot ROM image runs to initialize hardware and then the software
images run to start up the entire system, as shown in Figure 6-1.
