Specifications

CHAPTER

7-1

Cisco XR 12000 Series Router SIP and SPA Software Configuration Guide, Release 3.2

Release 3.2, OL-6396-01, Rev.A1 January 9, 2006

Upgrading Field-Programmable Devices

In general terms, field-programmable devices (FPDs) are hardware devices implemented on router cards

that support separate software upgrades. A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of

programmable memory device that exists on most hardware components of a Cisco XR 12000 Series

Router. The term “FPD” has been introduced to collectively and generically describe any type of

programmable hardware device on SPAs, including FPGAs. Cisco IOS XR software Release 3.2

introduces the Cisco FPD upgrade feature to manage the upgrade of FPD images on SPAs.

This chapter describes the information that you need to know to verify image versions and to perform

an upgrade for SPA FPD images when incompatibilities arise.

This chapter includes the following sections:

• Overview of SPA FPD Image Upgrade Support, page 7-1

• Upgrading SPA FPD Images, page 7-2

• Troubleshooting Problems with SPA FPD Image Upgrades, page 7-6

• FPD Command Summary, page 7-8

Overview of SPA FPD Image Upgrade Support

FPGA versions must be compatible with the Cisco IOS XR software that is running on the router; if an

incompatibility exists between an FPGA version and the Cisco IOS XR software, the device with the

FPGA will not operate properly until the incompatibility is resolved.

The Cisco XR 12000 Series Router supports upgrades for FPGA devices on its SPAs. FPGA software

upgrades are part of an FPD image package that corresponds to a Cisco IOS XR software image. The

SPA supports manual upgrades for its FPGA device using the Cisco FPD upgrade feature that is further

described in this chapter.