Firmware issue

A newly installed Surf SOHO with firmware 6.2 was having problems connecting to a Zoom modem. One of the debugging steps that I took was to reboot to the alternate copy of firmware 6.2.

When I did, this alternate firmware was in a virgin state. I noticed this immediately because it was still using 192.168.50.1 as its IP address while on the main firmware I had changed the routers IP address.

Is this the way it is supposed to work? Or, are both firmwares supposed to reference the same customized settings? I looked this up in the 6.1 manual in section 22.2 but it only discusses firmware upgrades and this is not an upgrade issue.

And, what will happen when the alternate (not running) firmware is updated to 6.2.1 or 6.3 or whatever comes next? Will the newly installed not-running firmware inherit the virgin state of the current not-running firmware or the customized state from the running firmware?

Thank you.

Hello,

Upgrading firmware will not change your current configuration settings. But if you make changes and reboot back to the secondary firmware bank, the changes will not be reflected there as each firmware bank essentially has it’s own config. Applying changes will only write to one.

If I understand correctly, then any Peplink router that has been exclusively using firmware copy A, will start off in a fresh virgin state when rebooting to firmware copy B. This is true both for a new router where firmware B is factory installed, and, one where firmware B was updated to a newer version while running firmware A. That is, the first time firmware B boots up it will always be in a virgin state. True?

And, if true, it begs the question of how to migrate customizations made from one copy of the firmware to another.

This needs to be documented better.

Hello,

Yes this is true, the only way for both firmware banks technically to have the same configuration would be to upgrade the firmware twice subsequently. Or just downloading the active config that can be applied to ether firmware bank. As we wouldn’t want both firmware banks to mirror each other (saving changes effects both firmware banks) as this would defeat the purpose of having a back-up firmware bank in case they need to revert back.

Jarid, thanks for that explanation. I don’t think the manual made clear the total separation between the two copies of the firmware. So, each side/half could be the same level of the firmware but with different settings. Or, they could be different software levels with either the same or different settings.

That said, I can’t figure out how I could have upgraded three Peplink routers to newer firmware (more than once) and never been burned. That is, not once did swapping from side A to side B dump me into a virgin copy of the firmware with factory settings. So, something is missing.

If running firmware in side A and you upgrade the firmware in side B to a newer software level, does the firmware in side B retain its old settings from before the upgrade or does it inherit the settings from currently running side A? Only inheriting the side A settings can explain why I never have a problem before.

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your comments. We will make enhancement in our documentation in future.

Do allow me to explain what is happening during you upgrade the firmware.

Hope this help to clear your doubts.

As TK stated, it basically inherits the current config when upgrading firmware. Once on the new firmware, any changes applied or configuration changes that are made will not be reflected in the previous firmware bank.

Thanks for the explanation.

What about an option of reboot to firmware B with current configuración option???

Hi,

The best way is back up existing config before reboot to firmware B and then restore the config after reboot.

By the way, a big THANK YOU to Peplink for always reminding me to backup the current configuration before upgrading the firmware.