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Versa Networks

Install Replacement Devices

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Versa-logo-release-icon.png For supported software information, click here.

If a bare-metal hardware device, a virtual machine (VM), or cloud device that you have already configured fails or is faulty, or if you want to update hardware to add more CPU cores or RAM for higher throughput, you return the device by requesting an RMA for it. In an SD-WAN infrastructure deployment, the Director node maintains a copy of the SD-WAN branch configuration, so you can re-apply the branch configuration to the replacement device.

This article describes the steps to perform after you have received the replacement devices.

For information about the hardware RMA procedure, see How To Return Hardware.

Install New Hardware Devices After RMA

A replacement hardware device has a different serial number. To use the replacement device, you must associate the new serial number with the branch device's configuration. Then, you use zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) to activate the branch device.

The procedure in this section applies to devices running Releases 21.2.3 or later regardless of whether password encryption is enabled. For devices on which password encryption is enabled, the individual encryption keys and the replacement device's key can decrypt the passwords in the device's configuration that is stored on the Director node. The procedure in this section also applies to devices running earlier software releases on which password encryption is not enabled. If password encryption is enabled, follow the procedure in Redeploy VOS Devices Running Releases 21.2.2 and Earlier After RMA, below.

To associate the replacement device's serial number with the branch device's configuration:

  1. In Director view, select the Administration tab in the top menu bar.
  2. Select Inventory > Hardware in the left menu bar.
  3. Select the device, and then click the replace-serial-number-icon.png icon.

    hardware-home.png
     
  4. In the Add Replacement Serial Number popup window, enter the serial number of the new device or click Generate Serial Number.

    add-replacement-serial-number.png
     
  5. Click OK. In the Device Information group of fields, the RMA Serial Number field displays the serial number, and the status of the device shows as Disabled. To cancel the replacement serial number, click the Cancel button.

    replaced-serial-number.png
  6. To use URL-based ZTP, load the default-device.cfg file.
admin@SDWAN-Branch1-cli(config)% load merge /opt/versa/etc/bootcfg/default-device.cfg

admin@SDWAN-Branch1-cli(config)% commit
  1. Select the device, and then click the url-based-ztp-icon.png icon.

    hardware-home-url-based-ztp-info.png
  2. In the Generated URL Details popup window, click Copy to copy the URL.

    url-based-ztp-info.png
  3. Paste the URL in any browser, and then change the IP address to device's IP address.
  4. In the Device Management tab, click Start Activation to start the ZTP activation of the VOS device. For more information, see Activate VOS Devices.

    WebUI_activation.png
  5. After the RMA completes, the status of the device shows as Claimed.

    hardware-home-claimed.png
  6. To check the status of RMA process and to view any error messages, click the task_icon.pngTasks icon, and then check the task created for the replacement appliance.

    task_messages.png
  7. If the device does not support URL ZTP, onboard the device using the normal ZTP process, which uses CLI commands. For more information, see Activate VOS Devices.

Redeploy VMs and Cloud Devices after RMA

Typically, you redeploy a VM when the VM environment fails or when you upgrade from Ubuntu 14 (Trusty) to Ubuntu 18 (Bionic).

The procedure in this section applies to devices running Releases 21.2.3 or later regardless of whether password encryption is enabled. For devices on which password encryption is enabled, the individual encryption keys and the replacement device's key can decrypt the passwords in the device's configuration that is stored on the Director node. The procedure in this section also applies devices running earlier software releases on which password encryption is not enabled. If password encryption is enabled, follow the procedure in Redeploy VOS Devices Running Releases 21.2.2 and Earlier After RMA, below.

VMs and cloud devices can emulate a serial number, and branch devices that are VMs or cloud devices use this serial number to receive their configuration from the Director node. It is recommended that you use two-factor authentication for device staging to protect devices from being replicated.

To redeploy a VM or cloud device, you restage the device using script-based ZTP with the same serial number. For more information, see Activate VOS Devices.

Redeploy VOS Devices Running Releases 21.2.2 and earlier after RMA

For VOS devices running Releases 21.2.2 and earlier, and on which password encryption is enabled, the new device’s encryption key cannot decrypt the passwords in the configuration stored on the Director node. Therefore, to redeploy the replacement hardware, you must delete the device configuration from the Director node and then use ZTP to onboard the replacement devices as if they were new devices. (For more information, see Activate VOS Devices.) This process uses the template and bind data stored in the Director configuration database and generates a new configuration for the replacement device.

If necessary, the Director node can replace the VOS software on the replacement device. The Director node fetches the required information from the replacement VOS device. If the device is unreachable, the Director node retries later. After the Director node fetches the information, you can redeploy the device.

Note that if you need to replace a hub-controller node (HCN), you must redeploy all spoke device workflows after the you onboard the HCN.

Supported Software Information

Releases 20.2 and later support all content described in this article, except:

  • For Releases 21.2.3 and later, you can RMA devices on which encryption is enabled without deleting the device's configuration on the Director node.