Ericsson MINI-LINK BAS, Technical Description, Page: 104 / 174

MINI-LINK BAS 6-20
Technical Description EN/LZB 111 0542 P2B
6.6 Equipment Management
6.6.1 Equipment Hardware Configuration
A piece of equipment, sometimes also referenced to as “system
element”, is considered as a sub-network element connecting a
number of user network interfaces to one or more service network
interfaces. In principle, the hardware configuration can be done
beforehand or during system operation. This involves the definition
of:
•
Subrack type
•
Board type
•
Slot type
•
Links between subracks, that is topological information
•
Links towards external equipment
The topological information is used for the definition of the path from
a service network interface to a user network interface (connection
handling) and the definition of the equipment supervision startegy and
hierarchy.
6.6.2 Equipment Software Configuration
Software consistency is assured by the system according to the general
principle by which software versions are not released on a sub system
basis, but on a system level. This means that when a new software
version is defined, this includes the software for all boards or
interfaces in the system, so that they are always aligned.
Patches are neither provided nor supported at all, because they might
create software consistency problems and increase maintenance costs
and the overall system complexity. In addition, patches might lead
operators into confusion because similar interfaces may behave
differently according to the software versions or patches they are
currently using.
The software consistency is likewise maintained after an upgrade by
downloading all boards in the system. The software download
procedure is done as a background process on a board type basis, not
on a single board basis, which makes the procedure simple and does
not affect the traffic.
During software download the board functions are not affected until
the board has to switch to the newly downloaded version, a restart is
required.