RBFS Installation Overview

RBFS software images are available in the RtBrick Image Store, allowing users to download and install the images for specific roles on supported hardware platforms. All the latest versions of RBFS software images are available in the RtBrick image store. For a complete list of the supported hardware platforms, see Supported Platforms section of the Platform Guide.

Access to Image Store and Debian package repositories on https://releases.rtbrick.com/ is restricted through the use of TLS mutual authentication with TLS client certificates.

It is essential to familiarize with the components listed below before beginning the RBFS Image Download process.

  • RtBrick Image Store: RBFS software images are stored in the RtBrick Image Store and can be downloaded after meeting licensing requirements.

    • Image stores containing the RBFS ONL installer images are published on https://releases.rtbrick.com/ and updated when new image versions are avaizlable.

    • The rtb-image command (CLI tool) provided by the rtbrick-imgstore package is used to interact with "image stores".

  • RBFS ONL Image: The RBFS software (NOS) available on the RtBrick Image Store is provided as the RBFS ONL installer image for installation on qualified OCP-compliant switches.

  • RtBrick Tools: In addition to RBFS software, other RtBrick software tools are delivered in Debian package format compatible with Ubuntu. Currently, the only supported Ubuntu release is 22.04 LTS (Jammy). The software delivered as Debian packages includes a set of CLI tools and/or daemons designed to facilitate working with RBFS containers and the RBFS API. Debian package repositories containing these packages are available at https://releases.rtbrick.com/ and are updated whenever a new version becomes available.

  • ONIE: The Open Network Install Environment (ONIE) comes pre-installed on OCP-compliant switches. The ONIE environment is used for installing the RBFS ONL installer image. It provides an environment for installing the RBFS software to run on those switches. For more details about ONIE, please see https://opencomputeproject.github.io/onie/.

Understanding RBFS Release Versioning

An RBFS release can be defined as a set of software packages (currently, in the Debian package format). However, it is delivered as an image, either a container (LXC/LXD) image or as a complete ONL installation image. The ONL installation image may or may not contain a container image pre-installed in it. An image can be defined as the archived root file system of a Linux OS installation with the needed software packages pre-installed and with a default configuration. In the current context, the terms 'RBFS release' and 'image' are used interchangeably.

RBFS uses the following versioning format:

<year>.<release>.<minor>[.<fix>][-<label>

Examples:

24.3.1
24.3.1.1
24.3.1-candidate.6

In the version example 24.3.1, the first number, "24," represents the year 2024. The second number, "3," indicates the release version, where "1" corresponds to the first release of the year, and this number will be incremented with each subsequent release. The third number, "1," denotes the minor release, which will also be incremented with each future minor release.

RtBrick also uses a four-number versioning format, represented as 24.3.1.1. In this format, the fourth number indicates the bug-fix release. Bug-fix releases are delivered only when necessary and are based on an existing RBFS release, such as 24.3.1. The bug-fix release numbers will also be incremented with each subsequent minor release.

Candidate releases will use a label such as "candidate.6", which will be incremented with each subsequent candidate release.

Understanding the RBFS Image Formats

RtBrick images delivered through the RtBrick Image Store and the rtb-image utility have the following attributes:

  • format: This is the file format in which the image is packaged and archived. The available format is onl-installer.

  • role: The role inside a network of the device which will be running the image. For example, consolidated-bng signifies the full BNG functionality on a single image.

  • platform: Identifies the hardware platform in which the image can run. For example, q2a signifies the switch ASIC Broadcom Qumran-2A.

  • model: Identifies the hardware model. For example, s9510-28dc signifies the hardware model UfiSpace S9510-28DC.

  • ver-range: Identifies the image version. For example, 24.8.1 signifies the RBFS release 24.8.1.

RtBrick images intended to be installed on supported hardware devices contain format, platform, and model set accordingly to the specific switching hardware.

You can see this using sudo rtb-image list command and look for the Format column.

Installation Modes

After downloading the RBFS software image, you can install it in any of the following modes:

  1. RBFS Manual Installation: In this mode, you install RBFS ONL installer on a new switch without manually using the ONIE install environment. For detailed step-by-step instructions on the manual installation process, see section RBFS Manual Installation.

  2. RBFS Automated Installation: In this mode, you install RBFS on a new switch by using Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). For detailed step-by-step instructions on the automated installation process, see section RBFS Automated Installation (Zero Touch Provisioning).