Description

This article explains the supported procedure for upgrading an MX240 device from Junos OS 18.2X75-D67.9 to 23.4R2-S5, including pre-upgrade checks, upgrade paths, validation steps, and rollback guidance.

Symptoms

This documentation is applicable for customers planning to upgrade an MX240 router from Junos OS 18.x to Junos OS 23.x.

Solution

Basic Pre-Upgrade Checklist :-

Before starting the upgrade, ensure the following:


Confirm hardware compatibility

show chassis hardware

Check current Junos version

show version

Verify storage space

show system storage

Take a configuration backup

save /var/tmp/pre_upgrade_config.conf

Check system alarms and errors

show system alarms

show chassis alarms

Ensure Routing Engine status

show chassis routing-engine



Supported Upgrade Paths:-


Option 1: Multi-Step Upgrade Path (Recommended)

18.2X75-D67.9 → 20.4R3 → 22.4R3 → 23.4R2-S5

This approach follows Juniper-recommended intermediate releases to ensure stability.


Option 2: Reduced-Step Upgrade Path

18.2X75-D67.9 → 20.4R3 → 23.4R2-S5

This path reduces the number of upgrade steps.


Upgrade Procedure:-

Perform the following steps for each upgrade hop:


Copy the Junos image to the device

file copy <image-path> /var/tmp/

Install the Junos image using CLI

request system software add /var/tmp/<image-name> no-validate reboot

Wait for the device to reboot and confirm it comes back online.

Verify the new version

show version



Basic Post-Upgrade Validation:-

After completing the final upgrade to 23.4R2-S5, perform the following checks:

Verify system status

show system uptime

show system alarms

show chassis alarms

Check Routing Engine and FPC status

show chassis routing-engine

show chassis fpc

Verify protocol and interface status

show interfaces terse

show bgp summary

show ospf neighbor

Monitor logs for errors

show log messages


Rollback Procedure :-

If any issues are encountered after the upgrade:


Rollback to the previous Junos version

request system software rollback reboot

Confirm the rollback version

show version

Restore configuration if required

load override /var/tmp/pre_upgrade_config.conf

commit

Modification History

2025-12-16 : Article Created