Alert Type

PSN - Product Support Notification
Low/NotificationMainly for future plan
Low/NotificationMainly for future plan

Product Affected

MX and PTX series Routing Engines with VM Host Support

Alert Description

    This notice is to remind of Junos OS Release 21.4R1 and above that are based on Linux WR LTS19, requiring that the i40e NVM firmware be version 7.0 or later. The i40e NVM firmware downgrade is not supported. There are, however, Junos OS Releases available that support i40e NVM firmware version 6.01 and version 7.0.

    As of November 2023, Routing Engine products for MX and PTX series with VM Host support (affected RE products) from Juniper manufacturing basically have i40e NVM firmware version 6.01 and the associated Junos older than 21.4R1, unless the customer ordered RE products to be pre-loaded with newer Junos OS Release.

    Also, as of November 2023, affected RE products provided from RMA depot have the i40e NVM firmware version 6.01. However, beginning from January 2025, RE products from RMA depot can be with newer Junos OS Release with i40e NVM firmware version 7.0.

Junos Selective Update (JSU) feasible

No

Call to Action

Be aware of the limitation for Junos downgrade, that may occasionally help the customers revert and work around from a certain issue.

Solution

    It is highly encouraged to review Upgrade and Downgrade i40e NVM Firmware on Routing Engines with VM Host Support and understand the implication of the Junos upgrade plan and schedule before the end of December 2024, as well as the installation procedure of the Routing Engine spare parts.

    Please contact JTAC HW Escalation for any questions and concerns.

Modification History

2025-09-08
- Link to the "Upgrading the i40e NVM Firmware..." is modified to the new URL.
2023-11-21
- Extended the coverage of the older FW till the end of December 2024.
2023-11-14
- Date in the Description field is changed to "November 2023" (from July 2023).
2023-07-12
- Indication of v7.0 FW starting from Jan/2024 - in Solution, Description, and Internal Comments field.