The ISSU process allows Cisco IOS XE software to be updated or otherwise modified while packet forwarding continues. In most networks, planned software upgrades are a significant cause of downtime. ISSU allows Cisco IOS XE software to be modified while packet forwarding continues, which increases network availability and reduces downtime caused by planned software upgrades.

SSO refers to the implementation of Cisco IOS XE software that allows applications and features to maintain a defined state between an active and standby Route Processor (RP).

In specific Cisco networking devices that support dual RPs, SSO takes advantage of RP redundancy to increase network availability. The SSO feature takes advantage of RP redundancy by establishing one of the RPs as the active RP while the other RP is designated as the standby RP, and then synchronizing critical state information between them. Following an initial synchronization between the two processors, SSO dynamically maintains RP state information between them.

A switchover from the active to the standby processor occurs when the active RP fails, is removed from the networking device, or is manually taken down for maintenance.

The DHCP server that is ISSU and SSO aware is able to detect when a router is failing over to the standby RP and preserve the DHCP lease across a switchover event.

Each DHCP binding is synchronized and re-created from the active RP to the standby RP upon lease commit. The figure below illustrates this process. The lease extension and release are also synchronized to the standby RP.

Figure 1. DHCP Server Maintaining States Between the Active and Standby Route Processor

The DHCP relay agent supports the use of unnumbered interfaces. For DHCP clients connected through the unnumbered interfaces, the DHCP relay agent automatically adds a static host route once the DHCP client obtains an address, specifying the unnumbered interface as the outbound interface. The route is automatically removed once the lease time expires or when the client releases the address.

The ip helper-address interface configuration command must be configured on the unnumbered interface to enable the Cisco IOS XE DHCP relay agent on unnumbered interfaces. See the “Configuring the Cisco IOS XE DHCP Relay Agent” configuration module for more information.

The ISSU and SSO DHCP relay on unnumbered interface functionality adds high availability support for host routes to clients connected through unnumbered interfaces. The DHCP relay agent can now detect when a router is failing over to the standby RP and keep the states related to unnumbered interfaces. The figure below illustrates the process.

Figure 2. DHCP Maintaining States with an IP Unnumbered Interface

The DHCP proxy client enables the router to obtain a lease for configuration parameters from a DHCP server for a remote Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) client. The DHCP proxy client that is ISSU and SSO aware is able to request a lease from the DHCP server and the state of the lease is synchronized between the active and standby RP. The figure below illustrates the process.

Figure 3. DHCP Proxy Client Lease Synchronization

The DHCP on-demand address pool (ODAP) client that is ISSU and SSO aware can request a lease for a subnet from the DHCP ODAP server. After the DHCP ODAP server allocates the subnet to the client, the state of the lease is synchronized between the active and standby RP through binding updates. Following a switchover event, the DHCP ODAP client can continue to allocate IP addresses from the same subnets and also continue to renew the subnets from the DHCP ODAP server. The figure below illustrates the process.

Figure 4. ODAP Subnet Lease Synchronization