One of my colleague kept saying 'hopefully we do not encounter firmware issue' in a project when referring to our Cisco 9000 XR series route processor. I did not bother to ask him because he seemed confident when saying.
However, as far as I know, the IOS XR is the operating system in the route processor. Or am I mistaken?
Best Answer
By using the term "firmware," your colleague is probably referring to the OS version. Cisco has multiple OS versions, and some are more problematic than others.
Firmware originally meant something else, but the term has come to mean the code running an appliance like a router or switch. It's not really correct since it is like referring to Windows as the firmware on a PC (the BIOS on a PC could be called firmware). It certainly shouldn't be used when referring to the configuration of the device.