How to Restore a Ceragon SD Card From Image

Did you ever have a Ceragon chassis SD card that died unexpectedly? This sudden death resulted in a significant reduction in bandwidth for a specific part of your network. You then needed to get a good working copy of the Ceragon OS to the on-site tech across the country. This tech only has a MacBook. Fear not! This is the solution.

Notes:

• On the IP-20A chassis, the license information is stored on a hardware chip screwed to the back of the chassis. The OS and configurations are stored on the SD card. If your chassis stores the key information on the SD card (looking at you, Aviat Networks), you will encounter unexpected or undesired results.
• These instructions were created for use on a MacOS computer. Any Linux-based computer should also be compatible with a few adjustments.
• My knowledge of Ceragon software is dated. Your mileage may vary.

Creating a Good Image

To create a known-good image, you will need another Ceragon SD card with the Ceragon OS. Under the hood, the Ceragon OS is just Linux - a Red Hat derivative, if memory serves.

Step 1

Extract the Ceragon’s SD card. The SD card is likely inside the chassis and on a removable card or behind a cover plate. On my chassis, it was on the TCC card.

Step 2

Insert the known good card in your computer’s SD card reader. Click Ignore to any errors.

Step 3

Open Terminal. Run the following to find the SD card’s mount point.

diskutil list

On Linux you can run ‘sudo fdisk -l’.

You will see text like this:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#:          TYPE                NAME            SIZE        IDENTIFIER
0:      GUID_partition_scheme                   *480.1 GB   disk0
1:                        EFI   EFI             209.7 MB    disk0s1
2:                 Apple_APFS   Container disk1 479.9 GB    disk0s2

/dev/disk4 (internal, physical):
#:          TYPE                NAME            SIZE    IDENTIFIER
0:      FDisk_partition_scheme                  *1.0 GB disk4
1:                      Linux                   15.7 MB disk4s1
2:                      Linux                   1.0 GB  disk4s2

Look for your SD card. It likely is under 2GB in size. In the above, the SD card is /dev/disk4.

Step 4

Make a copy of the SD card contents on your computer. Be very sure of the directory and output disk locations.

sudo dd if=/dev/disk# of=path_to_file/ceragon1.img

For me, the command was: sudo dd if=/dev/disk4 of=Downloads/ceragon1.img

Step 5

Remove the SD card from the Mac and replace it in the known good Ceragon board.

Step 6

Zap this to the remote tech via Dropbox, OneDrive, or whatever system you use.

Copy Good Image to New SD Card

In this case, we used a random 16 GB SD card from a digital camera as a replacement card. (We’re 2 hours down a winding, dusty mountain road before we hit the asphalt. We take what we can get.)

Step 1

Insert the replacement good card into your computer’s SD card reader. Click Ignore to any errors.

Step 2

In Terminal on Mac, find the SD card. It is still disk4 for me.

Step 3

Verify the directory and output disk are correct and run the command below

sudo dd if=path_to_file/ceragon1.img of=/dev/disk#

For me, the command was: sudo dd if=Downloads/ceragon1.img of=/dev/disk4

Step 4

Remove the SD card from the Mac and replace it in the Ceragon with the broken card.

Step 5

Using your web browser, login with the default credentials or whatever was configured on the donor card. The defaults are admin/admin on the IP 192.168.1.1. Fix your config and, run some scripts, and teach your Multi-Carrier its ABCs.

Thoughts

The license key on a separate hardware chip is handy in times like this.

Overall, I never was a big fan of Ceragon. It did the jobs I tasked it with. It certainly handled LAGs via Multi-Carrier ABC better than most vendors. It was also as reliable as I’d expect in my limited samples. My turn-off mainly was the complicated CLI and the need to do some tasks in the CLI and some in the web interface. Also, when setting one up, the OS will let you configure non-working configurations. That is a problem when you unleash it on techs unfamiliar with the platform. You’ll find them running between sites for hours with a configuration that would have never worked. Another strange thing is that I always felt I was configuring a DACS on some old SONET network. If it ain’t broken…

Most of my experience comes from 8.3 software, with some later playtime in 8.5 and 8.5.5. Things may have changed.

Have fun!

Also, one last thing: the PDC-B48 connectors are the worst power cable connector design I have ever seen. Hands down, everyone else can go home. That connector is asking for trouble, given the tight spaces techs need to work in. The PDC-A48 connector is so much safer.