Controlling When Reboots Occur

Some changes to an VPN Gateway device profile require the AT&T VPN Gateway to reboot.

The VPN Gateway supports a Reboot Time of Day Window option. The VPN Gateway will reboot if it determines changes are made to critical fields in the AT&T Administration Server Device Profile. If a Reboot Time of Day Window is profiled, then the VPN Gateway performs different types of queries based on whether it is currently in a reboot time of day window or not. If the VPN Gateway is outside of a Reboot Time of Day Window and it is time for a query to be performed, then a partial query will be used instead of a full query.

The partial query pulls down all of the current VPN Gateway settings except for critical settings that would cause a reboot (such as a new language, time zone change, or VLAN configuration). Therefore a query cannot cause a reboot until a full query is performed inside a reboot window. After each query is performed, the VPN Gateway will schedule the next query to happen either 24 hours later or a random time in the next reboot time of day window (whichever one is closer to the current time).

The Reboot Time of Day Window should be used to ensure that configuration changes that would normally cause a reboot are not done until a reboot is allowed. This will minimize disruptions by scheduling reboots when they will have the least impact. If there is no Reboot Time of Day Window, then every query will be a full query. The default value for the Reboot Time of Day Window is for reboots to be allowed anytime on any day.

NOTE: Bandwidth, auto-upgrades, and user-initiated actions can still cause a reboot even with a Reboot Time of Day Window defined (as explained below).

The VPN Gateway will honor the reboot activity windows when dealing with the Force Reboot flag. This will prevent the VPN Gateway from rebooting at an undesirable time, such as during regular business hours. The Force Reboot flag is set in the AT&T Administration Server and it is automatically reset to OFF after a successful query is performed.

Exceptions

Reboot Time of Day Window will not prevent all reboots that can cause an outage.

Bandwidth

If automatic bandwidth functionality is enabled and the VPN Gateway is configured for PPPoE or cellular, then a reboot will occur when a bandwidth test determines that new MTU values are needed. To prevent reboots, completely disable COS. To prevent reboots during business hours, configure Bandwidth Time of Day Window options so that they match the Reboot Time of Day Window options. This will ensure that any potential reboot caused by bandwidth testing occurs during a reboot window.

Auto Upgrade

If the VPN Gateway determines that there is a new software version available in the upgrade window, the new software will be downloaded and the VPN Gateway will reboot. By default, auto upgrades take place at a random time between 3 am and 4 am. Optionally, the time of day upgrades occur can be specified using the Time of Day Windows. To avoid reboots, turn off automatic upgrades.

User Initiated

The user can initiate a reboot in the following ways:

  • Using the VPN Gateway web interface, the user can initiate a reboot via the reboot web page. If the user tries to initiate a reboot via the web interface during a time specified for no reboots, the VPN Gateway will warn the user.
  • The user can issue a full query (which may cause a reboot).

To avoid reboots initiated by a user accessing the AT&T VPN Gateway web interface, specify an VPN Gateway Device Password, which will block access to these pages of the web interface.