Hello David
The two modes, Install Mode and Bundle Mode, are indeed different ways of loading the IOS on a device. Let’s break them down:
Install Mode: This is the recommended and more efficient method for system software deployment. In this mode, the IOS runs from the packages copied to the device’s flash memory.
The software image file includes separate packages for each feature. These packages are extracted from the bundle and copied to the flash memory during the install operation. The packages.conf file is automatically created and it keeps track of all installed packages.
The advantages of Install Mode are that it uses less memory and allows for Sub Package Installation (you can choose which packages you want to install). This mode also supports software sub-package patching without network downtime.
Bundle Mode: In this mode, the device boots the IOS image directly from the .bin file copied to the flash memory, and runs as a monolithic system image with a bundled set of features. Monolithic in this context simply means that the image is composed of a single file that contains all of the relevant code and operational information.
The disadvantage of Bundle Mode is that it uses more memory because it needs to extract the packages every time the device boots up. It doesn’t support software sub-package patching and doesn’t allow for Sub Package Installation.
You can think of install mode as resembling an operating system installation like Linux or Windows which contains multiple files, packages, and registries. Conversely, bundle mode can be thought of more as a “firmware.”
Which one is better? Generally speaking, install mode is more versatile and efficient, but bundle mode is a little bit simpler to work with. Based on this description, which one you will use will really be up to you.
I hope this has been helpful!
Laz