1. A computerized method, comprising: receiving new software to be installed on a network element having an active and backup controller card, wherein the new software comprises metadata describing a format used by the new software to store and access critical state information of the network element; installing the new software on the backup controller card; synchronizing an active state of the network element on the backup controller card, wherein the active state comprises the critical state information, and wherein the active state is associated with an old software running on the network element; and translating the active state using the metadata to the format used by the new software.