Skip to main content

Upgrading the Cisco Switch IOS

By
According to business need, you will need to upgrade the OS of your network device in your infrastructure as a Network Administrator/Engineer.

I’d like to share the experience of upgrading the IOS in Cisco to the beginners and for those who haven’t done this yet.

Before complete the task, you should know and prepare the following.

- You must have correct IOS License for your devices
- You must have backup of current running configuration and IOS.
- You must have Local/Remote TFTP Server/FTP/SFTP Server to keep backup files and new IOS.
- You should prepare pre-configured same model device if you have. So you can replace if your task was something wrong.
- Upgrading task should do in Maintenance Windows. You shouldn’t do it however you have very good hands-on experience for that.
- You should read Tech Notes from Cisco about Bugs for your new IOS before upgrade. Then you can expected what need to be done if something unexpected issue occur.
- Be ensure the role and function of your device.

Let’s start the task if you well-prepared above steps.

In this example, I’ll use Cisco Catalyst 3560 PoE Switch to upgrade the IOS as need SSH to enable on it and current IOS do not support SSH because of it is not loaded cryptoimage IOS. Cryptoimage show include crypto and K9 in the file name.

Let’s begin.

- Check the IOS Version of switch. Take a look the photo and take note on red highlighted area for DRAM and Flash Capacity.

   "show version"

- Now, let’s check flash memory space. You would need to delete old IOS if there   is not enough free space to copy new IOS. Take note on red highlighted area. In this example, free space is enough.

 "show flash"


- Login with cisco id and password at Cisco Software Download webpage.

  Find the correct IOS for your switch model. As shown in picture, please download correct IOS as your need. (Ensure to use correct subscribe license feature, DRAM/Flash specification of yours). Take note IOS File Size and MD5 Hash Value too to re-check once it is loaded in Switch.



- Copy downloaded IOS to TFTP/FTP/SFTP Server. In my example, I used TFTP Server.
- Console in to switch and copy IOS from TFTP Server to flash memory of switch.

   "copy tftp flash"


- Once copy task finished, you need to check md5 has value as below to ensure your IOS file didn’t corrupted between processes.

  "verify /md5 flash: put new ios image file name with file extension here"


- If MD5 hash value is correct, will change booth path of switch from old IOS to new IOS as below.

  "boot system flash: put new ios image file name with file extension here"

- After that, copy running configuration to startup configuration as below.

  "copy running-config startup-config" or "write memory" or "write"
- Reload the switch then. Your switch should working as expected without any issue if your upgrading complete successfully.

- In this post, I didn’t mentioned details about IOS Licensing, Clearing Flash Memory space, checking booth path from zip file in Flash and setting up the TFTP Server. I’ll write about those if I’ve got time.

If you are willing to know how to choose correct IOS, please read it here. http://www.ictformyanmar.com/2014/03/what-is-different-ip-base-and-ip.html

However this post demonstrate the task with Switch, you could reference for router and firewall IOS upgrading task too.
But depends on the role of device, steps can be a bit different and complex because of you will need some requirement and pre-arrangement.

I’ll write more details about router and firewall if I’ve got a chance.

Have a good time.

(Be knowledgeable, pass it on then)



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fortigate guide for Begineer - 6

By
I would like to explaine how to troubleshoot the Fortigate Unit configured by Transparent Mode in step by step this time. Let's assume, you have one Fortigate Unit that configured as Transparent Mode. But devices from Internal/Private Network unable to access Internet/Public Network through your Fortigate Unit. OK. Let's troubleshoot with following steps, 1) Check the physical network connections between the network and the FortiGate unit, and between the FortiGate unit and the Internet. 2) Check the router and ISP-supplied equipment to make sure it is operating correctly. 3) Verify that you can connect to the internal interface by connecting to the management IP address of the FortiGate unit from the Internal network. From the internal network, attempt to ping the management IP address. If you cannot connect to the internal interface, verify the IP configuration of the PC and make sure the cables are connected and all switches and other devices on the network are powered on a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why do we need network virtualization?

By
We need to think about Server Virtualization first if we want to talk about Network Virtualization. In the era of cloud computing, servers are virtualized and used in Data Centers. We are facing a lot of problem when we virtualized our Servers, 1) Routing and Switching Problem Routing become the issue when we create Virtual Switch and VLANs according to production requirement. Network Team might need some time to change on their end to meet with Server Virtualization Team changes on their end. ၂) Firewall Services Physical Firewall are difficult to manage due to the large number of rules needed to satisfy business requirements. New applications, new projects, and new networks all come with potential security requirements, which impact centralized firewall management. ၃) Load Balancing Let's say your company deploys a new physical load balancer for each tenant, resulting in increased capital expenditures. Once a tenant reaches their maximum capacity, it ca...
144 comments
Read more

Link Aggregating with Synology NAS and Cisco Switch

By
I’d like to share how to setup Link Aggregating between Synology NAS and Cisco Switch. I’ve got one Synology NAS with 4 Network Ports and I’m going to use 2 of them. Both Network Port to be as one Logical Link, Fault Tolerance and Load Balancing. To do that, I need to configure Link Aggregating on Synology NAS and EtherChannel with LACP on Cisco Switch. Below is brief steps to do to meet with my requirements. - Get connected Synology NAS and Cisco Switch as shown in picture. - Bonding two Network Ports of Synology NAS and assign IP Address - Configure EtherChannel with LACP in Cisco Switch and add two physical ports as Member. OK. Let’s begin from Synology NAS. - Login to the Synology and go to Control Panel>Network>Create>Create Bond - Select IEEE 802.3ad to get Fault Tolerance and Load Balancing Featureyou’re your switch not support 802.3ad you can only select Fault Tolerance only feature). After that click “Next”. - Choose the network port f...
35 comments
Read more