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Upgrade IOS 6500 SUP2

serotonin888
Level 1
Level 1

Hi All,

Just a quick question about upgrading the IOS on a 6500 with dual SUP2 configured with SSO.

If I upgrade the active should I also copy the new image to the standby before saving and reloading?

Or save, reload, verify everything is working on the Active and then copy the image to the standby?

One other question.. A client is suggesting that although Cisco specify a minimum flash of 64mb for a particular IOS image, if the actual image can fit on a 32mb flash then that is OK. Does anyone have any good arguments to counter this?

Thanks

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

andrew.prince
Level 10
Level 10

Andrew,

Personally I always copy the image I am upgrading to to both sup's, change the boot variable and save the config. As the sup's are in SSO mode - config is copied over, so when you reload both sup's will reload into the correct image. I have in the past had loads of trouble with sup's finding the correct image when I have not done the above and tried it from RPR mode.

I think cisco recommend this so that you have have more than one IOS image in the flash, just incase it is corrupt etc. being able to role back to a previous version is alot simpler when you have the image in flash, rather than trying to get it back into the flash from rommon mode. Also if you have a small flash, and you fill it up with IOS - you lose the capability of retreiving crash-dump files if your device has an issue, crash-dump files are very handy when the TAC are trying to find an issue!

HTH>

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3 Replies 3

andrew.prince
Level 10
Level 10

Andrew,

Personally I always copy the image I am upgrading to to both sup's, change the boot variable and save the config. As the sup's are in SSO mode - config is copied over, so when you reload both sup's will reload into the correct image. I have in the past had loads of trouble with sup's finding the correct image when I have not done the above and tried it from RPR mode.

I think cisco recommend this so that you have have more than one IOS image in the flash, just incase it is corrupt etc. being able to role back to a previous version is alot simpler when you have the image in flash, rather than trying to get it back into the flash from rommon mode. Also if you have a small flash, and you fill it up with IOS - you lose the capability of retreiving crash-dump files if your device has an issue, crash-dump files are very handy when the TAC are trying to find an issue!

HTH>

Thanks Andrew - I think I will copy the IOS to both flash cards. The bootflash will still have the original image as a fall back. I wasnt 100% certain what woukd happen if the switch reloaded and the standby didnt have the image name listed in boot system.

Thanks

np - glad to help.

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