Need a CatOS to Native Guru!

[NAVIN PARWAL]

Folks,

I am doing a very mission critical Catos to native conversion today. I would like to go back to CatOS if something does not go fine. I have a spare flash card.

My question is that can i boot a sup720 in Native or CatOS mode if i boot from external boot flashes that have appropriate images on them? of course i can get the boot varables while booting up and also setup them once i am booted, any ideas? i fill tftp the configuration once i have downloaded the code??

any ideas?

Thanks,

[thisisshanky]

Both catos and native os use different file systems, so you WONT be able to read a flash card that was formatted in Catos (say) and loaded with a file (bin file) and read it in Native mode (after conversion). What I would suggest is,

a. Take a backup of CATOS configuration (take switch as well as MSFC configuration separately)

b. Use CATOS config to IOS config conversion utility.

to convert the configuration to IOS type. Save this as a new file.

http://www.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Support/CatCfgConversion/catcfg_xlat.pl

c. Take a backup of MSFC (IOS) and CATOS software image into a TFTP server.

d. Download the Native image you want to load on the switch.

e. Use the following link to convert from CATOS to IOS software.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_tech_note09186a008015bfa6.shtml#MSFC_2_Conversion

f. Load the IOS config that you created in step b and see if every thing is working properly.

g. If its not working properly, you can revert back to CATOS using this link

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_tech_note09186a00801350b8.shtml

h. Here is an additional link which compares CATOS and IOS commands.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps700/products_tech_note09186a008010e9d5.shtml

HTH

Sankar.

PS: Please remember to rate replies

[NAVIN PARWAL]

I am very confussed about the conversion process. I read it a couple of times actually.

In my case all i did was move the new IOS image to the external flash and pointed the sup and the msfc to boot from it, that is all i need to do right? in a nutsheel? or i am totall wrong?

I mean i do have to go and set the registers etc, but in a nutsheel this is what needs to be done?

Thanks

[NAVIN PARWAL]

where is the file

c6msfc-boot-mz.121-19.E1a that they are talking about in the doc??? i can not seem to find any file on CCO that has E1a as an extension???

Please help, is this any special file?

[thisisshanky]

Parwal,

YOu dont need the c6msfc-boot-mz.121-19.E1a unless your msfc is version 1. Your original post said Sup 720, so you should be using a MSFC3. So you dont need this boot file (which is for MSFC1).

Start reading the document only from this section mentioned below, for a Sup 720/MSFC3 Catos -> IOS conversion.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_tech_note09186a008015bfa6.shtml#conv_720

HTH

PS: Please remember to rate replies!

[lbhoang]

The easiest but not necessarily the cheapest way to do a hybrid to native OS conversion with a cushy rollback plan is to have a spare SUP. If all else fails you can roll back quickly and easily by just popping the original SUP back in.