TFTP Flash Copy Failure on 3600

[_Luke_]

Hi,

I have had a problem recently where when trying to copy images larger than 16Mb via TFTP to various 3600 routers, the transfer fails.

The pair I am currently working on are running 12.2(11)T2. I need to get 12.2.15T onto each router, but when I try a "copy tftp flash", after the first 16Mb, the router console output switches from exclamation marks to zeros and dots:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.

and then I get the transfer failed message. I have tried Cisco, 3C and Solarwinds TFTP servers all to the same effect.

I would be grateful for any advice anyone could provide on this.

Thank you in advance,

Luke.

[deilert]

How much flash does the box have ?

[_Luke_]

Pardon me, the boxes are both specified with 32 Mb Flash and 128 DRAM.

[deilert]

How big is the image that is running on the box currently ? Is your flash partitioned ?

[_Luke_]

The current image is 14Mb, the new one is 18Mb.

The flash is set to a single 32Mb partition, I believe the chip configuration is 2x16Mb.

Thank you very much for your help.

[deilert]

Can you paste a sh flash in, I think that both images are not going to fit in your flash .

[_Luke_]

The problem is there even when the flash is completely empty.

[deilert]

o's are out of order packets , and dots are timeouts .

did you try to copy a different image ? maybe your image is corrupt .

Try this

partition your flash ' partition flash 2 16 16'

then copy the image from partition 1 to partition 2

copy flash1:imagename.bin flash2:iamgename.bin

This will test the second SIMM in flash to make sure it is not bad .

[_Luke_]

I will not be able to try this until next week now, thank you for your help and I will let you know the result of that test.

Enjor your weekend, Luke.

[daveyg]

Hi Luke

I had this exact same problem before with a 3640 series. Even though I've had plenty of room for them.

The transfer failed with Cisco TFTP server so I turned on enable logging and it showed a timeout error.

I resolved it by using hyperterminal and using transfer to send it with Xmodem.

Let me know if you try this, because I've had a lot of trouble sending files to 3640's and I could probably recommend something else.

Gavin.

[_Luke_]

Thanks Gavin,

It may come to Xmodem - it has in the past.

I'm getting fed up of it though and it is such a waste of time compared to a fast Ethernet connection - especially with 18Mb images!

Is the problem you are reffering to the one where you get 4 exclamation marks then it times out? I think I got round this last time by using a 3620 to put the image on to the flash card and then copying from the card to internal flash. This was with a sub-16Mb image though.

[deilert]

another thing you may want to try is to set the vty line timoutes to

line vty 0 4

exec-timeout 0 0

This sets the timeout to infinity

[japollock]

Hey Luke,

What is the current version of IOS that is on this router. There was a bug awhile back that was filed against this particular problem (CSCds46280). This bug affected IOS releases 12.0 and some 12.1. There is actually a workaround to this issue if this is what your seeing. These directions should help you out. Also, there is another TFTP program that I use that I have had a lot of luck with...it is called "PumpKin". You can google "PumpKin" and "TFTP" to find it.

Cheers,

Jason

***********************************

You cannot use TFTP to transfer a file that is greater than 16 MB to or from

a Cisco router.

Workaround: Use remote copy protocol (rcp), or use FTP copy commands on IOS

routers and copy the image file into the flash memory of the IOS routers and

later boot the router with the "boot system flash " CLI command.

Steps for the Workaround:

------------------------

1.Copy the IOS image into a FTP or RCP server.

Enable proper permissions for user name and password authentication

on the UNIX RCP/FTP server and configure the RCP/FTP CLI commands

on the IOS router.

2.Using FTP server to load images to the flash:

On the IOS router configure:

ip ftp username

ip ftp password

Inovke the copy command "copy flash ftp" and

Router#copy ftp flash

Address or name of remote host []? ftpserver

Source filename []? .cshrc

Destination filename [.cshrc]?

Accessing ftp://.cshrc...

*Mar 11 04:27:38: FTP: 220 ftpserver FTP server (SunOS 5.6) ready.

[OK - 6656/1024 bytes]

Verifying checksum... OK (0x97D5)

6656 bytes copied in 3.224 secs (2218 bytes/sec)

3.Using RCP copy "copy rcp flash" command

On the IOS router configure:

ip rcmd rcp-enable

ip rcmd rsh-enable

ip rcmd remote-username user1

* For Router to UNIX rcp copy *

ip rcmd remote-host 172.16.1.8 enable

Example: ip rcmd remote-host user1 172.16.2.8 user1 enable

* For Router to Router RCP copy *

ip rcmd remote-host 172.16.2.8 enable

Example: ip rcmd remote-host user1 172.16.2.8 enable

On the UNIX server:

------------------

Create a file called .rhosts in the home directory of the user

to authenticate the user on the router to be able to access the

RSHD/RCP server on the UNIX system.

Router#copy rcp flash

Address or name of remote host [server]?

Source username [user1]?

Source filename [.cshrc]?

Destination filename [.cshrc]?

%Warning:There is a file already existing with this name

Do you want to over write? [confirm]

Accessing rcp://user1@server/.cshrc...

**************************************

[olorunloba]

I stopped using the TFTP since the day it refused to copy my image after reformatting the flash. I've been using the FTP in IIS (Microsoft Internet Information Service, bundles with windows 2000, XP etc) since. Also, the configuration is a lot easy. I configure the IIS to allow for anonymous login, so that I do not need to specify the username and password. These allows me to use the FTP, just like a TFTP (in terms of issuing commands). And I find it more reliable, (well, since it TCP as to UDP for TFTP)

Roger

[dnagarajachary]

I faced the same problem when i was using the tftp from Cisco, and Solaris.

But then i started using Tftpd32 tftp software. Now no problem.

Really this tftpd32 is good software.

-Deepu