Cisco works Software distribution on 3750e and 3750

[fredareid]

Hello,

From what I have been reading, all 3750s, rather alone or in a stack, show up as stacks in RME. So in order to install the cisco IOS update through RME I need to use the .tar files. I think I have figured out how to add the tar files to RME.

My question is if I am running a 3750e as the master switch and 2 or 3 3750s as slaves, when I use the tar file in ciscoworks would I select the tar file for the 3750e and the rest will follow? Or am I wrong in thinking how this works?

Would I have to update this kind of stack manually?

Thanks

[Derek Clothier · Accepted solution]

Hi,

     With regards to 3750 Switches , when you take them out of the box, each 3750 switch has it's own sysObjectID that uniquely identifies what model of switch it is.  When you convert 3750 switches into a stack however the sysObjectID of each individual switch is changed to catalyst37xxStack  (.1.3.6.1.4.1.9.1.516) .  If you subsequently dismantle the switch stack and use the switches in a standalone mode, they still retain sysObjectID of  catalyst37xxStack  (.1.3.6.1.4.1.9.1.516)

* There is a procedure that you can do to revert a 3750 switch back to it's original state and hence it's original sysObjectID, but most people aren't aware of this and hence don't do it.

     With regards to using RME SWIM to upgrade the IOS, of a 3750 switch stack, a few potential problems you should be aware of :

1. If you are running IOS 12.2(46)SE on any of your 3750's and you are using SSH as the SWIM transport protocol, then upgrading the IOS via SWIM will fail due to a bug in the switch SSH software. If you can use Telnet temprorarily as the transport protocol , this will work otherwise you will need to manually upgrade those switches running 12.2(46)SE

2. If you have a mixed stack ie some switches running Universal feature set and others running traditional IP ipbase feature set etc then RME SWIM will not handle this.

* An enhancement request for this has been opened, but has not yet been implemented - CSCsv73971 - "RME SWIM support for mixed stack"
3. Finally, have seen a couple of problems recently when upgrading 3750 switch stacks where by :

* RME tidies up the flash on the master switch to make sure it has enough room to copy over the tar file and then executes the 'archive download-sw ....' command on the switch to begin the transfer etc.

* The switch stack looks after copying the new image to the other members of the stack, not RME, and this fails if there is not sufficient free space on the flash of those switches to accomodate the new image. (In actual fact it doesn't just compare "free space >= image size" it looks for "free sapce >= 1.x * image size" where x is 10% or 15% ).  So it would pay to do some manual tidy up of flash on switches other than the master switch in order to ensure no problems.

     I would test this in a lab before running a SWIM job to upgrade multiple devices.

     What version of RME are you running ?

Regards

Derek Clothier

[Derek Clothier]

Hi,

     To answer your initial question - " I am running a 3750e as the master switch and 2 or 3  3750s as slaves, when I use the tar file in ciscoworks would I select  the tar file for the 3750e and the rest will follow? "

Answer - Yes all going well the other members of the switch stack are upgraded as well as the master switch, but as noted before not if it's a mixed stack.

Regards

Derek Clothier