Where CAN be the Cisco iOS be stored?

[krisztian.kovacs]

Hello Everyone,

I need a flat short answer to a question. I and 2 other colleagues created a questionnaire with CISCO related questions for a certain competition. One of our question is as follows:

Which of these MAY store the Cisco iOS. This includes permanent and temporary storage.

Answers:

- Flash

- ROM

- RAM

-NVRAM

We selected RAM and Flash to be correct but many contestants found links which states that ROM may also contain the iOS.

Can we please have an official CISCO answer to this question?

Thank you

[pmckenzie · Accepted solution]

Cisco ROM has the Mini IOS that it uses as a bootstrap

Here is a guide from Cisco press

"There are usually four types of memory on a Cisco router:

ROM is generally the memory on a chip or multiple chips.
The initial software that runs on a Cisco router is called the bootstrap software
and is usually stored in ROM. The bootstrap software is invoked when the router boots up.

Flash memory Flash memory is most commonly used to store one or more
Cisco IOS software images.
RAM On a router, RAM is used to hold IOS system tables and buffers.

NVRAM is used to store the startup configuration. This is the configuration file that IOS reads when the router boots up."

https://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=101658 

[krisztian.kovacs]

Thank you, appreciated!

[pmckenzie]

Glad to be of assistance. Sometimes those quizzes can lead to even better understanding.

Peter