FWSM upgrade

[cef2lion2]

Just getting started with FWSM. IT is currently running version 2.3(4) with device manager 4.1(5). Is it ok to move up to version 4.X?

If so note for version 4.X say you need to be at maintenance software Release 2.1(2)or higher. It appears that 2.1(4) is latest. Do you update this first and the the image followed by the device manager? It says to check maintenance software you must boot into the maintenance partition. There isn't another way to check that I assume?

Craig

[robertson.michael]

Hi Craig,

You shouldn't have any issues upgrading up to 4.x. However, I would recommend giving the release notes a quick once over, since the chassis requirements (i.e. IOS version on your supervisor) may change between 2.x and 4.x:

FWSM 4.x Chassis Requirements:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/fwsm/fwsm40/release/notes/fwsmrn40.html#wp158699

Also, as you noted you will need to make sure that your maintenance partition is running 2.1(2) or higher. Unfortunately, there is no way to check this aside from booting into the maintenance partition.

You have the upgrade order exactly correct:

1. Maintenance partition

2. Application partition

3. Device manager

Here is a link to a great guide that walks you through upgrading from 2.x to 3.x (including the maintenance parititon) and the order of the steps you should take. You can easily follow it to upgrade from 2.x to 4.x as well:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/fwsm/fwsm31/upgrade/guide/fwsm31up.html

Hope that helps.

-Mike

[cef2lion2]

Very helpful. Thank you. Follow-up. Is there a procedure to rebooting the 6513 SUP720 with various modules in the 6513? We have the WiSM and FWSM right now. Do you need to do something with each module prior to resetting the SUP720?

Craig

[robertson.michael]

Hi Craig,

I can only speak for the FWSM, though I would assume this would be the same for the WiSM as well. While it not absolutely required to do anything with the service modules before rebooting the supervisor, it certainly would not hurt to shut them down either.

You can shut down the FWSM with one of the following methods:

1. Press the "Shutdown" button on the front of the module.

2. Issue the 'shutdown' command from the FWSM's CLI.

3. Issue the 'hw-module slot <#> shutdown' command from the supervisor CLI.

4. Issue the 'no power enable module <#>' command on the supervisor CLI, reboot the supervisor, and issue the 'power enable module <#>' command.

In addition, I would always recommend saving your configuration ('write mem' or even 'copy run tftp' from the FWSM CLI) before making any changes to the environment.

Hope that helps.

-Mike

[cef2lion2]

Got the FWSM updated to latest maintenance, apllications, and device manager. Thank you. Went smoothly.

Craig