Hi Jacques,
why do you require an activation key for upgrading IOS ?? its actually not required.. if you are upgrading from R to UR or from DES to 3DES, you need such activation keys.. anyway, a normal copy tftp flash command will do the trick for you.. there are absolutely no issues on this upgrade...
for minimal downtime, use the following steps:
1)Copy the PIX Firewall binary image (pixnnn.bin) to the root directory of the TFTP server.
2)Power off the Primary (this causes the Secondary to become active).
3)Disconnect all cables from the Primary (including failover cable).
4)Power on the Primary and attach a PC with a TFTP server on it.
5)Use copy tftp flash to upgrade the Primary.
6)Reload the Primary and verify the new version and configuration.
7) Power off the Primary.
8) Reconnect all cables back to the Primary.
9) Quickly power off the Secondary, and then immediately power on the Primary. (Note: Your downtime will occur while the Primary is booting up.)
Once the Primary is up, it will be active and passing traffic.
10)Repeat steps 2 - 7, but for the Secondary PIX.
11) Power on the Secondary; it comes up as Standby.
12) Both PIX devices are now running the upgraded version and back to normal operation
hope this helps.. all the best.. rate replies if found useful...
Raj
