3550 IOS upgrade

mbedell · ‎02-03-2005

I need to upgrade some 3550 switches to 12.1(20)EA1 Is the process of upgrading the IOS the same as say with the 4507's? Never upgraded the 3550's before. Thanks.

thisisshanky · ‎02-03-2005

3550 software come as tar files. So you have to use the archive download-sw command to download the image and overwrite the existing image. More details about the command can be found here.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps646/products_command_reference_chapter09186a008021145a.html#wp1859567

Sankar Nair
UC Solutions Architect
Pacific Northwest | CDW
CCIE Collaboration #17135 Emeritus

neonetsup · ‎02-03-2005

I have just recently done this on 2 brand new 3550s. I downloaded the appropriate .bin file. Connected pc to switch, tftp'd the file, changed the boot flash statement to point to the new file and reloaded.

I tried and tried with the 'archive' commands but couldn't get that to work.

FWIW...

thisisshanky · ‎02-03-2005

Like Kevin suggested you can just TFTP (Copy tftp flash) the bin file to flash. But 3550 also has a lot of HTML files if you download the CMS bundle. So its probably better to use the tar command to TFTP the entire file to flash. While you do the archive-download, make sure the TFTP server address is specified in right syntax (pariticularly the slash /).

Sankar Nair
UC Solutions Architect
Pacific Northwest | CDW
CCIE Collaboration #17135 Emeritus

mbedell · ‎02-03-2005

The image has already been uploaded to the switch. I would normally just change the boot variable - #boot system flash: Is this all I have to do? Do I need to write this to memory?

thisisshanky · ‎02-03-2005

If thats the case, you can add a boot system command to boot from the new file.

boot system flash flash:

Write it to memory, otherwise it wont save the command in startup config and it will boot using the previous IOS.

Sankar Nair
UC Solutions Architect
Pacific Northwest | CDW
CCIE Collaboration #17135 Emeritus

mbedell · ‎02-04-2005

Thanks for the help. I wasn't aware that that you needed to add "flash" after boot system flash.

Kevin Dorrell · ‎02-04-2005

Oh yes, absolutely. I had a heart-stopping time earlier this week when I left out the "flash:" prefix on that command on a 2950. It wouldn't load, and just gave me a cryptic "permission denied". I thought I had converted my lab switch into an expensive doorstop. Fortunately a trawl through past NetPro postings pointed me in the right direction.

You need the "flash:" prefix even if you are booting from ROM.

Kevin Dorrell

Luxembourg