3750 stack upgrade!!

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi firends,

I have a situation where are three units stack of 3750 which i need to upgrade.The flash memory on all the switches are the same which is 57.4 MB.

The tar file which I was trying to use was 21 MB.

Now the trouble is that the client wanted to do upgrade without overwriting the existing file.  I tried doing automatic upgrade using tar file. It started all OK with downloading the tar file successfully on the master flash. but then it failed thereafter. It did not show any error on my telnet screen however I could see errors (Error code 10054) on the TFTP server regarding the download of the same file on the flash ( i am guessing this was the flash of the next unit in the stack).

I then decided to try manual upgrade using the tar file but came across this warning on the Cisco guide

http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_configuration_example09186a00804799d7.shtml#mupgrade

" You need to make sure you have sufficient space available in the Flash      of the master switch. The master switch should have twice the amount of space      of the .tar image file size. This space is needed to store the .tar file as      well as to store the content of the .tar file that you extract."

The tar file being 21 MB and looking at the dir below I dont think it is possible use this option since I dont have that much space. I have 34 MB free which according to the doco should be atleast 42 MB.

DIR prior downloading the tar file:

switch# dir flash:

Directory of flash:/

    2  -rwx       15602   Jul 7 1993 20:29:31 +00:00  config.text

    3  -rwx           5   Jul 7 1993 20:29:32 +00:00  private-config.text

    4  -rwx        1816   Mar 1 1993 00:01:32 +00:00  vlan.dat

    6  drwx         512   Mar 1 1993 00:06:20 +00:00  c3750e-universal-mz.122-35.SE2

  511  d---         512   Jan 1 1970 00:00:40 +00:00  lost+found

57409536 bytes total (35758592 bytes free)

(where X is the unit number)

DIR after the download of the tar:

switch#dir flash:

Directory of flash:/

    2  -rwx       15602   Jul 7 1993 20:29:31 +00:00  config.text

    3  -rwx           5   Jul 7 1993 20:29:32 +00:00  private-config.text

    4  -rwx        1816   Mar 1 1993 00:01:32 +00:00  vlan.dat

    5  -rwx    21186560   Mar 1 1993 00:31:42 +00:00  c3750e-universalk9-tar.122-58.SE2.tar

    6  drwx         512   Mar 1 1993 00:06:20 +00:00  c3750e-universal-mz.122-35.SE2

  511  d---         512   Jan 1 1970 00:00:40 +00:00  lost+found

57409536 bytes total (14401024 bytes free)

So my question to you was, what is the best option I have with me given the constraints that I cannot upgrade the flash at this stage.

1. Could I use the manual upgrade (using bin file) if that can do the needful, or

2. Do I simple try automatic upgrade using tar file but with overwriting option so it overwrites the existing image on the flash. How much risk is involved in this? Could i take a copy of the existing image on the tftp server using "archive upload-sw" command? or

3. Is there a way I could upgrade without transfering image onto the flash and instead using tftp for the stack switch to boot from?

My other issue is that I would only have limited outage window where I would need to try once again, so I wanted to ask you guys if you had similar experience in the past and can help save my time.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,

Mohit

[paolo bevilacqua]

You should forget about what the client wants, and go ahead with Cisco recomendations.

Alos, when working with router and switches, use CLI not GUI.

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi

I have used cli all this time,not sure what made this thing look as if i was using web...



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[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Using the cli, download the .bin image and load it manually to each switch while you leave the old image intact. At this point you still have 14 to 15Mb of space in your flash.

Set your boot variable to boot from the new image (122-58.SE2).  Reboot the stack, the stak should boot using the new image on the flash. Once the stack is booted do a "sh flash" to make sure you have the old and the new image.

HTH

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi reza
I am looking at this as one of the options. Thanks!!

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[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Forget the output.  I want to see ALL the flash spaces in each stack members.

"dir flashX: " where "X" is the stack member number.  Post that.

Ok, so you have three units in a stack and you want to upgrade the IOS and leave the old IOS.  I presume you want the boot variable statement to point to the new IOS?  Here's the command:

archive download-sw /dest 1 /dest 2 /dest 3 tftp:///c3750e-universalk9-tar.122-58.SE2.tar

Another thing ... 12.2(58)SE2????  Seriously???? 

The entire "58" is one of THE worst and buggiest IOS versions I've ever seen.  Unless you and/or your client have a feature only found in the "58", then I'd consider looking at 12.2(55)SE7 or 15.0(2)SE2.

[Mohit Chauhan]

Also, as i mentioned in my earlier post, the dir flash output is the same for all the flashes.
Thanks for bringing up the point about the 12.2 (58) SE2. However when i searched for any bug in the bug toolkit for the version, it did not show any bugs.
Have you seen that in your experience with this version yourself?
Thanks!
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[Leo Laohoo]

Have you seen that in your experience with this version yourself?

Yes.  12.2(58)SE2 still has ongoing high CPU bug issues.

[Mohit Chauhan]

leolaohoo wrote:
Have you seen that in your experience with this version yourself?
Yes.  12.2(58)SE2 still has ongoing high CPU bug issues. 

We recently had new switch shipped from Cisco with 12.2 (55)SE5 (not part of this stack), I'll probably stick with that to make it synchronise unless there was anything wrong with that version too.

[InayathUlla Sharieff]

Hi Mohit,

12.2 (55)SE5  is good software though but I would prefer to go with  12.2(55)SE7 or 15.0(2)S as they are quite stable and not with many bugs :-)

Regards

Inayath

[Mohit Chauhan]

InayathUlla Sharieff wrote:
Hi Mohit,
 12.2 (55)SE5  is good software though but I would prefer to go with  12.2(55)SE7 or 15.0(2)S as they are quite stable and not with many bugs :-)
Regards
Inayath

Thanks Inayath,

Quick clarification here on automatic upgarde process:

1. when performing automatic upgarde using tar file, auto-upgrade feature should be on on all switch members or only the stack? I realized that when I did "sho boot" on the master, it showed master's as on but the rest units in the stack were "off".

2. I realized using the manual upgrade (using tar file) that the free space on the flash should be twice the size of the tar image. Is ist the same case when performing automatic upgrade (using tar). There was no mention about this in the doco and am trying to confirm why my automatic upgrade failed?

[Mohit Chauhan]

Hi,

also just realized that the exisitng stack has "c3750e-universal-mz.122-35.SE2.bin" and the new one that i am planning to use is "c3750e-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7.bin".

I hope that should be fine?

Regards,

Mohit

[Leo Laohoo]

Unless you want to enable crypto or SSH, then it's fine to use the filename without the "k".

[InayathUlla Sharieff]

HI Mohit,

As Leo stated K/K9 usualy means the security software (i.e it has the support for security.).

When you are running the stack we usually recommend to use the same software . Anyways but the above mentioned software will work without any issue.

HTH

Regards

Inayath

[Mohit Chauhan]

InayathUlla Sharieff wrote:
HI Mohit,
As Leo stated K/K9 usualy means the security software (i.e it has the support for security.).
When you are running the stack we usually recommend to use the same software . Anyways but the above mentioned software will work without any issue.
HTH
Regards
Inayath

Thank guys, I understand that bit in regards to having same type of image. 
However, the main reason for me asking this was since there wasnt any image with the name "universal". 
it only shows "universalk9".
So as suggested, I would go with the upgrade tonight and let you know how i go.