3850 stack files seem to be missing

[Paddy S]

Hi all.

I'm in the midst of doing some upgrades on some switches running old software.  We have a 3850 stack with 2 units running 03.02.03.SE (needs an upgrade for sure)

When I check on the flash of both units I notice no files at all in flash-1: - switch 2 is the active and switch 1 is standby

show flash shows me the correct files I expect to find, but when I do "show flash-1:" no files on that unit at all (standby unit) completely empty!

Can I or should I do "software expand running" command to expand the currently running bundle from active unit to flash on standby?

Stack in in Install mode.

Thanks in advance!

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

Both switches should have the same file system:

Can you post the output of:

sh flash-1:

and 

sh flash-2:

HTH

[Paddy S]

Thanks, @Reza Sharifi  - I did that and I can see flash-2: has the installed files (it's the active switch).  show flash-1: shows me no files.
Not sure how they got removed - uptime is almost 3 years and last reload reason is "unknown"

Just not sure if I run the "software expand running" command it will replicate running bundle files from current active (switch 2) to standby (switch 1) without interrupting things.
This is an iSCI switch and I can't reload without interrupting some things in production.

[Reza Sharifi]

When you do "sh flash-1:" does it show this line at the very bottom:

1624244224 bytes total (458752000 bytes free)

This is just an example. Your numbers may be different.

Also, iSCI stuff is very sensitive. So, you have to be careful with this switch.

I recommend you open a ticket with Cisco, and have them take a look before you make any changes.

HTH

[Paddy S]

Thanks @Reza Sharifi - Yes... it shows me the following:

sh flash-1:
-#- --length-- ---------date/time--------- path
3004575744 bytes available (15077376 bytes used)

[Reza Sharifi]

I see that the "used bytes" is only 15Mb vs if you had all the files on that flash the "used bytes" would have been a few hundred Mb.

Anyway, because of the sensitivity of this switch, and since there are no files on the flash of switch-1, I would advise you to work with Cisco TAC to upgrade it.

HTH

[Paddy S]

Thanks, @Reza Sharifi .

I opened a TAC case and we re-provisioned the unit with missing files by copying the .BIN file from active switch to the standby with the missing files then doing:
software install file flash-1:cat3k_caa-universalk9.SPA.03.02.03.SE.150-1.EX3.bin new force

When it prompted to reload, we selected "no"

It's pending a reload, but if it reloads unexpectedly at least we don't end up in ROMMON mode.

I would have just done the same with the newer IOS version, but we've had some issues with some of these 3850s not booting up and being un-recoverable with a strange error message "hardware authentication error" after upgrade.
flash_init or emergency recover didn't work for those failed units after going to different 16.x versions from v3.x.x so we have to play it safe.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Paddy S wrote:

software install file flash-1:cat3k_caa-universalk9.SPA.03.02.03.SE.150-1.EX3.bin new force

---

This was really not needed.  

Just copy the "destination" firmware across and unpack the packages.  

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@Paddy S wrote:

I opened a TAC case

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This is a waste of time.  TAC probably recommends upgrading the firmware anyway. 

Out of curiosity, what IOS-XE version are you planning to upgrade to?

[Paddy S]

Yeah that was my initial plan.  Luckily we still had the .BIN file on the active switch.  I wasn't 100% sure if using "software expand file flash-1: switch 1" after copying the .BIN file would work or of the precise syntax without interrupting production.
Both units were still running (from nvram presumably)

We're looking at 16.12.7 to upgrade to eventually.

[Reza Sharifi]

Whenever you are planning on rebooting the switch, I would have TAC on the call and make sure they look at everything before rebooting. You DO NOT want your storage devices and/or VMs to be offline.

HTH