Boot path appended?

rdanevich · ‎12-01-2006

I pushed out an IOS upgrade to some of my 2950 series switches but I didn't do an immediate reload. In one of the switches I viewed the BOOT path and it showed BOTH IOS.bin files in the path seperated by a semicolon.

i.e.

BOOT path-list: flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA8a.bin;flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-9.EA1.bin

Does this mean boot from the first IOS file in the path (xxx-22.EA8a.bin) and if it's not available try the second IOS file (xxxx-9.EA1.bin)?

Or would this cause a boot failure? And I'd been in a world of hurt!!!!

glen.grant · ‎12-01-2006

They must have used boot statements in the config , if I remember correctly the 2950 only has enough flash to hold one image anyway , so they must have upgraded it and added a boot statement and not gotten rid of the other one . In the 2950 you don't even need a boot statement it will find it in flash because it can only hold one switch image anyway.

rdanevich · ‎12-01-2006

8MB of Flash memory, IOS is/are 3MB and less. Therefore there is room in Flash to hold more then one IOS.(Verified) With no Boot path statement configured, Cisco devices boot from the 1st IOS found in Flash.

Anyways, I found another switch located geographically closer with the dual IOS boot statements in the boot path. I reloaded the switch and it in fact reloaded with the newer IOS (1st in Boot path).

glen.grant · ‎12-02-2006

Well I based it on ours and in looking at this , we too have 8 meg and we have only 1 ios in the flash and it shows only like less than 1.5 meg left in flash and I looked at multiple 2950's . When I do a dir flash: , it shows 1 version yet the other files do not account for all flash that is being used which I find strange . Do a dir flash: and see what yours looks like . It not like there is a squeeze function on these boxes . Anybody else seen this or know what would cause this or is this normal ? Anyway thats what i based the answer on , even with one bin file in there there is like 1.1 meg left spacewise when I look at it . Below is what I see . So the question becomes where is all the other space in flash or what is it being used for or is it a bug ???

Directory of flash:/

2 -rwx 109 Mar 01 1993 00:01:45 +00:00 info

3 -rwx 270 Jan 01 1970 00:01:40 +00:00 env_vars

4 -rwx 796 Dec 19 2005 13:09:07 +00:00 vlan.dat

5 -rwx 3110758 Nov 22 2005 13:20:40 +00:00 c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.ea6.bin

6 -rwx 5679 Nov 20 2006 16:03:53 +00:00 config.text

7 -rwx 77 Nov 20 2006 16:03:53 +00:00 private-config.text

8 drwx 2688 Mar 01 1993 00:05:31 +00:00 html

90 -rwx 109 Mar 01 1993 00:05:32 +00:00 info.ver

92 -rwx 1048 Nov 20 2006 16:03:53 +00:00 multiple-fs

7741440 bytes total (1195520 bytes free)

tdrais · ‎12-02-2006

Take a look at line 8 in your display.

This is a directory and has lots more directories under it. This is where all the flash is used. There is a dir command that will display all the subdirectories I forget.

This is where all the gui management stuff for a switch is.

rdanevich · ‎12-04-2006

Glen, the sample you included shows a newer IOS on your switch then what I had on mine.

3110758 Nov 22 2005 13:20:40 +00:00 c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.ea6.bin

Yours is slightly over 3MB for that IOS file, combined with all the files in the html directory, this is what's taking up your space in flash. My older IOS was a bit over 2MB.

dir flash:html

shows the files & directories in the html directory. Sometimes there's another diretory within the html directory, usually images or ximages.

Still, thanks for the assistance!

glen.grant · ‎12-04-2006

Ok I'll keep that in mind , I assume that it is ok to delete that directory if we dont use the GUI interface ?

rdanevich · ‎12-04-2006

I SURE HOPE SO!!!! :-) I've been doing it to make room for the updated IOS. We also don't use it, plus I see no other way around. It's safer to have the older IOS still in flash for an immediate backup in case disaster strikes during the upgrade.