Catalyst 3850 SW upgrade

[net]

I've been tasked with SW upgrades on our 3850 stack to resolve some logging issues. the current version is 03.07.05E. I see a release titled 03.06.10E with a more recent release date, but the version numbering has me confused. I know 03.07.05E is an ED release and 03.06.10E is an MD release, does this mean 03.06.10E is an "upgrade" despite the mismatched numbers? Also can we install IOS on top of itself with out doing factor-reset all?

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

Yes, I think 03.06.10E is an "upgrade" since it was released in a later date (17-May-2019)  than 03.07.05E which was released on 16-Feb-2017.

So, I would go with 03.06.10E

Also can we install IOS on top of itself with out doing factor-reset all?

Correct. You just do an upgrade on top of what you have and no need for any factory-reset.

HTH

[net]

Can we also install 03.07.05E on top of itself to reinstall system files?

[Leo Laohoo]

Yes.

[Leo Laohoo]

For consistency purposes, Cisco has two different and incompatible commands to upgrade the firmware of the 3650/3850.  One command is exclusively for firmware version 3.X.X and another is for 16.X.X. 

Cisco 3850: IOS-XE/Firmware Upgrade