Cisco 3560 IOS Upgrade

[balbeer.singh84]

Hi,

I am trying to upgrade the IOS in Cisco3560 but I am facing one issue. Its flash is 15MB & available space is 8MB whereas the IOS is of 11MB. Can you please tell me how to handle this situation? How can I upgrade the IOS without upgrading the flash?

-Balbeer

[egemen1981 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

You should delete the bin file of previous version IOS from flash by using  delete /f /r flash:filename.bin command. Deleting files manually will not be a problem(I have tested several times before - you can backup file incase of failure) Then you can upload file to a flash memory and set it as a boot file by using boot system switch all flash:...... command.

[balbeer.singh84]

Thanks. It worked for me....

-Balbeer

[Sandeep Choudhary]

Hi Balbir,

You have to update the Flash:

If you can delete old IOS and then upgrade then it may possible.

If the space is not enough for the old and new copies of IOS together, you will have to erase the old one. DO NOT do that manually using ‘delete flash:XXXXX.bin’.  Once you start copying the new IOS, you will be asked to erase or keep  the old contents of the flash. If you have enough space for
both copies, do not erase the flash.

Otherwise you have to upgrade the Flash:

Regards

Please rate if it helps.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

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Posting

Basically either before or during the upgrade process, the old image will need to be removed if there's insufficient flash space for both old and new IOS images.  Of course, this does create a risk if upgrade isn't completely successfully in that a reload/reboot will not have a valid IOS image.

Some of the later IOS image just won't fit on the earlier 3560/3750s due to insufficient flash space.

You can (somewhat) reduce the flash space requirement by using the IOS .bin image rather than the full IOS .tar image which also includes WEB management.  If you use the .bin image, you need to manually do much more setting up the IOS than just using the archive command.

This reference provides information for upgrading IOS on a 3750, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps5023/products_configuration_example09186a00804799d7.shtml, the 3560 is about identical except it doesn't stack.