Cisco catalyst 6500 upgrade

[karamak2]

All,

I am in the process of planning for an upgrade of Cisco catalyst 6500. This is the first time we are performing this upgrade. Essentially, we have two CATS and just trunked to each other. VTP is running between the two. We are currently on 15.0(1)SY(2) and going to upgrade to 15.1(2)SY(7). We are running SUP2T. I looked into the release notes and do not find anything special to do while running VTP. Can someone confirm on this?

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/15-1SY/release_notes.html

Can someone provide me the exact steps to perform while performing the upgrade?

Also what are commands that are worth capturing before and after upgrade to make sure the upgrade is done smoothly.

[acampbell]

Hi

Like you said - VTP -nothing special

Make sure you know if you are server, client or transparent mode

show vtp status

1) Make sure you read the release notes that you have linked
Make sure your hardware is in the supported list.
Make sure you have sufficient memory - both flash & DRAM

2) copy ( ftp or tftp) the new images to your flash like disk0: etc
If the file is not auto verified then manuallly do this with
the command verify /md5 disk0:blabla.bin and check the resulting checksum against the cisco
downloads page.

3) Make sure you have a maintenance timeslot booked
Make sure you know your network, what connectivity needs testing pre & post change.
Very near to your timeslot make sure you save the configs both locally and to your
tftp server.

If possible arrange for console access either with you laptop or via a terminal server port.

Useful commands to save the output for
show ver (make sure your config-register = 0x2102)
rem com switch show ver (This is the SP version)
show bootvar (This states the order of IOS bin files in preference 1,2,3 etc)

sh cdp nei
sh stand brief (If you are running HSRP)
sh vlan

4) At your downtime timeslot
change you boot sys statements to be your preferred list with your new one at the top
copy run start
Again show bootvar

Reload

Monitor from console port if possible

When the switch come back online
run some show commands as above and make sure you are on you new IOS
check cdp nei etc etc

Check user connectivity pings trace routes etc

Wait say 15 mins then upgrade the 2nd switch and repeat all above

I am sure others may want to add to this but as we dont know which features you are running
like ospf,bgp DHCP snoop et etc its hard to offer other commands

Hope it goes well
Regards
Alex

[karamak2]

Thanks Alex and Reza. We have EIGRP on the switch. Anything special commands we can check?

[acampbell]

Hi,

Just record show ip eigrp neighbor is the only additional aid I can think of.

Regards

Alex

[karamak2]

Thanks Alex, One other question. As per point 2, 

If the file is not auto verified then manuallly do this with
the command verify /md5 disk0:blabla.bin and check the resulting checksum against the cisco
downloads page.

the Command verify /md5 disk0:bilabial.bin must be checked from enable mode?

[acampbell]

Hi,

YES- this is performed from enable mode

switchname#verify /md5 disk0:YOUR-NEW-.BIN-FILE-NAME

Regards

Alex

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

Alex has already provided you what you need to do before and after the upgrade. I just want to add one thing.  Make sure to make a very good copy of the latest configs before you start. There is nothing worse than doing the upgrade and not having a good copy of the config to copy and paste to the switches in case something is missing.

HTH

[acampbell]

Hi Reza,

Hope you are well,

Great minds think alike :):);)

Good point  +5

I always have notepad copies before I start

All the best

Alex

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi Alex,

Thanks!!

It has been a long time time..

Hope you are doing well too.

Reza