IOS upgrade on a VSS pair

[nawas]

I plan to upgrade my vss pair from 12.2.33.SXI3 to 12.2.33.SXI5. I have seen two Cisco method of upgrading VSS, FSU and eFSU. Anyone have recommendation/suggestion which one is most effective and problem free? I want to see if people had issue with one or the other.

[David Varnum]

I just upgraded my VSS from SXI3 to SXI6 using the link below to perform an eFSU upgrade, but ran into an issue in the documentation.  The documentation said to load the IOS into disk0: and slavedisk0: and run issu loadversion disk0:IOSFILE, but this did not work for me and I got stuck in a reboot loop for 45 minutes until the rollback timer expired. 

Make sure to copy the IOS files to the sup-bootflash and slavesup-bootflash, and then run issu loadversion sup-bootflash:IOSFILE.  This worked perfectly for me once the files were referenced in the proper locations.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst6500/ios/12.2SX/configuration/guide/vss.html#wp1231282

[Rahul Kachalia]

Hello Dave,

Not sure if there is any problem with compact flash. But certainly it is supported. You may refer to Chapter 4 - Catalyst 6500-E VSS eFSU Software Design and Upgrade Process for complete eFSU software upgrade procedure with prep-list from following url:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Campus/Borderless_Campus_Network_1.0/Borderless_Campus_1.0_Design_Guide.pdf

thanks,

rahul.

[David Varnum]

Thanks Rahul, excellent guide, but for some reason eFSU did not work for me when the IOS was loaded and referenced on the CF (I tried two times).  I'm not sure what caused the problem, but loading the IOS on the sup-bootflash and slavesup-bootflash worked for me.

Thank you for the design guide, lots of helpful information in there.