Nexus 9000 upgrade

[opnineopnine]

Hi all,

I need to upgrade some Nexus 9000 to a different  firmware, is there any procedure for this task?

Thanks. 

[Steve Fuller]

Hi,

Can you be a little more specific about the environment and what you're trying to do?

Are the Nexus 9000 switches running native NX-OS or are they running in ACI mode? Are you looking for how to upgrade i.e., the process to copy the new image to the switch, change the boot parameters etc., or something else?

Regards

[opnineopnine]

Hello Steve,

Yes the 9000 has its native nx-os and I need to upgrade it to the version 6.12.x.

What Im looking it to know how I have to do the upgrade.

thanks. 

[Steve Fuller]

Hi,

Essentially the process is to copy the image to the switch using SCP, HTTP etc., and then install that image for use and reload.

Use the command dir bootflash: to verify you have sufficient space on the switch for the new image. If it’s a Nexus 9500 switch with dual supervisor then you should also check the space on the second supervisor using the command dir bootflash://sup-standby/.

Assuming there’s sufficient space then simply copy the image to your switch using the command such as copy scp://user@server//<path>/<image_name> bootflash:. You can also use HTTP, FTP, TFTP if that's what you have available.

Once the new image is copied to the switch, then simply run the install all nxos bootflash:<image_name> command. This will verify the image is OK, check compatibility, whether there are BIOS upgrades required, change boot parameters etc.

At this stage the switch will present a summary of what will be changed, and then offer the option to continue or abort the installation.

You can find full details in the Upgrading or Downgrading the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Software guide.

Regards

[opnineopnine]

Steve,

I have one more question in the 7706 I have (NX-OS System Software & NX-OS Kick Start)

How should I do the upgrade ?

Thanks. 

[Steve Fuller · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Essentially it’s the same process across the Nexus range. The difference you’ll find with the Nexus 7000 series is that there are two images: the kickstart image and the system image.

For this platform you obviously need to copy both images to the router and then run the command install all kickstart bootflash:<kickstart_image_name> system bootflash:<system_image_name>.

The other area that may be different is if you have dual Supervisor. In this case you can elect to perform an In-Service Software Upgrade (ISSU). The one caveat for ISSU is that only certain combinations of starting and ending NX-OS version are supported. For example if you wanted to upgrade to 6.2(14) you would have to be already running either 6.2(12),6.2(10),6.2(8a) or 6.2(8b). If you were running a release earlier than those listed you would need to perform multiple ISSU. The supported combinations are documented in the specific release note e.g., Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS Release Notes, Release 6.2 Upgrade/Downgrade Paths and Caveats. You don't mention the NX-OS release, but you can find the same information from the appropriate release note starting at the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches Release Notes page on CCO.

If you do not want to perform an ISSU then you can simply run the aforementioned install process and reload the router as part of that process.

Regards

[opnineopnine]

Steve,

Yes in this device I have 2 Sup, and I was going to do the update one at the time,

What I was not sure was, what I had to install first the kick-start or the system, but now its clear.

thanks.!!!