What is the best way to upgrade IOS software on 6509-E with 2 x Sup engine 720 ?

[harryraju]

Hi

I need to upgrade the IOS software on a Cisco 6509-E which has 2 Supervisor Engine 720 installed. What would be the best way to do this? Do i need to do one sup at a time or is there a way that both can be done as once ? i have found this doc 

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_configuration_example09186a0080116ff0.shtml#concept2

but this does not give the procedure for 2 supervisors.

Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

Copy the IOS from the TFTP server to the primary supervisor card.

Copy the IOS from the TFTP server (or the primary supervisor card) to the secondary card.

Change the boot statement to point to the new IOS with the old IOS as the secondary image (in case the primary IOS fails).

Boot the chassis.

[Joseph W. Doherty · Accepted solution]

Disclaimer

The   Author of this posting offers the information contained within this   posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that   there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose.   Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not   be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of  this  posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

Liability Disclaimer

In   no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including,   without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising  out  of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if  Author  has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Posting

In extension to what Leo has already described.

On 6500s with sup720s, you have other ways to get the new image to the sup, such as using FTP or inserting a CF.  Also, once you get an IOS image onto the system, you can also directly copy it from one sup720 to the other.

Older sup720s standard on-card flash might be too small for a current image.  For those, you'll need to use an external CF or upgrade the on-card flash.

When you update the boot statement, sequence is important, so to do what Leo suggests, you generally need to 1st remove the existing boot statement(s), add your new boot statement and then re-add the prior boot statement(s) (for backup).  (NB: this also assumes you have sufficient flash space to hold both old and new IOS images.)

Also when you update the boot statement, do insure the config had sync'ed to the backup sup before doing any reloads.

Lastly, besides booting the whole chassis, you can fail over from one sup to another.  This somewhat decreases the overall downtime as one sup can load the different IOS while the other continues to forward traffic.

[harryraju]

Thanks Joseph & Leo. I should have waited for your post before giving it a try myself . Now i have 1 sup unable to load the new image and stuck in Rommon mode. What i did was , i copied the new image to the sup (sup-bootdisk) , deleted the old one (backed it up to TFTP server first) and rebooted. And now this sup is stuck in rommon mode. I think it might be because i did not change the boot statement but this is what my boot statement says :

boot-start-marker

boot system flash sup-bootdisk:

boot-end-marker

And the bootvar is :

6500#sh bootvar

BOOT variable = sup-bootdisk:,1;

CONFIG_FILE variable does not exist

BOOTLDR variable does not exist

Configuration register is 0x2102

Standby not ready to show bootvar

i thought since the Boot variable is set to sup-bootdisk and not a image, it will use the only image available on sup-bootdisk.

I now want to copy the old image back onto the sup thats stuck in Rommom and get it to boot successfully before starting over. Is it possible for me to copy the old image from the sup that is up directly on to the sup that is currently on Rommom mode ? Is this is possible , how to do this? If not, what other way can i used to boot up the sup successfully ?

[Joseph W. Doherty · Accepted solution]

Disclaimer

The Author of this posting offers the information contained within this posting without consideration and with the reader's understanding that there's no implied or expressed suitability or fitness for any purpose. Information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as rendering professional advice of any kind. Usage of this posting's information is solely at reader's own risk.

Liability Disclaimer

In no event shall Author be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, damages for loss of use, data or profit) arising out of the use or inability to use the posting's information even if Author has been advised of the possibility of such damage.

Posting

If you have suitable CF, perhaps the easiest solution would be to load it with your existing IOS image insert it in disk0: or disk1: and then issue the ROMMON command to boot from it.  (You might also tell ROMMON to boot the image already on bootdisk:.

[harryraju]

Thanks Joseph. Manage to get the sup up with a use of a CF card.

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Glad to read that.  Thanks for letting us know it helped.