boot from slot0: in native mode?

[triplecap]

i'm currently stuck right now... i have a 6506 with a sup1a-2ge running in hybrid mode. i need to run one of the cryptographic ios images with ssh/3des, but the 16mb i have for bootflash on the router isn't enough for both the image and bootldr. if i were to migrate to native mode, does that buy me the ability to boot off of my pcmcia slot? if not, any other suggestions (other than disable telnet & access the router via sess 15!!!)?

another question on image files if you can help...

are the c6msfc-xxxxxxxx images for the ios running in hybrid mode and the c6sup11-xxxxxx images for running in native on a sup1/msfc1? i'm a little confused...

thanks in advance, eric

[aashish.c]

Hi,

As per your cincenr, there is no need to convert Hybrid to native just to get the ability to boot your sup from slot0:. That you can do from Hybrid mode also.

as far as bootflash upgrade on MSFC2 is concerned , you can do that. You can upgrade it from 16 to 32mb, here is how you can do this :

http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/lan/cat6000/cfgnotes/78_14703.htm

Still if you want to boot from from slot0:, here is theprocedure to do that, this doc will also provide you overview on naming conventions of Cisco IOS and CatOS of 6500 :

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/473/81.html

Regards

Aashish C

[triplecap]

Aashish,

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the IOS in hybrid mode can't use slot0: other than to copy images from it (at least with a Sup1A-2GE / msfc (not msfc2)) - you can't actually boot from it. I would consider upgrading the bootflash, but as far I can tell Cisco doesn't have an upgrade kit for the Sup1A-2GE, only for the msfc2 model which takes a different kind of memory.

The 2nd link you gave me refers to utilizing slot0: from a native mode ios image (not from a c6msfc image), which is a promising solution, just not one I can accomplish this week.

Thanks,

Eric

[glen.grant]

Is this a restriction on the Sup1? I know we do it on on msfc2's. Just modify the boot statement to boot system flash sup-slot0:imagename . Cisco did have some problems with the code to get this to work right so i would investigate the bugs on bugtracker just in case you run into this but we run the bootloader on msfc bootflash and the image in slot0: .

[Prashanth Krishnappa]

There is no memory upgrade options for MSFC1. You have 2 options

1)You can boot off slot0: even with hybrid OS. When running hybrid, the MSFC cannot read the contents of the slot0: but still can boot from it. For this to work you need to have a boot loader image in the MSFC bootflash. Point your bootvariable to slot0:

"boot system flash sup-slot0:c6msfc-xxxxxxxx.bin"

2)The newer IOS(12.1(19)E) and later do not need a boot ldr image. So if you have enough space for the normal IOS file, you can just copy it to the MSFC bootflash and you will be fine.

Personally, I would go with option 2.

For your other question, yes you are correct. c6msfc-xxxxxxxx images are hybrid MSFC images and the c6sup11-xxxxxx images are native IOS images.