EtherSwitch upgrade rules for 15.x

[wgillick69]

I'm putting together a homelab for self-study (after taking the CCNA and CCNP Academy courses locally).

However, I wish to use the 3750-compatible EtherSwitches for my L3 switches, to save on space and costs.

However, I haven't found a definitive explanation about which ES can be upgraded to the maximum 15.x level of IOS (IP Services, AdvEnt).

Q1: What is the limitation for upgrading (FLASH, DRAM, or hardware)

Q2: What limitations do the ES series have that the full chassis 3750 switches do not?

Q3: Is this switch not upgradeable to IOS 15.x? ( 3750-24TS-E ).

I have some of the following items (and plan to get more)

C3750-24TS-E

C3750-24PS-E

NME-16ES-1G-P

NME-XD-24ES-1S-P (not yet)

Thanks for helping out.

__

[Leo Laohoo]

If you want to upgrade to 15.X, switches need to have 32mb flash.

[wgillick69]

Yes, thank you, Leo.

The Feature Navigator does show that the Catalyst 3750 class switch requires 32MB for IOS 15.x.

However, I would like to determine which of the 3750 devices actually has 32MB.

My purpose is for self-teaching from CCNP to CCIE using L3 switches with the -EMI (IP Services) releases. But to save space and costs, I'm attempting to co-locate my L3 switches and routers in the same 2800 Series box.

I'm interested in both a full-chassis -EMI and the EtherSwitch POE variants for my L3 switch lab needs:

3750-24TS-E

NME-16ES-1G-P

NME-X-23ES-1G-P

NME-XD-24ES-1S-P

Q: But from the Part Number alone, are the EtherSwitches 16MB or 32MB ?

The following link implies that EtherSwitch modules *can* have greater than 16MB, but it is not specified how much.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3750/software/release/12.2_53_se/release/notes/OL21141.html#wp841480

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Table 4:

c3750-ipservicesk9-tar.122-53.SE1.tar

Catalyst 3750 IP services cryptographic image and  device manager files. This image has the Kerberos, SSH, Layer 2+, and  full Layer 3 features. This image also runs on the Cisco EtherSwitch  service modules.

-------------

c3750-ipserviceslmk9-tar.122-53.SE1.tar

Catalyst 3750 IP services image (cryptographic  image) with device manager Express Setup files only. This image is  intended for switches that have a 16M flash size.

--------------------------------------------------------

If this seems confusing (or trivial), I would certainly welcome getting straightened out.

Thanks in advance.

__Will in San Jose

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

However, I would like to determine which of the 3750 devices actually has 32MB.

The command is "dir".  Look at the last line for "bytes total".  If you have "32514048" bytes total then it means you have 32 mb flash.

[wgillick69]

Thanks, Leo.

I do not have the NME-XD-24ES-1S-P module yet, so I have no way to run a 'dir flash' on it.

But I do have a NME-16ES-1G-P V01 module that is non-working. I started to take it apart to find the memory chips, but so far I have only found the DDR memory:

" SAMSUNG   K4H511638C-UCB3 "

So, this only shows that it has 128K DRAM.

I hope that I can determine that the StackWise-based NME-XD-24ES-1S-P 24 EtherSwitch module can handle a 15.x IP Services image, then I can use it in a Stack with my 3750-24TS-E (EMI-based) standalone switch.

Now my curious is at a maximum: why is are these EtherSwitch modules not fully documented? Why isn't the RAM and Flash numbers clearly stated in the documentation?

Or am I just not looking in the right places?

Thanks,

__Will in San Jose

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Read this:  Release Notes for the Catalyst 3750, 3560, 3560-C, 2960, 2960-S, 2960-C, and 2960-Plus Switches, Cisco IOS Release 15.0(2)SE and Later

Determine if your part numbers are in this list.  If they are, then they can load 12.2 or 15.X IOS version.

[wgillick69]

Oh, thank you very much, Leo!

If I am reading the document correctly, it looks like the correct (EMI-level) image:

c3750-ipservicesk9-tar.150-2.SE.tar

will run on the following: EtherSwitch modules:

NME-16ES-1G-P

NME-X-23ES-1G-P

NME-XD-24ES-1S-P

Although, it's very curious that the EtherSwitch continues to support 15.x, but the standalone switch cannot: WS-C3750-24TS

Thanks!

__Will

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Although, it's very curious that the EtherSwitch continues to support 15.x, but the standalone switch cannot: WS-C3750-24TS

It's because the EtherSwitch module came out the same time as the 32mb flash variant of the 3560G/E and 3750G/E.

[wgillick69]

Hi Leo,

Thanks! That logic was the one piece of the puzzle that was missing.

I wanted to followup quickly because your information was very logical and quite helpful...

From the dir command, the response:

"32514048 bytes total"

indicates the EtherSwitch I have *does* have 32MB of on-board flash. Cool.

3750-24TS-E        = 16MB flash, 128MB DRAM

NME-16ES-1G-P  = 32MB flash, 128MB DRAM

I have 2 more EtherSwitch modules coming in to check, but it looks very promising:

NME-X-23ES-1G-P

NME-XD-24ES-1S-P (StackWise 3750-24PS-E architecture)

------------------------------------------

My next task is in CCNA- CCNP-Security where I wish to get an IPS-4260 working. It came donated to me in a non-working state, with a message about "missing OS". So I'm taking it on as a project to get it up and running.

But I'll move this to another thread...

Thanks again!

__Will in San Jose

[Leo Laohoo]

Thanks for taking the time to rate our posts, Will.

By the way, you are lucky.  Those NME modules still worth a lot of cash in e-bay if you can get them working.