Cisco switch upgrade problem

[Dooling37]

Hi all,

I am attempting to upgrade a Cisco 2912 XL switch that I bought off eBay from IOS 12.0(5)WC16 to 12.0(5)WC17, using the upgrade file c2900xl-c3h2s-tar.120-5.WC17.tar.

I am currently using Cisco Network Assistant. When I click 'upgrade', it returns with the message 'Software upgrade failed' -- no additional description. I quickly realized, after checking the flash memory size ('dir flash:') that there was not enough space on the switch for the upgrade file:
36123672 bytes total (1260544 bytes free)
file c2900xl-c3h2s-tar.120-5.WC17.tar = 2,878 KB

Presumably this is the problem that is causing the upgrade to fail.
The problem is, even if I delete everything from flash memory except for the current running image:
(1811940 Mar 01 1993 10:32:26 c2900xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin)
I will not have enough room to upload the new .tar file via CNA (1811940B + 2878000B = 4689940B)

Does this mean I'll need to upload only the .bin image file that is included in the tar, via TFTP?:
c2900xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC17.bin 1,770 KB
(1811940B + 1770000B = 3581940B, just barely fitting)


Note that Cisco docs state:
"If you do not have enough space on the flash for the tar file, delete any old unused IOS images. If that does not free up enough flash space, delete the HTML files.
Caution Do not delete the image that you are currently running on the switch. If the switch fails while downloading the new image, you will need to use this. "


Any help appreciated..

 

[mcmilljb]

Yes, you only need the bin file.

From their website:

A compacted file from which you can extract files by using the tar command. There are two types of .tar files:

A combined .tar file that contains both the Cisco IOS image file and the HTML files.

An HTML .tar file that has the letters HTML in its name and contains just the HTML files (used for the web interface), for the Cisco IOS Software Release. From the CLI, you can upgrade the switch software with this HTML file and the Cisco IOS image file.

A link to the page on upgrading your model.

 

[imagoon]

In CNA, you will have the option to browse the flash filesystem. There will be a directory with the name of the IOS in the root. go inside and delete the html files. They are large and can be deleted prior to the install process.

Then have CNA load the tar in to the switch for you. It will leave both IOS images on the switch but will boot to the new one. Reboot the switch and make sure everything is ok, then delete the old image.

Avoid doing the .bin file only way as it will make installing the HTML again a pain.

 

[spidey07]

IIRC, there is something special about 2900 xl switches. There were two versions, an 8 meg and a 4 meg one. The 4 meg was very limited in what software you can run.

Apart from that it sounds like you'll need to format flash and then you can use the archive command to download a full image along with the html files and directories. This is what the .tar file is for.

-edit-
here's the release notes with instructions on how and if you can upgrade with that hardware.
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/doc...0_5_wc17/ol256213.html

 

[Dooling37]

Thanks much for the responses. It sounds like I actually have two options:
- upload only the .bin file, and switch over, or
- delete the currently-running image, upload the new .tar, and switch over. I guess as long as I don't reboot the switch in between the delete and completed load of the new image, it's Ok:
"If the size of the file to be loaded is larger than the available capacity, delete the image that exists in
Flash in order to make space for a new image:
...
Note: Once the image in Flash is deleted, do not reboot the switch for any reason until the
new image is loaded. If you attempt to reload the switch now, it fails to boot up since there is
no image in Flash."


Thanks again for the responses, and links to additional documents...

 

[Dooling37]

Thank you all again for your help -- the upgrade succeeded. I uploaded the entire .tar via TFTP after deleting the current running image. The documentation helped greatly.


cheers,
Bob

 

[tomt4535]

That method works fine, but for whatever reason if the switch takes a dump or the new image is corrupted or whatever, the switch wont come back up. It works, but its just a little more scary than putting both images on it.

 

[jlazzaro]

Originally posted by: tomt4535
That method works fine, but for whatever reason if the switch takes a dump or the new image is corrupted or whatever, the switch wont come back up. It works, but its just a little more scary than putting both images on it.

thats what ROMMON is for

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: jlazzaro

Originally posted by: tomt4535
That method works fine, but for whatever reason if the switch takes a dump or the new image is corrupted or whatever, the switch wont come back up. It works, but its just a little more scary than putting both images on it.

thats what ROMMON is for

Exactly.

The software change process is very straight forward. Follow the documentation, for that platform, read it, don't make assumptions, and you'll have no problems.

If you get punted to ROMMON you're doing it wrong and even then you can point it to a place to load an image.

 

[Young Grasshopper]

any reason why you bought such an old switch? if you're going for a ccna the minumum you would need are 2950's

 

[drebo]

Originally posted by: Young Grasshopper
any reason why you bought such an old switch? if you're going for a ccna the minumum you would need are 2950's

That's not true. Anything you do in the CCNA can be done on a 2900xl switch. Hell, you can pass the CCNA without ever having touched a Cisco router.

 

[mcmilljb]

Originally posted by: Young Grasshopper
any reason why you bought such an old switch? if you're going for a ccna the minumum you would need are 2950's

The 2900XL's are dirt cheap, and he wanted to do something that uses SPAN. It was a simple choice for what he wanted to do. If it breaks, he can just throw it away without losing much money.

 

[Dooling37]

Originally posted by: mcmilljb

Originally posted by: Young Grasshopper
any reason why you bought such an old switch? if you're going for a ccna the minumum you would need are 2950's

The 2900XL's are dirt cheap, and he wanted to do something that uses SPAN. It was a simple choice for what he wanted to do. If it breaks, he can just throw it away without losing much money.

Heh, good memory mcmilljb. This is exactly why I bought it -- my home network project (involving IDS off SPAN port) is moving along very, very slowly, but so far so good..