Lessons · Network switches · upgrading the software
An upgrade, in the order the steps depend on each other
Check the space, copy the image, name it in a boot system line, save, then reload. Five steps, and the order is not a preference.
Hone is a place to practise programming. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Software upgrades are the job that goes wrong at 6am with the plant waiting. Every failure mode is one of these steps out of order or missing.
How to think about it
Do the four safe steps first and leave the reload until you are sure. And before you start: console access, and the old image still on the disk, so a failed boot is one line rather than a site visit.
Worked example
enableThe # prompt.
dir flash:One. What is there, and how much room is left. The image is about 11 MB, so read the free figure.
copy tftp://192.168.7.4/c2960-lanbasek9-mz.152-2.E9.bin flash:Two. The new image, onto the disk, beside the old one.
dir flash:Both are there. The old one stays: it is the way back.
configure terminalThree.
boot system flash:c2960-lanbasek9-mz.152-2.E9.binThe box now knows which to load.
endOut.
write memoryFour. Without this, the reload reads a startup configuration that has never heard of the new image.
show versionStill running the old one, and it will be until it restarts. That is the reload, and it is the only step that interrupts anything.
Your turn
Save, so the boot line survives the restart.
write
Console into a switch
The trap
Deleting the old image to make room and then discovering the new one does not boot. Delete it after the new version has come up and been checked, not before.