Cisco Catalyst 9000 Switch Upgrade [Install Mode]

The following steps are valid for these Catalyst switch models According to Cisco documentation.

Cisco Catalyst 9000 Switches Upgrade [Step by step]

Contents

Step 1: Download the Catalyst 9K IOS-XE image from Cisco Site.
Step 2: Verify the current system version
Step 3: Copy the new .bin file onto the switch
Step 4: Set the boot variable:
Step 5: Install the new image and activate it:
1- Add the new version to the list of versions:
2- Install Activate
3- Install Commit:
Step 6: Verify version after reload:
Step 7: The Cleanup

Step 1: Download the Catalyst 9K IOS-XE image from Cisco Site.

Step 2: Verify the current system version

Switch#show install summary
[ R0 R1 ] Installed Package(s) Information:
State (St): I - Inactive, U - Activated & Uncommitted,
            C - Activated & Committed, D - Deactivated & Uncommitted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type  St   Filename/Version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMG   C    16.11.1.0.312

Step 3: Copy the new .bin file onto the switch

You can Copy the new .bin file onto the switch using TFTP or USB.

Switch#copy usbflash0:/cat9k_iosxe.16.12.01.SPA.bin flash:/

Step 4: Set the boot variable:

conf t
no boot sys
boot sys bootflash:packages.conf
end
wr

Step 5: Install the new image and activate it:

The installation can be done in one line:

install add file bootflash:cat9k_iosxe.16.12.01.SPA.bin activate commit

but, you can break this step into 3 steps:

Add the new version to the list of versions
Install Activate
Install commit

1- Add the new version to the list of versions:

install add file bootflash:cat9k_iosxe.16.12.01.SPA.bin

Verify:

Switch#show install summary
[ R0 R1 ] Installed Package(s) Information:
State (St): I - Inactive, U - Activated & Uncommitted,
            C - Activated & Committed, D - Deactivated & Uncommitted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type  St   Filename/Version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMG   I    16.12.1.0.544 <-- Installed but still Inactive (I)
IMG   C    16.11.1.0.312

Switch#dir | inc .pkg
"" snip ""
456963 -rw- 14222344 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-cc_srdriver.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
456964 -rw- 88892420 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-espbase.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473282 -rw- 1684484 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-guestshell.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473283 -rw- 535475200 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-rpbase.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473289 -rw- 43111714 Sep 13 2019 17:06:00 +00:00 cat9k-rpboot.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473284 -rw- 31425540 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-sipbase.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473285 -rw- 60183552 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-sipspa.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473286 -rw- 22676484 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-srdriver.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473287 -rw- 12854272 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-webui.16.12.01.SPA.pkg
473288 -rw- 9216 Sep 13 2019 17:05:35 +00:00 cat9k-wlc.16.12.01.SPA.pkg

2- Install Activate

The next step is to activate the new version. This means reloading the sup will load the new version. This edits the .conf file to point to the new .pkg files

install activate
This operation may require a reload of the system. Do you want to proceed? [y/n]
y

Switch#show install sum
[ R0 R1 ] Installed Package(s) Information:
State (St): I - Inactive, U - Activated & Uncommitted,
            C - Activated & Committed, D - Deactivated & Uncommitted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type  St   Filename/Version
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMG   U    16.12.1.0.544

At this step, the new version is activated but not committed, it means that the rollback timer is still on, and can go back to the initial version from this stage.

If an upgrade takes too long, the switch assumes something went wrong and it goes ahead and aborts the upgrade. The default timer is 120 minutes, but you can stop the timer manually if you need to.

install auto-abort-timer stop

You can set the rollback timer when you do the activate step

Switch#install activate auto-abort-timer ?
  <30-1200>  Number of minutes the abort-timer is set for

Check for available rollbacks:

Switch#show install rollback
ID      Label          Description
-----------------------------------------------
2   	No Label        No Description
1   	16_11_01        No Description

If you now want to perform the rollback, you just need to run the rollback command:

install rollback to id 1

3- Install Commit:

To stop the rollback timer and finish the upgrade process, add “install commit” command:

install commit

You can check what package files the .conf file is pointed to before you do a reload to ensure it is pointed to the right ones.

Switch#more packages.conf
#! /usr/binos/bin/packages_conf.sh
<...snip...>
# This is for CAT9k
boot  rp 0 0   rp_boot         cat9k-rpboot.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_base         cat9k-rpbase.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_daemons      cat9k-rpbase.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_iosd         cat9k-rpbase.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_security     cat9k-rpbase.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_wlc          cat9k-wlc.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   rp_webui        cat9k-webui.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   srdriver        cat9k-srdriver.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
iso   rp 0 0   guestshell      cat9k-guestshell.16.11.01.SPA.pkg
<...snip...>

Step 6: Verify version after reload:

Switch#show version

Step 7: The Cleanup

Verify the new package:

Switch#dir flash:*.pkg

Once you are done with an upgrade, you have the option to clean up all the files you do not need by removal of all inactive files. It looks at the current loaded .pkg files and removes everything else.