Upgrading or Downgrading the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Software

About the Software Image

Each device is shipped with the Cisco NX-OS software. The Cisco NX-OS software consists of one NXOS software image. The image filename begins with "nxos". Only this image is required to load the Cisco NX-OS operating system. This image runs on all Cisco Nexus 3600 Series switches.

? Another type of binary file is the software maintenance upgrade (SMU) package file. SMUs contain fixes for specific defects. They are created to respond to immediate issues and do not include new features. SMU package files are available for download from Cisco.com and generally include the ID number of the resolved defect in the filename. For more information on SMUs, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 System Management Configuration Guide.

? Cisco also provides electronic programmable logic device (EPLD) image upgrades to enhance hardware functionality or to resolve known hardware issues. The EPLD image upgrades are independent from the Cisco NX-OS software upgrades.

Cisco NX-OS Software Upgrade Guidelines

? The Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Release Notes contain specific upgrade guidelines for each release. See the Release Notes before starting the upgrade.

The following upgrade paths are supported for upgrading from an earlier release to Cisco NX-OS Release 10.1(1):

• Release 9.2(x) → Release 10.1(1)
• Release 9.3(x) → Release 10.1(1)

To upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1) you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration and reload the device. To upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(2) or later or from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(x), we recommend that you use the install all command.

Before attempting to upgrade to any software image, follow these guidelines:

• Schedule the upgrade when your network is stable and steady.
• Avoid any power interruption, which could corrupt the software image, during the installation procedure.
• On devices with dual supervisor modules, both supervisor modules must have connections on the console ports to maintain connectivity when switchovers occur during a software upgrade. See the Hardware Installation Guide for your specific chassis.
• If you upgrade from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the CoPP feature to a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the CoPP feature with additional classes for new protocols, you must either run the setup utility using the setup command or use the copp profile command for the new CoPP classes to be available. For more information on these commands, see the "Configuring Control Plane Policing" chapter in the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide.
• When you upgrade from an earlier release to a Cisco NX-OS release that supports switch profiles, you have the option to move some of the running-configuration commands to a switch profile. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.
• By default, the software upgrade process is disruptive.

Prerequisites for Upgrading the Cisco NX-OS Software

Upgrading the Cisco NX-OS software has the following prerequisites:

• Ensure that everyone who has access to the device or the network is not configuring the device or the network during this time. You cannot configure a device during an upgrade. Use the show configuration session summary command to verify that you have no active configuration sessions.
• Save, commit, or discard any active configuration sessions before upgrading or downgrading the Cisco NX-OS software image on your device.

Upgrading the Cisco NX-OS Software

Use this procedure to upgrade to a Cisco NX-OS 10.1(x) release.

? To upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1), you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration, and reload the device.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. Read the release notes for the software image file for any exceptions to this upgrade procedure. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Release Notes.
2. Log in to the device on the console port connection.
3. Ensure that the required space is available for the image file to be copied.
4. If you need more space on the supervisor module, delete unnecessary files to make space available.
5. Verify that there is space available on the active and the standby supervisor modules.
6. If you need more space on the supervisor module, delete any unnecessary files to make space available.
7. Log in to Cisco.com, choose the software image file for your device from the following URL, and download it to a file server: http://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html.
8. Copy the software image to the active supervisor module using a transfer protocol. You can use FTP, TFTP, SCP, or SFTP.
9. Display the SHA256 checksum for the file to verify the operating system integrity and ensure that the downloaded image is safe to install and use.
10. Check the impact of upgrading the software before actually performing the upgrade.
11. Save the running configuration to the startup configuration.
12. Upgrade the Cisco NX-OS software using the install all nxos bootflash:filename [no-reload | non-interruptive] command.
13. (Optional) Display the entire upgrade process.
14. (Optional) Log in and verify that the device is running the required software version.

DETAILED STEPS

1. Read the release notes for the software image file for any exceptions to this upgrade procedure. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Release Notes.
2. Log in to the device on the console port connection.
3. Ensure that the required space is available for the image file to be copied.

   switch# dir bootflash:

   ? We recommend that you have the image file for at least one previous release of the Cisco NX-OS software on the device to use if the new image file does not load successfully.

4. If you need more space on the supervisor module, delete unnecessary files to make space available.

   switch# delete bootflash:nxos.9.3.6.bin

5. Verify that there is space available on the active and the standby supervisor modules.
6. If you need more space on the supervisor module, delete any unnecessary files to make space available.
7. Log in to Cisco.com, choose the software image file for your device from the following URL, and download it to a file server: http://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html.
8. Copy the software image to the active supervisor module using a transfer protocol. You can use FTP, TFTP, SCP, or SFTP.

   switch# copy scp://user@scpserver.cisco.com//download/nxos.10.1.1.bin bootflash:nxos.10.1.1.bin

9. Display the SHA256 checksum for the file to verify the operating system integrity and ensure that the downloaded image is safe to install and use.

   switch# show file bootflash://sup-1/nxos.10.1.1.bin sha256sum
   5214d563b7985ddad67d52658af573d6c64e5a9792b35c458f5296f954bc53be

10. Check the impact of upgrading the software before actually performing the upgrade.

    switch# show install all impact nxos bootflash:nxos.10.1.1.bin

11. Save the running configuration to the startup configuration.

    switch# copy running-config startup-config

12. Upgrade the Cisco NX-OS software using the install all nxos bootflash:filename [no-reload | non-interruptive] command.

    switch# install all nxos bootflash:nxos.10.1.1.bin

    The following options are available:
    • no-reload--Exits the software upgrade process before the device is reloaded.
    • non-interruptive--Upgrades the software without any prompts. This option skips all error and sanity checks.

    ? If you enter the install all command without specifying a filename, the command performs a compatibility check, notifies you of the modules that will be upgraded, and confirms that you want to continue with the installation. If you choose to proceed, it installs the NXOS software image that is currently running on the switch and upgrades the BIOS of various modules from the running image if required.

13. (Optional) Display the entire upgrade process.

    switch# show install all status

14. (Optional) Log in and verify that the device is running the required software version.

    switch# show version

15. (Optional) If necessary, install any licenses to ensure that the required features are available on the device. See the Cisco NX-OS Licensing Guide.

Cisco NX-OS Software Downgrade Guidelines

Before attempting to downgrade to an earlier software release, follow these guidelines:

• The following downgrade paths are supported for downgrading from Cisco NX-OS Release 10.1(1) to an earlier release:
  • Release 10.1(1) → Release 9.2(x)
  • Release 10.1(1) → Release 9.3(x)
• To downgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1) you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration and reload the device. To downgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(x) or to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(2) and later, we recommend that you use the install all command.
• On devices with dual supervisor modules, both supervisor modules must have connections on the console ports to maintain connectivity when switchovers occur during a software downgrade. See the Hardware Installation Guide for your specific chassis.
• Cisco NX-OS automatically installs and enables the guest shell by default. However, if the device is reloaded with a Cisco NX-OS image that does not provide guest shell support, the existing guest shell is automatically removed and a %VMAN-2-INVALID_PACKAGE message is issued. As a best practice, remove the guest shell with the guestshell destroy command before downgrading to an earlier Cisco NX-OS image.
• You must delete the switch profile (if configured) when downgrading from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports switch profiles to a release that does not. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

? Software downgrades are disruptive. In-service software downgrades (ISSDs), also known as nondisruptive downgrades, are not supported.

Prerequisites for Downgrading the Cisco NX-OS Software

Downgrading the Cisco NX-OS software has the following prerequisites:

• Before you downgrade from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the Control Plane Policing (CoPP) feature to an earlier Cisco NX-OS release that does not support the CoPP feature, you should verify compatibility using the show incompatibility nxos bootflash:filename command. If an incompatibility exists, disable any features that are incompatible with the downgrade image before downgrading the software.

Downgrading to an Earlier Software Release

Use this procedure to downgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 10.1(x) to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(x) or to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(2) and later.

? To downgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1), you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration, and reload the device.

SUMMARY STEPS

1. Read the release notes for the software image file for any exceptions to this downgrade procedure. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Release Notes.
2. Log in to the device on the console port connection.
3. Verify that the image file for the downgrade is present on the active supervisor module bootflash:.
4. If the software image file is not present, log in to Cisco.com, choose the software image file for your device from the following URL, and download it to a file server: http://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html.
5. Copy the software image to the active supervisor module using a transfer protocol. You can use FTP, TFTP, SCP, or SFTP.
6. Check for any software incompatibilities.
7. Disable any features that are incompatible with the downgrade image.
8. Check for any hardware incompatibilities.
9. Power off any unsupported modules.
10. Save the running configuration to the startup configuration.
11. Downgrade the Cisco NX-OS software.
12. (Optional) Display the entire downgrade process.
13. (Optional) Log in and verify that the device is running the required software version.

DETAILED STEPS

1. Read the release notes for the software image file for any exceptions to this downgrade procedure. See the Cisco Nexus 3600 NX-OS Release Notes.
2. Log in to the device on the console port connection.
3. Verify that the image file for the downgrade is present on the active supervisor module bootflash:.

   switch# dir bootflash:

4. If the software image file is not present, log in to Cisco.com, choose the software image file for your device from the following URL, and download it to a file server: http://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html.
5. Copy the software image to the active supervisor module using a transfer protocol. You can use FTP, TFTP, SCP, or SFTP.

   switch# copy scp://user@scpserver.cisco.com//download/nxos.9.2.3.bin bootflash:nxos.9.2.3.bin

6. Check for any software incompatibilities.

   switch# show incompatibility-all nxos bootflash:nxos.9.2.3.bin
   Checking incompatible configuration(s)
   No incompatible configurations

   The resulting output displays any incompatibilities and remedies.
7. Disable any features that are incompatible with the downgrade image.
8. Check for any hardware incompatibilities.

   switch# show install all impact nxos bootflash:nxos.9.2.3.bin

9. Power off any unsupported modules.

   switch# poweroff module module-number

10. Save the running configuration to the startup configuration.

    switch# copy running-config startup-config

11. Downgrade the Cisco NX-OS software.

    switch# install all nxos bootflash:nxos.9.2.3.bin
    switch# install all nxos nxos.9.2.3.bin.CCO
    Installer will perform compatibility check first. Please wait.
    Installer is forced disruptive
    Verifying image bootflash:/nxos.9.2.3.bin.CCO for boot variable "nxos".
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Verifying image type.
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Preparing "nxos" version info using image bootflash:/nxos.9.2.3.bin.CCO.
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Preparing "bios" version info using image bootflash:/nxos.9.2.3.bin.CCO.
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Performing module support checks.
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS
    
    Notifying services about system upgrade.
    2019 Jun 06 09:59:20 Switch %$ VDC-1 %$ %VSHD-5-VSHD_SYSLOG_CONFIG_I: Configured from vty by admin
    on vsh.bin.30370
    [####################] 100% -- SUCCESS

NX-OS Upgrade History

During the life of a Cisco Nexus 3600 switch, many upgrade procedures can be performed. Upgrades can occur for maintenance purposes or to update the operating system to obtain new features. Over time, switches may be updated on numerous occasions. Viewing the types of upgrades and when they occurred can help in troubleshooting issues or simply understanding the history of the switch.

Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(5), Cisco Nexus 3600 switches log all upgrade activity performed over time providing a comprehensive history of these events. The stored upgrade history types are:

• Cisco NX-OS System Upgrades
• Electronic Programmable Logic Device (EPLD) Upgrades
• Software Maintenance Upgrade (SMU) Installations

View the Cisco NX-OS upgrade history by entering the show upgrade history command. The output displays any upgrade activity that previously occurred on the switch and defines the start and end times for each event. The following is an example output of the show upgrade history command: