ROMMON Release Notes for the WS-X45-SUP7-E, WS-X45-SUP7L-E, and WS-C4500X Family of Switches

ROMMON Release Notes for the WS-X45-SUP7-E, WS-X45-SUP7L-E, and WS-C4500X Family of Switches

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Current Release: 15.0(1r)SG16—March 14, 2019

Prior Releases: 15.0(1r)SG15, 15.0(1r)SG14, 15.0(1r)SG13, 15.0(1r)SG11, 15.0(1r)SG10, 15.0(1r)SG7, 15.0(1r)SG6, 15.0(1r)SG5, 15.0(1r)SG2

This publication describes how to download the new ROMMON image from Cisco.com and then upgrade the ROMMON on the WS-X45-SUP7-E, WS-X45-Sup7L-E, WS-C4500X-32 and WS-C4500X-16 switches.

This document consists of these sections:

• ROMMON Image Overview
• Caveats
• Guidelines for Upgrading the ROMMON
• Upgrading the Supervisor Engine ROMMON from the Console
• Upgrading the Supervisor Engine ROMMON with Telnet
• Network Booting from ROMMON
• Related Documentation

ROMMON Image Overview

The ROMMON image discussed here consists of new ROMMON software and FPGA images, which are only accepted on WS-C4500X-32, WS-C4500X-16, WS-X45-SUP7-E, and WS-X45-SUP7L-E. Both images are installed by following the “Upgrading the Supervisor Engine ROMMON from the Console” section.

• WS-X45-SUP7-E/WS-X45-SUP7L-E
• WS-C4500X-32, WS-C4500X-16

Caveats

The following caveat is fixed in ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG16:

• In a Cisco Catalyst 4500 redundant chassis with dual supervisor (WS-X45-SUP7-E), during hardware failure on standby supervisor, active supervisor continues to function in redundant mode assuming that the standby supervisor is up and running Cisco IOS software.

Workaround: None. CSCvo20428

The following caveat is fixed in ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG15:

• The ROMMON upgrade process has been improved by

– Providing log messages that indicate failures in write processes, during an upgrade.

– Increasing the number of times the system retries ( in case of a failure), to three retries.

CSCvd49800.

The following caveats are open for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG13:

• PXE file download does not display accurate logs for ova download.

Workaround: None. CSCva41858

The following caveat is open for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG11 and ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG14:

• A ROMMON software upgrade from version 15.0(1r)SG10 to version15.0(1r)SG11 or to version 15.0(1r)SG14 on a C4500X switch causes the devices to hang.

Workaround: Power off and then power on the devices. CSCut66603

The following caveat is fixed for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG11:

• Some WS-C4500X switches are unable to access the bootflash when the C4KX-NM-8SFP+ module is removed, and fail to boot after a power cycle.

Workaround: Avoid performing a power cycle after removing the C4KX-NM-8SFP+ module. If required, perform a reset instead. CSCup65575

The following caveat is fixed for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG10.

• If a switch uses a config-register ending in 0x2, it may drop into ROMMON if the bootup is interrupted by a powercycle.

Workaround: Use config-register 0x2101. CSCue19458

The following caveats are open for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG7.

• The date command incorrect in ROMMON for Sup7-LE and WS-C4500X-32 platforms.
• On Supervisor Engine 7L-E and WS-C4500X-32 with ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG6, ROMMON cannot reliably acquire date and time information from the onboard Real Time Clock.

Workaround: None CSCtx44255

• If a switch uses a config-register ending in 0x2, it may drop into ROMMON if the bootup is interrupted by a powercycle.

Workaround: Use config-register 0x2101. CSCue19458

The following caveats are fixed for ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG7:

• With ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG7, ROMMON supports VSS.

Workaround: None. CSCuc07522

• If you upgrade ROMMON with the boot statement command, the ROMMON upgrade occurs three times before IOS boots.

Workaround: None. CSCtx60355

• With no service password-recovery configured, you can still interrupt the boot process with CTRL-C without erasing the configuration.

Workaround: None. CSCtu40819

The following caveats are open for ROMMON version 15.0(1r)SG6:

• The date command incorrect in Rommon for Sup7-LE and WS-C4500X-32 platforms
• On Supervisor Engine 7l-E and WS-C4500X-32 with ROMMON version 15.0(1r)SG6, ROMMON cannot reliably acquire date and time information from the onboard Real Time Clock.

Workaround: None CSCtx44255

The following caveat is fixed for ROMMON version 15.0(1r)SG5:

• The no service password recovery command was implemented.

Workaround: None. CSCtq20729

The following caveats are fixed for ROMMON version 15.0(1r)SG2:

• In a redundant switch configuration with the active supervisor engine running IOS, after the ROMMON upgrade utility completes on the standby supervisor engine, the uplinks on the active supervisor engine drop link and do not recover

Workaround: Upgrade the ROMMON version on both supervisor engines simultaneously, to ensure that the uplinks are down when during the upgrade. CSCtj54375

• No persistent record exists for kernel panics (like kernel software caveats, Layer 2 hardware glitches, and DDR parity errors), making it impossible to debug when they occur.

Workaround: Connect system console to a device that saves the output. CSCtj80874

• If a WS-X45-SUP7-E supervisor engine is inserted in a 4507R+E or 4510R+E chassis, ROMMON incorrectly reports the chassis as 4507R-E or 4510R-E:

Workaround: None. CSCtl74638

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Note This release also supports up to 4 Gigabytes of memory and a maximum length of the ROMMON command line from 128 to 256 bytes.

Guidelines for Upgrading the ROMMON

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Upgrading the Supervisor Engine ROMMON from the Console

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Note The examples in this section use the programmable read-only memory (PROM) upgrade IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG2 and Cisco IOS Release 15.0(2)SG. For other releases, replace the ROMMON release and Cisco IOS software release with the appropriate releases and filenames. This document describes the procedure for a single supervisor system. You must perform the process on each supervisor in a dual supervisor system.

Follow this procedure to upgrade your supervisor engine ROMMON:

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Step 1 Directly connect a serial cable to the console port of the supervisor engine.

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Note This section assumes that the console baud rate is set to 9600 (default). If you want to use a different baud rate, change the configuration register value for your switch.

Step 2 Download the cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 program from Cisco.com, and place it on a TFTP server in a directory that is accessible from the switch that is upgraded.

The cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 program is available on Cisco.com at the same location from which Catalyst 4500 system images are downloaded.

Step 3 Use the dir bootflash: command to ensure that sufficient space exists in Flash memory to store the PROM upgrade image. If you are using an SD card, replace bootflash: with slot0:

Step 4 Download the cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 program into Flash memory using the copy tftp command.

The following example shows how to download the PROM upgrade image cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 from the remote host 172.20.58.78 to bootflash:

Step 5 On a dual-supervisor system, copy the same ROMMON image to the standby supervisor engine with the copy bootflash: cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 slavebootflash command.

Step 6 Enter the reload command to reset the switch, press Ctrl-C to stop the boot process, then re-enter ROMMON mode.

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Note On a redundant system, this action causes a switchover.

The following example shows the output after a reset into ROMMON:

Step 7 Run the PROM upgrade program by entering this command:
boot cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2

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The following example shows the output from a successful upgrade, followed by a system reset:

Step 8 Boot the Cisco IOS software image. This may happen automatically if the system is configured to auto-boot.

Step 9 On a redundant system, hook up a console to the now-active supervisor engine. After the system achieves an SSO state, repeat steps 6-8.

Step 10 Use the show module command to verify that you have upgraded the ROMMON:

Step 11 Use the delete command on the active supervisor to delete the PROM upgrade program from bootflash.

The following example shows how to delete cat4500-e-promupgrade-150_1r_SG2 image from bootflash:

Step 12 On a redundant system, also delete the upgrade file from the standby supervisor engine.

 

The ROMMON has now been upgraded.

Upgrading the Supervisor Engine ROMMON with Telnet

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Follow this procedure to upgrade your supervisor engine ROMMON to Release 15.0(1r)SG2. This procedure can be used when console access is not available and when the ROMMON upgrade must be performed remotely.

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Note In the following section, use the PROM upgrade version bootflash:cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2.

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Step 1 Establish a Telnet session to the supervisor engine.

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Note In the following discussion, we assume that at least one IP address has been assigned to either an SVI or a routed port.

Step 2 Download the bootflash:cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2 program from Cisco.com, and place it on a TFTP server in a directory that is accessible from the switch to be upgraded.

The bootflash:cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2 programs are available on Cisco.com at the same location from which you download Catalyst 4500 system images.

Step 3 Use the dir bootflash: command to ensure that there is sufficient space in Flash memory to store the PROM upgrade image. If there is insufficient space, delete one or more images.

If you are using an SD card, replace bootflash: with slot0:.

Step 4 Download the bootflash:cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2 program into Flash memory using the copy tftp command.

The following example shows how to download the PROM upgrade image bootflash:cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2 from the remote host 172.20.58.78 to bootflash:

Step 5 Use the no boot system flash bootflash: file_name command to clear all BOOT variable commands in the configuration file. In this example, the BOOT variable was set to boot the image cat4500e-universal.SPA.03.02.00.SG.150-2.SG.bin from bootflash:

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Note For a successful ROMMON upgrade, the config-register must be set to enable reading the boot system commands (i.e. the last digit of the configuration register is set to 2; for example, 0x0102.)

Step 6 Use the show bootvar command to verify the boot string. The BOOT variable in this example will first run the PROM upgrade to upgrade ROMMON. Then, the upgrade software will reload and the supervisor engine will load the Cisco IOS software image.

Step 7 Run the PROM upgrade program by issuing the reload command. Issuing this command will terminate your Telnet session.

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The following example shows the console port output from a successful ROMMON upgrade followed by a system reset. Your Telnet session is disconnected during the ROMMON upgrade, so you will not see this output. This step could take 2-3 minutes to complete. You will need to reconnect your Telnet session after 2-3 minutes when the Cisco IOS-XE software image and the interfaces are loaded.

Step 8 Use the no boot system flash bootflash: file_name command to clear the BOOT command used to upgrade the ROMMON.

Step 9 Use the show version command to verify that the ROMMON has been upgraded.

Step 10 Use the delete command to delete the PROM upgrade program from bootflash.

The following example shows how to delete the cat4500-e-ios-promupgrade-150-1r-SG2 image from bootflash and reclaim unused space:

Step 11 Use the show bootvar command to verify that the ROMMON upgrade program has been removed from the BOOT variable.

 

The ROMMON has now been upgraded.

Network Booting from ROMMON

Starting with ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG13, you can use the PXE boot feature to specify a remote TFTP server to download the software image and other files.

Starting with ROMMON IOS Version 15.0(1r)SG14, you can use the PXE boot feature to specify a remote TFTP or HTTP server to download the software image and other files.

PXE boot requires the configuration of a DHCP server, and the boot field set to one of the autoboot options in the ROMMON.

For ROMMON IOS Versions before 15.0(1r)SG13, network booting using a boot loader image is not supported. Use one of the following options to boot an image instead:

1. Boot from an SD card by entering the following command:

2. Use ROMMON TFTP boot.

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Note To use ROMMON tftp boot, the TFTP server must be accessible from the Ethernet management port on the supervisor engine.

To boot from ROMMON, perform the following tasks while in ROMMON mode:

a. Ensure that the Ethernet management port on the supervisor engine is physically connected to the network.

b. Set IP address of the Ethernet management port on the supervisor engine by entering the following command: set interface fa1 ip_address ip_mask

For example, to set the supervisor engine Ethernet port with an IP address 172.16.1.5 and IP mask 255.255.255.0, enter the following command:

c. Set default gateway for the Ethernet management port on the supervisor engine by entering the following command: set ip route default gateway_ip_address. The default gateway should be directly connected to the supervisor engine Ethernet management port subnet.

d. Ping the TFTP server to ensure that there is connectivity to the server from the Ethernet management port on the supervisor engine by entering the following command: ping tftp_server_ip_address.

e. Once the ping is successful, boot the image from the TFTP server by entering the following command: boot tftp:// tftp_server_ip_address / image_path_and_file_name

For example, to boot the Cisco IOS XE image cat4500e-universalk9.03.01.00.SG.150-1.XO.bin located on the TFTP server 172.16.1.8, enter the following command:

Related Documentation

Although their Release Notes are unique, the 4 platforms (Catalyst 4500, Catalyst 4900, Catalyst ME 4900, and Catalyst 4900M) use the same Software Configuration Guide, Command Reference Guide, and System Message Guide. Refer to the following home page for additional information:

http://www.cisco.com//en/US/products/hw/switches/ps4324/prod_release_notes_list.html

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation, which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

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