Cisco Catalyst Center 3.1.x on ESXi Deployment Guide

Upgrade to Catalyst Center 3.1.6 on ESXi in an air-gapped deployment

Updated: March 18, 2026

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Overview

Explains how to manually upgrade the Catalyst Center on ESXi virtual appliance in air-gapped environments.

Procedure

	1.	Download the *.tar.gz file from the location specified by Cisco.
	2.	Enter the following command to copy the file to the /airgap folder on the virtual appliance: `scp -P 2222 *.tar.gz maglev@<appliance-IP-address>:/airgap`
	3.	Log in to the Catalyst Center on ESXi GUI.
	4.	From the main menu, choose System > Software Management.
	5.	Click Scan.
	6.	After the system locates the files required to complete the upgrade, choose one of these options: Click PreLoad to download the upgrade files. If you select this option, schedule the upgrade time. Click Upgrade to download the relevant files and begin the upgrade immediately.

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