Cisco Nexus 9000 Series NX-OS Software Upgrade and Downgrade Guide, Release 10.6(x)

NX-OS upgrade history

Updated: February 5, 2026

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Overview

This section provides details about how Nexus 9000 switches track and display a comprehensive history of all upgrade activities. Viewing this upgrade history helps with troubleshooting and understanding the sequence and status of past upgrades performed on the switch.

During the life of a Nexus 9000 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 can 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.

Nexus 9000 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, and
Software Maintenance Upgrade (SMU) Installations

View the 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:

switch# show upgrade history
     TYPE            VERSION               DATE                STATUS           
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 03:08:17     Installation End    
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 03:01:41     Installation started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 02:16:25     Installation End    
NXOS EPLD          epld.img        06 Mar 2025 02:11:43     EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          epld.img        06 Mar 2025 02:00:22     EPLD Upgrade started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 01:52:46     Installation started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 01:19:05     Installation End    
NXOS EPLD          epld.img        06 Mar 2025 01:19:04     EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          epld.img        06 Mar 2025 01:07:42     EPLD Upgrade started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)         06 Mar 2025 01:00:48     Installation started

View the NX-OS upgrade history details by entering the show upgrade history details command. The output displays user login details (user name/session ID) under LOGIN column on the switch along with upgrade history. Here is an sample output of the show upgrade history details command.

switch# show upgrade history details 
   TYPE            VERSION                  DATE                  LOGIN                        STATUS        
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 03:08:17   username/10.1.1.25     Installation End
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 03:01:41   username/10.1.1.25     Installation started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 02:16:25   username/10.1.1.25     Installation End
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                06 Mar 2025 02:11:43                          EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                06 Mar 2025 02:00:22                          EPLD Upgrade started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 01:52:46   username/10.1.1.25     Installation started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 01:19:05   username/10.1.1.25     Installation End
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                06 Mar 2025 01:19:04                          EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                06 Mar 2025 01:07:42                          EPLD Upgrade started
NXOS system image  10.5(3)                 06 Mar 2025 01:00:48   username/10.1.1.25     Installation started
NXOS EPLD          n9000-epld.10.5.1.F.img 05 Mar 2025 23:29:18   username/10.1.1.25     EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          n9000-epld.10.5.1.F.img 05 Mar 2025 23:17:59   username/10.1.1.25     EPLD Upgrade started
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                05 Mar 2025 22:55:11                          EPLD Upgrade completed
NXOS EPLD          epld.img                05 Mar 2025 22:37:36                          EPLD Upgrade started

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