Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Upgrade Guide

Upgrade the cellular modem firmware of a device

Updated: July 1, 2026

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Upgrades the cellular modem firmware of a device using the firmware upgrade workflow. This process ensures that devices maintain optimal connectivity and performance by applying the latest available modem firmware versions.

Before you begin

See the prerequisites and restrictions sections of this documentation.
Download firmware upgrade files from the Cisco Software Download site.
Save the downloaded firmware upgrade files to a file server accessible by devices in the network. The file types of the downloaded files may differ, according to the different modem hardware used in your Cisco products. Example file types include .bin, .cwe, .nvu, and .spk.

You can download firmware upgrade files for different types of cellular-enabled devices and in most cases, save them to the same directory on the file server. If the firmware upgrade for your device requires two files for two upgrade steps (a modem firmware upgrade file, and a separate OEM PRI file) save the two files to separate directories.

Procedure

From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Workflows > Firmware Upgrade .

In the workflow, follow the prompts to select the devices to upgrade, the server, and the firmware image path.

When configuring a server for storing firmware upgrade images, enter the following fields:


Field	Description
Server Name	Enter a name for the file server with the firmware upgrade files.
Server IP or DNS Name	IP address or DNS name of the file server.
Protocol	Choose the SCP protocol.
Port	Enter the port that you have configured for the remote server. Default (for SCP): 22
User ID, Password	Enter the login credentials for the file server.
Image Location Prefix	Enter the path to the directory storing the firmware upgrade files.
VPN	Enter the VPN that you have configured for reaching the remote server interface.

Note

For information about configuring a remote server for storing device software upgrade images, see Register Remote Server in the Manage Software Upgrade and Repository section of the Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Monitor and Maintain Configuration Guide .

If a relevant firmware upgrade file exists at the image path location, the device uses the file for the upgrade. If more than one relevant firmware upgrade file is available, the device uses the latest version. If no relevant file exists at the image path location, the Summary page of the workflow indicates that no file is available, and no firmware upgrade occurs.

Cisco SD-WAN Manager upgrades only the currently active firmware type.

Note

The workflow prompts you to configure a remote server. Alternatively, you can configure a file server as described in Configure a remote file server for firmware upgrade images .

Optionally, schedule the upgrade for a specific time, for example to coincide with a maintenance window.
Note
To cancel a scheduled upgrade before it occurs, do the following:
1. From the Cisco SD-WAN Manager menu, choose Maintenance > Software Upgrade .
2. Click Firmware .
3. Click Cancel Firmware Upgrade to cancel a scheduled upgrade.
On the Summary page, review the details and click Next to begin the upgrade task.

The upgrade takes several minutes.
(Optional) Click Check my upgrade task to show the status of the upgrade or upgrades for each device.

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