Chapter 1. New and Changed Information

This document provides instructions for booting from one of two images that are installed on certain Cisco switches. The following table provides an overview of the significant changes to this guide up to this current release.

New and Changed Information In This Document

Feature

Description

Initial release of document

Initial release of document

- About Booting Switches with Multi-Image

- Saving the License File

- Booting a Switch with Multi-Image

About Booting Switches with Multi-Image

Beginning with Cisco APIC Release 4.1(2), support is now available for certain Cisco switches to be loaded at the factory with two images:

- One current Cisco ACI or NX-OS image

- One long-lived image of the other OS type

See Switches That Support Booting With Multi-Image for a list of switches that support this functionality.

For example, you could have the following two images loaded at the factory:

- First image: Current Cisco ACI image

- Second image: A long-lived NX-OS image

Or you could have these two images loaded at the factory:

- First image: Current NX-OS image

- Second image: A long-lived Cisco ACI image

When you order a switch listed in Switches That Support Booting With Multi-Image and you request a current Cisco ACI or NX-OS image to be loaded onto that switch, the latest long-lived release of the other OS type is also automatically loaded onto that switch in the factory at the same time. These procedures provide instructions on booting from one of these two images on your Cisco switch.

Note

Do not format the bootflash on your switch. Doing so erases both images that were installed at the factory as part of the multi-image setup.

Switches That Support Booting With Multi-Image

The following switches support the ability to boot with multi-image:

- Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX switch

- Cisco Nexus 93108TC-EX switch

- Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX switch

- Cisco Nexus 93108TC-FX switch

- Cisco Nexus 9364C fixed spine switch

- Cisco Nexus 9348GC-FXP switch

- Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 switch

- Cisco Nexus 93240YC-FX2 switch

Saving the License File

If you want to boot the long-live ACI image, and the NX-OS platform has pre-installed licenses already, then you must copy the license file and save it first, in case you want to go back to the NX-OS environment again.

Procedure

Step 1

Locate the license file in your bootflash directory.

switch# dir bootflash:

Example:

switch# dir bootflash:
4096    Jun 27 22:48:33 2019  .rpmstore/
4096    Jun 27 22:43:56 2019  .swtam/
1777998029    Jun 27 22:47:17 2019  aci-n9000-dk9.14.1.2g.bin
592    Jun 27 22:37:02 2019  bios_daemon.dbg
4096    Jun 27 22:26:25 2019  home/
4096    Jun 27 22:28:38 2019  lost+found/
168951015    Jun 27 22:26:22 2019  n9000-epld.9.2.3.img
1335985152    Jun 27 22:26:05 2019  nxos.9.2.3.bin
887850    Jun 27 22:48:04 2019  nxos.CSCvo71854-n9k_ALL-1.0.0-9.2.3.lib32_n9000.rpm
670    Jun 27 22:50:03 2019 license_FDO23180PXU_26.lic
0    Jun 27 22:44:21 2019  platform-sdk.cmd
4096    Jun 27 22:44:17 2019  scripts/
4096    Jun 27 22:44:08 2019  virtual-instance/

Step 2

(Optional) Verify the information for the pre-installed license.

switch# show license usage detail

Example:

switch# show license usage detail
Feature                     Inst      Used Expiry      Grace Period Errors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACI-STRG                    No           0             not started
ACI-AD-GF                   No           0             not started
ACI-AD-XF                   No           0             not started
ACI-ES-GF                   No           0             not started
ACI-ES-XF                   No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-GF                  No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-XF                  No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-XM                  No           0             not started
N9K_LIC_1G                  No           0             not started
VPN_FABRIC                  No           0             not started
NXOS_OE_PKG                 No           0             not started
FCOE_NPV_PKG                No           0             not started
SECURITY_PKG                Yes          0 never       not started
N9K_UPG_EX_10G              No           0             not started
TP_SERVICES_PKG             No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_GF           No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_M4           No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_XF           Yes          0 never       not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_GF          No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_M4          No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_XF          No           0             not started
SAN_ENTERPRISE_PKG          Yes          0 never       not started
PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG         No           0             not started
NETWORK_SERVICES_PKG        No           0             not started
NEXUS_24PORT_LICENSE        No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_M8-16        No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_M8-16       No           0             not started
FC_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG      Yes(48)      0 never       not started
NEXUS_24PORTEX_UPGRADE      No           0             not started
NEXUS_24PORTFX_UPGRADE      No           0             not started
HW_STREAMING_TELEMETRY_PKG  No           0             not started
LAN_ENTERPRISE_SERVICES_PKG No           0             not started

Step 3

Upload a copy of the license file to a TFTP server.

switch# copy license-file tftp tftp-ip-addr

Example:

switch# copy bootflash:license_FDO23180PXU_26.lic tftp 10.1.1.3

Step 4

Download and copy the license file back, if necessary.

1. Copy the license file back:

switch# copy tftp:// tftp-ip-addr/license-filebootflash:

Example:

switch# copy tftp://10.1.1.3/license_FDO23180PXU_26.lic bootflash:

2. Install the license file.

switch# install license bootflash: license-file

Example:

switch# install license bootflash:license_FDO23180PXU_26.lic
Installing license .....done

3. Verify that the license file was installed properly.

switch# show license usage detail

Example:

switch# show license usage detail
Feature                     Inst      Used Expiry      Grace Period Errors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACI-STRG                    No           0             not started
ACI-AD-GF                   No           0             not started
ACI-AD-XF                   No           0             not started
ACI-ES-GF                   No           0             not started
ACI-ES-XF                   No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-GF                  No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-XF                  No           0             not started
ACI-SEC-XM                  No           0             not started
N9K_LIC_1G                  No           0             not started
VPN_FABRIC                  No           0             not started
NXOS_OE_PKG                 No           0             not started
FCOE_NPV_PKG                No           0             not started
SECURITY_PKG                Yes          0 never       not started
N9K_UPG_EX_10G              No           0             not started
TP_SERVICES_PKG             No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_GF           No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_M4           No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_XF           Yes          0 never       not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_GF          No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_M4          No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_XF          No           0             not started
SAN_ENTERPRISE_PKG          Yes          0 never       not started
PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG         No           0             not started
NETWORK_SERVICES_PKG        No           0             not started
NEXUS_24PORT_LICENSE        No           0             not started
NXOS_ADVANTAGE_M8-16        No           0             not started
NXOS_ESSENTIALS_M8-16       No           0             not started
FC_PORT_ACTIVATION_PKG      Yes(48)      0 never       not started
NEXUS_24PORTEX_UPGRADE      No           0             not started
NEXUS_24PORTFX_UPGRADE      No           0             not started
HW_STREAMING_TELEMETRY_PKG  No           0             not started
LAN_ENTERPRISE_SERVICES_PKG No           0             not started

Booting a Switch with Multi-Image

The following procedures describe how to boot a switch with either of the images that are factory-installed on your switch.

Procedure

Step 1

Establish a terminal session on the console port of the active supervisor module.

—

Note

If you are using a non-U.S. keymap, the key sequence that you press to generate the break sequence might not work. In this case, we recommend that you set your terminal to a U.S. keymap. You can enter Ctrl-C instead of Ctrl-] (right square bracket) due to keyboard mapping.

Step 2

If you use SSH or a terminal emulator to access the console port, go to Step 6.

—

Step 3

If you use Telnet to access the console port, press Ctrl-] (right square bracket) to verify that it does not conflict with the Telnet escape sequence.

Example:

switch login: Ctrl-]

—

Note

If the Cisco NX-OS login prompt remains and the Telnet prompt does not appear, go to Step 6.

Step 4

If the Telnet prompt appears, change the Telnet escape sequence to a character sequence other than Ctrl-] (right square bracket).

Example:

telnet> set escape ^\
Escape Character is 'CTRL+\'

The example shows how to set Ctrl-\ as the escape key sequence in Microsoft Telnet.

Note

If the Cisco NX-OS login prompt remains and the Telnet prompt does not appear, go to Step 6.

Step 5

Press Enter one or more times to return to the Cisco NX-OS login prompt.

Example:

telnet> <Enter>
switch login:

—

Step 6

Power cycle the device.

—

Step 7

Press Ctrl-C to access the loader> prompt.

Example:

Ctrl-C
loader>

—

Step 8

loader> cmdline recoverymode=1

Example:

loader> cmdline recoverymode=1

Enter recovery mode.

Step 9

loader> dir

Example:

loader> dir
bootflash::

lost+found
nxos.7.0.3.I7.3.bin
aci-n9000-dk9.14.1.2g.bin
auto-k
disk_log.txt
mem_log.txt
auto-s
CpuUsage.Log
lxc
libmon.logs
diag_bootup

Verify that the two images are present in bootflash.

In the example output shown, the following images are shown:

- First image: Current Cisco ACI image (aci-n9000-dk9.14.1.2g.bin)

- Second image: A long-lived NX-OS image (nxos.7.0.3.I7.3.bin)

As described in About Booting Switches with Multi-Image, you could also have a switch with the current NX-OS image as the first image and a long-lived Cisco ACI image as the second image.

Step 10

loader> boot image-file

Example:

loader> boot nxos.7.0.3.I7.3.bin

Abort Power On Auto Provisioning [yes - continue with normal setup, skip - bypass password
and basic configuration, no - continue with Power On Auto Provisioning] (yes/skip/no)[no]:

Boot using one of the two images in bootflash. This example shows a boot sequence using an NX-OS image, which brings you to the NX-OS startup configuration. From here, configure the NX-OS environment, if necessary.

Step 11

Log in to the switch.

Example:

switch login:
switch#

—

Step 12

switch# show version

Example:

switch# show version | i NXOS
NXOS: version 7.0(3)I7(3)
NXOS image file is: bootflash:///nxos.7.0.3.I7.3.bin
NXOS compile time:  2/12/2018 13:00:00 [02/12/2018 19:13:48]

Verify that you booted into the correct image in bootflash.

Step 13

switch# reload

Example:

switch# reload

If you want to boot into the other image, reboot the switch.

Step 14

loader> dir

Example:

loader> dir
bootflash::

lost+found
nxos.7.0.3.I7.3.bin
aci-n9000-dk9.14.1.2g.bin
auto-k
disk_log.txt
mem_log.txt
auto-s
CpuUsage.Log
lxc
libmon.logs
diag_bootup

Locate the other image that is present in bootflash.

Step 15

loader> boot image-file

Example:

loader> boot aci-n9000-dk9.14.1.2g.bin

User Access Verification

(none) login:

Boot using the other image in bootflash. This example shows a boot sequence using an ACI image, which brings you to the ACI prompt.

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