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Catalyst2950 and Catalyst2955 Switch Software Configuration Guide
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AppendixB Working with the Cisco IOS File System, Configuration Files, and Software Images
Working with Software Images
Note For a list of software images and the supported upgrade paths, refer to the release notes.
Image Location on the Switch
The software image is stored as a .bin file in a directory that shows the version number. A subdirectory
contains the HTML files needed for web management. The image is stored on the system board flash
memory (flash:).
You can use the show version privileged EXEC command to see the software version that is currently
running on your switch. In the display, check the line that begins with System image file is... . It
shows the directory name in flash memory where the image is stored.
You can also use the dir filesystem: privileged EXEC command to see the directory names of other
software images you might have stored in flash memory.
tar File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com
Software images located on a server or downloaded from Cisco.com are provided in a tar file format,
which contains these files:
info file
The info file is always at the beginning of the tar file and has information about the files within it.
Cisco IOS image
Web management files needed by the HTTP server on the switch
LRE binary files needed for the proper functioning of LRE interfaces and LRE CPE devices.
info.ver file
The info.ver file is always at the end of the tar file and has the same information as the info file.
Because it is the last file in the tar file, its existence means that all files in the image have been
downloaded.
This example shows the information in the info and info.ver files:
version_suffix: i6k2l2q4-121-19.EA1
version_directory: c2950lre-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-19.16.EA1
image_name: c2950lre-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-19.16.EA1.bin
ios_image_file_size: 3214848
total_image_file_size: 4719616
image_feature: LAYER_2|MIN_DRAM_MEG=32
image_family: C2950lre
info_end:
TableB-3 info and info.ver File Description
Field Description
version_suffix Specifies the software image version string suffix
version_directory Specifies the directory where the software image and the HTML subdirectory are installed
image_name Specifies the name of the software image within the tar file