Appendix B Working with the Cisco IOS File System, Configuration Files, and Software Images

Working with Software Images

You upload a switch image file to a TFTP, FTP, or RCP server for backup purposes. You can use this uploaded image for future downloads to the same switch or to another of the same type.

The protocol that you use depends on which type of server you are using. The FTP and RCP transport mechanisms provide faster performance and more reliable delivery of data than TFTP. These improvements are possible because FTP and RCP are built on and use the TCP/IP stack, which is connection-oriented.

These sections contain this configuration information:

•Image Location on the Switch, page B-21

•File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com, page B-21

•Copying Image Files By Using TFTP, page B-22

•Copying Image Files By Using FTP, page B-26

•Copying Image Files By Using RCP, page B-30

•Copying an Image File from One Stack Member to Another, page B-35

Note For a list of software images and the supported upgrade paths, see the release notes.

Image Location on the Switch

The Cisco IOS image is stored as a .bin file in a directory that shows the version number. A subdirectory contains the 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 that you might have stored in flash memory. You can use the archive download-sw /directoryprivileged EXEC command to specify a directory once followed by a tar file or list of tar files to be downloaded instead of specifying complete paths with each tar file. For example, in a mixed hardware stack, you can enter archive download-sw /directory tftp://10.1.1.10/

c3750-ipservices-tar.122-35.SE.tar c3750e-universal-tar.122-35.SE2.tar.

File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com

Software images on a server or downloaded from Cisco.com are in a file format, which contains these files:

•An info file, which serves as a table of contents for the file

•One or more subdirectories containing other images and files, such as Cisco IOS images and web management files

This example shows some of the information contained in the info file. Table B-3provides additional details about this information:

system_type:0x00000000:c3750e-universal-mz.122-35.SE2 image_family:C3750E

stacking_number:1.9 info_end:

Catalyst 3750-E and 3560-E Switch Software Configuration Guide

 

OL-9775-02

B-21

 

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Cisco Systems 3750E manual Image Location on the Switch, File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com