Upgrading a Cisco Catalyst 3560 Switch
Here are my notes on upgrading a Catalyst 3560. I plugged in a laptop to the serial console and an ethernet cable into port 1 (technically interface Gigabit Ethernet 0/1). Here is the official Cisco documentation I followed. It’s for the 3550, but the Cisco support engineer said that it’s close enough.
First Hurdle: VLAN Mismatch Error
I quickly got bunch of errors that stated “Native VLAN Mismatch: discovered on Gigabit Ethernet 0/1.” The far end of the new switch is VLAN1. To fix this error, I moved port 1 from VLAN 3 to VLAN 1. These are the commands I ran.
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switch>show vlan
VLAN Name Status Ports
———- ———– ————- ——————–
1 default active Gi0/28
3 server active Gi0/1, Gi0/2, Gi0/3 ….
switch> enable
switch# config term
switch (config)# interface Gi0/1
switch (config-if)# switchport access vlan 1
switch (config-if)# exit
switch (config)# exit
switch# show vlan
VLAN Name Status Ports
——— ———– ————- —————
1 default active Gi0/1, Gi0/28
3 server active Gi0/2, Gi0/3 ….
Second Hurdle: Couldn’t Reach TFTP Server
To upgrade the image, I had to put the image on a TFTP server and pull it down. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to ping my FTP server. I quickly figured out that I didn’t have an IP address for VLAN 1. To set the IP address:
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switch(config)#int vlan 1
switch(config-if)# ip address 172.16.0.10 255.255.0.0
switch# ping 172.16.1.27
Finally the upgrade!
Cisco offers a .tar and a .bin image for the upgrades. Use the .tar file if you want to use the CMS software. I just wanted to use the command line interface (CLI), so I grabbed the .bin file (c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-44.SE.bin) and placed it on the root directory of my TFTP server.
1. Verified that there’s enough space. The .bin file is ~8MB. In the 3560’s flash:
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switch#dir flash
<——- Tuncated except for last line ——->
24998976 bytles total (16349184 bytes free)
Since there’s ~ 16 MB free, we’re good to go. Otherwise delete by issuing this command:
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switch#delete /force /recursive flash:directory\_of\_old\_image\_here
2. Downloaded image onto the switch and verified its integrity
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switch#copy tftp flash
Address or name of remote host []? 172.16.1.27
Source filename []? c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-44.SE.bin
Destination filename [c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-44.SE.bin]?
switch#dir flash
switch#verify flash:c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-44.SE.bin
3. Changed the boot image in the switch
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switch#show boot
switch#configure terminal
switch(config)#boot system flash:c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-44.SE.bin
switch#exit
switch#show boot
4. Saved, verified, and rebooted
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switch#write memory
switch#show version
switch#reload
Upon reboot:
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switch#show ver
5. Drank a celebratory drink. Coffee of course, because I was still at work.