Image Management
Upgrading your devices to the latest software version manually might take a long time and prone to error, which requires a separate maintenance window. To ensure rapid and reliable software upgrades, image management automates the steps associated with upgrade planning, scheduling, downloading, and monitoring. Image management is supported only for Cisco Nexus switches.
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The Image Management window has the following tabs and you can perform the operations listed in the Actions column.
Tabs | Actions |
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Overview |
You can view dashlets for uploaded image and related information. |
Images | Upload |
Image Policies | |
History | History |
Ensure that your user role is network-admin or device-upg-admin and you didn’t freeze the Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller to perform the following operations:
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Upload or delete images.
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Install, delete, or finish installation of an image.
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Install or uninstall packages and patches.
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Activate or deactivate packages and patches.
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Add or delete image management policies (applicable only for network-admin user role).
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View management policies.
You can view any of the image installations or device upgrade tasks if your user role is network-admin, network-stager, network-operator, or device-upg-admin. You can also view them if your Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller is in freeze mode.
Here’s the process to upgrade the switch image:
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Discover the switches into Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller.
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Upload images.
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Create image policies.
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Attach the image policies to the switches.
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Stage the images on switches.
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(Optional) Validate if the switches support non-disruptive upgrade.
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Upgrade the switches accordingly.
Overview
Image Management deploys Cisco software images to switches which allows network stability and feature consistency. The benefits of Image Management workflows include the following:
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Comprehensive image management policies allow you to specify a version and patch level for a set of switches
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Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller (NDFC) validates compliance for the image policy associated with each switch
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Image staging, validation, and in-service software upgrade (ISSU) operations are independent, allowing mass upgrades and downgrades
Note
Starting with Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller release 12.1.3, NDFC provides the ability to perform staging and validation in a single step.
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You can perform the following operations before the maintenance window:
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Staging image files
This copies the image files to the bootflash.
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Validate Network Operating System (NOS) and EPLD compatibility where possible
This checks if the image is complete, if the image is valid for the individual hardware, and if the upgrade can be non-disruptive.
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Run pre-upgrade report
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The ability to run reports pre/post-upgrade and compare the results
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The ability to generate snapshots of the configuration pre/post-upgrade
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The View Details column provides Live log status to monitor each operation
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Allow users to make use of maintenance mode to minimize the impact of disruptive upgrades, especially for multi-reload upgrade situations
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Upgrade groups allows bulk upgrades and downgrades. Upgrade groups have checks to avoid unnecessary downtime in redundant fabrics in the following cases:
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All switches of a given role for a fabric will be in the same group
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All route reflectors (RRs) in a fabric will be in the same group
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All rendezvous points (RPs) in a fabric will be in the same group
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Both Virtual Port Channel (vPC) peers will be in the same group
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All In-Band Seed Devices will be in the same group
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Give visibility into previous and current upgrade details as well as high level summarization
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Visibility into current NOS, EPLD and patch consistency at a switch, fabric, and group level
Starting with Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller release 12.1.2, the Overview tab has changed and displays the images, policies, fabric status, and switch upgrade group status.
The Image Management UI has the following functional areas:
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Overview: This displays the images, policies, fabric status, and switch upgrade group status.
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The Images card displays the number of images and the type of packages or patches.
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The Policies card displays the number of polices, platforms and release versions.
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The Fabric Status card displays the number of devices in the fabric and if the devices are in or out of sync and displaying in either red or green.
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The Switch Upgrade Group Status card displays the number of groups and device status.
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Green: Devices that are in sync.
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Red: Devices that are out of sync.
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Gray: Devices that are not available (N/A). An example is when a device does not have a policy set.
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Images: This displays the images. You can upload or delete images.
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Image Polices: This displays the image policies. You can create, delete, or edit image policies.
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Devices: This displays the devices. You can stage image, upgrade, validate, change mode, attach group, detach group, attach policy, or detach policy.
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History: This displays the history of all the operations performed on the switches.
Images
You can view the details of the images and the platform under this tab. You can upload or delete images to a device.
The following table describes the fields that appear on Operations > Image Management > Images.
Field |
Description |
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Platform |
Specifies the name of the platform. Images, RPMs, or SMUs are categorized as follows:
The images are the same for N9K and N3K platforms. The platform is Other if the uploaded images are not mapped to any of the existing platforms. The platform is N9K/N3K for RPMs. |
Bits |
Specifies the bits of the image |
Image Name |
Specifies the filename of the image, RPM, or SMU that you uploaded. |
Image Type |
Specifies the file type of the image, EPLD, RPM, or SMU. |
Image Sub Type |
Specifies the file type of the image, EPLD, RPM, or SMU. The file type EPLDs are epld. The file types of images are nxos, system or kickstart. The file type for RPMs is feature and for SMUs the file type is patch. |
NXOS Version |
Specifies the NXOS image version for only Cisco switches. |
Image Version |
Specifies the image version for all devices, including the non-Cisco devices as well. |
Size (Bytes) |
Specifies the size of the image, RPM, or SMU files in bytes. |
Checksum |
Specifies the checksum of the image. The checksum checks if there’s any corruption in the file of the image, RPM, or SMU. You can validate the authenticity by verifying if the checksum value is same for the file you downloaded from the Cisco website and the file you upload in the Image Upload window. |
The following table describes the action items, in the Actions menu drop‐down list, that appears on Operations > Image Management > Images.
Action Item |
Description |
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Refresh |
Refreshes the Images table. |
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Upload |
Click to upload a new image. For instructions, see Uploading an Image. |
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Delete |
Allows you to delete the image from the repository. Choose an image, click Actions, and choose Delete. A confirmation window appears. Click Yes to delete the image.
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Uploading an Image
You can upload 32-bit and 64-bit images. To upload different types of images to the server from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
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Devices use these images during POAP or image upgrade. All the images, RPMs, and SMUs are used in the Image Policies window. Your user role should be network-admin, or device-upg-admin to upload an image. You can’t perform this operation with the network-stager user role. |
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Images. |
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Step 2 |
Click Actions and choose Upload. The Upload Image dialog box appears. |
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Step 3 |
Click Choose file to choose a file from the local repository of your device. |
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Step 4 |
Choose the file and click OK. You can upload a ZIP or TAR file as well. Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller processes and validate the image file and categorize it under the existing platforms accordingly. If it doesn’t fall under N9K/N3K, N6K, N7K, N77K, or N5K platforms, the image file is categorized under Third Party or Other platform. The Third Party platform is applicable only for RPMs. |
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Step 5 |
Click OK. The EPLD images, RPMs, and SMUs are uploaded to the repository in the following path: /var/lib/dcnm/upload/<platform_name>.
All NX-OS, kickstart and system images are uploaded to the repository in the following paths: /var/lib/dcnm/images and/var/lib/dcnm/upload/<platform_name> The upload takes some time depending on the file size and network bandwidth.
If your network speed is slow, increase the wait time of Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller to 1 hour so that the image upload is complete. To increase the wait time from Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps: |
Image Policies
The image management policies will have the information of intent of NX-OS images along with RPMs or SMUs. The policies can belong to a specific platform. Based on the policy applied on a switch, Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller checks if the required NXOS and RPMs or SMUs are present on the switch. If there is any mismatch between the policy and images on the switch, a fabric warning is generated.
The following table describes the action items, in the Actions menu drop-down list, that appear on Operations > Image Management > Image Policies.
Action Item |
Description |
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Create |
Allows you to create a policy that can be applied to images. See Creating an Image Policy section. |
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Delete |
Allows you to delete the policy. Choose a policy, click Actions, and choose Delete. A confirmation window appears. Click Confirm to delete the policy.
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Edit |
Allows you to edit the policy. |
Creating an Image Policy
To create an image policy from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Before you begin
Upload the images under the Images tab before creating an image policy. See the Uploading an Image for more information about uploading images.
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Image Policies. |
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Step 2 |
Click Actions > Create. The Create Image Management Policy dialog box appears. |
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Step 3 |
Enter information for the required fields. The following fields appear in the Create Image Management Policy dialog box.
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Step 4 |
Click Save. |
What to do next
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Attach the policy to a device. See Modifying a Policy section for more information.
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To edit an image policy after you've created it, click Actions > Edit.
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To delete an image policy, click Actions > Delete.
Devices
The Devices window displays all the switches that you discover in the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller. You can view information like the current version of the switch, policy attached to it, status, and other image-related information. You can filter and sort the entries.
You can click on Policy column to view associated policy information for the switch. Similarly, click on View details column for required switch to view details. The view details columns can have either Validate, or Upgrade, or None.
You can perform the following actions in the Devices window:
Staging an Image
After attaching an image policy to a switch, stage the image. When you stage an image, the files are copied into the bootflash.
To stage an image from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Before you begin
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Attach a policy to the selected devices before staging an image on the device.
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The minimum supported NX-OS image version in Fabric Controller is 7.0(3)I7(9).
To stage an image on Cisco Nexus 9000 or Nexus 3000 switches running NX-OS version earlier than the version mentioned above, you must set Use KSTACK to SCP on N9K, N3K value to False. On the Web UI, choose Settings > Server Settings > SSH tab. Uncheck the Use KSTACK to SCP on N9K, N3K check box. If you're staging supported image versions, check this check box.
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Devices. |
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Step 2 |
Choose a switch by checking the check box.
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Step 3 |
Click Actions and choose Stage Image. The Select Images to Install window appears. In this window, you can view how much space is available on the switch and how much space is required. |
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Step 4 |
(Optional) Click the hyperlink under the Files For Staging column to view the files that are getting copied to the bootflash. |
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Step 5 |
Click Stage. You will be diverted to the Devices tab under the Image Management window. |
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Step 6 |
(Optional) You can view the status under the Image Staged column. |
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Step 7 |
(Optional) Click the hyperlink under the Reason column to view the log. |
Validating an Image
Before you upgrade the switches, you can validate if they support non-disruptive upgrade. To validate an image from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Devices. |
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Step 2 |
Choose a switch by checking the check box.
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Step 3 |
Click Actions and choose Validate. The Validate dialog box appears. |
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Step 4 |
Check the Confirm non disruptive upgrade check box. |
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Step 5 |
Click Validate. You’ll return to the Overview tab under the Image Management window. |
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Step 6 |
(Optional) You can view the status under the Validated column. |
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Step 7 |
(Optional) Click the hyperlink under the Reason column to view the log. |
Upgrading an Image
You can upgrade or uninstall a switch. Upgrade Groups option allows you to trigger image upgrade on multiple switches at an instant. This option can be selected for upgrade/downgrade options.
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It is recommended to perform upgrade for maximum of twelve switches at once. If you choose more than twelve switches, the upgrade happens sequentially. |
Upgrade Options for NX-OS Switches
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Disruptive: Choose this option for disruptive upgrades.
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Allow Non-disruptive: Choose this option to allow non-disruptive upgrades. When you choose Allow Non Disruptive option and if the switch does not support non-disruptive upgrade, then it will go through a disruptive upgrade. When you choose Force Non Disruptive and if the switches you choose do not support non-disruptive upgrade, a warning message appears asking you to review the switch selection. Use the check boxes to choose or remove switches.
To upgrade a switch image from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Devices. |
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Step 2 |
Choose a switch by checking the check box. |
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Step 3 |
Click Actions and choose Upgrade. The Upgrade/Uninstall window appears. |
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Step 4 |
Choose the type of upgrade by checking the check box. The valid options are NXOS, EPLD, and Packages (RPM/SMU). |
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Step 5 |
Choose NXOS, EPLD, or Packages: |
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Step 6 |
Click Upgrade.
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Modifying a Policy
You can update the image policy that you have attached to a switch. You can change an image policy for multiple switches at the same time.
To attach or change an image policy attached to a switch from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Devices. |
Step 2 |
Choose a switch by checking the check box. |
Step 3 |
Click Actions and choose Modify Policy. The Apply Policy dialog box appears. |
Step 4 |
You can either attach or detach a policy, choose required check box. |
Step 5 |
Choose a policy from the Policy drop-down list. |
Step 6 |
Click required Attach or Detach. |
Step 7 |
(Optional) Click the hyperlink under the Reason column to view the changes. |
Step 8 |
(Optional) Click the hyperlink under thee Status column to view the current and expected image versions. If the switch is in Out-Of-Sync status, view the expected image versions and upgrade the switch accordingly. |
Recalculating Compliance
To recalculate the configuration compliance of a switch from the Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller Web UI, perform the following steps:
Procedure
Step 1 |
Choose Operations > Image Management > Devices. |
Step 2 |
Choose a switch by checking the check box. |
Step 3 |
Click Actions and choose Recalculate Compliance. |
Step 4 |
Click the hyperlink under the Reason column to view the changes. |
History
You can view the history of all the Image Management operations from Operations > Image Management > History tab.
The following table describes the fields that appear on this screen.
Field |
Description |
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ID |
Specifies the ID number. |
Device Name |
Specifies the device name. |
Version |
Specifies the version of the image on the device. |
Policy Name |
Specifies the policy name attached to the image. |
Status |
Displays if the operation was a success or failure. |
Reason |
Specifies the reason for the operation to fail. |
Operation Type |
Specifies the type of operation performed. |
Fabric Name |
Specifies the name of the Fabric. |
Created By |
Specifies the user name who performed the operation. |
Timestamp |
Specifies the time when the operation was performed. |