Each device is shipped with the Cisco NX-OS software. The Cisco NX-OS software consists of two NXOS software images, kickstart image and systems image (for example: n3500-uk9-kickstart.6.0.2.A6.7.bin and n3500-uk9.6.0.2.A6.7.bin). Only these images are required to load the Cisco NX-OS operating system. These images run on all Cisco Nexus 3500 Series switches.

Note

Another type of binary file is the software maintenance upgrade (SMU) package file. SMUs contain fixes for specific defects. They are created to respond to immediate issues and do not include new features. SMU package files are available for download from Cisco.com and generally include the ID number of the resolved defect in the filename. For more information on SMUs, see the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

Upgrading the Cisco NX-OS software has the following prerequisites:

• Ensure that everyone who has access to the device or the network is not configuring the device or the network during this time. You cannot configure a device during an upgrade. Use the show configuration session summary command to verify that you have no active configuration sessions.

• Save, commit, or discard any active configuration sessions before upgrading or downgrading the Cisco NX-OS software image on your device. On a device with dual supervisors, the active supervisor module cannot switch over to the standby supervisor module during the Cisco NX-OS software upgrade if you have an active configuration session.

• Ensure that the device has a route to the remote server. The device and the remote server must be in the same subnetwork if you do not have a router to route traffic between subnets. To verify connectivity to the remote server, use the ping command.

  switch# ping 172.18.217.1 vrf management
  PING 172.18.217.1 (172.18.217.1): 56 data bytes
  64 bytes from 172.18.217.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=239 time=106.647 ms
  64 bytes from 172.18.217.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=239 time=76.807 ms
  64 bytes from 172.18.217.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=239 time=76.593 ms
  64 bytes from 172.18.217.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=239 time=81.679 ms
  64 bytes from 172.18.217.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=239 time=76.5 ms
  
  --- 172.18.217.1 ping statistics ---
  5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.00% packet loss
  round-trip min/avg/max = 76.5/83.645/106.647 ms
  
  

For more information on configuration sessions, see the Cisco Nexus 3500 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

Downgrading the Cisco NX-OS software has the following prerequisites:

• Verify the compatibility of the software using the show incompatibility system bootflash:filename command. If an incompatibility exists, disable any features that are incompatible with the downgrade image before downgrading the software.

Note	The Cisco Nexus 3500 Series NX-OS Release Notes contain specific upgrade guidelines for each release. See the Release Notes for the target upgrade release before starting the upgrade.

Before attempting to upgrade to any software image, follow these guidelines:

• Schedule the upgrade when your network is stable and steady.

• Avoid any power interruption, which could corrupt the software image, during the installation procedure.

• On devices with dual supervisor modules, both supervisor modules must have connections on the console ports to maintain connectivity when switchovers occur during a software upgrade. See the Hardware Installation Guide for your specific chassis.

• You must run the setup script after you upgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 6.0(2)A8(9).

The following limitations are applicable when you upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Releases 6.0(2)A8(7b), 6.0(2)A8(8), or 6.0(2)A8(9):

• If Cisco Catalyst devices are connected via a vPC to a pair of Nexus 3500 switches with the vPC peer switch feature enabled, a partial or complete network outage may be caused as a result of the Cisco Catalyst devices error-disabling their port-channel interfaces due to EtherChannel Guard. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended that you must temporarily disable the EtherChannel Guard feature on vPC-connected Cisco Catalyst devices while the Nexus 3500 devices are being upgraded. For more information, see CSCvt02249.

Before attempting to downgrade to an earlier software release, follow this guideline:

• On devices with dual supervisor modules, both supervisor modules must have connections on the console ports to maintain connectivity when switchovers occur during a software downgrade. See the Hardware Installation Guide for your specific chassis.

Starting from Release Rel 6.0(2)A8(4), you can optionally choose to boot the switch from an external flash memory drive at the loader prompt. The supported BIOS version for the Cisco Nexus 3548P-10GX switch is 2.0.8 and for the Cisco Nexus 3548P-10G switch is 1.0.11. Following are the various options for loading the image from an external flash memory drive:

• You can load the kickstart image from USB1 when either the USB1 slot is occupied or when both the USB slots are occupied.

  Loader> boot usb1: <kickstart image>

• You can load the kickstart image from USB2 only when the USB2 slot is occupied.

  Loader> boot usb2: <kickstart image>

• You can load the kickstart image from USB2 when both the USB slots are occupied.

  Loader> boot usb2: <kickstart image>

• You can load the kickstart image and the system image from USB1 when only the USB1 slot is occupied or when both the USB slots are occupied.

  Loader> boot usb1: <kickstart image> usb1: <system image>

• You can load the kickstart image and the system image from USB2 when only the USB2 slot is occupied.

  Loader> boot usb2: <kickstart image> usb2:<system image>

• You can load the kickstart image and the system image from USB2 when both the USB slots are occupied.

  Loader> boot usb2: <kickstart image> usb2:<system image>