How to upgrade the IOS for a couple of Cisco Catalyst 3500 Series XL 48 port switches (via CLI)

cisco-catalystcisco-ios-12

How do I find the correct (.bin?) file on the Cisco website?

I searched for "C3500XL" (from the show version output as shown below)
and was presented with Cisco Search Results … but the links don't actually lead to downloads; they lead me through a maze of product selection menu/web pages.

I know how to access the device via serial console and how to configure TFTP services on my laptop. I can ping the switch from my laptop and the laptop from my switch (using using a cross-over ethernet patch; there are no other switches between the two).

Here's what I know:

sw01>show version
Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software 
IOS (tm) C3500XL Software (C3500XL-C3H2S-M), Version 12.0(5)WC3b, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Copyright (c) 1986-2002 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Fri 15-Feb-02 10:51 by antonino
Image text-base: 0x00003000, data-base: 0x00337600

ROM: Bootstrap program is C3500XL boot loader

Once I am able to download the correct file (c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC10.bin according to the search results?) and put it in /private/tftpboot then what commands do I issue from the IOS xxx> prompt to fetch and install the .bin file?

Also how do I check the provenance of the file? Do they publish SHA-256 checksums? Do they GPG sign them? Where do I get their GPG public key?

Best Answer

I doubt that you'll find any downloads for Catalyst 3500XL. They are out of support for many (12) years now.

Downloads for supported devices can be found here. Note: You'll need a Cisco account and most likely a support contract.

Installing an update can be done via (t)ftp.

copy tftp flash

For ftp you have to configure ftp user and ftp password

ip ftp username foo
ip ftp password secret

and then type

copy ftp flash

Make sure you have enough free space (type dir). It might be necessary to delete some files in order to get enough free space. This might leave you with no IOS at all so be careful when doing this. You can recover from this by copying an Image via xmodem but that no fun.

Last time I checked Cisco was only offering MD5 checksums.

On a Layer 3 switch:

Log into the switch and issue the following command (where ipaddress is the ip address of the host you are trying to locate:
```
show ip arp *ipaddress*
```

The output should look similar to below, and give you the mac-address of the device (I've highlighted the mac-address below in bold).

LYKINS-1861#show ip arp 172.20.1.100
Protocol  Address          Age (min)  Hardware Addr   Type   Interface
Internet  172.20.1.100            0   **28cf.da1d.1b05**  ARPA   Vlan10

Now issue one of the following commands (where mac-address is the hardware address from previous step). Depending on the Cisco platform, sometimes the command is listed in either form.
```
show mac address-table address *mac-address*
show mac-address-table address *mac-address*
```

The output should look similar to below, the port you are looking for should be listed as the Destination Port:

LYKINS-1861#show mac-address-table address 28cf.da1d.1b05
Destination Address  Address Type  VLAN  Destination Port
-------------------  ------------  ----  --------------------
28cf.da1d.1b05          Dynamic      10     **FastEthernet0/1/1**

On a Layer 2 switch:

Find out what device is doing the routing for this switch (you may have to look at the network documentation). Sometimes it is a "Router on a Stick", where the Layer 2 VLANs are being trunked up to the router for the Layer 3 decisions.

Log into the routing device, and issue the following command (where ipaddress is the ip address of the host you are trying to locate:
```
show ip arp *ipaddress*
```

The output should look similar to below, and give you the mac-address of the device (listed below in bold).

LYKINS-1861#show ip arp 172.20.1.100
Protocol  Address          Age (min)  Hardware Addr   Type   Interface
Internet  172.20.1.100            0   **28cf.da1d.1b05**  ARPA   Vlan10

Now log into the Layer 2 switch
On that device issue one of the following commands (where mac-address is the hardware address from previous step). Depending on the Cisco platform, sometimes the command is listed in either form.
```
show mac address-table address *mac-address*
show mac-address-table address *mac-address*
```

The output should look similar to below, the port you are looking for should be listed as the Destination Port:

LYKINS-1861#show mac-address-table address 28cf.da1d.1b05
Destination Address  Address Type  VLAN  Destination Port
-------------------  ------------  ----  --------------------
28cf.da1d.1b05          Dynamic      10     **FastEthernet0/1/1**

Cisco – Why doesn’t the port-channel interface come up, between Cisco Catalyst switches

Improperly configured EtherChannel (port-channel) interfaces would be disabled automatically, to prevent problems such as loops. First of all, having the same configuration on each side would be the safest.

Here's a checklist:

Both switches must see the ports as an EtherChannel bundle. If one switch would consider ports as separate connections, it's inconsistent and would fail.
All ports in the bundle needs to have the same EtherChannel protocol, i.e. don't mix PAgP and LACP. Also manual configuration mixed with one protocol is not recommended.
All channel ports must use at the same speed and the same duplex mode. And LACP doesn't support half-duplex.
No one of the ports can be SPAN (switched port analyzer) destination port.
If the channel is layer 3, give the address to the port-channel interface, not to single ports.
For layer 2 channels:
- All ports have to be either trunks or in the same VLAN.
- If trunking is used, the mode has to be the same on all ports.
- If you use a trunk with an allowed VLAN range, that range must be the same on all ports.
- If you would have different STP costs in a channel, at least ports have to be compatible to each other. STP considers an EtherChannel as a single port.
- Protocol filtering has to be the same on all ports.
- Also here, (static MAC) addresses must be on the port-channel interface, not on single ports.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Cisco – How to find the port a device is connected to, based on IP, on a Cisco Catalyst switch

On a Layer 3 switch:

On a Layer 2 switch:

Cisco – Why doesn’t the port-channel interface come up, between Cisco Catalyst switches

Related Topic