Each device is shipped with the Cisco NX-OS software. The Cisco NX-OS software consists of one NXOS software image. The image filename begins with "nxos".

Only this image is required to load the Cisco NX-OS operating system. This image runs on all Cisco Nexus 3600 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 3600 System Management Configuration Guide.

Note	Cisco also provides electronic programmable logic device (EPLD) image upgrades to enhance hardware functionality or to resolve known hardware issues. The EPLD image upgrades are independent from the Cisco NX-OS software upgrades.

Cisco recommends performing a Nexus Health and Configuration Check before performing an upgrade. The benefits include identification of potential issues, susceptible Field Notices and Security Vulnerabilities, missing recommended configurations and so on. For more information about the procedure, see Perform Nexus Health and Configuration Check.

Note	The Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Release Notes contain specific upgrade guidelines for each release. See the Release Notes before starting the upgrade.

The following upgrade paths are supported for upgrading from an earlier release to Cisco NX-OS Release 10.1(1):

• Release 9.2(x) → Release 10.1(1)

• Release 9.3(x) → Release 10.1(1)

To upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1) you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration and reload the device. To upgrade from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(2) or later or from Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(x), we recommend that you use install all command.

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.

• If you upgrade from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the CoPP feature to a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the CoPP feature with additional classes for new protocols, you must either run the setup utility using the setup command or use the copp profile command for the new CoPP classes to be available. For more information on these commands, see the "Configuring Control Plane Policing" chapter in the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS Security Configuration Guide.

• When you upgrade from an earlier release to a Cisco NX-OS release that supports switch profiles, you have the option to move some of the running-configuration commands to a switch profile. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

• By default, the software upgrade process is disruptive.

• Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 10.4(2)F, for Nexus 3600-R platform, to upgrade bios to the latest version you should first upgrade to nxos image. This release onwards, the install all nxos command only upgrades the nxos sw to the latest version but the bios image will be upgraded to the last bios released prior to 10.4(2)F version.

  To upgrade to bios released with 10.4(2)F or higher version, first upgrade the nxos image and then use bios-force option to upgrade the bios. For example,

  1. Install all nxos bootflash:nxos64-msll.10.4.2.F.bin.

     The system reloads and boots up with 10.4(2)F image.

  2. Install all nxos bios-force.

     Note	The device reloads twice, once for nxos upgrade and then again for bios upgrade.

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 3000 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

Before attempting to downgrade to an earlier software release, follow these guidelines:

• The following downgrade paths are supported for downgrading from Cisco NX-OS Release 10.1(1) to an earlier release:

  • Release 10.1(1) → Release 9.2(x)

  • Release 10.1(1) → Release 9.3(x)

  To downgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(1) you must set the boot variable, copy the running configuration to the startup configuration and reload the device. To downgrade to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.3(x) or to Cisco NX-OS Release 9.2(2) and later, we recommend that you use the install all command.

• 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.

• Cisco NX-OS automatically installs and enables the guest shell by default. However, if the device is reloaded with a Cisco NX-OS image that does not provide guest shell support, the existing guest shell is automatically removed and a %VMAN-2-INVALID_PACKAGE message is issued. As a best practice, remove the guest shell with the guestshell destroy command before downgrading to an earlier Cisco NX-OS image.

• You must delete the switch profile (if configured) when downgrading from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports switch profiles to a release that does not. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 3600 Series NX-OS System Management Configuration Guide.

Note	Software downgrades are disruptive. In-service software downgrades (ISSDs), also known as nondisruptive downgrades, are not supported.

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

• Before you downgrade from a Cisco NX-OS release that supports the Control Plane Policing (CoPP) feature to an earlier Cisco NX-OS release that does not support the CoPP feature, you should verify compatibility using the show incompatibility nxos bootflash:filename command. If an incompatibility exists, disable any features that are incompatible with the downgrade image before downgrading the software.