8-4 SmartSwitch 6500 User Guide
Upgrading and Changing Firmware Upgrades and Firmware
8.1.3 Upgrading Boot Load firmware
Two images of the boot load firmware reside in flash RAM. The two images are identified as boot load image 0 and
boot load image 1. Both boot load images can be upgraded by using a TFTP/Bootp server. However, an upgrade is
always written over the boot load image that is not currently running. This insures that if a boot load upgrade fails,
there is still one good boot load image to fall back on.
Follow the steps below to upgrade the switch boot load firmware.
1. Set up the TFTP/Bootp server software on a workstation.
2. Connect both the TFTP/Bootp server and the SmartSwitch 6500 to your Ethernet network. Make
sure that the TFTP/Bootp server can be reached by the SmartSwitch 6500 Ethernet interface.
3. Connect a dumb terminal (or PC running terminal emulation software) to the SmartSwitch 6500
Terminal port.
4. Copy the SmartSwitch 6500 boot load firmware image into the appropriate location on the
TFTP/Bootp server. (In this example, the firmware is copied to c:\tftpboot\images\boot.ima.)
5. Set up the TFTP/Bootp server tables (or equivalent file) with:
-
SmartSwitch 6500 MAC address
-
IP address of the SmartSwitch 6500 Ethernet interface
-
path to the boot image file on the TFTP/Bootp server
6. From the terminal connection, enter the reboot command.
7. When the following message appears,
“Press any key to exit to boot load prompt.”
stop the countdown by pressing any key. The boot load prompt (=>) appears on the terminal screen.
8. Enter the df B command. The SmartSwitch 6500 contacts the TFTP/Bootp server and downloads
the file into the boot load image location that corresponds to the boot load image not currently
running. For example, if boot load image 0 is running,
df B downloads the file into boot load image
1, leaving boot load image 0 untouched.
=>df b
You've requested a Boot Load Software download
Are you sure?(Y/N)y
Initializing ethernet...
Starting Bootp...
Boot file: c:\tftpboot\images\boot.ima
Using TFTP to get bootfile "c:\tftpboot\boot\boot.ima" .
........................................................
.................................................
Validity checks of the Boot Load Software Downloaded file...
All Validity checks OK
Programming downloaded image into Boot Load Software1 area, please wait...
New Boot Load Software programmed successfully.
Modifying Control/Stat field to reflect new image change, please wait...
Control/Stat field programmed successfully.
Please reboot to execute new Boot Load Software
=>
9. If the new boot load firmware passes the validity checks, it is marked as the new default image. In
the example above, boot load image 1 becomes the new default image.
10. Reboot the SmartSwitch 6500 to run the new boot load firmware. Notice that the boot load message
at start-up indicates that the SmartSwitch 6500 is now loading and running boot load image 1.