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B-23
Cisco ME 3400 Ethernet Access Switch Software Configuration Guide
OL-9639-06
Appendix B Working with the Cisco IOS File System, Configuration Files, and Software Images
Working with Software Images
Note Instead of using the copy privileged EXEC command or the archive tar privileged EXEC command, we
recommend using the archive download-sw and archive upload-sw privileged EXEC commands to
download and upload software image files.
You can download a switch image file from a TFTP, FTP, or RCP server to upgrade the switch software.
For information about upgrading your switch by using a TFTP server, see the release notes
You can replace the current image with the new one or keep the current image in flash memory after a
download.
You upload a switch image file to a TFTP, FTP, or RCP server for backup purposes. You can use this
uploaded image for future downloads to the same switch or to another of the same type.
The protocol that you use depends on which type of server you are using. The FTP and RCP transport
mechanisms provide faster performance and more reliable delivery of data than TFTP. These
improvements are possible because FTP and RCP are built on and use the TCP/IP stack, which is
connection-oriented.
These sections contain this configuration information:
• Image Location on the Switch, page B-23
• tar File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com, page B-23
• Copying Image Files By Using TFTP, page B-24
• Copying Image Files By Using FTP, page B-27
• Copying Image Files By Using RCP, page B-31
Note For a list of software images and the supported upgrade paths, see the release notes for your switch.
Image Location on the Switch
The Cisco IOS image is stored as a .bin file in a directory that shows the version number. A subdirectory
contains the files needed for web management. The image is stored on the system board flash memory
(flash:).
You can use the show version privileged EXEC command to see the software version that is currently
running on your switch. In the display, check the line that begins with
System image file is... . It
shows the directory name in flash memory where the image is stored.
You can also use the dir filesystem: privileged EXEC command to see the directory names of other
software images that you might have stored in flash memory.
tar File Format of Images on a Server or Cisco.com
Software images located on a server or downloaded from Cisco.com are provided in a tar file format,
which contains these files:
• An info file, which serves as a table of contents for the tar file
• One or more subdirectories containing other images and files, such as Cisco IOS images