Tag: configuration

Recovering from a Cisco 9500 Firmware ISSU Upgrade

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Cisco, Routing & Switching, Uncategorized

Today, I had a activity to execute an IOS XE upgrade on a Cisco 9500 switch using from the current version to a newer version which is running in SSO mode.

I started by performing pre-checks on the verify that the switch is in the correct state and working as expected.

The pre-checks included:

  • Check the switch current IOS XE version

    C9500# show versions | in IOS XE
  • Check the switches connection

    C9500# show switch
  • Check the Flash free space

    C9500# dir flash: | in free
  • Check the state of switch ISSU

    C9500# show issu state detail
  • Check the install state

    C9500# show install summary
  • Check the switch is in SSO mode

    C9500# show redundancy
  • Check the switch that auto-boot is enabled

    C9500# show boot system
  • Check the exiting boot file on flash

    C9500# dir flash: | in bin


    Once the pre-checks has been completed. It is time to clean up the previous installation files.
    Use the following commands to perform this activity:
  • Copy the old image and backup current configuration to TFTP or USB drive

    C9500# copy bootflash:<old_image.bin> usbflash
    C9500# copy running_config usbflash

    OR

    C9500# copy bootflash:<old_image.bin> tftp:
    C9500# copy running_config tftp:
  • Remove any old image installation files from the flash (note that if you copy new image before this command, it will be included in the list of files to be removed)

    C9500# install remove inactive
  • Copy new image to be switch flash

    C9500# copy usbflash:<new_image.bin> bootflash:
    C9500# copy tftp:new_image.cfg bootflash:
  • Verify new image hash with Cisco website

    C9500# verify /md5 flash:<new_image.bin>
  • Start the ISSU to upgrade IOS XE

    C9500# install add file flash:<new_image.bin> activate issu commit

My colleague had recommended and experiencing switch upgrades first hand, it is a good practice to monitor the switch’s IOS XE upgrades from the console port while the switch is reloading.
You have visibility of any errors that shows on the console.
It is worth having the console session logged during the activity for reference that may be used for troubleshooting and support.

Recovering from the standby switch that booted into ROMMON mode with the error failed to Boot URL not found or incorrect.

  • Executed these commands on the standby switch in SSO mode

    ROMMON 1> dir flash:
    ROMMON 1> boot flash:<image-name.bin>
    OR
    ROMMON 1> boot flash:package.conf00-

The standby switch booted into the previous state.

  • Aborted the ISSU state on the active switch before standby switch loaded

    C9500# install abort issu

  • If ISSU failed to abort, these are other useful commands that was not necessary in my case. Enable service install that is required to clear install state

    C9500# configure terminal
    C9500(config)# service internal
    C9500(config)# end

    C9500# clear install state

I hope these commands were useful for managing switch upgrades.

reference:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/interfaces-modules/catalyst-6000-backplane-clock-modules/223261-troubleshoot-issu-upgrade-failures-on.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst9500/software/release/17-18/configuration_guide/ha/b_1718_ha_9500_cg/configuring_issu_on_stackwise_virtual.html

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-9500-series-switches/214406-in-service-software-upgrade-issu-on-ca.html#toc-hId–458892867

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-9500-series-switches/222279-upgrading-catalyst-9500-switches.html

Cisco Stackwise – Stack Master Election

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Cisco, Routing & Switching

I was study the topic on Stackwise under the CCNP R&S Switch and saw some discrepancies on the order of the stack Master Election.

I had to resort to the Cisco 3750X configuration guide to get some clarification and this is what I discovered:

The Stack master election is done in this order:

  1. The switch that is currently the stack master
  2. The switch with the highest stack member priority
  3. The switch that is not using the default interface configuration
  4.  The switch with the highest IOS feature
    1. IP services
    2. IP based
  5. The switch uptime
  6. The switch with the lowest MAC address

I hope this clarify the stack master election.

 

Common Switch Commands for the HP FlexNetwork

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in HP, Routing & Switching, Uncategorized

I have recently had to interact with an HP FlexNetwork 5510 switches and the command syntax was totally different from the HP-Aruba 2530. This article is to document the common switch commands that I use on a daily basis.

  • Show (Display) the list of interfaces and their status

display interfaces brief

  • list the directly connected devices using LLDP

display lldp neighbor-information list

  • Enter enable mode or exec privilege mode

system-view

  • Save switch startup configuration

write

  • Show the running configuration

display current-configuration

  • Configure IP helper on an interface

interface [interface_type]

dhcp select relay

dhcp relay server-address [dhcp_ip_address]

  • Configure NTP Service

ntp-service enable
ntp-service unicast-server 10.71.152.229
ntp-service unicast-server 10.220.0.35

  • Configure SSH

ssh server enable

ssh client source interface [interface]

service-type ssh terminal

  • Configure the default gateway

ip route-static 0.0.0.0 [gateway_ipaddress]

  • Configure interface as layer 2

port link-mode bridge

  • Configure interface as layer 3

port link-mode route

  •  Configure the interface as a trunk

port link-type trunk

port trunk permit vlan [vlan-id]

  • Configure the local user account to manage the switch

local-user [username] class manage
password simple [password]
service-type [options: ssh telnet terminal]
authorization-attribute user-role [role-name]

I will be adding more command as time goes by and I get familiar with the CLI.

Microsoft: Manipulating Windows Network Adapter using PowerShell

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Microsoft, Routing & Switching, windows, Windows server, Wireless

This article is about configuring the network adapter using PowerShell cmdlet:

To get a list of the names of physical network adapter, the following command was used:

Get-NetAdapter -Physical

To get the IP address assigned to the network adapter:

Get-NetIPAddress | Format-Table

To enable/disable the network adapter:

Enable-NetAdapter [-Name] “NetAdapterName”

Disable-NetAdapter [-Name] “NetAdapterName”

Restart-NetAdapter [-Name] “NetAdapterName”

To set dynamic IP address assignment for network adapter:

Set-NetIPAddress -AddressFamily IPv4 -PrefixOrigin Dhcp

To set static IP address for network adapter:

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex [NetAdapterIndex] -IPAddress 192.168.0.1 -PrefixLength 24 -DefaultGateway 192.168.0.5

Set-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex [index] -IPAddress 10.0.0.9 -PrefixLength 24

To set DNS IP address for network adapter:

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex 12 -ServerAddresses(“10.0.0.1”,“10.0.0.2”)

Or

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex 12 -ResetServerAddresses

For more commands and help on this topic, you can visit the Microsoft documentation site here.

Manipulating Windows Network Adapter using Network Shell

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Microsoft, Routing & Switching, windows, Windows server, Wireless

This adventure of configuring the network adapter started when I required admin rights to modify the settings because UAC (User Access Control) was disabled which prevented the prompting of admin privilege. The challenge was that I did not want to log off or switch user account hence I had to resort to using elevated privilege for the command prompt and utilize the network shell.

To get a list of the names of network adapter, the following command was used:

netsh interface show interface

To get the IP address assigned to the network adapter:

netsh interface ipv4 show addresses

To enable/disable the network adapter:

netsh interface set interface name=”NameOfInterface” admin=[ENABLED/DISABLED]

To set dynamic IP address assignment for network adapter:

netsh interface ipv4 set address source=dhcp

To set static IP address for network adapter:

netsh interface ipv4 set address static 10.0.0.9 255.255.255.0 10.0.0.1

To set DNS IP address for network adapter:

netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers source=dhcp

Or

netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers static 10.0.0.10 primary

For WLAN network adapter:

netsh wlan show interfaces

Show the Wireless networks broadcasting:

netsh wlan show networks

Show the WLAN profiles on computer:

netsh wlan show profiles

Connect to one of the WLAN profile configured on computer:

netsh wlan connect name=[ProfileName]

Disconnect from the currently connected WLAN SSID

network wlan disconnect name=[InterfaceName]

For more commands and help on this topic, you can visit the Microsoft documentation site here.

VCP65-DCV – Objective 8.2 – Create and Deploy Host Profiles

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in VMware

The following reference material from the vSphere 6.5 online documentation will assist you in covering the main information that is needed to know the topics in this objective:

  1. Using Host Profiles
  2. Disable Host Profile Component
  3. Edit Host Customizations
  4. Set Up Host Profiles for Static IP Addresses in the vSphere Web Client
  5. Configure Security Host Profiles
  6. Quickly see major enhancements Host profiles vSphere 6.5 (VMware Blogs)
  7. Remediate Host
  8. Import a Host Profile
  9. Export a Host Profile
  10. Understanding Host Profiles handles host specific configuration settings customizations (VMware Blogs)

VCP65-DCV – Objective 6.1 – Configure and Administer vCenter Appliance Backup/Restore

by Samuel Mitchell, posted in VMware

The following reference material from the vSphere 6.5 online documentation will assist you in covering the main information that is needed to know the topics in this objective:

  1. VMware VCSA 6.5 Backup and Restore How-To (vladan.fr)
  2. Know about the SEAT (Stats, Events and Tasks) in VAMI (get familiar with the interface)
  3. Know about the VAMI – use port 5480
  4. Know the difference destination for backup – FTP, FTPS, HTTP(s) and SCP