Cisco Device Management

IOS System Image Backup & Recovery

Sections:

Use Case Scenarios:

  • Protection Against Software Corruption or Failure
  • Facilitating Software Upgrades or Downgrades
  • Fast Recovery After a Device or IOS Failure
  • Simplifying Replacement of Faulty Hardware
  • Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
  • Compliance and Version Control

(Backup) Save Image to FTP Server

(Backup & Recovery) Save or Pull image from USB Flash Drive

Verify image in USB Flash.

Transfer image to Flash.

Verify boot system to image location.

(Recovery) Scenario 1: Pull image from FTP Server when not in RONMON mode / Image is only in RAM

Example of deleting the image from Flash.

(Recovery) Scenario 2: Pull image from Xmodem recovery if in RONMON Mode

Note: Some Catalyst switches do not support TFTP download from RONMON mode / Alternative is to utilize the software HyperTerm using Cisco Xmodem recovery. It is a terminal application that is used to connect to modems or other devices through COM ports. BAUD rate of IOS device will be set higher to speed up Xmodem recovery procedure.

Note: HyperTerm will be run on the PC that is connected to the cisco device via console. Cisco IOS image will need to be present on the PC whether by USB or acquired from FTP/TFTP server using an FTP/TFTP client. 

Note: HyperTerm recovery procedure will approximately take up to 2 hours depending on image size.

Note: After setting BAUD variable - restart terminal emulator with the 115200 BAUD rate to regain access to device

Verifying Environment Variables.

Initialize the flash directory for use.

HyperTerm Download: https://www.hilgraeve.com/hyperterminal-trial/

Resource: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-2950-series-switches/41845-192.html#toc-hId--1902267570

Set-up a new connection to represent the serial connection to the device via COM.

Ensure BAUD rate is set to 115200 for transmission speed.

Start the serial transmission by using the Xmodem utility and specifying the image to pull and acquire.

Upon starting the transmission by noting the 'CC' specify the image file by sending the image via 'send file'.

Select image file and utilize Xmodem protocol.

Sit and wait until image transmission via serial is complete.

Transmission complete.

Verify Boot path before reloading device.

Verify image has downloaded and is located in Flash.

Note: Unset BAUD to restore default of 9600. Re-open terminal emulator of your choice to regain device access. From here, reset to reboot back into IOS image

(Recovery) Scenario 3: Pull image from FTP Server in RONMON mode

Note: A way to know if a Cisco device supports tftp in RONMON mode is to type '?' for a list of available commands

Set the below required variables under RONMON 81-86 lines to your network configuration.

Device begins to download image from the TFTP server.

(Recovery) Scenario 4: Pull image from USB Flash Drive in RONMON mode