Upgrade Steps for Cloud-managed Catalyst Switches
Overview
With the release of IOS XE 17.15.1, we are beginning an exciting transition from a container-based architecture to one based on native IOS XE with support for Meraki cloud management. This drastically simpler architecture unlocks many benefits for your cloud-managed Cisco Catalyst switches, including the 9300-M, 9300L-M, 9300X-M, and MS390 families. This includes faster boot and initialization performance, especially for stacks, and the start of a new generation of capabilities we will deliver with faster speed. It also introduces the ability to perform CLI show commands directly from Dashboard! We've also expanded support to include the C9200L hardware platform through the migration program. Lastly, we've enhanced logging capabilities with native Catalyst logging support.
Starting with IOS-XE 17.15.1, your switch(es) can upgrade and transition from CS firmware to cloud-native IOS XE, managed by Meraki Cloud. For details on the cloud-native IOS XE architecture and software capabilities of this new release, refer to the Cloud Native IOS XE Overview document or the FAQ document.
This document walks you through a step-by-step guide on how to upgrade your existing cloud-managed Catalyst switches to the new cloud-native IOS XE architecture and unlock the enhancements and various capabilities it offers.
Pre-requisites
Supported Models
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Catalyst 9300-M |
C9300-24T-M, C9300-24P-M, C9300-24U-M , C9300-24UX-M , C9300-48T-M , C9300-48P-M , C9300-48U-M , C9300-48UXM-M , C9300-48UN-M , C9300-24S-M, C9300-48S-M , C9300X-12Y-M, C9300X-24Y-M, C9300X-48HXN-M, C9300X-24HX-M, C9300X-48HX-M, C9300X-48TX-M, C9300L-24P-4X-M, C9300L-24T-4X-M, C9300L-24UXG-4X-M, C9300L-48P-4X-M, C9300L-48PF-4X-M, C9300L-48T-4X-M, C9300L-48UXG-4X-M |
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Catalyst 9300 on CS firmware |
C9300-24T, C9300-24P, C9300-24U , C9300-24UX , C9300-48T , C9300-48P , C9300-48U , C9300-48UXM , C9300-48UN , C9300-24S, C9300-48S , C9300X-12Y, C9300X-24Y, C9300X-48HXN, C9300X-24HX, C9300X-48HX, C9300X-48TX |
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MS390 |
MS390-24-HW, MS390-24P-HW, MS390-24U-HW, MS390-24UX-HW, MS390-48-HW, MS390-48P-HW, MS390-48U-HW, MS390-48UX-HW, MS390-48UX2-HW |
Minimum Firmware Requirement
Cloud-managed Catalyst switches should be running CS16 or CS17 firmware before initiating the upgrade to cloud-native IOS XE.
Steps to upgrade to the cloud-native IOS XE release
1. Schedule a firmware upgrade from the Organization > Firmware Upgrades > Schedule Upgrades page on the Meraki Dashboard. You should expect to see the IOS XE firmware version to upgrade to with IOS XE 17.15.1 being the first ever cloud-native version to be available on the dashboard.
2. Below is a step-by-step flow of different upgrade stages your switch would go through.
We expect the typical outage time (actual time the switch isn’t able to forward traffic) to be roughly 30-45 minutes, but our recommendation would be to plan to leave the switch online for an hour after the switch is back online to allow the install to be marked safe/complete without interrupting the upgrade process.
Refer to the LED scheme documented in Cloud Native IOS XE Firmware Overview to interpret the LED behavior expected during the firmware upgrade process for the cloud-managed catalyst switches.
Rolling Back to Non-cloud Native Release
If you wish to rollback the cloud-managed catalyst switches to the CS16 or CS17 releases, you can do so by either initiating a rollback from the Organization > Firmware Upgrades page if it was a recent upgrade or you can schedule another upgrade for the network choosing C16/CS17 as the target version instead.
For detailed steps on scheduling a firmware upgrade or rollback, refer to the Managing Firmware Guide.