Upgrade IOS in a Cisco 2060X Switch Stack

Part of a network administrator's role is upgrading the IOS of the networking devices. Since we are moving to stacking switches for ease of maintenance, I deemed it worthy of a blog post.

I have a Cisco 2960X Switch stack with one master and one member. The stack currently has the IOS: c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX3.bin.  This project is to upgrade the stack to : c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin. 

copy tftp flash1:c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin
copy tftp flash2;c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin

boot system switch all flash: c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin

Prepareration
 Verify new switch is the correct model.
“Burn In” in new switch.
 Configure the switch number and priority level of the new switch.
                                                           
Implementation
                                                           

 The priority levels on the master and slave switches are currently both set to“1”. In order to ensure master selection of the top switch, the priority of that switch should be set to a higher value. The priority on switch 2 needs to be set to a value higher than “3” to ensure switch 3 will be in module 3.
Procedure
1.       Switch 1 priority 14
2.       Switch 2 priority 7

 Upgrade the IOS on the current NB350-2960X Switch Stack.
1.       The current IOS is c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX3.bin
2.       This should be upgraded to c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin.
1.       c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin has been running on the 2960X Switch Stack is Cisco’s recommended version and in suite 400 for a considerable period of time with no issues.
Procedure
1.       copy tftp flash1:c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin
2.       copy tftp flash2:c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin
3.       boot system switch all flash: c2960x-universalk9-mz.150-2.EX5.bin
4.       wr
5.       reload

Provision the new member for the stack
1.       Procedure is on Master Switch.
1.       Switch 3 provision ws-c2960x-48fps-l
2.       end
3.       wr
                                                            d.      Power down all three switches.
                                                            e.      Remove stacking cables from the stack.
                                                              f.      Cable the switches together in the illustrated formation.

C.      Verify correct configuration with the following commands.
                                                             a.      Show switch
1.       All values should match the following table values.
Switch#
Role
Mac Address
Priority
H/W Version
Current State
*1
Master
189c.5d8b.5800
14
4
Ready
2
Member
34db.fd2f.d480
7
4
Ready
3
Member

3
4
Ready

                                                            b.      Show int status
1.       Modules 1 and 2 should be unchanged.
1.      Switch 3 should display as Gi3/0/1-52 as the default configurations.

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