Downloading an S-Series Firmware Image via the Serial Port

FAQ_User — Thu, 05 Sep 2013 06:03:00 GMT

Article ID: 14140

Products
S-Series

Goals
Download a firmware image using the serial port.
Z-modem upgrade instructions.

Solution
A firmware upgrade of an S-Series system is most commonly performed using one of the system USB ports (12740). However, this requires that a firmware image has already successfully booted and the system is operative.

When there is no adequate firmware image present to boot the system, the serial Zmodem (aka "Z Modem" or "Z-modem") upgrade process is used to provide the necessary firmware image via a module's micro-USB port (12453).

The following instructions are taken from Chapter 3 of the Enterasys S-Series Configuration Guide FW 07.21.xx, found on the Documentation tab at https://extranet.enterasys.com/downloads/Pages/S.aspx.

Two key points:

In these instructions, the term "console port" refers to the target switch module's micro-USB port.
The baud rate settings of the terminal/serial application must match the baud rate in effect on the switch module, or data transfer between them (in either direction) will not be possible.

Downloading a Firmware Image via the Serial Port

Besides using FTP, TFTP, or SCP for downloading firmware images, you can also download firmware images via the serial (console) port. This procedure is an out-of-band operation that copies the firmware through the serial port to the device. It should be used in cases when you cannot connect to the device to perform the in-band copy download procedure via FTP, TFTP or SCP. Serial console download has been successfully tested with the following applications:

- HyperTerminal - TeraTermAny other terminal applications may work but are not explicitly supported.

Important Notice
The S-Series device allows you to download and store multiple image files. This feature is useful for reverting back to a previous version in the event that a firmware upgrade fails to boot successfully. After downloading firmware as described above, you can select which image file you want the device to load at startup using the setboot command in the System Image Loader menu or the set boot system command.

To download device firmware via the serial (console) port, proceed as follows:

With the console port connected (12453), power up the device. The following message displays:Boot ROM Initialization, Version 01.00.02 Copyright (c) 2003 Enterasys Networks, Inc. SDRAM size: 1024 MB Testing SDRAM.... PASSED. Loading Boot Image: 01.00.19... DONE. Uncompressing Boot Image... DONE.
Once the boot image is finished uncompressing, you receive a message indicating you have 3 seconds to access the bootloader menu by pressing any key. Press a key and the system image loader prompt displays:###You have 3 seconds to access the bootloader menu### Press any key to enter System Image Loader menu < PressAnyKey > [System Image Loader]:
To display help for all the system image loader mode commands, enter a question mark (?):[System Image Loader]:? ?, help - print this list boot - boot (load and go) delete - delete an image file download - start ZMODEM download list - display available images log - message log setbaud - set baud rate, (9600,38400,57600,115200) setboot - change boot image file showboot - display boot image file clearnvram - clear persistent storage [System Image Loader]:
Use the list command to display the images currently on this device.
The baud rate can be set to 9600, 38400, 57600, or 115200. Using the setbaud command, set the baud rate to 115200:[System Image Loader]: setbaud 1152000 ###Change the baud of the terminal program to 1152000### [System Image Loader]:
Use the download command to start the ZMODEM receive process. Send the image file using the ZModem protocol from your terminal application. (This procedure will vary depending on your application.) When the ZModem download is finished, the following message displays:[System Image Loader]: download Preparing to receive file... **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ###Start the ZMODEM transfer from the terminal software### Writing file... Download successful. [System Image Loader]:
Use the list command to confirm the images that are currently on the device, and confirm the image currently listed as the boot image. If the current boot image is not the image you want to boot with, use the setboot filename command to set the correct boot image:[System Image Loader]: list Filename: 720010001 (Boot) Version: 07.20.01.0001 Size: 4527490 (bytes) Date: FRI DEC 10 15:32:24 2010 CheckSum: d89ace409317bc765789fce1c73b8745 Compatibility: < listOfCompatibleDevices > Filename: 720010025 Version: 07.20.01.0025 Size: 4529790 (bytes) Date: THU DEC 09 22:38:54 2010 CheckSum: 6ccaaf8a5b77d7d34c6c3d972b381024 Compatibility: < listOfCompatibleDevices > [System Image Loader]:setboot 720010025 [System Image Loader]:list Filename: 720010001 Version: 07.20.01.0001 Size: 4527490 (bytes) Date: FRI DEC 10 15:32:24 2010 CheckSum: d89ace409317bc765789fce1c73b8745 Compatibility: < listOfCompatibleDevices > Filename: 720010025 (Boot) Version: 07.20.01.0025 Size: 4529790 (bytes) Date: THU DEC 09 22:38:54 2010 CheckSum: 6ccaaf8a5b77d7d34c6c3d972b381024 Compatibility: < listOfCompatibleDevices > [System Image Loader]:Note: If you reboot without specifying the image to boot with setboot as described above, the device will attempt to load whatever image is currently stored in the bootstring via the setboot system command. If the device cannot find the image, or it is not set, it will search through available images and attempt to boot the newest one. If the device finds and successfully boots an image file, it will set the bootstring to the name of that image file.
Use the boot command to reboot using the new image.

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Downloading an S-Series Firmware Image via the Serial Port