Question

Cisco Catalyst Switches

Asked by: dbrannigan

I am configuring a Catalyst 2948G switch. At the moment I have it booting into rommon mode before I execute manually the CatOS image to boot.

I was wondering where the rommon settings are stored? I understand that it is ROM so it can't be saved here! Is it saved in NVRAM?
When I refer to settings I mean things like aliases and set variables ie

rommon 1 > alias
r=repeat
h=history
?=help
b=boot
ls=dir
i=reset
cp=copy
rommon 2 > set
PS1=rommon ! >
MemorySize=64
ResetCause=198
TmpfsAddr=2197815296
TmpfsSize=12582912
TmpfsDirectorySize=10240
DiagFreePageLimit=12288
AutobootStatus=fail
?=0
ROMVERSION=5.4(1)

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Asked On
2003-05-13 at 07:09:22ID20614812
Tags

ps1

,

resetcause

,

roms

Topics

Miscellaneous Networking

,

Networking Hardware

Participating Experts
5
Points
125
Comments
14

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Answers

 

by: rrhunt28Posted on 2003-05-13 at 07:31:05ID: 8517154

Typically cisco devices have a flashable rom.  Simply refered to as flash.  So that it can be flashed and changed.  That is how you load up the IOS.

 

by: rrhunt28Posted on 2003-05-13 at 07:31:51ID: 8517159

And ofcorse there is a rom rom, that stores very basic start up information incase the flash and/or nvram are damanged or missing.

 

by: dbranniganPosted on 2003-05-13 at 08:45:12ID: 8517768

Thanks

So what you are saying is that rommon mode is effectively running from flash? I would of thought that ROMMOM was the rom rom mode? ie when flash is empty etc

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2003-05-13 at 12:54:58ID: 8519794

ROMMON is a simple instruction code (in ROM) called when the router first starts, its job is to locate the IOS system which is stored in Flash Rom (usually)

As the IOS boots it looks for the startup-configuration which is stored in Flash Rom also (sometimes called nvram)

When it finds the startup-config it loads it into memory (Normal volatile RAM) and it becomes the running configuration.

 

by: rrhunt28Posted on 2003-05-13 at 13:04:14ID: 8519857

Isnt that Non volatile ram?

And yes, the ROM, is a basic set of boot instructions so that even fresh out of a box the router or switch can boot.  Then you have your flash rom, that holds your IOS system, and then you have your ram which is where your routing tables and running config are stored.  Start up config is saved in the NVRAM

 

by: PeteLongPosted on 2003-05-13 at 13:20:25ID: 8519971

WoW an echo :)

 

by: themobilemanPosted on 2003-05-13 at 19:17:20ID: 8521912

Flash holds IOS/CatOS.
ROM holds the switch's bootstrap code.
NVRAM holds the switch's configuration.  It is oftentimes battery-operated.

....and sometimes Cisco uses Flash for the purpose of NVRAM!.

On your Catalyst 2948G, plain old RAM is used for layer 2 and layer 3 running operations.

I hope this clarifies!

 

by: dbranniganPosted on 2003-05-14 at 05:51:46ID: 8524098

Thanks,

NVRAM holds the configuration ie the running-config (well for the routers at least!)

I upgraded the ROMMON on the switch to version 6.1 from 4.5. How is this possible if this is ROM? ie I though that the rommon would be a factory ROM chip. Also the settings that i can see in ROMMON ie bootflash:<IOS FILE!> these must be stored in NVRAM? and queried when from rommon when the switch starts?

Ta

 

by: dbranniganPosted on 2003-05-14 at 07:03:02ID: 8524418

Thanks,

NVRAM holds the configuration ie the running-config (well for the routers at least!)

I upgraded the ROMMON on the switch to version 6.1 from 4.5. How is this possible if this is ROM? ie I though that the rommon would be a factory ROM chip. Also the settings that i can see in ROMMON ie bootflash:<IOS FILE!> these must be stored in NVRAM? and queried when from rommon when the switch starts?

Ta

 

by: rrhunt28Posted on 2003-05-14 at 08:39:40ID: 8525137

They are stored in the Flash more than likely.

 

by: dbranniganPosted on 2003-05-14 at 09:13:47ID: 8525453

Just had a look on ciscos website got some info:

"The boot process involves two software images: ROM monitor and supervisor engine system code.
When the switch is powered up or reset, the ROM monitor code is executed. Depending on the
nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) configuration, the switch either stays in ROM monitor mode or loads the
supervisor engine system code."

 

by: CleanupPingPosted on 2003-08-14 at 20:15:40ID: 9152034

dbrannigan:
This old question needs to be finalized -- accept an answer, split points, or get a refund.  For information on your options, please click here-> http:/help/closing.jsp#1
EXPERTS:
Post your closing recommendations!  No comment means you don't care.

 

by: juliancrawfordPosted on 2004-01-15 at 17:56:11ID: 10126277

No comment has been added lately, so it's time to clean up this TA.
I will leave the following recommendation for this question in the Cleanup topic area:

Split: rrhunt28 {http:#8517154} & PeteLong {http:#8519794}

Please leave any comments here within the next seven days.
PLEASE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS COMMENT AS AN ANSWER!

Julian Crawford
EE Cleanup Volunteer

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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