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This configuration note is a standalone publication that provides instructions for installing, removing, and using Flash Disks in Cisco products that have PC Card slots—formerly called Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) slots. This document also applies to the compact Flash Disk used on the Cisco 7401ASR router. (For a list of Cisco products that support the Flash Disk—and how they support it—see the "Hardware Requirements" section).
Flash Disks and the compact Flash Disk provide from 48 MB to 256 MB of storage space for your configuration files, Cisco IOS software images, and so forth. (For a more complete discussion of Flash Disk features, see the "Product Description" section.)
This configuration note includes the following sections:
Your Cisco router and the Cisco IOS software running on it contain extensive features and functionality, which are documented online and in the following resources:
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Note You can access Cisco IOS software configuration and hardware installation and maintenance documentation on the World Wide Web at http://www.cisco.com . Translated documentation is available at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/public/countries_languages.shtml |
Translated documentation is available at the following URL: http://www.cisco.com/public/countries_languages.shtml
For hardware installation and maintenance information, refer to the following documents:
This section describes installation prerequisites you should observe before you can use the Flash Disk or compact Flash Disk in your system, and includes the following subsections:
The Flash Disk provides file storage for the Cisco products listed in the section "Hardware Requirements" if these systems are running the applicable Cisco IOS release listed in Table 1, Table 2, or a later release.
| Platform | Minimum Supported Cisco IOS Release or Later Release |
|---|---|
Using the Flash Disk requires that you upgrade the boot image to Cisco IOS Release 12.0(2) or a later release of 12.0. Refer to the "Sample Upgrade Process" section for upgrade instructions. (For additional information regarding boot image requirements, see the "Compatibility Requirements" section.)
You can use the Flash Disk for file storage in the PC Card slots of the following Cisco products:
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Note The 48-MB, 64-MB, and 128-MB Flash Disk are not supported with the NPE-100, NPE-150, or NPE-200 in a Cisco 7200 series system router or Cisco uBR7200 series universal broadband router. |
For convenience throughout this publication, the I/O controller, Route Switch Module (RSM), network processing engine (NPE), and RSP8 are referred to as the system processor. Specific differences are clearly noted.
You need some or all of the following tools and parts to install a Flash Disk:
This section discusses Flash Disk compatibility and use between supported systems.
In order to boot a Cisco IOS software image from the Flash Disk, when the system is executing from the ROM monitor software image, your ROM monitor software image and your boot image must be from one of the minimum Cisco IOS releases listed in Table 1. Use the show version or show hardware commands to verify that your RSP8-based system is running these software images. The NPE-300 or later version installed in the Cisco 7204VXR and Cisco 7206VXR systems meets these requirements.
The format command places a processor-specific library on the Flash Disk so that the ROM monitor software can read the Flash memory media. If you plan to use the boot or dir commands at the ROM monitor prompt (rommon>), you might need to reformat your Flash Disk if it was not already formatted on a like system processor. To ensure Flash Disk system compatibility, observe the following guidelines:
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Note The Flash Disk is supported as the primary boot medium for the RSP8-, NPE-300-, and later-based systems only. In all other systems, you should use the Flash Disk side by side with a linear Flash memory card. In systems using a Flash Disk with a linear Flash memory card, it is possible to boot from a Flash Disk; however, you must maintain a bootable image on a linear Flash memory card to ensure that your system is bootable if the boot flash memory software image becomes corrupted. |
The read-only memory (ROM) monitor image on your system performs important functions, such as running a brief set of system diagnostics, and initializing the hardware. This image gains control at reset or power on, or after a nonrecoverable event (such as a bus error). The ROM monitor software image has a rudimentary user interface that is recognizable by way of the ROM monitor prompt (rommon>). The ROM monitor software image has console drivers and trap handlers for parity and bus errors; however, the ROM monitor does not have any network interface code and it cannot boot an image over the network.
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Note The ROM monitor is only able to load an image from boot flash memory, linear Flash memory cards, or a Flash Disk (in RSP8-, NPE-300-, and later-based systems only). |
By default, and as a result of a reset or power on, the ROM monitor loads the boot image from boot flash memory. If the ROM monitor cannot find a bootable image in boot flash memory, it searches the PC Card-based devices (such as linear Flash memory cards or Flash Disks) for the first bootable image. Normally, this would be the boot image (such as rsp-boot-mz or c7200-boot-mz).
The boot image, when loaded, looks in the boot environment variables—stored in nonvolatile random-access memory (NVRAM)—to determine the location of the Cisco IOS software image and the configuration to use. If boot environment variables are not defined, the system will boot the first image found on a Flash Disk, or if no such image is found, it will boot the first image found on a linear Flash memory card.
The operation of the boot environment variables is described in the "Boot Environment Variables" section, which follows.
The contents of the boot environment variables, which are stored in the configuration file in NVRAM, determine the actions your system takes on bootup. To see the current settings of these variables, use the show bootvar command as follows:
Following are explanations for each of these boot environment variables:
Enter configuration mode and specify a filename and PC Card slot from which to boot using the configure terminal and boot system commands as follows:
The result of this configuration file entry is that the BOOT variable is disk0:rsp-p-mz.12-0.
The result of this configuration file entry is that the CONFIG_FILE variable is disk0:configfile.
The result of this configuration file entry is that the BOOTLDR variable is bootflash:c7200-boot-mz.
The result of this configuration file entry is that the configuration register is set to hexadecimal 0x102. Please see the Cisco 7200 VXR Installation and Configuration Guide (Chapter 4, "Observing System Startup and Performing a Basic Configuration") at http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/core/7200vx/72vxicg/configvx.htm for more information about the configuration register.
This section applies to users who want to use Flash Disks for simple file storage.
Step 2 Upgrade your onboard Flash memory by copying the Cisco IOS Release 12.x boot image (such as c7200-boot-mz) into onboard Flash memory. (See the "Using the copy Command" section.)
Step 3 Copy the Release 12.x software image from onboard Flash memory to the linear Flash memory card in your system processor's PC Card slot. (See the "Using the copy Command" section.)
Step 4 Change the boot variables in your configuration file to point to the new Cisco IOS image in your linear Flash memory card. (See the preceding section, "Boot Environment Variables," and the "Making a Flash Disk-Based Software Image the Bootable Software Image" section.)
Step 5 Reboot your system to load the Release 12.x software image from the linear Flash memory card in your system processor.
Step 6 Insert a Flash Disk. (See the "Installing a Flash Disk" section.)
Step 7 With your system running Cisco IOS release 12.x, format the blank Flash Disk. (See the format command description in Table 5, and the "Using the format Command" section.)
You should now be able to store configuration files and Cisco IOS software images on your Flash Disk.
If you have an NPE-300-based system (or a later processor), you should now be able to boot from any Cisco IOS software images you store on your Flash Disk.
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Note To boot from Cisco IOS software images stored on a Flash Disk in an NPE-300-based system (or a later processor), you must first copy the appropriate Cisco IOS software image to the Flash Disk. (See the "Using the copy Command" section 23, the "Enabling Booting from a Flash Disk" section, and the "Making a Flash Disk-Based Software Image the Bootable Software Image" section.) |
Following are safety guidelines that you should follow when working with any equipment that connects to electrical power, or which might be sensitive to electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage.
Follow these basic guidelines when working with any electrical equipment:
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage, which can occur when electronic cards or components are improperly handled, results in complete or intermittent failures.
Use the following guidelines for preventing ESD damage:
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Caution For safety, periodically check the resistance value of the antistatic strap. The measurement should be between 1 and 10 megaohms (Mohms). |
Flash Disks are Flash memory-based devices that conform to the PC Card (formerly PCMCIA) standard and present an ATA (AT Attachment) interface to the system. This interface complies with the ANSI ATA Interface Document X3T13.1153 D Rev. 9 specification.
The Flash Disk is more flexible than linear Flash memory because the Flash Disk has controller circuitry that allows it to emulate a hard disk and automatically maps out bad blocks and performs automatic block erasure. Further, the Flash Disk provides the capability to allocate noncontiguous sectors, which eliminates the need for the squeeze command (previously required with linear Flash memory cards).
The Flash Disk provides increased Flash-based memory space—48 to 128 MB—for storage of system configuration files, Cisco IOS software images, and other types of system-related files. Table 3 provides memory information for the Flash Disk and Table 4 provides memory information for the vompact Flash Disk.
| Memory Size | Product Number |
|---|---|
| 1These products are also available as Flash Disk upgrades. To order an upgrade, add an equal sign (=) after the Product Number, for example, MEM-I/O-FLD128M=. |
The Cisco IOS File System feature provides a single interface to all file systems your system uses:
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Note A complete discussion of the Cisco IOS File System feature is beyond the scope of this publication. For information about this feature, refer to the Configuration Fundamentals Configuration Guide and Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference publications for Cisco IOS Release 12.x. These publications are available on the Documentation CD-ROM and through Cisco.com. (To obtain the Documentation CD-ROM, see the "Documentation CD-ROM" section 28. For information on how to access Cisco.com, see the "Cisco.com" section.) |
The Flash Disk is a Type 2 PC Card device. This means that you can install up to two Flash Disks in system processors with two PC Card slots; there are no PC Card slot-height restrictions related to the Flash Disk. Further, the PC Card slots in which you install the Flash Disk are either vertically oriented or horizontally oriented, depending on the system you are using and the system processor installed in it; therefore, this section provides the following two Flash Disk installation procedures:
Determine how your system is oriented, and then use the appropriate procedure.
Use the show version command to verify that a Flash Disk-compatible version of Cisco IOS software is running on your system:
The procedure in this section is for inserting and ejecting a Flash Disk in systems in which the PC Card slots are vertically oriented. The procedure is generic and can be used for a Flash Disk in either PC Card slot position (slot 0 or slot 1). You do not need to turn off system power for this procedure.
Use the following procedure to install and eject a Flash Disk in systems with vertically oriented PC Card slots:
Step 2 Face the front panel of the system processor that has PC Card slots, which appear as shown in a of Figure 1.
Hold the Flash Disk with its connector end toward the PC Card slot and its front label facing to the right.
The Flash Disk is keyed and cannot be seated the wrong way. The ejector button does not pop out if the Flash Disk is not completely inserted.
Step 3 Insert the Flash Disk into the PC Card slot until the Flash Disk completely seats in the connector at the rear of the slot and the ejector button pops out toward you.
(See b of Figure 1.)
The Flash Disk does not insert all the way inside the PC Card slot. A portion of the Flash Disk remains outside the slot. Do not attempt to force the Flash Disk past this point.
Step 4 To eject a Flash Disk, press the ejector button—located below the slot—until the Flash Disk is free of the connector at the rear of the PC Card slot. (See c of Figure 1.)
Step 5 Remove the Flash Disk from the slot and place it in an antistatic bag.
This completes the procedure for installing and removing a Flash Disk in a vertically oriented system. Proceed to the "Working with a Flash Disk" section.
The procedures in this section describe how to insert and eject a Flash Disk in systems in which the PC Card slots are horizontally oriented. The following two procedures are discussed:
This procedure is specific to Cisco 7100 series routers. Use it for a Flash Disk in either horizontally oriented PC Card slot position (slot 0 or slot 1) on your Cisco 7100 series router.
This procedure is generic for all other horizontally oriented systems. Use it for a Flash Disk in either horizontally oriented PC Card slot on your system—PC Card slot 0 or slot 1.
Determine the system you have and use the appropriate procedure. (For a list of systems that support the Flash Disk, see the "Hardware Requirements" section.) You do not need to turn off system power for these procedures.
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Note In Cisco 7100 series systems only, you must insert a Flash Disk with its back label facing up. (See a and b in Figure 3.) |
Use the following procedure to install and eject a Flash Disk in a Cisco 7100 series router:
Step 2 Locate the PC Card slot cover. (See Figure 2.)
To ensure protection from electromagnetic interference (EMI), the PC Card slots have a cover that is secured with a captive screw.
Step 3 Use a 3/16-inch flat-blade screwdriver to loosen the captive screw that secures the PC Card slot cover; lift the cover to reveal the PC Card slots. (See Figure 2.)
Step 4 Hold the Flash Disk with its connector end toward the PC Card slot and its back label facing up. (See a of Figure 3.)
The Flash Disk is keyed and cannot be seated the wrong way. The ejector button does not pop out if the Flash Disk is not completely inserted.
Step 5 Insert the Flash Disk into the PC Card slot until the Flash Disk completely seats in the connector at the rear of the slot, and the ejector button pops out toward you.
(See b of Figure 3.)
The Flash Disk does not insert all the way inside the PC Card slot; a portion of the Flash Disk remains outside the slot. Do not attempt to force the Flash Disk past this point.
Step 6 Close the PC Card slot cover and use a 3/16-inch flat-blade screwdriver to tighten the captive screw.
Step 7 To eject a Flash Disk, lift the PC Card slot cover and press the ejector button—located to the left of the slot. (See c of Figure 3.)
Step 8 Remove the Flash Disk from the PC Card slot and place it in an antistatic bag.
Step 9 Close the cover and use a 3/16-inch flat-blade screwdriver to tighten the captive screw.
This completes the procedure for installing and removing a Flash Disk in a Cisco 7100 series router. Proceed to the "Working with a Flash Disk" section.
Use the following procedure to install and eject a Flash Disk in all other systems that have horizontally oriented PC Card slots:
Step 2 Face the front panel of the system processor that has the PC Card slots, which appear as shown in a of Figure 4.
Step 3 Hold the Flash Disk with its connector end toward the PC Card slot and its front label facing up.
The Flash Disk is keyed and cannot be seated the wrong way. The ejector button does not pop out if the Flash Disk is not completely inserted.
Step 4 Insert the Flash Disk into the PC Card slot until the Flash Disk completely seats in the connector at the rear of the slot, and the ejector button pops out toward you.
(See b of Figure 4).
The Flash Disk does not insert all the way inside the PC Card slot; a portion of the Flash Disk remains outside the slot. Do not attempt to force the Flash Disk past this point.
Step 5 To eject a Flash Disk, press the appropriate ejector button—located to the right of the slot—until the Flash Disk is free of the connector at the rear of the PC Card slot.
(See c of Figure 4.)
Step 6 Remove the Flash Disk from the PC Card slot and place it in an antistatic bag.
This completes the procedure for installing and removing a Flash Disk in a horizontally oriented system. Proceed to the "Working with a Flash Disk" section.
The compact Flash Disk is a Type 2 device. Follow these instructions for installing and removing the compact Flash Disk in the Cisco 7401ASR router:
This completes the procedure for installing and removing a compact Flash Disk in the Cisco 7401ASR router.
This section provides basic instructions for working with a Flash Disk in your system. Detailed descriptions of more complex Flash Disk options and the Cisco IOS File System feature are beyond the scope of this publication and can be found in the following Cisco IOS Release 12.x publications:
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Note These and all publications are available online, on the Documentation CD-ROM, and on Cisco.com. To obtain the Documentation CD-ROM, see the "Documentation CD-ROM" section 28. For information on how to access Cisco.com, see the "Cisco.com" section. |
This section includes the following subsections:
You can only boot from a Cisco IOS software image stored in a Flash Disk using the following systems: RSP8-based Cisco 7500 series systems, and NPE-300-based systems. (The NPE-300-based systems include the Cisco 7204VXR and the Cisco 7206VXR routers.)
In all other systems, booting from Flash Disk-based Cisco IOS software images is not supported. You can use Flash Disks for simple storage in all the systems listed in the "Hardware Requirements" section.
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Note Use the compact Flash Disk only in the Cisco 7401ASR router. Do not attempt to use it in another router or PC. You can boot from a Cisco IOS software image stored in a compact Flash Disk with the Cisco 7401ASR router. |
This section lists some of the basic software commands you can use with the Flash Disk. Examples of these commands are included in the sections that follow.
The Flash Disk and other memory devices and locations in your system are defined as file systems, which are locations where you can store, use, or retrieve files and software images. (See the brief discussion about the Cisco IOS File System feature in the "Product Description" section.)
You can use Flash Disks in either one or both of the PC Card slots on your system processor, or you can use one Flash Disk in one PC Card slot and a linear Flash memory card in the adjacent PC Card slot. Flash Disks in PC Card slots 0 and 1 are referred to as disk0: and disk1:, respectively, whereas linear Flash memory cards in PC Card slots 0 and 1 are referred to as slot0: and slot1:, respectively.
The following partial output of the show file systems command shows a sample system with a Flash Disk—called disk0:—installed in PC Card slot 0 and a linear Flash memory card—called slot1:—installed in PC Card slot 1:
Table 5 lists the software commands that you can use with the Flash Disk.
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Note You can use other arguments with some of the commands listed in
Table 5; however, in
Table 5 and throughout this document,
command arguments are limited to those that apply to the Flash Disk and related file systems. For a discussion of additional command arguments, refer to the Configuration Fundamentals Command Reference document, in the chapter "File Management Commands." |
This section provides examples of some of the basic software commands you can use with the Flash Disk. See Table 5 for optional arguments you can use with some of the following commands:
To display information about Flash Disk format and geometry, use the show [disk0: | disk1:] command:
To determine which PC Card slot you are accessing, use the pwd command:
The preceding example indicates that you are currently in the working directory called disk0:, which is the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0.
To move back and forth between installed Flash Disks, use the cd command by defining a specific path name. Then to verify your working directory, use the pwd command:
You can also move up (or back) one level in the Flash Disk directory hierarchy using the cd .. command, and then verify your working directory with the pwd command:
To list the directory structure and contents of the Flash Disk from which you are currently working, use the dir command with no arguments:
Note that the size of the Flash Disk is shown in the output of the dir command. (A 48-MB Flash Disk is shown in this example.) You can also view the contents of other directories and file systems using specific optional arguments with the dir command. (See Table 4.)
To format a new Flash Disk, use the format [disk0: | disk1:] command.
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Note You must format a new Flash Disk before you can use it. If you plan to use a Flash Disk that was formatted and used on another type of system, see the "Compatibility Requirements" section on page 5 to determine if you need to reformat the Flash Disk first. |
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Caution The formatting procedure erases all information on the Flash Disk. To prevent the loss of important data that might be stored on a Flash Disk, proceed carefully. If you want to save data that is currently on your Flash Disk, copy the data to a TFTP server or to another Flash Disk before you format the new Flash Disk. A Flash Disk that was shipped as part of a configured system contains a Flash Disk-compatible Cisco IOS software image; therefore, you do not need to format it to use it in the system in which it was shipped. |
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Note A spare Flash Disk is shipped blank; therefore, you must format it before you can use it. |
Use the following procedure to format a new Flash Disk using the format command. (The procedure assumes you have already booted your system.)
If slot 0 is not available, use slot 1, but in the following step use the format disk1: command, not the format disk0: command, or you will format the Flash Disk that is being used in slot 0.
Step 2 Use the format disk0: command to format the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0 as follows:
The new Flash Disk is now formatted and ready to use in the system on which you formatted it.
(For specific formatting and compatibility requirements, see the "Compatibility Requirements" section.)
To copy an image from a Flash Disk to another file system or from another file system to the Flash Disk, use the copy command:
copy [tftp: | bootflash: | disk0: | disk1:]source-filename [tftp: | bootflash: | disk0: | disk1:]destination-filename
You do not need to change the filename; this is an option.
The following assumptions are made for this command:
An Ethernet interface is used in the examples that follow.
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Note See Table 5 for a list of destination file system arguments. |
Use the following procedure to copy a file (called new.image in this example) located on a Flash Disk—called disk1:—in PC Card slot 1 to the Flash Disk—called disk0:—in PC Card slot 0:
Step 2 To copy the image new.image to Flash Disk disk0:, use the following series of commands:
In the preceding example, the 3393-byte file new.image was copied to the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0 in approximately one-half second.
Step 3 Verify that the file new.image is now on the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0:
To create a directory on the Flash Disk, use the mkdir command. The following example shows how to create a directory called daily_dir on the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 1, and then verify that it was created:
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Note If you create a directory and place a file in it that you plan to access or use later on, be sure to define the
entire directory path to the file as you enter the appropriate software commands. For example, if you placed the file itsa.file into the directory daily_dir on the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 1, you must designate the entire directory path as follows: disk1:daily_dir/itsa.file. Otherwise, the system might not be able to locate this file. |
To remove a directory from the Flash Disk, use the rmdir command. The following example shows how to remove the directory daily_dir from the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 1, and then verify that it was removed:
To delete a file from a Flash Disk, use the delete command. Use the dir command to find the file you want to delete, and then use the delete command to delete it.
The following example shows how to find a file (called fun1) on the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0, delete the file, and then verify that it is deleted:
Step 2 Delete the file fun1:
Step 3 Verify that the file fun1 is deleted:
This section explains how to enable booting from a Flash Disk.
To enable booting from a Flash Disk, set configuration register bits 3, 2, 1, and 0 to a value between 2 and 15 in conjunction with the boot system [disk0: | disk1:]filename configuration command. This section includes only descriptions of boot commands specific to the Flash Disk. (You can use either the slotn: argument or the diskn: argument for boot commands.)
Following are definitions of the various Flash Disk-related boot commands:
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Note As you enter boot commands, pay attention to how you use the Spacebar, which influences the way your system interprets the commands. Also, ensure that you define the entire path to a file as you enter the boot commands; otherwise, the system might not be able to find the file. |
For example, notice the difference in the following correct and incorrect commands:
Based on the preceding correct command, the system boots the file specified (myfile).
Based on the preceding incorrect command, the system finds the filename field blank because there is a space after disk0:. In this case, the system ignores the filename argument and boots the first file on the Flash Disk, which might not be the file called myfile.
Use the following procedure to enable booting the file myfile from a Flash Disk:
Step 2 Enable the boot system flash disk0:myfile command using the config-register command with the hexadecimal value shown in the following example:
This command, with the hexadecimal value 0x2102, results in the following:
Step 3 Press Ctrl-Z to exit configuration mode:
Step 4 Save the new configuration to NVRAM by using the copy system:running-config nvram:startup-config command as follows:
This section explains how to make a Flash Disk-based Cisco IOS software image a bootable image.
After you copy a software image to the Flash Disk, use the following series of commands to make the image bootable (the file named new.image in this example). The software image in this example is located on the Flash Disk in PC Card slot 0. Note that the config-register command is also a part of this command sequence because you must set the configuration register to 0x2102 to enable loading an image from the Flash Disk.
When the system reloads, it boots the image new.image from the Flash Disk in slot 0.
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Product Doc Comprehensive Instructions: Comprehensive Instructions for Ordering Cisco Product Documentation at: http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/es_inpck/cdocomp.htm
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Posted: Sun Jan 19 08:07:43 PST 2003
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