Cisco NX-OS supports many hardware platforms and has many releases and software types. Therefore, it is crucial for network administrators who work with Cisco Nexus and MDS devices to recognize the release names of Cisco NX-OS Software to avoid possible outages.
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Breakdown of Cisco N X O S coding for the image file name n x o s 6 4 dash c s dot 10 dot 5 dot 1 dot F dot bin. N x o s 6 4 dash c s is the Image File Name. 10 is the major release. 5 is the minor release. 1 is the maintenance release. F is the release designations. And bin is the binary image.
Cisco NX-OS Software consists of one Cisco NX-OS Software image that is necessary to load Cisco NX-OS.
As shown in the figure, the coding format of the Cisco NX-OS Software versions contains the following:
Cisco NX-OS image filename:
The 32-bit Cisco NX-OS image file has the image filename that begins with “nxos” (for example, nxos.10.1.1.bin).
The 64-bit Cisco NX-OS image file has the image filename that begins with “nxos64” (for example, nxos64.10.1.1.bin).
Beginning with Cisco NX-OS Release 10.2(2)F, all Cisco Nexus platforms will be operating on one of two 64-bit images:
The 64-bit Cisco NX-OS image file has the image filename that begins with “nxos64-cs” (for example, nxos64-cs.10.2.2.F.bin). This image is supported on Cisco Nexus 9000-EX, -FX, -GX, and -GX2 series modular switches and Cisco Nexus 9000 series fixed switches.
The 64-bit Cisco NX-OS image file has the image filename that begins with “nxos64-msll” (for example, nxos64-msll.10.2.2.F.bin). This image is supported on Cisco Nexus 9000-R and -R2 series modular switches, Cisco Nexus 3600 series fixed switches, and Cisco Nexus 3500-XL switches.
Release designations:
F: A Cisco NX-OS Software release that provides new features and new platform support in addition to bug fixes.
M: A Cisco NX-OS Software release that provides bug fix support or Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) fixes as part of ongoing software maintenance.
Each file also has a file extension that determines that the file is a compressed binary file.