Staying current with firmware or just loading up firmware for testing. New firmware can be copied from a USB FAT32 partition to switch image locations. Copy the firmware, for example, N3000_N2000v6.3.0.6.stk to a newly formatted USB flash drive.

USB Flash Drive

After you plug the USB drive into the switch, you can do a quick verification that the switch detects the inserted drive.

n3048#show usb device

Device Status.................................. Active
Manufacturer................................... ADATA
Product Name................................... ADATA USB Flash Drive
Device Serial Number...........................
Class Code..................................... 0x0000
Subclass Code.................................. 0x0000
Protocol....................................... 0x0000
Vendor ID...................................... 0x125F
Product ID..................................... 0xC08A
USB Version Compliance......................... 2.0

Image Transfer

Copy the firmware from the USB drive to backup image slot.

n3048#copy usb://N3000_N2000v6.3.0.6.stk backup

Transfer Mode.................................. Binary
Data Type...................................... Code
Destination Filename........................... backup

Management access will be blocked for the duration of the transfer
Are you sure you want to start? (y/n) y

Check the version of the firmware using show version.

n3048#show version

Machine Description............... Dell Networking Switch
System Model ID................... N3048P
Machine Type...................... Dell Networking N3048P
Serial Number.....................
Manufacturer...................... 0xbc00
Burned In MAC Address.............
System Object ID.................. 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10895.3060
SOC Version....................... BCM56340_A0
HW Version........................ 5
CPLD Version...................... 13
Image File........................ N3000_N2000v6.3.0.6
Software Capability............... ACCESS ROUTER

unit active      backup      current-active next-active
---- ----------- ----------- -------------- --------------
1    6.2.0.5     6.3.0.6     6.2.0.5        6.2.0.5

Update Switch (Boot the Backup Image)

Set backup image to system boot image and reload the switch.

n3048#boot system backup
Activating image backup ..
n3048#reload
Are you sure you want to reload the stack? (y/n) y

Verify the active firmware.

n3048#show version

Machine Description............... Dell Networking Switch
System Model ID................... N3048P
Machine Type...................... Dell Networking N3048P
Serial Number.....................
Manufacturer...................... 0xbc00
Burned In MAC Address.............
System Object ID.................. 1.3.6.1.4.1.674.10895.3060
SOC Version....................... BCM56340_A0
HW Version........................ 5
CPLD Version...................... 13
Image File........................ N3000_N2000v6.3.0.6
Software Capability............... ACCESS ROUTER

unit active      backup      current-active next-active
---- ----------- ----------- -------------- --------------
1    6.3.0.6     6.2.0.5     6.3.0.6        6.3.0.6

In a switch stack, all stack members will receive the image, if Stack Firmware Synchronization has been enabled.

n3048-master#show auto-copy-sw
Stack Firmware Synchronization
Synchronization................................ Enabled
SNMP Trap status............................... Enabled
allow-downgrade................................ Disabled

Note: An upgrade of the firmware will require a reload of the switch, which will disrupt traffic.