Installing a New Operating System
Installing a new operating system (OS) on a Cisco PIX Firewall is similar in some respects to installing a new OS on your PC. You must consider fundamental questions such as whether you have enough memory and disk space (Flash size for PIX) when deciding whether to upgrade the operating system. Table 4-1 shows the RAM and Flash memory requirements for the different versions and releases of the Cisco PIX Firewall OS.
Table 4-1 PIX Software RAM/Flash Memory Requirements
|
PIX Software Version |
Memory |
|
PIX Software version 4.4(x) |
2 MB Flash, 16 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 5.0(x) |
2 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 5.1(x) |
2 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 5.2(x) |
8 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 5.3(x) |
8 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 6.0(x) |
8 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 6.1(x) |
8 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
|
PIX Software version 6.2(x) |
8 MB Flash, 32 MB RAM |
In addition to the memory and Flash requirements, you should consider the model of Cisco PIX Firewall before installing an OS. For example, the OS required for the Cisco PIX Firewall model 506 is 5.1x or greater, the Cisco PIX Firewall model 525 needs 5.2x or greater, and the Cisco PIX Firewall model 535 needs 5.3x or greater.
To determine the RAM memory and Flash memory you have running on your Cisco PIX Firewall, use the show version command. The output from this command also tells you which PIX OS you are currently running, as shown in Example 4-1.
Example 4-1 Sample Output from the show version Command
PIX520# show version
Cisco Secure PIX Firewall Version 5.1(1) Compiled on Wed 23-Feb-00 10:22 by hyen
Finesse Bios V3.3
PIX520 up 7 days 13 hours
Hardware: SE440BX2, 32 MB RAM, CPU Pentium Flash AT29C040A @ 0x300, 2MB BIOS Flash AM28F256 @ 0xfffd8000, 32KB
Encryption hardware device: PIX PL2
0: ethernet0: address is 0090.2742.ff45, irq
1: ethernet1: address is 0090.2742.fdb6, irq
2: ethernet2: address is 0090.2743.0275, irq
Licensed Features: Failover: Enabled VPN-DES: Enabled VPN-3DES: Disabled Maximum Interfaces: 6
Serial Number: 18014702 (0x112e1ee) <— More —>
Activation Key: 0x8cb9bdcb 0x863a858b 0x2ae0c93b 0x3a46651a
As you can see, the OS version is 5.1(1), and the Flash memory size is 2 MB.
Notice the last line of Example 4-1, which starts with Activation Key. The activation key is the license key for the PIX OS. It is important to save your configuration and write down your activation key before upgrading to a newer version of the PIX OS.
Continue reading here: Upgrading the OS Using the copy tftp flash Command
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