Making sense of IOS names

The 2600 routers I picked up through eBay don't have SSH support; a show version doesn't give the cryptographic warning like my 2950 switches, so I'm guessing the IOS on them doesn't support encryption. Makes it difficult to set up a user account to attempt sdm.

I'm trying to figure out if I can upgrade the IOS, but I can't make heads or tails of these IOS names! I've even reviewed various "naming conventions" webpages/pdf files but they're not much help because the letters showing up in my IOS filename aren't always listed there. Has anyone decyphered these that can explain?

My 2600's: c2600-i-mz.123-26.bin
My 2950's: c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin

(one 2950 actually came with: c2950-c3h2s-mz.120-5.3.WC.1.bin but I followed the vegas rule).

Weird; I was going to report my flash & RAM sizes, but those aren't consistent between devices either. The routers are easy enough:
cisco 2610 (MPC860) processor (revision 0x00) with 28672K/4096K bytes of memory.
8192K bytes of processor board System flash (Read/Write)

but the switch I have powered up shows:
cisco WS-C2950-24 (RC32300) processor (revision J0) with 19912K bytes of memory.

Is that right? 19M of memory? what a weird number if so...

Find more posts tagged with

Free for TechExams community: Cybersecurity salary guide

Compare cert salaries and plan your next career move

Button

Comments

alan2308

I always have the same issue with the Cisco IOS Naming Conventions document that everyone points you to when this question comes up. None of the letters in it ever appear in the IOS image I'm trying to figure out.

The Cisco feature navigator will let you search by image and then it'll take you to a page where you can see the minimum requirements for that image, and all the features that it supports. It'll also tell you that your image is the IP feature set (if you care).

tiersten

bermovick wrote: »

The 2600 routers I picked up through eBay don't have SSH support; a show version doesn't give the cryptographic warning like my 2950 switches, so I'm guessing the IOS on them doesn't support encryption. Makes it difficult to set up a user account to attempt sdm.

SDM doesn't need crypto support. It just won't be able to use SSL when connecting.

bermovick wrote: »

I've even reviewed various "naming conventions" webpages/pdf files but they're not much help because the letters showing up in my IOS filename aren't always listed there.

What letters? You can't use the letter guide for routers on switch IOS releases.

bermovick wrote: »

c2600-i-mz.123-26.bin

12.3.26 IP Base for a 2600 and it is compressed image that runs from RAM.

bermovick wrote: »

c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin

12.1.22EA13 with crypto for a 2950 and it is a compressed image that runs from RAM.

bermovick wrote: »

c2950-c3h2s-mz.120-5.3.WC.1.bin

12.0(5.3)WC1 for a 2950 and it is a compressed image that runs from RAM. Doesn't have crypto.

bermovick wrote: »

cisco WS-C2950-24 (RC32300) processor (revision J0) with 19912K bytes of memory.

It isn't reporting all of the memory. The Cat 2950 has 24MB I think...

bermovick

Oh haha; I thought SSL was required for sdm; CBTNuggests implied it was. I'll have to play around with that now!

Regarding naming conventions; I have a PDF & it didn't specify switch or router, just listed things like "m means it runs from ram", "z means it's a compressed image", "56i means Encryption(DES)", and the like.

I'd figured out the last part at least (121-22.EA13 means 12.1-22-EA13 (whatever EA-13 means), and managed to find SOME things (like the m & z), but things like c3h2s from switch 2 I can't match up at all. i6k2l2q4 from switch1, the closest I can come up with is: i=IP routing?, 6=? (perhaps i6 = IP routing v6/IPV6??), k2=encryption of some sort (k8 is DES, k9 is 3DES, but k2 is ?), l=runs from flash, 2q4= no clue.

tiersten

bermovick wrote: »

Oh haha; I thought SSL was required for sdm; CBTNuggests implied it was. I'll have to play around with that now!

Yeah. SDM will ask if you want to use SSL when you start it up but I generally say no to not have to deal with the certificates since they're not properly signed.

bermovick wrote: »

Regarding naming conventions; I have a PDF & it didn't specify switch or router, just listed things like "m means it runs from ram", "z means it's a compressed image", "56i means Encryption(DES)", and the like.

The naming guide at the Cisco Portable Product Sheets page says which are sections are for routers and which are for switches. It doesn't list anything for the letters in switch IOS files.

bermovick wrote: »

I'd figured out the last part at least (121-22.EA13 means 12.1-22-EA13 (whatever EA-13 means)

It is the 13th rebuild of the EA series of 12.1.22.

bermovick wrote: »

and managed to find SOME things (like the m & z), but things like c3h2s from switch 2 I can't match up at all. i6k2l2q4 from switch1, the closest I can come up with is: i=IP routing?, 6=? (perhaps i6 = IP routing v6/IPV6??), k2=encryption of some sort (k8 is DES, k9 is 3DES, but k2 is ?), l=runs from flash, 2q4= no clue.

Yup. You're trying to decode a switch IOS filename with the guide for routers. It doesn't work as some of the letters don't mean the same things or don't even exist for routers.

The 6 goes with the i but I don't know what that means. It isn't IPv6 routing as the 2950 is only a L2 switch. The l doesn't mean run from flash in this case because it isn't at the end. If it was c2950-i6k2l2q4-l then it would.

Cisco finally noticed that the naming system was confusing so they changed it over to system which consolidates quite a few feature sets and gives them more readable names like Advanced Enterprise Services or IP Services but that is only with newer releases. The old releases still use the letters.

bermovick

OK, so for the older versions, just worry about the k* if I want encryption and the version/subversion/build numbers.

One final thing. SDM works for my routers! (at least the one I can connect to at the moment), but looks NOTHING like what I see when I connect to the switches or what CBTNuggets showed; rather than an interface, I just get.... sortof a webpage version of the CLI. Rather than screenshot, here's the index page's text copy/pasted (url is http://router.ip/level/15)

Cisco Systems

Accessing Cisco 2610 "R1"

Show diagnostic log - display the diagnostic log.
Monitor the router - HTML access to the command line interface at level 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15

Show tech-support - display information commonly needed by tech support.
Extended Ping - Send extended ping commands.

QoS Device Manager - Configure and monitor QoS through the web interface.

Help resources

1. CCO at Cisco Systems, Inc - Cisco Connection Online, including the Technical Assistance Center (TAC).

2. tac@cisco.com - e-mail the TAC.
3. 1-800-553-2447 or +1-408-526-7209 - phone the TAC.
4. cs-html@cisco.com - e-mail the HTML interface development group.

alan2308

What you're seeing there is not SDM, its the ip http server thats built into every router. Even my ancient 1600's have it.

tiersten

If that router is a 2610 and not a 2610XM then SDM won't work as it isn't supported on a 2610. If it is a 2610XM then you're either not running the correct version of IOS (12.2(11)T6 or above) or SDM isn't properly installed.

bermovick

Yeah, it's not an XM as I was on a pretty tight budget when buying the gear; I'll worry about something better when I get the 3rd router to work with frame relay.

Thanks!!!