Cisco Catalyst 3850 Upgrade Issue - Internal Error

While upgrading a pair of non-stacked 3850-48Ps, I encountered this error message:


[1]: % An internal error was encountered. Operation aborted.

I did have some space issues, so I deleted previous versions. Even that did not fix the issue. I tried installing it from tftp, to no avail.

Eventually, I ran the software install command with "new force"

software install file tftp://10.20.30.40/cat3k_caa-universalk9.SPA.03.06.09.E.152-2.E9.bin new force

Success. I rebooted both switches. One crashed on reboot, but rebooted cleanly afterward.

Cisco 3850 WS-C3850-48P-E Switch with Wrong License Level Lanbase

I received a couple of refurbished 3850 PoE Enterprise switches. One switch was perfectly fine, with IP services enabled permanently.

The other:

Slot#  License name   Type     Count   Period left

----------------------------------------------------------

1      lanbase      permanent     N/A   Lifetime

License Level on Reboot: lanbase

I issued a request for an RMA - however, the switch was labeled correctly on the case: WS-C3850-48P-E.

On a whim, I ran this command:

license right-to-use activate ipservices

I rebooted as instructed from the switch, and now I have:

Switch#show license right-to-use
 Slot#  License name   Type     Count   Period left
----------------------------------------------------------
 1      ipservices   permanent     N/A   Lifetime
 1      lanbase      permanent     N/A   Lifetime

License Level on Reboot: ipservices

So, yay - no need for an RMA.

Upgrading pfsense 2.4.3_1 to 2.4.4 - Issue Replacing PHP 5.x with 7.x Due to FRR

I ran into a problem upgrading pfsense 2.4.3_1 to 2.4.4 due to a dependency on the old PHP 5.6.x from the older package of FRR .2_2 (Free Range Router.) The problem was that PHP56 was marked as vital due to the FRR dependency, and it was not possible to update FRR to .2_4, as FRR .2_4 needed pfsense 2.4.4 (I could not decide whether this was a modern O. Henry story or a missing epilogue from Catch 22.)

The fix:

1. connect to the pfsense server with SSH
2. Open a shell
3. Run this command:

pkg set -v 0 php56

Your upgrade should work - I had to do a couple of update attempts before it worked.