At its core, the Cisco IOS image is a binary file that contains the operating system code necessary to run Cisco networking hardware. Just as Windows runs on a laptop and Android runs on a smartphone, IOS runs on Cisco routers and switches.
While traditional iOS .bin files are still used on ISR G2, 2960 switches, and older gear, Cisco鈥檚 focus has shifted to . IOS-XE runs on top of Linux, but the image file still exists 鈥� often a .bin containing a full filesystem.
Here is the exact workflow I use for zero-downtime production upgrades.
