The filename cat9kv-prd-17.12.01prd9.qcow2 represents a specific artifact in the networking world: a Cisco Catalyst 9000v Virtual appliance image.
The disk contains a partition table (likely GPT). It houses a bootloader (GRUB) that initializes the kernel. This is the "BIOS" of the virtual switch. cat9kv-prd-17.12.01prd9.qcow2