Guidelines for Cisco Wireless Software Release Product Bulletin

Updated September 2023

Types of software releases

Cisco^® Wireless Software provides the types of releases listed in Table 1.

Table 1.           Cisco wireless LAN controller software release description

Product migration options and release recommendations

Customers are encouraged to migrate their software according to the guidelines below.

Cisco AireOS Software releases

Maintenance Deployment (MD) releases

Release 8.10 is the last MD release train for long life support with 8.10.19x.0 as the targeted MD release.

●     Release 8.5 was the last recommended software for the following controller platforms - WLC2504, WLC5508, WLC7510, WLC8510, WiSM2. These controllers have now all reached End of Support.

●     Release 8.10 is recommended for the following controller platforms – WLC3504, WLC5520 and WLC8540.

●     Federal customers (FIPS, UCAPL) are advised to use the latest 8.10 release

Early Deployment (ED) releases

●     For all customers currently in 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 or 8.4 migration to 8.5 is recommended.

●     For all customers current in 8.6 through 8.10, migration to the latest 8.10 release is recommended.

Note:        

●     No more CCO releases for codes from 8.0 to 8.10

●     Above recommendation also apply for Cisco Mobility Express software

Table 2.           Upcoming and recommended releases

Table 3.           EOL and deferred releases

For up-to-date recommendations, please refer to: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/wireless-lan-controller-software/200046-tac-recommended-aireos.html

Cisco IOS XE Software releases

Overview

The Polaris Release Model consists of three (3) releases per year: One (1) Extended Maintenance (EM) release every July and two (2) Standard Maintenance releases, one in March and one in November. The Cisco IOS^® XE Software support product bulletin describes the support timeline and EOL guidelines for Cisco IOS XE Software.

Standard Maintenance and Extended Maintenance releases

Each Cisco IOS XE Software release is classified as either a Standard-Support release or an Extended-Support release.

●     Standard Maintenance release details

◦    A sustaining support lifetime of 12 months from First Customer Shipment (FCS) with scheduled rebuilds

◦    Rebuilds are typically released at 6-month intervals after FCS

●     Extended Maintenance release details

◦    A sustaining support lifetime of 36 months from FCS with scheduled rebuilds

◦    These rebuilds are at 3, 4, 4 and 7-month intervals after FCS or via SMU support. The last 12 months of support will be via SMU.

Cisco IOS XE Software release versioning

Table 4.           Catalyst 9800 software release support

Table 5.           Upcoming and recommended releases

Table 6.           EOL and deferred releases

Note:

●     Above recommendations also apply for Cisco Embedded Wireless Controller (EWC) software

●     For Software Defined Access (SDA) - Always refer to the SDA Compatibility Matrix for code combination recommendations that work best for SDA. It lists specific combinations of code on Cisco DNA Center, the Identity Service Engine (ISE), switches, routers and Wireless LAN Controller codes that have been tested by the SDA Solution Test team at Cisco.

●     For Interoperability with Prime/ISE/CMX, please refer to the Software Compatibility Matrix

Read before upgrading: Any access point that is upgraded to Release 17.6 will be unable to join controllers running AireOS prior to 8.10.171.0, or 8.5.182.104 (IRCM). For more information, see CSCvx98176.

For up-to-date recommendations, please refer to https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/214749-tac-recommended-ios-xe-builds-for-wirele.html.

Note:       This represents the current plan for upcoming releases. This roadmap is subject to change at the sole discretion of Cisco, and Cisco will have no liability for delay in the delivery or failure to deliver any of the products or features set forth in this document.

For more information

For more information about these releases, go to: https://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10315/prod_release_notes_list.html.

Any authorized translation issued by Cisco Systems or affiliates of this Product Bulletin is intended to help customers understand the content described in the English version. This translation is the result of a commercially reasonable effort; however, if there are discrepancies between the English version and the translated document, please refer to the English version, which is considered authoritative.