Introduction

This document describes a Cisco advisory on Azure MANA support impacting Catalyst 8000V performance, with upgrade and opt-out guidance

Overview

This advisory is issued by Cisco in March 2026 for Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software virtual router running in Microsoft Azure. It is in response to Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA) support for existing VM SKUs announcement affecting v5 and older compute VM families. This roll out is expected to start in April 2026.

Background

This Azure infrastructure change affects Catalyst 8000V VMs currently running or with any new deployments in Azure. All Catalyst 8000V VMs (including Azure Network Virtual Appliances - NVAs) when deployed on an host with MANA continues to functionally work but can result in lower throughputs. For currently running VMs, the change can be seen when VM redeployment occurs through "stop-deallocate and start" or by Microsoft during maintenance. This applies to VMs created via Cloud OnRamp automation in Cisco SD-WAN Manager or self-created VMs using Azure Marketplace listings.

Impact

All Catalyst 8000V VMs on MANA-enabled hosts can experience potential lower throughputs. To achieve best performance, upgrade to one of the Cisco IOS XE versions:

- 17.15.6 (September 18, 2026*)

- 17.18.3 (April 15, 2026*)

- 26.1.2 (June 15, 2026*)

Note: Dates subject to change.

Recommended Actions

Your immediate action is needed. In the interim prior to upgrading Cisco IOS XE versions, to avoid having the 8000V VMs deployed on MANA enabled hosts, we recommend you use the temporary (until September 30, 2026) opt-out mechanism via tags as described in the MANA support for Network Virtual Appliances (NVAs) documentation.

References

- Announcing Microsoft Azure Network Adapter (MANA) support for Existing VM SKUs, Feb 6, 2026 announcement.

- MANA support for Network Virtual Appliances (NVAs) in Azure documentation.

- MANA support for existing VM sizes in Azure documentation.

- Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software Data Sheet.

- Compatibility Matrix for Cisco Catalyst 8000V in Public and Sovereign IaaS Clouds – Supported instance types for Microsoft Azure in Catalyst 8000V configuration guide.

- Deploying Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software on Microsoft Azure in Catalyst 8000V configuration guide.

- Microsoft Azure Virtual WAN Integration chapter for Cloud OnRamp automation in Cisco SD-WAN Manager configuration guide.

- Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software (PAYG) listing in Azure marketplace.

- Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software (BYOL) listing in Azure marketplace.

- Cisco Catalyst 8000V Edge Software - Solution Deployment listing in Azure marketplace.

- Cisco SD-WAN for Azure Virtual WAN listing in Azure marketplace.