Introduction
This document is to help customers find a stable software release for the enterprise switching platforms running Catalyst 9000 series switches. The information in this document is not meant to be exhaustive and is intended to serve as a general guide to customers especially in cases of mass deployments/upgrades. Beyond these recommendations, if customers are required to run a release to utilize newer software features or hardware, the recommendation is to select Extended Maintenance (EM) release trains wherever possible.
- For customers deploying Software-Defined Access, please refer to the product compatibility matrix which is available here.
- For customers looking for software recommendations on Cisco Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB/4500 and Catalyst 6500/6800 series switches, please refer to this page.
- For customers looking for software recommendations on Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, please refer to this page.
Cisco IOS XE Software Support
Each Cisco IOS XE software release is classified as either a Standard Maintenance release or an Extended Maintenance release.
Standard Maintenance Release (SMR) - A sustaining support lifetime of 12 months from First Customer Shipment (FCS) with scheduled rebuilds. Examples are Cisco IOS XE Software releases 16.10, 16.11, 17.1, 17.2, 17.4, 17.5, and 17.7
Extended Maintenance Release (EMR)- A sustaining support lifetime of 36 months from First Customer Shipment (FCS) with scheduled rebuilds. Examples are Cisco IOS XE Software releases 16.9, 16.12, 17.3, and 17.6
Note: Every subsequent third release (for example, Cisco IOS XE Software release 16.9, 16.12, 17.3, and 17.6) will be an Extended Maintenance release.
Given that Standard Maintenance Releases have much shorter support lifetimes whereas Extended Maintenance releases have longer support with more scheduled rebuilds/bug fixes, it is recommended that customers stay on Extended Maintenance releases wherever possible.
Recommendations
The recommendations stated below are current as of April 2022, and these will be updated as and when appropriate.
Note: The recommendation below does not necessitate that customers with stable deployments on IOS XE Software release 16.12 are required to upgrade to the recommended IOS XE Software release in the table below. However, as the IOS XE 16.12 software train approach its end-of-life milestones, customers are encouraged to migrate to the 17.3 software train.
| Product Family |
Product Details |
Recommended IOS-XE release |
|
| Catalyst 9200 |
9200L (all models) |
17.3.5 |
| 9200 (all models) |
17.3.5 |
| Catalyst 9300 |
9300L (all models)
|
17.3.5 |
| 9300X (includes C9300X-12Y, C9300X-24Y, C9300X-48HX, and C9300X-48TX) |
17.6.3* |
| 9300 (all other models) |
17.3.5 |
| Catalyst 9400 |
Supervisor Engine-1, Supervisor Engine-1XL |
17.3.5 |
| Catalyst 9500 |
9500 high performance models - C9500-32C, C9500-32QC, C9500-48Y4C, C9500-24Y4C |
17.3.5 |
| 9500 (all models) |
17.3.5# |
| Catalyst 9600 |
9600 (C9600-SUP-1) |
17.3.5 |
| Catalyst 3650 |
3650 (all models) |
16.12.7 |
| Catalyst 3850 |
3850 (all models) |
16.12.7 |
* C9300X are new models introduced on IOS-XE 17.5.1 and later versions. The recommendation for these models is to stay on the next available Extended Maintenance Release which is 17.6.3.
# The recommendation for C9500 does not apply to C9500X Series (C9500X-28C8D) that was introduced in IOS-XE 17.7.1 version
Engineering Special Releases
In certain cases, critical bugs are made available on Engineering Special (ES) builds. These builds are not available on CCO (cisco.com). If you are running into any issues specific to your environment which is not already fixed in existing cisco.com releases, please contact Cisco Customer Experience (CX) to explore the possibility of an Engineering Special (ES) code. Engineering Special builds are meant to be deployed for a limited time frame and customers are advised to move to the next maintenance rebuild as soon as it is available on cisco.com. Engineering special builds are fully supported by the Cisco Customer Experience (CX) and the Business Unit (BU).
Open Caveats
|
Identifier
|
Headline
|
Affected Version
|
Workaround Available
|
Fixed Version
|
| CSCwa10331 |
Cat9300-48UX ports may not link up when connected to peer Intel NIC I219 |
17.3.1, 17.3.2a, 17.3.3, 17.3.4, 17.3.5, 17.6.1, 17.6.2 |
Yes |
17.6.3 |
| CSCwa76242 |
Cat 9200L - 10G Link Flaps at intermittent times when peer is maintained as Nexus 9K
|
17.3.3, 17.3.4, 17.3.5, 17.6.3 |
No |
17.3.6 (Upcoming)
17.6.4 (Upcoming)
17.9.1 (Upcoming)
|
Related Information
Cisco IOS XE 16 - Release Notes - Cisco
Cisco IOS XE 17 - Release Notes - Cisco
Cisco Support and Downloads
End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco IOS XE 16.6.x
End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco IOS XE 16.9.x
End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco IOS XE 16.12.x
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