TAC Recommended AireOS Builds

Introduction

This document describes the way in which the customers can find the most reliable Wireless LAN Controller software available. The Cisco Wireless TAC (Technical Assistance Center) recommends AireOS builds from each train of released AireOS software. These recommendations may be updated on a weekly basis.

Contributed by Aaron Leonard, Cisco TAC Engineer.

Escalation Builds/Maintenance Interims

In some cases, the TAC recommended build might be an escalation or maintenance interim/beta build. Such builds are not available on CCO (Cisco.com), but have important bug fixes (beyond what is available in CCO code), and will be operational in production at customer sites for several weeks.

In order to request a TAC recommended escalation/maintenance interim build, open a Cisco TAC case on your Wireless LAN Controller contract.

Caution: If you are planning to upgrade AireOS WLC from an older code train to a recommended release and have IOS APs in your deployment, please take a look at Field Notice FN70330 prior to performing the upgrade.

TAC Recommended Builds

AireOS 7.0

TAC recommends 7.0.252.0 (latest CCO release).  No further 7.0 releases are planned.  The recommended migration path is to AireOS 8.0, if the hardware supports it.

AireOS 7.4

TAC recommends 7.4.150.0 (latest CCO release).  No further 7.4 releases are planned.  The recommended migration path is to AireOS 8.0.

AireOS 7.6

TAC does not recommend any 7.6 CCO release, and Cisco does not plan to release any more 7.6 maintenance releases on CCO. The recommended upgrade path for AireOS 7.6 customers is to 8.0.

AireOS 8.0

For AireOS 8.0 customers, TAC supports 8.0.152.0.  No further 8.0 releases are planned for CCO.

• 8.0.150.0 and 8.0.152.0 are susceptible to the AID Errors problem (CSCve81314 (local mode APs) and CSCve81269 (FlexConnect APs)). This is fixed in 8.0MR5esc, available from TAC.  See the Field Notice for more details.
  

AireOS 8.1

8.1.131.0 is the final maintenance release of AireOS 8.1, and is deferred. The recommended upgrade path for AireOS 8.1 customers is to 8.3 or, if feasible, 8.5.

AireOS 8.2

For deployments that require features or hardware introduced after 8.0, TAC supports 8.2.170.0.  8.2.170.0 is compliant with the mandatory ETSI regulatory update.  No further 8.2 releases are planned.

8.2.170.0 or 8.2MR7 Escalation (available from TAC) is recommended for large deployments of 702 series access points.

AireOS 8.3

For deployments that include hardware that is end of lifed in 8.3,  TAC recommends 8.3MR4 Escalation code (available now from TAC.)  The following platforms are EOLed in 8.3: AP1040, AP1140, AP1260, AP1552 (64MB version), OEAP600.

8.3MR4 Escalation includes fixes for the following widely encountered bugs, beyond the 8.3.143.0 CCO release:

• CDP-4-DUPLEX-MISMATCH log messages from APs' switches (CSCvi02106) (Field Notice FN70252)
  
• AP generating 'hostapd' core files, does not respond to EAPOL (CSCvi42632 )
  
• IOS AP flash corruption problems (see Field Notice FN70330)

8.2, not 8.3 is recommended for large deployments of 702 series access points.

AireOS 8.4

AireOS 8.4 is a short-lived release with no maintenance planned, and is deferred.  Any deployment that requires post-8.3 features or hardware should run 8.5 instead.

AireOS 8.5

AireOS 8.6

AireOS 8.6.101.0 is a short-lived release with no maintenance planned, and is deferred.  Customers who require new features that are unavailable in 8.5 will need to run 8.7 or 8.8.

AireOS 8.7

AireOS 8.7.106.0 is a short-lived release with no maintenance planned.  Customers who require new features that are unavailable in 8.5 will need to run 8.7 or 8.8.

AireOS 8.8

AireOS 8.8.100.0 and 8.8.111.0 are BU and TAC supported releases.  8.8.111.0 or above is required for Inter-Release Controller Mobility compatibility with Cisco 9800 controllers.

Mobility Express

For Mobility Express deployments, TAC recommends using the 8.5.140.0 or 8.8.111.0 release.

Note on AP702 Issues

TAC recommends that large scale deployments of AP702s run 8.2.170.0 or 8.2MR7 Escalation (available from TAC), rather than 8.3 or above.  8.5 deployments should run 8.5.140.0 or above.  Track the following bugs for an AP702 solution after 8.5.140.0: CSCvn49888 , CSCvn56211 .

General AireOS Release Recommendations

For general AireOS Release Recommendations, see:

• Guidelines for Cisco Wireless Software Release Migration Bulletin
• Software Research

Related Information

• Use the TAC Recommended AireOS discussion thread in Cisco Support Community
• Technical Support & Documentation - Cisco Systems
• Cisco Wireless Solutions Software Compatibility Matrix for information on which releases support which hardware platforms