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 AP's in your deployment, please take a look at this article 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 recommends 8.0.152.0.

• Customers with 1700/2700/3700 access points should run 8.0.152.0, or latest 8.2/8.3, due to CSCus83638 (AP 5Ghz Radio Beaconing but not accepting Client Assoc.)

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 8.2.

AireOS 8.2

For deployments that require features or hardware introduced after 8.0, TAC recommends 8.2MR7 Interim,  due to  CSCve57121 , which causes intermittent traffic loss with AP-COS, and the SNMP TxPowerlevel regression.  Note: if you have AP-COS APs and are using TKIP, open a TAC case in order to get a fix for CSCve66630 .

AireOS 8.3

For deployments requiring features or hardware introduced after 8.2, TAC recommends 8.3.141.0.  Specifically, 8.3.141.0 fixes the following catastrophic regressions which affect 8.3.140.0:

• CSCvi11287 2800 AP consistently rebooting around 1 second after joining
  
• CSCvi14641 AP2802/3802 can't connect with 100Mbps LAN speed

TAC does not recommend any public 8.3.13x.0 CCO release, due to the catastrophic bug CSCvf76274, which prevents APs from joining.

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

For deployments that require support for new features and hardware introduced after 8.3, such as Assurance, and that do not have AP2802s, TAC recommends AireOS 8.5.120.0 or 8.5MR3 interim.  Customers who have AP2802s or AP1562s or SDA Wireless should use 8.5MR3 interim.

AireOS 8.6

AireOS 8.6.101.0 is a BU and TAC supported release.  Customers who require new features that are unavailable in 8.5 will need to run this release.

AireOS 8.7

AireOS 8.7.102.0 is a BU and TAC supported release. Customers who require new features that are unavailable in 8.6 will need to run this release.

Mobility Express

For Mobility Express deployments, TAC recommends using the 8.5.120.0 release, for improved usability and stability.  Mobility Express customers with AP2802s should open a TAC case to get a fix for CSCvi11287.

Note on SNMP TxPowerlevel regression bug

Deployments using SNMP/PI should be aware of the following regression:

CSCve70752 snmp issue: Txpowerlevel returns null causing PI WLC sync to not update AP information

This regression affects 8.2.16x.0, 8.3.12x.0 and above, 8.4 and above.  It is fixed in:

• 8.2MR7 Interim
• 8.3.140.0 and above
  
• 8.5.120.0
  

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