Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Upgrade Guide

PDF

Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN Upgrade Guide

Downgrading a device from Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.2.1r or later releases

Updated: July 1, 2026

Want to summarize with AI?

Log in

Supported device downgrades

Describes behavior in device downgrade scenarios.

Downgrade behavior

When you downgrade from...

to these releases

Behavior

Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.2.1r(universalk9) in controller mode

Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Release 16.12 and earlier (ucmk9)

Device boots up with ucmk9 image and configuration is restored if the uckm9 image was previously installed on the device.

Downgrading to a fresh install of old image versions brings the device to Day 0 configuration. To proceed, use the clean option at activation.

Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN Release 17.2.1r (universalk9) in autonomous mode

Cisco IOS XE Release 17.1.1 and earlier (universalk9)

Device boots up with universalk9 image and configuration is restored.

Downgrade a Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN device to a previously installed software image

Downgrade a Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN device to an earlier software image that is currently installed on the device, using CLI commands.

Procedure

  1. Display the currently installed images.

    Example:

    Device# show sdwan software
 
Example:
VERSION          ACTIVE  DEFAULT  PREVIOUS  CONFIRMED  TIMESTAMP                 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.10.400.0.0    false   true     true      auto       2019-11-20T04:40:05-00:00 
17.3.1.0.102822  true    false    false     auto       2020-07-31T11:01:22-00:00

  2. Activate the image. This resets the device, deleting any existing configuration. The device starts in day zero configuration.

    Device# request platform software software activate desired-build

    Example:

    Device# request platform software software activate 16.10.400.0.0

Downgrade a Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN device to an older software image

Download an earlier software image and downgrade a Cisco IOS XE Catalyst SD-WAN device to an earlier software image, using CLI commands.

Procedure

  1. Display the currently installed images.

    Example:

    Device# show sdwan software
 
Example:
VERSION          ACTIVE  DEFAULT  PREVIOUS  CONFIRMED  TIMESTAMP                 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.10.400.0.0    false   true     true      auto       2019-11-20T04:40:05-00:00 
17.3.1.0.102822  true    false    false     auto       2020-07-31T11:01:22-00:00

  2. If necessary, remove an existing software image to provide space for loading a new software image.

    Device# request platform software sdwan software remove previous-installed-build

    Example:

    Device# request platform software sdwan software remove 16.10.400.0.0

  3. Download the software image for the downgrade and copy it to the device bootflash.

  4. Install the downloaded image.

    Device# request platform software sdwan software install bootflash:/desired-build

    Example:

    Device# request platform software sdwan software install bootflash:/isr1100be-universalk9.17.02.01a.SPA.bin

  5. Display the currently installed images, which now include the new image.

    Example:

    Device# show sdwan software
VERSION          ACTIVE  DEFAULT  PREVIOUS  CONFIRMED  TIMESTAMP                 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
17.02.01a.0.211  false    true     true      auto       2020-03-30T09:34:04-00:00

  6. Activate the new image. This resets the device, deleting any existing configuration. The device starts in day zero configuration.

    Device# request platform software sdwan software activate desired-build clean

    Example:

    Device# request platform software sdwan software 17.02.01a.0.211 clean