Release Notes for Cisco IE3500 Series Switches, Release 17.18.x

                                               

Cisco IE3500 Series Switches, Release 17.18.x. 3

New software features. 3

Change in behavior 4

Resolved issues. 5

Open issues. 5

Known issues. 5

Supported hardware. 6

Supported software packages. 8

Related resources. 9

Legal information. 9

 

 

Cisco IE3500 Series Switches, Release 17.18.x

This document provides release information for the Cisco Industrial Ethernet (IE) switches.

Cisco IE3500/IE3505 Series Switches

These are ruggedized switching platforms and provides superior bandwidth and high-PoE power with proven Cisco IOS XE Software for industrial environments. They are hardened to withstand temperatures ranging from freezing cold to extreme heat (-40°C to +75°C or –40°F to 167°F), as well as severe shock and vibration.

The IE3500 switch is designed to cater deployments where hardened products are required, including factory automation, smart cities, energy and process control, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), energy production sites, smart city programs, and mining. They bring improved scale performance, built-in security feature set, and simplified management options for the switch. For more information, refer to the Datasheet.

Cisco IE3500H/IE3505H Series Switches

These are the next-generation managed IP67 switches powered by Cisco IOS XE and are ideal for deployment in the harshest environments. They are IP67-rated for water and dust resistance and are hardened to withstand temperatures ranging from freezing cold to extreme heat (-40°C to +75°C or –40°F to 167°F), as well as severe shock and vibration.

These switches are available with up to 24 ports. Fast Ethernet is supported through Fast Ethernet PIDs, and 1G PIDs can also be configured to operate at 100M speed. For a list of supported SFPs, refer the Datasheet. These switches can be wall-mounted and deployed without a housing cabinet. They offer a power budget of 240W, and supports Power over Ethernet (PoE), PoE+, and Universal Power over Ethernet (UPOE) at 60W.

These switches are equipped with advanced network-based security, segmentation, and visibility features for the most demanding industrial environments. They extend the power of intent-based networking to the harshest Internet of Things (IoT) edge, with use cases in industries such as mining, railways, and manufacturing. The switches can be wall mounted and deployed without a housing cabinet. For more information, refer to the Datasheet.

New software features

This section provides a brief description of the new software features introduced in this release.

Table 1.             New software features for Cisco IE3500 Series Switches, Release 17.18.1

 

Change in behavior

Cisco is committed to safeguarding our products and customer networks against increasingly sophisticated threat actors. As computing power and the threat landscape have evolved, some features and protocols currently in use have become vulnerable to attack. While more secure alternatives are now available, legacy protocols may still be in use in some environments.

To improve network security, reduce the attack surface, and protect sensitive data, Cisco will begin phasing out legacy and insecure features and protocols, encouraging customers to transition to more secure alternatives. This process will be gradual and designed to minimize operational impact. The first phase begins with the Cisco IOS XE 17.18 release train. This is part of a broader initiative to make Cisco products more secure by default and secure by design.

Starting with the Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 release and in future releases, Cisco software displays warning messages when configuring features or protocols that do not provide sufficient security such as those transmitting sensitive data without encryption or using outdated encryption mechanisms. Warnings also appear when security best practices are not followed, along with suggestions for secure alternatives.

This list is subject to change, but the following is a list of features and protocols that generates warnings in releases beyond the version Cisco IOS XE 17.18.1. Release notes for each release describes the exact changes for that release.

●     Plain-text and weak credential storage: Type 0 (plain text), 5 (MD5), or 7 (Vigenère cipher) in configuration files. 

◦    Recommendation: Use Type 6 (AES) for reversible credentials, and Type 8 (PBKDF2-SHA-256) or Type 9 (Scrypt) for non-reversible credentials.

●     SSHv1 

◦    Recommendation: Use SSHv2.

●     SNMPv1 and SNMPv2, or SNMPv3 without authentication and encryption 

◦    Recommendation: Use SNMPv3 with authentication and encryption (authPriv).

●     MD5 (authentication) and 3DES (encryption) in SNMPv3 

◦    Recommendation: Use SHA1 or, preferably, SHA2 for authentication, and AES for encryption.

●     IP source routing based on IP header options 

◦    Recommendation: Do not use this legacy feature.

●     TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 

◦    Recommendation: Use TLS 1.2 or later.

●     TLS ciphers using SHA1 for digital signatures 

◦    Recommendation: Use ciphers with SHA256 or stronger digital signatures.

●     HTTP 

◦    Recommendation: Use HTTPS.

●     Telnet 

◦    Recommendation: Use SSH for remote access.

●     FTP and TFTP 

◦    Recommendation: Use SFTP or HTTPS for file transfers.

●     On-Demand Routing (ODR) 

◦    Recommendation: Use a standard routing protocol in place of CDP-based routing information exchange.

●     BootP server 

◦    Recommendation: Use DHCP or secure boot features such as Secure ZTP.

●     TCP and UDP small servers (echo, chargen, discard, daytime) 

◦    Recommendation: Do not use these services on network devices.

●     IP finger 

◦    Recommendation: Do not use this protocol on network devices.

●     NTP control messages 

◦    Recommendation: Do not use this feature.

●     TACACS+ using pre-shared keys and MD5 

◦    Recommendation: Use TACACS+ over TLS 1.3, introduced in release Cisco IOS XE 17.18.1.

 

Cisco is committed to supporting customers through this transition. Subsequent releases in the Cisco IOS XE 17.18 train continues to support these features but displays warnings if they are used. Future release trains may impose additional restrictions on these features which will be communicated through release notes.

Resolved issues

There are no resolved issues in 17.18.1 release.

Open issues

There are no open issues in 17.18.1 release.

Known issues

There are no known issues in 17.18.1 release.

Supported hardware

Table 2.        Supported IE3500 SKUs

 

Table 3.        Supported IE3500H SKUs

Supported expansion modules

Table 4.        Supported expansion modules

 

Web UI System Requirements

The WebUI is a web browser-based switch management tool that runs on the switch. The following subsections list the hardware and software required to access the WebUI.

Minimum hardware requirements

Table 5.        Minimum hardware requirements

Operating systems

·       Windows 10 or later

·       Mac OS X 10.9.5 or later

Browsers

·       Google Chrome: Version 59 or later (On Windows and Mac)

·       Microsoft Edge

·       Mozilla Firefox: Version 54 or later (On Windows and Mac)

·       Safari: Version 10 or later (On Mac)

Supported software packages

Finding the software version

·       The package files for Cisco IOS XE software can be found on the system board's internal flash memory device (flash:) or an external USB, depending on the device configuration.

·       You can use the show version privileged EXEC command to see the software version that is running on your switch.

You can also use the dir filesystem: privileged EXEC command to see the names and versions of other software images that you might have stored in flash memory.

Software images for Cisco IOS XE 17.18.x

The following table provides the file names for the IOS XE 17.18.x software images for Cisco Catalyst IE3500 Series Switches.

Table 6.        Software package for Cisco IE3500 Series Switches, release 17.18.x

Automatic boot loader upgrade

When you upgrade from the existing release on your switch to a later or newer release for the first time, the boot loader may be automatically upgraded, based on the hardware version of the switch. If the boot loader is automatically upgraded, it will take effect on the next reload.

For subsequent Cisco IOS XE releases, if there is a new bootloader in that release, it may be automatically upgraded based on the hardware version of the switch when you boot up your switch with the new image for the first time.

Caution: Do not power cycle your switch during the upgrade.

Software installation commands

Note: For the install command to be successful, it is recommended to have a minimum of free space that is twice the size of the image in flash. If there is not enough space available in flash, you are advised to free up space in flash either by issuing the install remove inactive command or to manually clean up the flash by removing unwanted core files or any other files that occupy a large amount of space in flash.

To install and activate the specified file, and to commit changes to be persistent across reloads—install add file filename [ activate commit]

Table 7.        Summary of software installation commands for install mode

 

Related resources

Table 8.        Additional content for Cisco IE3500 Rugged Series Switch

Legal information

Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (1110R)

Any Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and phone numbers used in this document are not intended to be actual addresses and phone numbers. Any examples, command display output, network topology diagrams, and other figures included in the document are shown for illustrative purposes only. Any use of actual IP addresses or phone numbers in illustrative content is unintentional and coincidental.

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