Release Notes for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller, Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3

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Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller, Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3. 3

New software features. 3

Change in behavior 4

Notice of upcoming changes in the Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3 release and beyond. 5

Resolved issues. 7

Open issues. 10

Compatibility. 12

Supported hardware. 25

Related content 35

Communications, services, and additional information: 36

Legal information. 36

 

 

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller, Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers comprise next-generation wireless controllers (referred to as controller in this document) built for intent-based networking.

The controllers are available in multiple forms to cater to your deployment options:

     Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Appliance

o   Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers (C9800-L, C9800-40, C9800-80)

o   Cisco CW9800 Series Wireless Controllers (CW9800L, CW9800M, CW9800H1, CW9800H2)

     Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller for Cloud

     Embedded Wireless Controller (EWC) on Catalyst 9000 Series Switches

 

This document describes the new software features that were introduced or enhanced, change in behavior, issues, supported hardware, and so on, for Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3.

 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 Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3

Product impact

Feature

Description

Software Reliability

Enhancement for GCMP‑256 support with WPA3‑Enterprise (AKM 3/5)

WPA3 Specification version 3.4 introduces a mandatory requirement for WPA3-Enterprise (non-192-bit mode) to support the GCMP-256 cipher when utilizing AKMs 00:0F:AC:05 (dot1X-SHA256) and 00:0F:AC:03 (FT-dot1X). This change is essential for enabling Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) capabilities. To facilitate this, the controller now supports GCMP-256 for these AKMs.

Furthermore, starting with this release, the controller includes an automatic upgrade mechanism to ensure existing WLANs remain compliant and performant. The system will automatically add cipher GCMP-256 to WLAN configurations that meet all the following criteria:

  WLAN configured with WPA3-Enterprise (non suiteb) using AKM 3 (FT dot1X) and/or AKM 5 (dot1X-SHA256).
  Operating in non-SuiteB mode.
  Beacon Protection is enabled.
   An 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7) profile is applied with at least one active link.

This enhancement prevents WLANs from automatically downgrading to 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) due to missing cipher support, ensuring that clients can associate successfully and maintain high-performance Wi-Fi 7 connectivity.

Compliance

Optimized channel and power tables for CW9171I and CW9174I/E APs for Phase 2 countries

In this release, the channels and power tables for CW9171I and CW9174I/E APs have been updated to optimize performance based on local regulations in Phase 2 countries.

Product analytics

Cisco IOS XE Product Analytics collects device Systems Information for the purposes of understanding product usage, enabling product improvements and product development, and assisting in product adoption and sales support. Only summarized data of feature usage and statistical counters of configuration are collected. No personal identifiable information, such as MAC/IP addresses, usernames, custom configuration names, or user provided strings, are collected as part of Cisco IOS XE Product Analytics. Cisco processes this data following the General Terms, the Cisco Privacy Statement, and any other applicable agreement with Cisco.

See Cisco Enterprise Networking Product Analytics Frequently Asked Questions.

Change in behavior

Table 2.             Change in behavior for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3

Feature

Description

Updated Mesh PSK downgrade procedure (Release 26.1.1)

MAP is unable to connect if authentication method is PSK, during the downgrade process from Cisco IOS XE 26.1.1 to an older release such as 17.18.x or 17.15.x.

If you are using PSK for Mesh authentication and need to downgrade to a version that does not include this fix, follow these steps:

1.     Before downgrade: Enable the default PSK.

2.     After downgrade: MAPs should typically join the controller successfully if the provisioned PSK remains unchanged. If MAPs fail to join using PSK, perform these recovery steps:

·       Change the Mesh authentication method to EAP.

·       Once the MAPs have joined the controller through EAP, run this command on the controller for each of the affected APs: ap name ap-name mesh security psk provisioning delete

·       Change the Mesh authentication method back to PSK. The MAPs will join using the default PSK and then automatically update to the provisioned PSK.

3.     Once all APs have successfully joined the controller, disable the default PSK.

Enhancements to the Monitoring Wireless Clients grid in the controller WebUI

Added Policy Type, Encryption Cipher, and Authentication Key Management (AKM) to the Monitoring > Wireless > Clients grid.

NETCONF/YANG support for Regulatory Activation File (RAF) 

In the earlier releases, you could activate regulatory domain on APs through CLI commands and through the GUI process ensuring compliance with regional regulations.

With the change in behavior, NETCONF/YANG now supports Regulatory Activation File (RAF).

RPC-YANG support is added for the following RAF EXEC CLIs and show commands:

  ap regulatory activation file file-name
  ap regulatory activation apply
  ap regulatory activation clear all
  ap regulatory activation clear mac-address
  clear ap name ap-name country
  show ap regulatory activation all
  show ap regulatory activation mac mac-address

Channel width support for 160 MHz on Slot 0

In the earlier releases, if slot 0 was configured as an FRA slot supporting 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, the channel width on slot 0 could be configured only up to 80 MHz; 160 MHz was not supported.

With the change in behavior, 160 MHz is now supported on slot 0.

5 GHz radio remains powered down after XOR band reverts in non‑6 GHz countries

Cisco wireless controller WebUI running versions 17.15, 17.18, and 26.1.1 may cause the 5 GHz radio to remain in a Powered Down state when an XOR radio is reverted from 6 GHz back to 5 GHz in a country that does not support 6 GHz.

With the change in behavior, WebUI handles the radio state and provides appropriate warnings when moving radios to unsupported bands. This prevents the radio from remaining powered down after the band change.

Notice of upcoming changes in the Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3 release and beyond

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 is phasing out legacy and insecure features and protocols, encouraging customers to transition to more secure alternatives. This process is gradual and designed to minimize operational impact. 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 will display 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 will 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 are planned to generate warnings from version Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2.

Release notes for each release will describe 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.

     Wireless LAN Controller, CAPWAP DTLS:

Recommendation: Do not use DTLSv1.0 and weaker ciphersuites.

     Wireless LAN Controller, WLAN:

Recommendation: Do not use 802.1x key management security.

     Wireless LAN Controller, Mobility:

Recommendation: Do not use weaker ciphers and use stronger ciphers.

     Wireless LAN Controller, NMSP:

Recommendation: Do not use weaker ciphers and use strong ciphers.

 

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

For more information, see Resilient Infrastructure IOS XE Security Warnings Reference.

Resolved issues

To see additional information about the issues, click the bug ID to access the Bug Search Tool (BST).

Table 3.             Resolved issues in Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3

Bug ID

Description

CSCwo98441

Small variations in GPS module raw outputs cause large changes in GNSS data to controller

CSCwp10723

CW9171I  - 5Ghz oper state goes down when 6Ghz admin state was disabled

CSCwp34745

9130AX kernel panic pc : __qdf_bug+0x0/0x8 [qdf]

CSCwp59643

COS AP crash due to Soft lockup and null pointer dereference in 17.12.4

CSCwr07706

C9120  txerr noticed followed by Dot11BaseDriver Recover for cause : 48 - Toggling radio

CSCwr20303

Controller unexpected reload after modifying ap location name config

CSCwr56409

Wireless client is not receiving IPv6 RA from wired on Flexconnect AP

CSCwr65627

Large number of APs (2K+) take several minutes to join N+1 controller when Primary goes down

CSCwr67024

Edge receives a Discover from AP in L2LI0 interface, instead of in the Access Tunnel, due to the wrong IP source of the AP.

CSCwr75465

High CPU in wncd 99%-100% after change AP name to AP name that already exist in controller

CSCwr77247

AP crash on 9174I running 17.18.2: Kernel Panic

CSCwr77993

Kernel panic crashes on 9176 APs running on 17.18.1

CSCwr81031

Memory leak on 9176 APs on kmalloc slabs

CSCwr90981

AP count varying in 5GHz radio

CSCwr98669

C9176 FW Crash - cnss_pci 0004:01:00.0: CRASHED

CSCws01793

nss driver initialization failure during bootup on the 9178 Access point

CSCws06706

C9178: Clients unable to join 2.4 radio due to MAC HW Hang/PHY Error

CSCws08240

Wi-Fi 7 APs: Crash files generated in controller with reason reload due to power on reset - 33

CSCws08681

CW9178I AP - No Clients are able to connect due to nss count not incrementing

CSCws19380

Controller crash during ISSU upgrade

CSCws22667

Throughput Issue on Uploads via RLAN Ports 2 and 3 on Cisco 9105AWX/9172H AP; Port 1 Unaffected

CSCws26825

9105 stops accepting clients due to RX too late errors

CSCws27309

CW9162I-ROW APs are disjoining from 9800-CL running 17.12.04 - SMU-PATCHED

CSCws32133

9800 controller reloads due to crash on wncd process

CSCws39889

RF Based AP Load Balancing: Controller Crash due to observed during load balancing algo run

CSCws47700

WGB roaming may trigger a wncd process unexpected reload and wireless controller reload.

CSCws53690

SST:17.12.6a- >17.18.2 ISSU, AP disjoin after active - > standby

CSCws58494

WebAuth Clients moved to RUN State on the controller but it is stuck in WebAuth on the AP

CSCws58703

SST: ndbmand cores are seen after ISSU upgrade from 17.15.x to 17.18.2 with CatC, NETCONF not working

CSCws65956

Controller crash with wncmgrd has been helddown (rc 139)

CSCws66689

When RLAN port 1 is connected 9172H sends DHCP discover out of wired1 instead of wired0

CSCws68160

Controller Unexpected reload with Critical process wncd fault on rp_0_0 (rc=139) after client deletion

CSCws68505

AP crash due to kernel panic

CSCws76688

Client stuck in AUTHENTICATING state on Catalyst 9800 when OKC is enabled in Flex mode AP \u2013 EAP Identity Request sent after 4\u2011Way Handshake

CSCws77227

AP CW9176I kernel panic crash

CSCws77337

9166 SDA APs having image download issues due to /tmp not having enough space caused by sdavc App pack

CSCws80385

AP CW9176I kernel panic random crash

CSCws91899

C9800 Crash while processing Flex Connect Client

CSCws93542

Post failover DHCP Offer is not forwarded by the controller to the client

CSCwt00254

Anonymous memory leak due to missing SSL async FD deselect in WebAuth

CSCwt01278

9115/9120  APs facing kernel panic crashes in 17.18.2

CSCwt05272

AP 9120 crashed due to Kernal Panic

CSCwt08175

AP Kernel Panic due to PC is at _ZN17SPSCPriorityQueue4pushEiP6Packet+0x7c/0x4c8 LR is at _ZN17SPSCPriorityQueue4pushEiP6Packet+0x40/0x4c8

CSCwt08728

CW9179F :5GHz channel mapping for CA Country is missing in the power table

CSCwt09003

Clients not connecting to \"FT+SAE\" when AP is in flex connect mode with central authentication

CSCwt20299

Application traffic is using wired0 as egress interface instead of auxiliary client interface

CSCwt31565

Wireless Clients Stuck in RUN State on Cisco 9800-40-K9 Running 17.12.6a

CSCwt31826

Constant switchover and/or reload due to SIGSEGV on rogued process

CSCwt37351

The wncd process unexpected finish due to an invalid handler-id for a radio wlan id and controller may reload

CSCwt52617

Post SSO - Few wireless clients experiences loss of connectivity to devices outside the Fabric

CSCwt53021

2.4G Radio not coming up for CW9163-E AP when country code is configured as SR

CSCwo98826

[9179 Outdoor Mode] 6Ghz Power mode reason shows as \"AFC license is not available for AP\" in case of DB10 outdoor Mode auto mode.

CSCwq11290

17.15.4[SST] - Observing a Memory leaks on Ble Trasnsport

CSCwq73441

CW9172I AP: Kernel panic running 17.15.4

CSCwr30777

9800 standby chassis shows Cisco Unknown Power Supply and same SN on output from \"show inventory\" 17.12.4

CSCwr74373

C9800 controller Accounting-Request packets are not sent when an ungraceful disassociation takes place

CSCwr77108

When using FT11r or OKC in flexconnect local auth, AP discard VLAN pushed by RADIUS server

CSCwr77143

CW9166/IW9167: Kernel panic crash running 17.15

CSCwr79853

In file manager, when selecting one file in the location box, download fails

CSCwr87352

Remove Mesh country restriction warning from UI

CSCwr87656

9800 controller RADSEC - Acct-Session-Time value is blank intermittently

CSCwr96614

C9120 COS AP crash on capwapd.service: main process exited, code=killed, status=4/ILL

CSCwr96860

Antenna Gain configuration via RESTCONF RPC fails for AP models 3800E and 9120AXE \u2014 \u201cslot: 0 does not have a dedicated radio\u201d error

CSCwr97281

9105 AP is over reporting interference under \"auto-rf\" result

CSCws10863

9800 - APs with an unresolved regulatory domain stop RRM from running for other APs

CSCws17702

PAED process crashes every 24 after record pruning and DB query errors.

CSCws25172

9166 APs keep crashing when 6GHz radio is on, using RO country code on controller version 17.15.3

CSCws35315

Auxiliary-client interface taking over the CAPWAP connection from the AP

CSCws46519

When running \"show ap lldp neighbor\" on the controller, outdated information continues to persist.

CSCws60984

9166 crash systemd[1]: capwapd.service failed.

CSCws62182

The GUI displays the channel Bandwidth (Negotiated/capable) wrong

CSCws66137

Client association time shown as \"01/01/1970 00:00:00\" while local authentication (no central authentication) is in place

CSCws70285

Clean up for  /storage/cnssdaemon.log

CSCws72425

9136I IOX application activation failure

CSCws76582

17.15.3 -Stale client entries prohibiting fresh assoc on AP

CSCws79118

Unexpectedly reduced transmit power for 9124-AXE on 2.4 GHz in -Z regulatory domain

CSCws80754

Local DHCP on Anchor controller intermittently stops forwarding DHCP OFFER or ACK

CSCws83128

AP rename fails with false \u201cAP name already exists\u201d conflict for a specific hostname string (not present in AP database), controller reverts AP to default name

CSCws93326

26.1.1 ERR Logs: (ERR): MAC: 0000.0000.0000 \u00a0Set RA trace entry for multi link client. Unable to fetch dot11 operational data

CSCwt13894

CW9172H WAT Agent fails to connect to SSIDs with leading or trailing spaces

CSCwt20158

bsnMobileStation showing only a few clients - root cause is Wifi7

CSCwt21195

Default 6 GHz RF profile cannot be selected when creating a new location.

CSCwt40423

Cloudm Tracebacks running out of ID

CSCwt41808

wncmgrd Process Crash Due to Invalid String Pointer during AP Join AVL Tree

CSCwt41939

TMPFS Memory leak in IOS_PRIV_OPER_DB tbl_ewlc_critical_events table after selinux denials

Open issues

To see additional information about the issues, click the bug ID to access the Bug Search Tool (BST). This section lists the open issues that apply to the current release and might apply to releases earlier than Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3. An issue that is open for an earlier release and is still unresolved applies to all future releases until it is resolved.

Table 4.        Open issues in Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3

Bug ID

Description

CSCwt91818

C9800 controller crash during APSP installation

CSCwk79990

9800-L encounters kernel unresponsiveness due to IntelResetRequest

CSCws23072

RRM Crashes and tracebacks observed on CW9800 Platform

CSCws42581

Memory corruption in L2 multicast while handling dynamic multicast router ports and group

CSCwt03837

Standby Platform with HA facing unexpected reloads due LocalSoft

CSCwt13732

WNCD process is getting terminated unexpectedly, causing controller to crash ( Critical process wncd has failed (rc 0))

CSCwt19011

9166 17.15.4b AP in SDA mode not forwarding IPv4 ARP upstream or other IPv4 packets after DHCP

CSCwt19092

9179 running 17.18.2 reporting more than 4 DFS in less than 1 hour

CSCwt19490

9800 controller: Stale client IP used in RADIUS accounting causes ISE IP\u2013SGT/SXP overwrite

CSCwt22893

Controller unexpected SISF reboot with WNCD core on 17.18.2

CSCwt26718

eCA upgrade operation failed due to non response from wncmgrd.

CSCwt38788

The mobility process ends unexpectedly due to an uninitialized variable; controller may be reloaded.

CSCwt50389

Ascom Myco2 phones are not able to connect to 9176 APs due to EAP_ID_REQ or M2 not acked by AP

CSCwt52815

Controller fails to update associated Channel width for client after it is changed on AP radio.

CSCwt53635

Memory Leak on C9800-40-K9 in the wncmgrd process

CSCwt71615

Process  \"CPPHA-3-FAULT: F0/0: cpp_ha_top_level_server\" crashed causing the controller to reboot

CSCwt74576

Cisco Catalyst 9136 AP wcpd process memory increasing gradually

CSCwt79299

Controller dropping mobility tunnel even when keepalive timers arent hit.

CSCwt80081

Users stuck in IP learn Phase and deleted with the reason NACK_IFID

CSCwt83133

Unexpected reload on controller due to null pointer on SSL code causing wncd core

CSCws03721

9120/9115/9105 AP does not ACK frames sent from iOS devices follow up of CSCwj91255

CSCws94151

SFP \"SFP-H25G-CU1M\" is not working in C9800M - 17.15.03 and Nexus C93180YC-EX

CSCws95359

10G Ports not coming UP on CW9800M, CW9800H1 with various SPFs models.

CSCwt39820

APs Does Not Receive Accelerometer Settings from AP Join Profile

CSCwt43333

C9120E dual-band-role XPath does not apply 5 GHz sniffer configuration despite HTTP 204 success

CSCwt44743

CW9166I randomly drops ARP query from Zebra MC9300 RF gun

CSCwt53740

AP not broadcast SSID due to some policy config pushing failed from the controller

CSCwt65349

CW9172I AP crashes with ar_wal_mlo_ipc.c assert and watchdog panic

CSCwt72800

CW9176I AP crash due to kernel panic with pc do_undefinstr+0x30/0x50

CSCwt75036

802.1X Authentication Failure on C9800-L ? EAP Request Identity Not Forwarded by AP (CW9176I, 17.15.4.160)

CSCwt77092

AP - KFENCE memory corruption events lead to RCU stalls and HW watchdog reset

CSCwt77136

Continuous KFENCE IPv6 MLD memory corruption leads to RCU stalls and HW watchdog reset

CSCwt79155

9105AXW AP Kernel Panic Crash on 17.15.4d

CSCwt81695

WGB mode does not include hostname (DHCP Option 12) in DHCP Discover on 91xx APs, preventing DDNS record creation

CSCwt84944

17.15.3 - 9120 reporting incorrect noise levels for 5/24Ghz

Compatibility

Compatibility matrix

The following table provides software compatibility information. For more information, see Cisco Wireless Solutions Software Compatibility Matrix.

Table 5.             Compatibility Matrix for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, Release 17.18.3

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software

Cisco Identity Services Engine

Cisco AireOS-IRCM Interoperability

Cisco Catalyst Center

Cisco CMX

IOS XE 17.18.3

3.4

3.3

3.2

3.1

3.0

 

* all with latest patches

8.10 latest MR

8.5 latest MR

 

See Cisco Catalyst Center Compatibility Information.

11.1.1

 

Software requirements

Operating Systems:

     Windows 10 or later

     macOS X 10.11 or later

Browsers:

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

     Microsoft Edge: Version 40 or later (on Windows)

     Safari: Version 10 or later (on Mac)

     Mozilla Firefox: Version 60 or later (on Windows and Mac)

Note that Firefox version 63.x is not supported.

 

The controller GUI uses Virtual Terminal (VTY) lines for processing HTTP requests. At times, when multiple connections are open, the default number of VTY lines of 15 set by the device might get exhausted. Therefore, we recommend that you increase the number of VTY lines to 50.

To increase the VTY lines in a device, run the following commands in the following order:

Device# configure terminal

Device(config)# line vty 50

The best practice is to configure the service tcp-keepalives to monitor the TCP connection to the device.

Device(config)# service tcp-keepalives-in

Device(config)# service tcp-keepalives-out

Before you upgrade

Ensure that you familiarize yourself with the following points before proceeding with the upgrade:

     If you have APs in remote sites, behind a WAN link, read the following document to accelerate the image download and make it more reliable: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/223125-understand-access-point-image-upgrades.html.

     When you upgrade from Cisco IOS XE 17.9.5 or lower, or 17.12.2 or lower, to Cisco IOS XE 17.18.2 or higher, the controller WebUI does not support images greater than 1.5 GB.

Workaround:

o   Upgrade using the CLI commands, or,

o   Upgrade to 17.9.6, 17.12.3, or higher, then upgrade to 17.18.2 or later.

     For images: If upgrading from 17.9.6 or lower, 17.12.4 or lower, or 17.15.1 or lower, to 17.18.2, Cisco Catalyst Wi-Fi 6 APs may fail to upgrade their image due to lack of space on the temporary partition.

Workaround:

o   Reboot the impacted APs using a power cycle, then procced to upgrade normally.

For more information, see CSCwm08044 and CSCwm07499.

     APs running older release code (before 8.10.190.0, 17.3.8, 17.6.5, 17.9.3 or older), may get into a boot loop when upgrading software over a WAN link. For more information, see: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/catalyst-9800-series-wireless-controllers/220443-how-to-avoid-boot-loop-due-to-corrupted.html

     The following Wave 1 APs are not supported in 17.18.2 and higher, and they will not join the controller. We recommend that you validate the current models before upgrading: 

o   Cisco Aironet 1570 Series Access Point

o   Cisco Aironet 1700 Series Access Point

o   Cisco Aironet 2700 Series Access Point

o   Cisco Aironet 3700 Series Access Point

     From Cisco IOS XE Dublin 17.10.x, Key Exchange and MAC algorithms like diffie-hellman-group14-sha1, hmac-sha1, hmac-sha2-256, and hmac-sha2-512 are not supported by default and it may impact some SSH clients that only support these algorithms. If required, you can add them manually. For information on manually adding these algorithms, see the SSH Algorithms for Common Criteria Certification document available at: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/ios/config/17-x/sec-vpn/b-security-vpn/m_sec-secure-shell-algorithm-ccc.html.

     If APs fail to detect the backup image after running the archive download-sw command, perform the following steps: 

o   Upload the image using the no-reload option of the archive download-sw command: 

Device# archive download-sw /no-reload tftp://<tftp_server_ip>/<image_name> 

o   Restart the CAPWAP process using capwap ap restart command. This allows the AP to use the correct backup image after the restart (reload is not required.) 

Device# capwap ap restart

The AP will lose connection to the controller during the join process. When the AP joins the new controller, it will see a new image in the backup partition. So, the AP will not download a new image from the controller.

     The use of MTU lower than 1500 on G0 (OOB) interface that may cause fragmentation for RADIUS packets for client authentication, is not supported. 

     While upgrading to Cisco IOS XE 17.3.x and later releases, if the ip http active-session-modules none command is enabled, you will not be able to access the controller GUI using HTTPS. To access the GUI using HTTPS, run the following commands in the order specified below: 

ip http session-module-list pkilist OPENRESTY_PKI

ip http active-session-modules pkilist

     Cisco Aironet 1815T OfficeExtend Access Point will be in local mode when connected to the controller. However, when it functions as a standalone AP, it gets converted to FlexConnect mode. 

     The Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller may fail to respond to the BREAK signals received on its console port during boot time, preventing users from getting to the ROMMON. This problem is observed on the controllers manufactured until November 2019, with the default config-register setting of 0x2102. This problem can be avoided if you set config-register to 0x2002.

This problem is fixed in the 16.12(3r) ROMMON for Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller.

For information about how to upgrade the ROMMON, see the Upgrading ROMMON for Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controllers section of the Upgrading Field Programmable Hardware Devices for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers document. 

     By default, the controller uses a TFTP block size value of 512, which is the lowest possible value. This default setting is used to ensure interoperability with legacy TFTP servers. If required, you can change the block size value to 8192 to speed up the transfer process, using the ip tftp blocksize command in global configuration mode. 

     If the following error message is displayed after a reboot or system crash, we recommend that you regenerate the trustpoint certificate: ERR_SSL_VERSION_OR_CIPHER_MISMATCH.

Use the following commands in the order specified below to generate a new self-signed trustpoint certificate:

device# configure terminal

device(config)# no crypto pki trustpoint trustpoint_name

device(config)# no ip http server

device(config)# no ip http secure-server

device(config)# ip http server

device(config)# ip http secure-server

device(config)# ip http authentication local/aaa

     Do not deploy OVA files directly to VMware ESXi 6.5. We recommend that you use an OVF tool to deploy the OVA files.

     Ensure that you remove the controller from Cisco Prime Infrastructure before disabling or enabling Netconf-YANG. Otherwise, the system may reload unexpectedly.

     From Cisco IOS XE Bengaluru 17.4.1 onwards, the telemetry solution provides a name for the receiver address instead of the IP address for telemetry data. This is an additional option. During the controller downgrade and subsequent upgrade, there is likely to be an issue—the upgrade version uses the newly named receivers, and these are not recognized in the downgrade. The new configuration gets rejected and fails in the subsequent upgrade. Configuration loss can be avoided when the upgrade or downgrade is performed from Cisco Catalyst Center.

     The Cisco Centralized Key Management (CCKM) feature was deprecated in Cisco IOS XE 17.10.x but currently remains supported. However, support for CCKM will be removed in a future release. Therefore, we recommend that you migrate to Fast Transition (FT) with 802.1X authentication and validate the configuration with supported key caching mechanisms. 

     To migrate public IP address from 16.12.x to 17.x. ensure that you configure the service internal command. If you do not configure the service internal command, the IP address does not get carried forward. 

     RLAN support with Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF) is not available.

     When you encounter the SNMP error SNMP_ERRORSTATUS_NOACCESS 6, it means that the specified SNMP variable is not accessible. 

     We recommend that you perform a controller reload whenever there is a change in the controller's clock to reflect an earlier time. 

     The DTLS version (DTLSv1.0) is deprecated for Cisco Aironet 1800 based on latest security policies. Therefore, any new out-of-box deployments of Cisco Aironet 1800 APs will fail to join the controller, and you will get the following error message: 

%APMGR_TRACE_MESSAGE-3-WLC_GEN_ERR: Chassis 1 R0/2: wncd: Error in AP Join,
AP <AP-name>,

mac:<MAC-address>Model AIR-AP1815W-D-K9, AP negotiated unexpected DTLS version v1.0

To onboard new Cisco Aironet 1800 APs and to establish a CAPWAP connection, explicitly set the DTLS version to 1.0 in the controller using the following configuration: 

config terminal

ap dtls-version dtls_1_0

end

Note: Setting the DTLS version to 1.0 affects all the existing AP CAPWAP connections. We recommend that you apply the configuration only during a maintenance window. After the APs download the new image and join the controller, ensure that you remove the configuration.

     Before you begin a downgrade process, you must manually remove the configurations which are applicable in the current version but not in the older version. Otherwise, you might encounter unexpected behavior.

     To upgrade the field programmable hardware devices for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers, see Upgrading Field Programmable Hardware Devices for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers.

Upgrade path to Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3

Note: For Cisco Catalyst 9136, 9164, and 9166 APs, a direct upgrade from 17.9.1 to 17.15.x or 17.18.x will fail due to insufficient space. To perform the upgrade, you must first update to 17.9.6 or 17.9.7 before proceeding to 17.15.x or 17.18.x.

Table 6.      Upgrade Path to Cisco IOS XE Dublin 17.18.3

Current software

Upgrade path for deployments with 9130, 9124, or 916x

Upgrade path for deployments without 9130 and 9124

16.10.x

Note: The Cisco Catalyst 9130 and 9124 APs are not supported in 16.10.x and 16.11.x releases.

Upgrade first to 16.12.5 or 17.3.x and then to 17.18.3.

16.11.x

Upgrade first to 16.12.5 or 17.3.x and then to 17.18.3.

16.12.x

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later or 17.6.x or later, then to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later or 17.6.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

17.1.x

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later or 17.6.x or later, then to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later and then to 17.18.3.

17.2.x

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later or 17.6.x or later, then to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later and then to 17.18.3.

17.3.1 to 17.3.4

Upgrade first to 17.3.5 or later or 17.6.x or later, then to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.3.4c or later

Upgrade to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.4.x

Upgrade first to 17.6.x and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.5.x

Upgrade first to 17.6.x and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.6.x

Upgrade to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.7.x

Upgrade to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.8.x

Upgrade to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.9.1 to 17.9.5

Upgrade to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Note: For Cisco Catalyst 9136, 9164, and 9166 APs, a direct upgrade from 17.9.1 to 17.15.x or 17.18.x will fail due to insufficient space. To perform the upgrade, you must first update to 17.9.6 or 17.9.7 before proceeding to 17.15.x or 17.18.x.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.9.6 or later

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.10.x

Upgrade to 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.11.x

Upgrade to 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.12.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.13.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.14.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.15.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.16.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

17.17.x

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

8.9.x or any 8.10.x version prior to 8.10.171.0

Upgrade first to 8.10.171.0 or later, 17.3.5 or later, or 17.6.x or later, then to 17.9.6 or later or 17.12.x or later, and then to 17.18.3.

Upgrade directly to 17.18.3.

 

Upgrading the controller software

This section describes the various aspects of upgrading the controller software.

Finding the software version

The package files for the Cisco IOS XE software are stored in the system board flash device (flash:).

Use the show version privileged EXEC command to see the software version that is running on your controller.

Note: Although the show version output always shows the software image running on the controller, the model name shown at the end of the output is the factory configuration, and does not change if you upgrade the software license.

Use the show install summary privileged EXEC command to see the information about the active package.

Use the dir filesystem: privileged EXEC command to see the directory names of other software images that you have stored in flash memory.

Software images

     Release: Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3

Image names (9800-80, 9800-40, and 9800-L):

     C9800-80-universalk9_wlc.17.18.03.SPA.bin

     C9800-40-universalk9_wlc.17.18.03.SPA.bin

     C9800-L-universalk9_wlc.17.18.03.SPA.bin

Image names (CW9800M, CW9800H1/CW9800H2, CW9800L)

     CW9800H-wlc-universalk9.17.18.03.SPA.bin

     CW9800M-wlc-universalk9.17.18.03.SPA.bin

     CW9800L-wlc-universalk9.17.18.03.SPA.bin

Image names (9800-CL):

     Cloud: C9800-CL-universalk9.17.18.03.SPA.bin

     Hyper-V/ESXi/KVM: C9800-CL-universalk9.17.18.03.iso, C9800-CL-universalk9.17.18.03.ova

     KVM: C9800-CL-universalk9.17.18.03.qcow2

     NFVIS: C9800-CL-universalk9.17.18.03.tar.gz

Software installation commands

To install and activate a specified file, and to commit changes to be persistent across reloads, run the following command:

device# install add file filename [activate |commit]

To separately install, activate, commit, end, or remove the installation file, run the following command:

device# install ?

Note: We recommend that you use the GUI for installation.

Commands

Description

add file tftpfilename

Copies the install file package from a remote location to a device and performs a compatibility check for the platform and image versions

activateauto-abort-timer

Activates the file and reloads the device; the auto-abort-timer keyword automatically rolls back image activation

Commit

Makes changes that are persistent over reloads

rollback to committed

Rolls back the update to the last committed version

Abort

Cancels file activation and rolls back to the version that was running before the current installation procedure started

Remove

Deletes all unused and inactive software installation files

Licensing

Cisco Wireless Licenses

Cisco Wireless Licenses, a part of the Cisco Networking Subscription licensing model, is a software license that helps you to deploy your Wi-Fi 7 Access Points in an on-premise, hybrid, or a cloud managed network. From Cisco IOS XE 17.15.2, Cisco Wireless licenses are supported on Wi-Fi 7 Access Points (APs) and later models.

The Cisco Wireless Licenses consist of the following tiers:

     Cisco Wireless Essentials: The tier that provides fundamental features and functionalities that are essential to manage a network.

     Cisco Wireless Advantage: The tier that supports additional features and capabilities and includes all the essential capabilities in addition to the advanced capabilities to manage a network.

For more information, see Cisco Wireless Licensing.

Interoperability with clients

This section describes the interoperability of the controller software with client devices.

The following table lists the configurations used for testing client devices.

Table 7.      Test configuration for interoperability

Hardware or software parameter

Hardware or software type

Release

Cisco IOS XE 17.18.3

Cisco Wireless Controller

See Supported hardware

Access Points

See Supported APs

Radio

·       802.11ac

·       802.11ax

·       802.11a

·       802.11g

·       802.11n

·       802.11be (Wi-Fi 7)

Security

Open, PSK (WPA2-AES), 802.1X (WPA2-AES) (EAP-FAST, EAP-TLS), WPA3 AKM

RADIUS

See Compatibility Matrix

Types of tests

Connectivity, traffic (ICMP), and roaming between two APs

 

The following table lists the client types on which the tests were conducted. Client types included laptops, hand-held devices, phones, and printers.

Table 8.      Client types

Client type and name

Driver or software version

Laptops

Acer Aspire E 15 E5-573-3870 (Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377)

Latest

Apple MacBook Air 11 inch

Latest

Apple MacBook Air 13 inch

Latest

MacBook Pro Retina

Latest

MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch early 2015

Latest

MacBook Pro OS X

Latest

MacBook Air

Latest

MacBook Air 11 inch

Latest

MacBook M1 Chip

Latest

MacBook M1 Chip

Latest

MacBook Pro M2 Chip

Latest

MacBook Pro M2 Chip

Latest

MacBook Pro M3 chip

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

MacBook/Mac-Mini Pro M4 chip

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

MacBook/Mac-Mini Pro M4 Pro chip

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

MacBook Air M5 chip

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

MacBook Pro M5 chip

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

MacBook Neo

macOS Tahoe 26.4.1

Dell Inspiron 2020 Chromebook

Chrome OS 75.0.3770.129

Google Pixelbook Go

Chrome OS 97.0.4692.27

HP Chromebook 11a

Chrome OS 76.0.3809.136

Samsung Chromebook 4+

Chrome OS 77.0.3865.105

Dell Latitude (Intel AX210)

Latest

Dell Latitude 3480 (Qualcomm DELL wireless 1820)

Latest

Dell Inspiron 15-7569 (Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165)

Latest

Dell Latitude E5540 (Intel Dual Band Wireless AC7260)

Latest

Dell Latitude E5430 (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205)

Latest

Dell Latitude E6840 (Broadcom Dell Wireless 1540 802.11 a/g/n)

Latest

Dell XPS 12 v9250 (Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260)

Latest

Dell Latitude 5491 (Intel AX200)

Latest

Dell XPS Latitude12 9250 (Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260)

Latest

Dell Inspiron 13-5368 Signature Edition

Latest

FUJITSU Lifebook E556 Intel 8260 (Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 (802.11n))

Latest

Lenovo Yoga C630 Snapdragon 850 (Qualcomm AC 2x2 Svc)

Latest

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 460 (Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 9260)

Latest

Note: For clients using Intel wireless cards, we recommend that you update to the latest Intel wireless drivers if the advertised SSIDs are not visible.

Tablets

Apple iPad Pro (12.9 inch) 6th Gen

iOS 16.4

Apple iPad Pro (11 inch) 4th Gen

iOS 16.4

Apple iPad 2021

iOS 15.0

Apple iPad 7the Gen 2019

iOS 14.0

Apple iPad MD328LL/A

iOS 9.3.5

Apple iPad 2 MC979LL/A

iOS 11.4.1

Apple iPad Air MD785LL/A

iOS 11.4.1

Apple iPad Air2 MGLW2LL/A

iOS 10.2.1

Apple iPad Mini 4 9.0.1 MK872LL/A

iOS 11.4.1

Apple iPad Mini 2 ME279LL/A

iOS 11.4.1

Apple iPad Mini 4 9.0.1 MK872LL/A

iOS 11.4.1

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 13 inch (Intel AX201)

Windows 10 (21.40.1.3)

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 15 inch (Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A)

Windows 10

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 (Intel AX201)

Windows 10

Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Marvell Wi-Fi chipset 11ac)

Windows 10

Microsoft Surface Pro X (WCN3998 Wi-Fi Chip)

Windows

Mobile phones

Apple iPhone 5

iOS 12.4.1

Apple iPhone 6s

iOS 13.5

Apple iPhone 7 MN8J2LL/A

iOS 11.2.5

Apple iPhone 8

iOS 13.5

Apple iPhone 8 Plus

iOS 14.1

Apple iPhone 8 Plus MQ8D2LL/A

iOS 12.4.1

Apple iPhone X MQA52LL/A

iOS 13.1

Apple iPhone 11

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone 12

iOS 16.0

Apple iPhone 12 Pro

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone 13

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone 13 Mini

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone 13 Mini Pro

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone SE MLY12LL/A

iOS 11.3

Apple iPhone SE

iOS 15.1

Apple iPhone 14

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 14 Pro

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 15

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 16

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 16e

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 16 Pro

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 17

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 17 Pro

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone 17e

iOS 26.4.1

Apple iPhone Air

iOS 26.4.1

ASCOM i63

Build v 3.0.0

ASCOM Myco 3

Android 9

Cisco IP Phone 8821

11.0.6 SR4

Cisco 840/s

Latest

Cisco 860

Latest

Cisco 9821

Latest

Cisco 7800 series desk phones

Latest

Cisco 8800 series desk phones

Latest

Cisco 9800 series desk phones

Latest

Drager Delta

VG9.0.2

Drager M300.3

VG3.0

Drager M300.4

VG3.0

Drager M540

VG4.2

Google Pixel 3a

Android 11

Google Pixel 4

Android 11

Google Pixel 5

Android 11

Google Pixel 6

Android 12

Google Pixel 7

Android 13

Google Pixel 8

Android 15

Google Pixel 9

Android 15

Google Pixel 10

Android 15

Huawei Mate 20 pro

Android 9.0

Huawei P20 Pro

Android 10

Huawei P40

Android 10

LG v40 ThinQ

Android 9.0

One Plus 8

Android 11

Oppo Find X2

Android 10

Redmi K20 Pro

Android 10

Samsung Galaxy S9+ - G965U1

Android 10.0

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

Android 11.0

Samsung S10 (SM-G973U1)

Android 11.0

Samsung S10e (SM-G970U1)

Android 11.0

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

Android 10.0

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G

Android 13.0

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Android 13.0

Samsung Galaxy S23

Android 15.0

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Android 15.0

Samsung Galaxy S24

Android 15.0

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Android 15.0

Samsung Galaxy S25

Android 15.0

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

Android 15.0

Samsung Fold 2

Android 10.0

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3

Android 13.0

Samsung Note20

Android 12.0

Samsung G Note 10 Plus

Android 11.0

Samsung Galaxy A01

Android 11.0

Samsung Galaxy A21

Android 10.0

Sony Experia 1 ii

Android 11

Sony Experia

Android 11

Xiaomi Mi 9T

Android 9

Xiaomi Mi 10

Android 11

Spectralink 84 Series

7.5.0.x257

Spectralink 87 Series

Android 5.1.1

Spectralink Versity Phones 92/95/96 Series

Android 10.0

Spectralink Versity Phones 9540 Series

Android 8.1.0

Vocera Badges B3000n

4.3.3.18

Vocera Smart Badges V5000

5.0.6.35

Zebra MC40

Android  4.4.4

Zebra MC40N0

Android 4.1.1

Zebra MC92N0

Android  4.4.4

Zebra MC9090

Windows Mobile 6.1

Zebra MC55A

Windows 6.5

Zebra MC75A

OEM ver 02.37.0001

Zebra TC51

Android 6.0.1

Zebra TC52

Android 10.0

Zebra TC55

Android 8.1.0

Zebra TC57

Android 10.0

Zebra TC58

Android 11.0

Zebra TC70

Android 6.1

Zebra TC75

Android 10.0

Zebra TC520K

Android 10.0

Zebra TC8000

Android 4.4.3

Printers

Zebra QLn320 Mobile Printer

LINK OS 5.2

Zebra ZT230 IndustrialPrinter

LINK OS 6.4

Zebra ZQ310 Mobile Printer

LINK OS 6.4

Zebra ZD410 Industrial Printer

LINK OS 6.4

Zebra ZT410 Desktop Printer

LINK OS 6.2

Zebra ZQ610 Industrial Printer

LINK OS 6.4

Zebra ZQ620 Mobile Printer

LINK OS 6.4

Wireless module

Intel AX 411

Latest

Intel AX 211

Latest

Intel AX 210

Latest

Intel AX 200

Latest

Intel 11AC

Latest

Intel AC 9260

Latest

Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 8260

Latest

Samsung S21 Ultra

Latest

QCA WCN6855

Latest

PhoenixContact FL WLAN 2010

Latest

Supported hardware

Supported virtual and hardware platforms

The following table lists the supported virtual and hardware platforms. (See Supported PIDs and ports for the list of supported modules.)

Table 9.        Supported virtual and hardware platforms

Platform

Description

Cisco Catalyst 9800-80 Wireless Controller

A modular wireless controller with up to 100-GE modular uplinks and seamless software updates.

The controller occupies a 2-rack unit space and supports multiple module uplinks.

Cisco Catalyst 9800-40 Wireless Controller

A fixed wireless controller with seamless software updates for mid-size to large enterprises.

The controller occupies a 1-rack unit space and provides four 1-GE or 10-GE uplink ports.

Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller

The Cisco Catalyst 9800-L Wireless Controller is the first low-end controller that provides a significant boost in performance and features.

Cisco 9800 Series Wireless Controller for Cloud

A virtual form factor of the Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller that can be deployed in a private cloud (supports VMware ESXi, Kernel-based Virtual Machine [KVM], Microsoft Hyper-V, and Cisco Enterprise NFV Infrastructure Software [NFVIS] on Enterprise Network Compute System [ENCS] hypervisors), or in the public cloud as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) marketplace, and Microsoft Azure.

Embedded Wireless Controller on Catalyst 9000 Series Switches

The Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller software for the Cisco Catalyst 9000 switches brings the wired and wireless infrastructure together with consistent policy and management.

This deployment model supports only Software Defined-Access (SDA), which is a highly secure solution for small campuses and distributed branches.

Cisco CW9800 Series Wireless Controller (CW9800M, CW9800H1, CW9800H2, and CW9800L)

 

The CW9800M controller is the next generation Cisco CW9800 series wireless LAN controller built to deliver a 53% performance improvement while consuming 18% less power when compared to the previous generation models.

Additionally, the CW9800M controller supports 3000 APs and 32000 clients to ensure better performance and scale for business-critical networks and provides up to 40 Gbps of forwarding throughput for both normal packet and encrypted packets while remaining a single RU designed to save you space and provide greater flexibility in your datacenters.

The CW9800H1 and CW9800H2 controllers are the next-generation Cisco CW9800 wireless LAN controllers that boast up to a 36% increase in performance and consume up to 40% less power compared to their predecessors.

Additionally, the CW9800H1 and CW9800H2 models are built with a space-saving single RU design and support up to 6000 APs and 64,000 clients with 100 Gbps of maximum throughput. They also offer a choice of uplinks with either 4 x 25 Gbps (CW9800H1) or 2 x 40 Gbps (CW9800H2) configurations to meet high throughput demands of next-generation wireless requirements.

The CW9800L controller is the next-generation, low-end controller that provides a significant boost in performance and features. Supporting up to 10 Gbps throughput, 500 APs, and 10,000 clients, the CW9800L delivers double the capacity and increased performance compared to the base C9800-L.

Supported host environments - public and private cloud

The following table lists the host environments supported for private and public cloud.

Table 10.   Supported host environments for public and private cloud

Host environment

Software version

VMware ESXi

  VMware ESXi vSphere 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, and 8.0
  VMware ESXi vCenter 6.5, 6.7, 7.0, and 8.0

KVM

  Linux KVM-based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2, or latest version
  Ubuntu 16.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS

AWS

AWS EC2 platform

NFVIS

ENCS 3.8.1 and 3.9.1

GCP

GCP marketplace

Microsoft Hyper-V

Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2025, with Hyper-V Manager (Version 10.0.x)

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure

Supported PIDs and ports

The following table lists the supported Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller hardware models.

The base PIDs are the model numbers of the controller.

The bundled PIDs indicate the orderable part numbers for the base PIDs that are bundled with a particular network module. Running the show versionshow module, or show inventory command on such a controller (bundled PID) displays its base PID.

Note: Unsupported SFPs will bring down a port. Only Cisco-supported SFPs (GLC-LH-SMD and GLC-SX-MMD) should be used on the route processor (RP) ports of C9800-80-K9 and C9800-40-K9.

Table 11.   Supported PIDS and ports

Controller model

Description

C9800-CL-K9

Cisco Catalyst Wireless Controller as an infrastructure for cloud.

C9800-80-K9

Eight 1/10-Gigabit Ethernet SFP or SFP+ ports and two power supply slots.

C9800-40-K9

Four 1/10-Gigabit Ethernet SFP or SFP+ ports and two power supply slots.

C9800-L-C-K9

  4x2.5/1-Gigabit ports
  2x10/5/2.5/1-Gigabit ports

C9800-L-F-K9

  4x2.5/1-Gigabit ports
  2x10/1-Gigabit ports

CW9800H1

  8x1 GE/10 GE SFP ports
  4x25 GE SFP interfaces

CW9800H2

  8x1 GE/10 GE SFP Ports
  2X 40 GE QSFP interfaces

CW9800M

  Four built-in 1 GE /10 GE SFP ports
  Two built-in 25 GE SFP ports

CW9800L

  2x 10G/1G SFP Ports (Data Ports)
  2x1G Copper (RP and SP ports)
 

Supported SFPs

The following table lists the supported SFP models.

Table 12.   Supported SFP models

SFP name

C9800-80-K9

C9800-40-K9

C9800-L-F-K9

CW9800H1

CW9800H2

CW9800M

CW9800L

COLORCHIP-C040- Q020-CWDM4-03B

Supported

DWDM-SFP10G-30.33

Supported

Supported

       

DWDM-SFP10G-61.41

Supported

Supported

FINISAR-LR – FTLX1471D3BCL

(The FINISAR SFPs are not Cisco specific and some of the features, such as DOM, may not work properly.)

Supported

Supported

Supported

FINISAR-SR – FTLX8574D3BCL

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-BX-D

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-BX-U

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-EX-SMD

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-LH-SMD

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-SX-MMD

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-T

Supported

GLC-TE

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

GLC-ZX-SMD

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

QSFP-100G-LR4-S

Supported

QSFP-100G-SR4-S

Supported

QSFP-40G-BD-RX

Supported

Supported

— Supported

— Supported

QSFP-40G-ER4

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-LR4

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-LR4-S

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-LR4-S-RF

 

 

Supported

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-CSR4

Supported

QSFP-40G-SR4

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-SR4-S

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40G-SR-BD

Supported

Supported

Supported

QSFP-40GE-LR4

Supported

QSFP-H40G-ACU7M

Supported

Supported

Supported

QSFP-H40G-ACU10M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CU1M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CU2M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CU3M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CU4M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CU5M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-CUO-5M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC1M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC2M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC3M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC5M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC7M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC10M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC15M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC20M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC25M

Supported

QSFP-H40G-AOC30M

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC10M

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC1M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC2M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC3M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-AOC7M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-BXD-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-BXU-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-CSR-S

        

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-ER

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-LR

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-LR-I

 

 

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-LR-S

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-LR-X

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-LRM

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-SR

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-SR-S

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-SR-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-SR-X

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-ZR

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-ZR-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10G-T-X

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-CSR-S

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-SR-S

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-ER-I

Supported

Supported

SFP-10/25G-LR-I

Supported

Supported

SFP-10/25G-LR-S

Supported

Supported

SFP-10/25G-CSR-S

Supported

Supported

SFP-10/25G-BXD-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-10/25G-BXU-I

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H25G-CU1M

Supported

Supported

SFP-H25G-CU5M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC1M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC2M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC3M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC5M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC7M

Supported

Supported

SFP-25G-AOC10M

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-ACU10M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-ACU7M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB- CU1.5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU1M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU2.5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU2-5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU2M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU3M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

SFP-H10GB-CU1-5M

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Finisar-LR (FTLX1471D3BCL)

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Finisar-SR (FTLX8574D3BC)

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Optic modules

The Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller supports a wide range of optics. The list of supported optics is updated on a regular basis. See the tables at the following location for the latest transceiver module compatibility information:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/interfaces-modules/transceiver-modules/products-device-support-tables-list.html.

Network protocols and port matrix

Table 13.   Cisco Catalyst 9800 series wireless controller - network protocols and port matrix

Source

Destination

Protocol

Destination port

Source port

Description

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

22

Any

SSH

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

23

Any

Telnet

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

80

Any

HTTP

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

443

Any

HTTPS

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

161

Any

SNMP agent

Any

Any

UDP

5353

5353

mDNS

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

69

69

TFTP

Any

DNS Server

UDP

53

Any

DNS

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

830

Any

NetConf

Any

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

443

Any

REST API

Any

WLC Protocol

UDP

1700

Any

Receive CoA packets

AP

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

5246

Any

CAPWAP Control

AP

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

5247

Any

CAPWAP Data

AP

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

5248

Any

CAPWAP MCAST

AP

Cisco Catalyst Center

TCP

32626

Any

Intelligent capture and RF telemetry

AP

AP

UDP

16670

Any

Client Policies (AP-AP)

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

16666

16666

Mobility Control

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

SNMP

UDP

162

Any

SNAMP Trap

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

RADIUS

UDP

1812/1645

Any

RADIUS Auth

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

RADIUS

UDP

1813/1646

Any

RADIUS ACCT

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TACACS+

TCP

49

Any

TACACS+

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

UDP

16667

16667

Mobility

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

NTP Server

UDP

123

Any

NTP

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

Syslog Server

UDP

514

Any

SYSLOG

AP

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

HTTPS

8443

Any

Out of Band AP Image Download

Cisco CleanAir Spectral Capture

 

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

NetFlow Server

UDP

9996

Any

NetFlow

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX)

UDP

16113

Any

NMSP

Cisco Catalyst Center

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

32222

 Any

Device Discovery

Cisco Catalyst Center

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller

TCP

25103

Any

Telemetry Subscriptions

Supported APs

The following Cisco APs are supported in this release:

Table 14.   Supported APs

AP type

AP names

Indoor Access Points

 

  Cisco Catalyst 9105AX (I/W) Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9115AX (I/E) Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9120AX (I/E/P) Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9130AX (I/E) Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9136AX Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9162 (I) Series Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9164 (I) Series Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9166 (I/D1) Series Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9171 (I) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9172 (I/H) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9174 (I/E) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9176 (I/D1) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9178 (I) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Wireless 9179 (F) Series Wi-Fi 7 Access Points
  Cisco Aironet 1815 (I/W/M/T), 1830 (I), 1840 (I), and 1852 (I/E) Access Points
  Cisco Aironet 1800i Access Point
  Cisco Aironet 2800 (I/E) Series Access Points
  Cisco Aironet 3800 (I/E/P) Series Access Points
  Cisco Aironet 4800 (I) Series Access Points

Outdoor Access Points

 

  Cisco Aironet 1540 (I/D) Series Access Points
  Cisco Aironet 1560 (I/D/E) Series Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst Industrial Wireless 6300 Heavy Duty Series Access Point
  Cisco 6300 Series Embedded Services Access Point
  Cisco Catalyst 9124AX (I/D/E) Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst 9163 (E) Series Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst Industrial Wireless 9167 (I/E) Heavy Duty Access Points
  Cisco Catalyst Industrial Wireless 9165E Rugged Access Point
  Cisco Catalyst Industrial Wireless 9165D Heavy Duty Access Point

Integrated Access Points

Integrated Access Point on Cisco 1100 ISR (ISR-AP1100AC-x, ISR-AP1101AC-x, and ISR-AP1101AX-x)

Network Sensor

Cisco Aironet 1800s Active Sensor

Pluggable Modules

Cisco Wi-Fi Interface Module (WIM) - WP-WIFI6-x

 

Supported AP channels and maximum power settings

Supported access point channels and maximum power settings on Cisco APs are compliant with the regulatory specifications of channels, maximum power levels, and antenna gains of every country in which the access points are sold. For more information about the supported access point transmission values in Cisco IOS XE software releases, see the Detailed Channels and Maximum Power Settings document at https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/wireless/catalyst-9100ax-access-points/products-technical-reference-list.html.

For information about Cisco Wireless software releases that support specific Cisco AP modules, see Cisco Access Points Supported in Cisco Wireless Controller Platform Software Releases.

Related content

Cisco Wireless Controller:

For more information about the Cisco wireless controller, lightweight APs, and mesh APs, see these documents:

Cisco Wireless Solutions Software Compatibility Matrix

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Software Configuration Guide

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Command Reference

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Configuration Best Practices

In-Service Software Upgrade Matrix

Upgrading Field Programmable Hardware Devices for Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controllers

The installation guide for your controller is available at:

Hardware Installation Guides

All Cisco Wireless Controller software-related documentation

Cisco Catalyst 9800 Series Wireless Controller Data Sheets:

Data Sheet Listing

Wireless Product Comparison:

Compare specifications of Cisco wireless APs and controllers

Wireless LAN Compliance Lookup

Cisco AireOS to Cisco Catalyst 9800 Wireless Controller Feature Comparison Matrix

Cisco Access Points–Statement of Volatility:

The STATEMENT OF VOLATILITY is an engineering document that provides information about the device, the location of its memory components, and the methods for clearing device memory. Refer to the data security policies and practices of your organization and take the necessary steps required to protect your devices or network environment.

The Cisco Aironet and Catalyst AP Statement of Volatility (SoV) documents are available on the Cisco Trust Portal.

You can search by the AP model to view the SoV document.

Cisco Prime Infrastructure:

Cisco Prime Infrastructure Documentation

Cisco Spaces:

Cisco Spaces Documentation

Cisco Catalyst Center:

Cisco Catalyst Center Documentation

Product Analytics

Cisco Enterprise Networking Product Analytics Frequently Asked Questions

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