Field Notice: FN - 70564 - New Hardware Revision to Cisco vEdge 100m and Cisco vEdge 100b Routers Requires SD-WAN Software Upgrade - Software Upgrade Recommended

Notice

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Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	21-May-20	Initial Release

Products Affected

Affected Product ID	Comments
VEDGE-100B-AC-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 3.4
VEDGE-100B-AC-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 3.4
VEDGE-100M-AT-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-AT-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-GB-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-GB-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-NA-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-NA-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-NT-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-NT-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-SP-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-SP-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-VZ-K9	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6
VEDGE-100M-VZ-K9=	New hardware version (major.minor) 6.6

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCvu05612	Upgrade kernel to support EMMC5.0

Problem Description

Beginning in June 2020, newly manufactured Cisco vEdge 100b and Cisco vEdge 100m routers will no longer support Cisco Software Defined WAN (SD-WAN) software releases prior to 18.4.4.

Background

Cisco vEdge 100b and vEdge 100m routers contain non-volatile NAND storage that conforms to the eMMC 4.5 standard (embedded multi-media controller). eMMC 4.5 is now obsolete and has been replaced by the eMMC 5.0 standard. Because the eMMC 4.5 components in the affected vEdge routers are now obsolete and are no longer available from suppliers, Cisco has changed production of vEdge 100b and vEdge 100m routers to use eMMC 5.0 compliant components. These new eMMC 5.0 NAND storage components require software changes in the Cisco SD-WAN software kernel and are only supported in Cisco SD-WAN software releases that include those kernel changes. eMMC 5.0 storage is supported in Cisco SD-WAN software releases 18.4.4 and later. Earlier releases do not support the new eMMC 5.0 based hardware.

Cisco will begin to ship vEdge 100b and vEdge 100m routers with the eMMC 5.0 storage after supplies of the eMMC 4.5 components are exhausted. That changeover is expected to occur in June 2020. After the changeover, all new units will ship with eMMC 5.0 based storage and will include SD-WAN software (18.4.4 or later) that supports the new storage. eMMC 5.0 based routers cannot be downgraded to any SD-WAN software release prior to 18.4.4.

Problem Symptom

Cisco vEdge 100b and vEdge 100m routers with eMMC 5.0 storage require SD-WAN software release 18.4.4 or later. Earlier Cisco vEdge software versions will fail to boot. Note: Cisco vEdge software versions 18.3.0 through 18.3.8 will boot on eMMC 5.0 based routers, but the configuration is not supported and might produce unpredictable results.

Workaround/Solution

Customers are strongly encouraged to upgrade their SD-WAN software installation to version 18.4.4 or later. eMMC 5.0 storage support is not possible in the older SD-WAN software releases prior to version 18.3.0. In addition, there are a number of software defects and security vulnerabilities in older releases that have been fixed in version 18.4.4 and later.

Cisco has announced End of Sale, End of Life for SD-WAN software releases 18.3 and earlier.

End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco Viptela Software Release 18.3 and older versions

How To Identify Affected Products

Use the instructions in this section in order to determine if your device has the eMMC 4.5 or eMMC 5.0 NAND storage. Cisco vEdge 100m routers with chassis hardware version 6.6 and later have the eMMC 5.0 NAND storage. Cisco vEdge 100b routers with chassis hardware version 3.4 and later have the eMMC 5.0 storage. Earlier versions of both router models have the eMMC 4.5 storage.

Identification based on software CLI command:

Use the show hardware inventory CLI command in order to locate the chassis version on your router. The chassis version is 6.4 in the Cisco vEdge 100m example below.

router# show hardware inventory
hardware inventory Chassis 0
 version        6.4
 part-number    81000730400
 serial-number  18000000000000000
 hw-description "vEdge-100m-GB. CPLD rev: 0x2, PCB rev: F, CC: GB. Mfg Date: 05/09/2017"

Identification based on external label on the router:

The chassis version for Cisco vEdge 100m routers can also be found by inspection of a printed label on the bottom exterior of the router (Cisco vEdge 100m routers only). Cisco vEdge 100b routers do not have chassis version information encoded on an exterior label.

Locate the serial number label on the bottom of the Cisco vEdge 100m router.

On the serial number label, find the part number that begins with the digits "74-".

If the last two digits of the part number are "05" or higher, the router has eMMC 5.0 NAND storage.

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email or telephone

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