Recommended Releases for Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB/4500, Catalyst 3650/3850 and Catalyst 6500/6800 Series Switches

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Updated:November 17, 2024
Document ID:214946

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    Introduction

    This document describes a list of stable Cisco IOS® software for Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB/4500, 3650/3850, and 6500/6800 series switches.

    Background Information

    The recommendations are the latest as of November 2024.

    The information in this document is not meant to be exhaustive and is intended to serve as general guidance to you, especially in cases of mass deployments or upgrades.

    If you are interested in software recommendations on Catalyst 9000 series switches, please refer to this page.

    Recommendations

    Catalyst 1000/2960/3560/CDB and 4500 platforms

    Product Family Product Details Recommended
    Cisco IOS release    		 End of Software
    Maintenance
    Passed (Y/N)    		 End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N) EOL Link
    Catalyst 1000 Catalyst 1000 (all models) 15.2(7)E10 Y [Apr '26] Y [Apr '30] Click here




    Catalyst 2960    		 Catalyst 2960X 15.2(7)E10 Y [Oct '23] N [Oct '27] Click here
    Catalyst 2960XR 15.2(7)E10 Y [Oct '23] N [Oct '27] Click here
    Catalyst 2960L 15.2(7)E10 Y [Oct '22] N [Oct '26] Click here
    Catalyst 2960+ 15.2(7)E10 Y [Oct '22] N [Oct '26] Click here
    Catalyst 2960C 15.2(7)E10 Y  [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here
    Catalyst 2960CX 15.2(7)E10 N [Apr '25] N [Apr '29] Click here
    Catalyst 3560 Catalyst 3560CX 15.2(7)E10 N [Apr '25] N [Apr '29] Click here

    CDB    		 Catalyst CDB-8P 15.2(7)E10 Y [Apr '26] Y [Apr '30] Click here
    Catalyst CDB-8U 15.2(7)E10 Y [Apr '26] Y [Apr '30] Click here




    Catalyst 4500
    (Modular)    		 Sup 8-E 3.11.10E Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here
    Sup 8L-E 3.11.10E Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here
    Sup 9-E 3.11.10E Y [Oct '22] N [Oct '26] Click here
    Catalyst 4500-X
    (Fixed)    		 Catalyst 4500-X 3.11.10E Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here

    * 15.2(7)/3.11 is the current active extended maintenance release.

    Catalyst 3650 and 3850 Platforms

    Product Family Product Details Recommended
    Cisco IOS-XE release    		 End of Software
    Maintenance
    Passed (Y/N)    		 End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N) EOL Link
    Catalyst 3650 3650 (all models) 16.12.12 Y [Oct '22] N [Oct '26] Click here


    Catalyst 3850    		 3850-12XS, 3850-24XS, 3850-48XS 16.12.12 Y [Apr '23] N [Apr '27] Click here
    3850 (all other models) 16.12.12 Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here

    Catalyst 6K Platforms

    Product Family Product Details Recommended
    Cisco IOS release    		 End of Software
    Maintenance
    Passed (Y/N)    		 End of PSIRT/ End of HW Support (Y/N) EOL Link


    Catalyst 6500    		 Sup 2T 15.5(1)SY13 Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here



    Catalyst 6800    		 C6840-X 15.5(1)SY13 Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here
    C6880-X 15.5(1)SY13 Y [Oct '21] N [Oct '25] Click here
    Sup 6T  15.5(1)SY13 Y [Apr '23] N [Apr '27] Click here

    *15.5(1)SY is the current active extended maintenance release.

    Engineering Special Releases

    In certain cases, critical bugs are made available on Engineering Special (ES) builds. These builds are not available on CCO (cisco.com). If you encounter any issues specific to your environment which is not already fixed in cisco.com releases that already exist, please contact Cisco Customer Experience (CX) to explore the possibility of an Engineering Special (ES) code. Engineering Special builds are meant to be deployed for a limited time frame and you are advised to move to the next maintenance rebuild as soon as it is available on cisco.com.  Engineering Special builds are fully supported by the Cisco Customer Experience (CX) and the Business Unit (BU).

    Revision History

    Revision Publish Date Comments
    11.0
    17-Nov-2024
    Changed Recommended release to latest
    10.0
    14-May-2024
    Changed Recommended release to 3.11.10E
    9.0
    20-Feb-2024
    Changed Catalyst 4K recommedned release to 3.11.8E
    8.0
    28-Nov-2023
    moved recommended release pointer for classic platforms to latest CCO releases
    7.0
    31-Jul-2023
    - Specific dates mentioned for EoSwM - Added Column for End of PSIRT/End of HW Support
    6.0
    20-Jul-2023
    Updated EoSwM data for certain platforms
    5.0
    09-Jan-2023
    Updated release recommendations and EoSwM for Catalyst Switches
    4.0
    20-Apr-2022
    Recommendation updated to 16.12.7 for Catalyst 3850 and 3650 Series switches
    3.0
    13-Jan-2022
    C3850/C3650 recommendation added with EoL/EoS info.
    2.0
    15-Dec-2021
    Recommendation for Classic platforms moved to 15.2(7)E5 / 3.11.5E
    1.0
    17-Oct-2019
    Initial Release

    Contributed by

    • Shashank Singh
      Principal Engineer
    • Piriyankaa Ravikumar
      Escalation Engineer

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