Cisco today released IOS 15.0. This is the next major release after 12.4. It's been over 4 years since Cisco has delivered a major release of IOS code. 12.4 was released in May of 2005. Apparently Cisco was not interested in using the 12.5 name; or 13.0 or 14.0 names. I can't really say why this is. Perhaps internal code work in Cisco had a few other main line releases in the last 4-years that never materialized into real products.
15.0 includes a few new supported hardware devices and a large set of new software features.
Cisco removed only two software features in 15.0 - AppleTalk Phase I & II and Service Selection Gateway (SSG). I doubt anyone will be missing those. If you are still running AppleTalk forever live in shame after reading this blog. ;-)
There are a few notable hardware lines that are not supported in 15.0. The 2600XM, 3600, and 3700-series routers are now officially gone. A complete list of memory requirements and supported hardware in each router line is provided also.
Oh, and yes, there are those bugs...or as Cisco likes to call them in a new IOS release, "caveats". Here are a few scary ones (with my pithy comments of course):
CSCso97304
Symptoms: Configuring and unconfiguring hierarchical QoS may cause memory leak on a Cisco router.
Conditions: This symptom occurs on a Cisco router that is running Cisco IOS Release 12.4(15)T4.
Workaround: There is no workaround.Hope you like your current QoS policy.
CSCsu66197
Symptoms: Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors increment on Cisco 2800 router.
Conditions: Occurs during normal operation.
Workaround: There is no workaround.That's sort of the catch-all bug.
CSCsz38342
Symptoms: FTP traffic is not policy routed.
Conditions: Above symptom is seen on Cisco routers configured for local PBR with set IP next-hop clause.
Workaround: Add a static route to the next-hop networkADD A STATIC ROUTE??? That's like my idea to fix anything with a tunnel!
CSCsz97091
Symptoms: Packet drop occurs when show version, show run, and write memory commands are issued.
Conditions: Packet drop will be observed as input errors accounted as overruns. The rate of packets being dropped will be proportional to the rate of traffic.
Workaround: There is no workaround.New policy - no CLI use on the routers anymore. HTTP for everyone!!!
Ok, back to seriousness. One of the biggest changes in 15.0 IOS is the release model. There is a new release model that provides maintenance releases (labeled "M" releases) along with the traditional T-train code. Regular mainteance releases on a (somewhat) stricter schedule are also included. The defined life of 15.0 (and the birth of 15.1 and so on) is part of the release model. This should prevent another 4-year gap between main line IOS releases.
Cisco previewed the release model in graphical form to my team a few weeks under NDA. Alas, it is still not simple, as I have demanded in the past. Thus, a picture will help explain it better. Once Cisco releases that (or I find it on Cisco.com) I will blog about it.
Finally, we are jumping on the 15.0 code. We have been using 12.4 mainline as our standard IOS code for over 3-years and we are in need of an update. One of my engineers will be downloading the code tomorrow to begin lab testing. He will also be reviewing the bugs...err...caveats and checking feature support. As soon as we can identify an acceptable main line mainteance release, we will begin pilot testing and then deployment.
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Michael Morris is a communications engineering manager at a $3-billion high-tech company. His background is in enterprise WANs working with telcos and developing large-scale routing designs. He has worked on networks at government and corporate organizations, including networks at two Fortune 10 companies. In his current role, he leads a team of 10 engineers responsible for large-scale IT networking projects and architectural standards for data networks, storage area networks, IP telephony, contact centers, and security. Michael is CCIE #11733 and recently became one of the first three Cisco Certified Design Experts (CCDE) ever (#20080002). He has 11 years experience in networking and communications, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He has a bachelor's degree in MIS from the University at Buffalo and is working on his MBA from NC State University. In 2008, he was awarded the Network Professional Association (NPA) Professional Excellence and Innovation Award for his work on network architecture, templates and enterprise MPLS design.
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Why 15.0?
Cisco skipped 13.0 because 13 is an unlucky number in the US. Cisco skipped 14.0 because the number 14 is unlucky in Asia... there you have it- 15.0
RE: Why 15.0?
huh....interesting...I get the 13 part, had no idea 14 was unlucky in Asia. Ok, cool.
Mike
Cisco IOS 6.66
Thank you for the "heads-up" Michael.
I'm upgrading from Cisco IOS 6.66 to 15.0
It's been my personal experience that IOS 6.66 is simply too much of a "devil" to work with!
Brad Reese on Cisco
Network World Cisco Subnet
BradReese.Com Cisco Refurbished
4, not 14
I think you're confusing 14 with 4. 4 is a homophone with the word for death in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. But 14 seems to only be bad luck in Cantonese.
14 in Mandarin sounds
14 in Mandarin sounds unlucky as well.
HTTP for everything?
Did Cisco started to support full configuration via web gui ?
if yes on which series
Why Cisco?
i think best thing to do is move to Juniper.... - there you could at least configure PBR and hierarchical QoS without worrying your router might crash or simply will not pass the traffic as it should .... :-)
Yeah, because Juniper never
Yeah, because Juniper never has any bugs or anything of the sort. In fact, I believe Juniper claims their JUNOS has been bug-free for a good portion of the last 7 years or so.
I tried to configure PBR on
I tried to configure PBR on an EX4200 and it was a nightmare. Cisco IOS, it's match some parameters and apply to an interface...simple. I had to call JTAC and it took a few days to get an answer. JTAC engineer couldn't recreate it in his lab.
Keep in mind, this was not a bug. The JTAC engineer couldn't figure out how to accomplish this.
2900 and 3900 ISR
did anyone noticed 2900 and 3900 ISR??
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