Older WAAS hardware mixed with newer WAAS hardware

[bberry]

    We are looking into possibly expanding our WAAS implementation to add a couple more nodes. My environmnet currently comprises a 274 as my manager, a couple 574s connecting our data centers and a handfull of WAAS express on routers. My current appliances are running 4.4.1 software and the WAAS Express is under 15.1(4) IOS. I noticed that the new 5.0 software does not support any of my cuurrent hardware so figure they are pretty much stuck where they are software wise. My question is if I purchase a couple new 594s for new locations will everything continure to play nice until I can get the CM and 574s replaced? My other thought is a technology upgrade on existing infrastructure and push out this stuff to the two new locations.

Brent                   

[Kanwaljeet Singh]

HI Brent,

Normally the CM is used for centrally managing the devices, monitoring and upgrading etc.

Even if device cannot communicate with CM it should have no effect on its own working. It should continue to accelerate traffic.

Regards,

Kanwal

[finn.poulsen]

Both,

WAAS 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3.x will support WAVE 274 and 574 as per the release notes.

Support for these "old" appliances will cease with 5.4.x.

For the WAAS Express see here (will probably require an IOS upgrade) :

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/app_ntwk_services/waas/waas/v533/ws533xrn.html#wp150827

Best regards

Finn Poulsen

[bberry]

OK so I am not thinking about going ahead and replacing the 274 with a virtual instance still for management and upgrading the 574 to 5.3.x. I would then add the newer 594s in for the new locations. Would I have any issues managing the older 574s until I get them replaced?

Thanks for all the info so far.

brent

[finn.poulsen]

Hi Brent,

There should not be any issues in managing both 274/574 and 594 from the same CM, as long as every appliance is running the same version.

However please be aware of the IOS version on the WAAS Express routers, as previously noticed.

Best regards

Finn

[bberry]

Finn,

My WAAS express platforms are running 15.1(4) so upgrading to 15.2(3) would probably be a good thing any way.

I though about going ahead and converting the CM to a virtual with the newer version but if everything needs to be on the same level probably just wait until I replace the 574s. I was just concerned about having to downgrade the newer platform to work with the older hardware.

Brent