Catalyst 9300/9400/9500 "patching" (Cat9000)

[rrfield]

Hello,

Looking at the Cat9000 datasheets (for example https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-9300-series-switches/datasheet-c78-738977.html) I see this...

• Seamless software upgrades and patching supports OS resilience. Cisco IOS XE supports patching, which provides fixes for critical bugs and security vulnerabilities between regular maintenance releases. This support lets you add patches without having to wait for the next maintenance release.

The word Seamless is interesting. To me, this implies IOS-XE can be patched without a reboot of the switch or stack. This might be wishful thinking though.

So my questions...

Have any patches been released for the Cat9000 series switches?

Is a reboot required to patch IOS-XE?

Thanks!

[Mark Malone]

Hi
These switches are only released theres only been like 2 software versions available so far but there may be a patches section in the fuuture , so when you go through the website to download the image some devices ahve more than just the ios-xe section , there will be a section for downloading patches too when released , i dont see anything like that for Cat9s yet when i check the site

Cat9s are ISSU so you can upgrade the full image without reboot not just patches , but in my experience ISSU is a bit flakey so alwatys plan for the reboot anyway but if it works all well and good , nexus 7ks are seamless upgrade too in ISSU and when we did it it dropped every FEX in the DC while it upgraded them , we followed every step but it hit a bug mid way through and caused everything to reboot , these things happen sometimes especially in seamless upgrades

[rrfield]

Thanks for the reply!

"These things happen" isnt going to work, as this is for critical infrastructure. I appreciate the candid response.

[Toivo]

Another interesting tidbit -- the way I read Table 6 here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/catalyst-9300-series-switches/datasheet-c78-738977.html 

is that you only get patching with Network Advantage, not with Network Essentials?

[Leo Laohoo]

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@rrfield wrote:

Have any patches been released for the Cat9000 series switches? 

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None as of yet.

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@rrfield wrote:

Is a reboot required to patch IOS-XE? 

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The object of the patches is no reboot required but it is still too early to tell.

[rrfield]

Thanks! I'm really surprised Cisco, after how many years now, hasn't figured out how to get rolling updates working in stackwise switches.