9800 image [Bengaluru , Amsterdam , Gibraltar , Cupertino]

[JustTakeTheFirstStep]

[Bengaluru , Amsterdam , Gibraltar , Cupertino]

What does the image name mean?

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Nothing important, really. 

Just attached "names" to each version groups. 

• Amsterdam is from 17.1.X, 17.2.X and 17.3.X (long life)
• Bengalaru is from 17.4.X, 17.5.X and 17.6.X (long life)
• Cupertino is from 17.7.X, 17.8.X and 17.9.X (long life)

Too many names for me to enumerate.  They're just names.  

[ChristopherMendiola5186]

what are the advantages over each other? which one do you prefer?

[ChristopherMendiola5186]

when upgrading the switch version, do you stay with the current IOS Software ? or you moved to a different IOS Software? Example if the switch is on Bengaluru, do you stay with Bengaluru and just upgrade to the latest MD or you try a different IOS Software like Amsterdam, Gibraltar?

[Leo Laohoo]

All IOS-XE, regardless of platform, are not suitable for high uptimes due to numerous memory leaks in the control- and data plane that the switches need to be rebooted once every 8 to 12 months.  

[LFR Admins]

Hello Leo Laohoo,

Unfortunatelly I have to agree with you
We moved from 2960-X to 9300/9300L. It's now the "memory leak" land in production. 

"Funny" behavior for a material which is supposed to be productiv... Any workaround rather than a reload ? we have to live with these IOS-XE now !

cheers 

[Leo Laohoo]

---

@LFR Admins wrote:
Any workaround rather than a reload

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Nothing but a reload.  Cold reboot preferred/better but any reload (except reload FAST) will suffice. 

Unfortunately, everybody will be upgrading from one buggy version to another buggier version.

The picture below is a stack made up of 6 x 9300.  Since running 17.6.4, I have had to reboot the stack every 3 to 4 months due to a memory leak caused by SNMP polling.  However, since upgrading to 17.9.3, the memory leak has drastically slowed down.  

6 x 9300

[Rich R]

Refer to the TAC recommended versions (below for 9800 WLC) - search similar documents for other platforms.
EG: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/switches/catalyst-9300-series-switches/214814-recommended-releases-for-catalyst-9200-9.html

And always read the release notes for each release carefully to make sure it's suitable for your hardware and to be aware of any caveats or upgrade restrictions/instructions.  And then TEST before deploying to production network.