cisco 9800 firmware upgrade

[shlomoi]

Hi,

We want to upgrade our controllers in the coming days, does anyone know the difference between the recommended versions.
BANGALORE
AMSTERDAM

Thanks

[balaji.bandi]

Recently upgrade to 17.6.4 all works as expected. - make sure you read the release notes and check the compatibility of AP.

is this HA or SSO or N+1 read the release notes.

[Leo Laohoo]

Upgrade to 17.6.4 and in Install Mode.

[marce1000]

 - Probably 17.3.6 is mentioned because if you have older IOS/COS based access points, you can't go beyond that, when upgrading also take care of this 'situation' : https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/wireless/aironet-700-series-access-points/218447-ios-ap-image-download-fails-due-to-expir.html  ,     https://bst.cisco.com/bugsearch/bug/CSCwd80290

  M.

[Scott Fella]

Anytime you upgrade, my suggestion would always to review the WLC matrix to make sure your access points are supported with what versions. You should also have a lab where you can test the upgrade and functionality. This will help identify any possible issues prior to your change.  What works for others might not work for you, so do some testing on your own. If you don’t have a lab, budget to get one. It will save you from getting blamed.  The first thing that comes into mind with many folks is, “did you test it”.  Your answer better be “yes”.

[Rich R]

And always refer to the TAC recommended code versions document linked in my signature below.

[Gaurav Kansal]

Dear Shlomoi,

You can go with Amsterdam image because in Bangalore image we hit with bug (CSCwc62749) and due to this the timestamp in our syslogs does not correct. This is because of access points are not able to resolve NTP server. You have a better option to go with Amsterdam image after reading open caveats and access points compatibility matrix.

Good Luck

[Rich R]

That bug must affect both releases @Gaurav Kansal because it's a day 0 bug in the PnP code (and there's a simple workaround for it - use IP not FQDN)?  And that is *only* for PnP (which happens at boot time) - you're talking about syslog.  That means the AP is up and running already by which time it should have time-synced to the WLC.  Suggest you open a TAC case about that because I think you have the wrong bug.  And think about getting your logs from the WLC.

I would *not* recommend 17.3 as it's had a whole lot of disastrous bugs and is almost end of life already: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/ios-nx-os-software/ios-xe-17/ios-xe-17-3-x-eol.html
I would recommend 17.6 as it has been very stable for us and still has some life left in it (another year of maintenance releases): https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/ios-nx-os-software/ios-xe-17/ios-xe-17-6-x-eol.html
But we should all be planning our move to 17.9 now as that's the next extended support release.  Already have it running on some WLCs without any problems so far.