Software Lifecycle Support Statement - ISE
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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) plays a critical role in enforcing access policies and limiting exposure against a continuously evolving threat landscape. This evolving threat landscape drives the need for constant innovation and a rapid release cadence. Delivering multiple releases in a short timeframe can be challenging to organizations that require long-term stability and predictability when planning deployments and upgrades. To address these needs, the Cisco ISE team is striving to implement a predictable release lifecycle, as described in this document.
Cisco ISE Software Release Timelines
Cisco plans to release a new ISE software version approximately every 8 months. Each release will continue to be characterized by feature richness and software quality that address market requirements.
ISE Software releases will typically be supported by Cisco for a period of 4 years. Customers should review relevant release documentation before choosing a release to deploy.
Note: Maintenance releases will retain the same support timeline that of their “parent” releases. For example, while release X.Y.1 was released ~2 months post the release of X.Y (its parent release), both of these releases will be announced End of Life and will reach milestones (End of Life, End of Support, etc.) at the same time.
The lifecycle for ISE software release will typically follow the below general pattern:
| Milestone |
Definitions |
| FCS |
First Customer Shipment of the software release. |
| End-of-Life Announcement |
The document that announces the End of Life of a Software and is posted on cisco.com |
| End of Sale |
The last date to order the product through Cisco point-of-sale mechanisms. The product is no longer for sale after this date. |
| Software Maintenance |
From this date, Cisco will only publish fixes for security vulnerabilities and severity 1 issues pertaining to the release as determined by the Cisco ISE team. |
| End of Software Maintenance |
The last date on which Cisco Engineering may release the final software maintenance releases or bug fixes, if any. After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the product software including Sev 1 and security vulnerabilities. |
| Last Date of Support |
The last date to receive applicable service and support for the product as entitled by active service contracts or by warranty terms and conditions. After this date, all support services for the product will become unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete. |
The Cisco Secure Network Server (SNS) hardware is based on the Cisco UCS C220 Rack Server and is configured specifically to support the Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) application.
Milestone Definitions
| Milestone |
Definitions |
| FCS |
First Customer Shipment of the SNS Hardware. |
| End-of-Life Announcement |
The date that announces the end-of-sale and end-of-life of a product is distributed to the general public. |
| End of Sale: HW |
The last date to order the product through Cisco point-of-sale mechanisms. The product is no longer for sale after this date. |
| Last Ship Date: HW |
The last-possible ship date that can be requested of Cisco and/or its contract manufacturers. Actual ship date is dependent on lead time. |
| End of Software Maintenance Release Date: App SW |
The last date that Cisco Engineering may release any final ISE software maintenance releases or bug fixes. After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the ISE software on this hardware series. |
| End of Software Maintenance Release Date: HW |
The last date that Cisco Engineering may release any final OS software maintenance releases or bug fixes. After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the product software. |
| End of Vulnerability Security Support: HW |
The last date that Cisco Engineering may release a planned maintenance release or scheduled software remedy for a security vulnerability issue (PSIRT fixes). |
| Last Date of Support: HW |
The last date to receive applicable service and support for the product as entitled by active service contracts or by warranty terms and conditions. After this date, all support services for the product are unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete. |
Please Note: The "End of SW Maintenance Releases Date: HW" Milestone is applicable ONLY to IMC Software.
Notes:
● Following the general availability of a software release, the EoL notice for an earlier software version will be announced.
● Following the general availability of a new hardware, the EoL notice for an earlier hardware will be announced.
● These milestones apply to currently supported ISE software and hardware products.
● Specific release lifecycle announcements, if any, made about a release will supersede the standard lifecycle policy.
This Support guidelines is subject to change at the sole discretion of Cisco, and Cisco will have no liability for delay in delivery, failure to deliver any of the releases, or on release schedules set forth in this document. ISE Release status can be viewed here on cisco.com.