First Published: October 28, 2020

About Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms

The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms are high-performance cloud edge platforms designed for accelerated services, multi-layer security, cloud-native agility, and edge intelligence to accelerate your journey to cloud.

The Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms includes the following models:

  • C8500-12X4QC

  • C8500-12X

  • C8500L-8S4X


Note
Starting with Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.2, with the introduction of Smart Licensing Using Policy, even if you configure a hostname for a product instance or device, only the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) is displayed. This change in the display can be observed in all licensing utilities and user interfaces where the hostname was displayed in earlier releases. It does not affect any licensing functionality. There is no workaround for this limitation.
The licensing utilities and user interfaces that are affected by this limitation include only the following:

  • Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM)

  • Cisco Smart License Utility (CSLU)

  • Smart Software Manager On-Prem (SSM On-Prem).

For more information on the features and specifications of Cisco 8500 Series Catalyst Edge Platform, refer the Cisco 8500 Series Catalyst Edge Platform datasheet

Sections in this documentation apply to all models of unless a reference to a specific model is made explicitly.

New and Changed Software Features

This section enlists the new and enhanced or modified features that are supported on the Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms:

Table 1. Software Features

Feature

Description
Cisco DNA Center Support for Smart Licensing Using Policy

Cisco DNA Center supports Smart Licensing Using Policy functionality starting with Cisco DNA Center Release 2.2.2. The corresponding minimum required Cisco IOS XE Release for this platform is Cisco IOS XE 17.3.2.

Implement the “Connected to CSSM Through a Controller” topology to have Cisco DNA Center manage a product instance. When you do, the product instance records license usage, but it is the Cisco DNA Center that initiates communication with the product instance to retrieve and report usage to Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM), and returns the acknowledgement (RUM ACK).

In order to meet reporting requirements, Cisco DNA Center provides ad hoc or on-demand reporting, as well as scheduled reporting options.

Cisco DNA Center also provides workflows for the installation and removal of the Smart Licensing Authorization Code (SLAC) for a product instance, if applicable.

Smart Software Manager On-Prem (SSM On-Prem) Support for Smart Licensing Using Policy

SSM On-Prem is an asset manager, which works in conjunction with CSSM. It enables you to administer products and licenses on your premises instead of having to directly connect to CSSM.

Here, a product instance is connected to SSM On-Prem, and SSM On-Prem becomes the single point of interface with CSSM. The product instance can be configured to push the required information to SSM On-Prem. Alternatively, SSM On-Prem can be set-up to pullthe required information from a product instance at a configurable frequency. After usage information is available in SSM On-Prem, you must synchronize the same with CSSM, to ensure that the product instance count, license count and license usage information is the same on both, CSSM and SSM On‐Prem. Offline and online options are available for synchronization between CSSM and SSM On‐Prem

Minimum Required SSM On-Prem Version: Version 8, Release 202102

Minimum Required Cisco IOS XE Version: Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.3.3

Note

On the Cisco DNA Center GUI, you can generate a SLAC only for HSECK9 licenses, and only for certain product instances. See the configuration guide for details

Feature Navigator

You can use Cisco Feature Navigator (CFN) to find information about the features, platform, and software image support on Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platforms. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on cisco.com is not required.

New and Changed Hardware Features

New Hardware Feature

The Cisco IOS XE Bengaluru 17.4.x introduces support for C8500L-8S4X platform.


Note

If C8500L-8S4X is configured as a service controller with AppQoE enabled, then DIA (Direct Internet Access) does not work.

Resolved and Open Bugs for Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.4.2

Resolved Bugs for Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.4.2

This release has no resolved bugs for the Cisco Catalyst 8500 Series Edge Platform

Open Bugs for Cisco IOS XE Amsterdam 17.4.2

Caveat ID Number

Description

CSCvw84883

DDNS feature triggers crash on 16.X/17.X releases due to memory corruption

ROMmon Release Requirements

Use the following table to determine the ROMmon version required for your Catalyst 8500 model:

DRAM

ROMmon version

16 GB(default)

17.2(1r)

32 GB

17.2(1r)

64 GB

17.3(2r)