Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.4.0SG and Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(2)SG for Cisco Catalyst 4500E, 4500-X, and 4900 Series Switches
Overview
This product bulletin describes the primary hardware and software features supported by Cisco IOS® Software Release XE3.4.0SG/15.1(2)SG for the following products:
- Cisco® Catalyst® 4500 Series Supervisor Engine 7-E and Supervisor Engine 7L-E running Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.4.0SG
- Cisco Catalyst 4500-X Series Switch running Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.4.0SG
- Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine 6-E and Supervisor Engine 6L-E running Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(2)SG
- Cisco Catalyst 4900M, 4948E, and 4948E-F Switches running Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(2)SGCisco IOS XE Software Release 3.2.0SG and Cisco IOS Software Release 15.0(2)SG are the base releases for new extended maintenance on Cisco Catalyst 4500E, 4500-X and Cisco Catalyst 4900M and 4948E/E-F Series Switches.For detailed information about the features and hardware supported in Extended Maintenance Release Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.4.0SG and Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(2)SG, refer to the release notes and support documentation at:
- Cisco IOS XE Software 3.40SG release notes for:
- Cisco IOS Software 15.1(2)SG release notes for:
Primary Hardware and Software Service Innovations Delivered in Cisco IOS XE Software Release 3.4.0SG and Cisco IOS Software Release 15.1(2)SG
Cisco IOS Software Release XE3.4.0SG/15.1(2)SG is part of the new software releases on Cisco Catalyst 4500E and 4500-X Series Switches and Cisco Catalyst 4900M and 4948E/E-F Switches. These releases deliver new software and hardware innovations in campus access and aggregation deployments that span across many technologies, including security, high availability, and IP multicast. Each technology is covered in more detail in this product bulletin.
Software Features
Cisco Virtual Switching System (VSS) for Cisco Catalyst 4500E (Supervisor Engine 7-E and 7L-E) and 4500X Series Switches
Cisco VSS on the Cisco Catalyst 4500E and Cisco Catalyst 4500-X provides the following benefits:
- Simplified network operations:
- Providing a single point of management (with single IP address), it allows any updates, policy changes and configurations to be synchronized between the two switches, eliminating error-prone manual synchronization.
- Forming Multichassis EtherChannel (MEC) to the logical switch, Cisco VSS provides a loop-free topology, no longer needing to rely on Spanning Tree Protocol.
- A single routing instance on the virtual switch eliminates the issues of managing, tuning, and troubleshooting first hop routing protocols such as Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).
- Cisco Prime™ 4.2.2 now enables one to centrally manage the pair of switches as a single virtual chassis.
- Resiliency:
- Stateful failover between the supervisor engines on the two chassis provides subsecond failover and transparent failover even to delay-sensitive applications such as voice and video.
- With EtherChannels extended across two physical chassis, it provides for increased resiliency. These links are configured as MEC, minimizing traffic disruption from switch or uplink failure.
- Increased system bandwidth:
- The active-active MEC extended across two physical chassis provides for dual bandwidth utilization, increasing return on investment (ROI) and reducing additional capital expenditures (CapEx) to add capacity.
For Cisco Catalyst 4500E, VSS is supported in IP base and Enterprise services on Supervisor Engine 7-E and in Enterprise services only on Supervisor Engine 7L-E. On Cisco Catalyst 4500-X, VSS is supported in IP base and enterprise services. All 1 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) and 10GE links may be configured for virtual switch links (VSL).
The physical and logical views of VSS are represented in Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 1. VSS Physical View Showing the Physical Connectivity
Figure 2. VSS Physical View Showing the Physical and Logical View
