A Cisco end-of-life notice is a schedule, not a single date. It opens with the announcement and closes with the last date of support, five years after end of sale for hardware. For a box in production, the last date is the one that counts.
What are the milestones in a Cisco EOL notice?
| Milestone | When | What stops |
|---|---|---|
| End-of-life announcement | Typically 6 months before end of sale | Nothing yet. The dates are now public. |
| End of sale | Set in the notice | You can no longer order the product from Cisco. |
| Last ship date | 3 months after end of sale | Cisco stops shipping hardware orders. |
| End of routine failure analysis | 1 year after end of sale | Cisco stops analyzing hardware failures. |
| End of software maintenance | Set in the notice | Cisco stops routine bug fixes. |
| Last date of support | 5 years after end of sale, for hardware | Cisco support under service contracts ends. |
An example from our library
Cisco 5508 Wireless Controller, notice EOL12239: end of sale May 4, 2018, last date of support Jul 31, 2023. That is 5.2 years from one to the other. Across 149 Cisco models in our library, 140 land at 5 years.
Where do you find the notice for your model?
- Search cisco.com for the model name plus "end-of-sale and end-of-life announcement".
- Look the model up in our EOSL library. Cisco rows link to the notice when one is on file.
- Set a free alert on the model page. We email 12 months before the last date of support and again on the date.
What to do when your model gets a notice
Put the end-of-sale date and the last date of support in your asset list. Buy any new spares you want before end of sale. Then decide, model by model, whether to refresh or to move it to third-party maintenance before the last date of support. Price maintenance.
Short answers
What is the last date of support in a Cisco EOL notice?
It is the last day Cisco supports the product under a service contract. For hardware, Cisco's End-of-Life Policy sets it five years after end of sale. In the Datacenterservices.ai EOSL library, 140 of 149 Cisco models with both dates follow that five-year gap.
How much warning does Cisco give before end of sale?
Cisco typically announces end of sale six months ahead, per its End-of-Life Policy. Hardware keeps shipping for three months after end of sale, and support runs to the last date of support. Datacenterservices.ai supports Cisco hardware 3 to 5+ years past that date.