Nick Ellermann <nellermann@broadaspect.com> writes:

I have a Cisco IOS specific question for the group and also specifically related to the 6500 platform. We have always been very conservative with our IOS version that we run in production, we are still running a pretty old safe harbor build of 12.2.x on SUP 720 3BXLs with BGP and OSFP routing. Any advice from fellow network operators that are running the 6500 platform in the core still for versions that are considered safe for production? We are stable, but I am really wanting access to features such as Netflow v9, etc.

Thanks for any advice!

You're pretty spot on with your thinking here. Don't upgrade unless there's a known vulnerability, a bug fix or a feature that you need on a particular device; and don't expose your management to the Internet. tl;dr: don't fix what isn't broken. Having said that; make use of the software download tools on your CCO account. Cisco has a list of recommended builds for your particular platform and code train. When in doubt you can always fall back to S-train stuff on a Sup720. -S images were made for service providers and are generally very stable. -Daniel