Cisco Catalyst OS Software Release 8.5

Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Supervisor Engine 2 flash image with SSH, Cisco Catalyst OS Software Release 8.5, Spare <b>The Cisco® Catalyst® Operating System (Catalyst OS) Software Release 8.5 for the supervisor engine supports the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series multilayer switches</b>

<b>OVERVIEW</b>
Cisco Catalyst OS continues to provide innovative features in the areas of security, operational manageability, high availability, and Metro Ethernet, helping customers to deploy scalable, highly available, and secure networks from the access layer to the WAN edge. Catalyst OS as a Layer 2 forwarding software targets the wiring closets or access-layer service deployments. With Catalyst OS and Cisco IOS® Software, the system in a hybrid mode can be used for offering Layer 2-4 services suited for WAN edge, core, and distribution-layer deployments. Cisco Systems® is committed to delivering feature enhancements in Catalyst OS, supporting Layer 2-7 services.
Cisco Catalyst OS Software Release 8.5 supports four generations of Catalyst 6500 Series supervisor engines-Supervisor Engine 1A, Supervisor Engine 2, Supervisor Engine 32, and Supervisor Engine 720.
Catalyst OS 8.5 supports all hardware and software supported in Release 8.4. In addition, Catalyst OS 8.5 brings the following important capabilities to the Catalyst 6500 Series:
-Catalyst OS 8.5 enhances the suite of Catalyst 6500 Series inline-power modules with an inline-power daughter card (WS-F6K-GE48-AF/A). In addition to supporting IEEE 802.3af as well as Cisco pre-standard voice, this enhanced Power over Ethernet (PoE) daughter card also supports new features such as the ability to limit maximum power per port in hardware, shut down misbehaving ports (ports drawing more power than allocated) to provide over-current protection, and measure real-time and historical power usage at a per-port level to help optimize power allocation.
-Catalyst OS 8.5 also bolsters the WAN edge portfolio by adding support for the Cisco Enhanced FlexWAN Module (WS-X6582-2PA)
-Catalyst OS 8.5 adds another dimension to the Cisco Identity Based Networking Services (IBNS) portfolio with the introduction of MAC Authentication Bypass and Web Authentication Proxy. These new security features help customers to integrate Cisco IBNS, providing authentication mechanisms for clients that do not support 802.1x supplicant functionality by providing a MAC address-based and HTTP-based mechanism to control access to the network.
-Catalyst OS 8.5 introduces Inaccessible Authentication Bypass with IEEE 802.1x, extending the Cisco IBNS suite of features and allowing customers access to their critical servers in the event of backend authentication server failure, providing better operational manageability and control over their networks.
-Catalyst OS 8.5 simplifies operations and enhances configuration flexibility with the introduction of customizable Smartports. Cisco Smartports increase configuration consistency, reduce provisioning overhead, and help businesses realize the full potential of their networks. Support for text-mode configuration allows the system to boot up faster and also enhances configuration-management capability especially for large configurations.
-With the introduction of Generic Online Diagnostics (GOLD) in Catalyst OS 8.5, customers now have access to enhanced diagnostic capabilities that complement existing high-availability solutions such as Stateful Switchover (SSO). GOLD makes available a variety of diagnostic tests, some of which run non-intrusively in the background while the rest can be triggered on demand by the administrator.
-Metro Ethernet deployments gain advantages from the release of Catalyst OS 8.5. With the introduction of Ethernet Operation, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) (802.3ah), network operators have instant access to powerful tools that help them to monitor the health of the network and pinpoint the location of the failing links. With Catalyst OS 8.5, the Catalyst 6500 Series extends its leadership in Layer 2 Metro Ethernet deployments.
-The Catalyst 6500 Series with Catalyst OS 8.5 continues to deliver industry-leading high-availability solutions with the introduction of Flex Link. You can now use an alternative link-redundancy mechanism by turning off the Spanning Tree Protocol on the ports configured as Flex Links.
-Most importantly, the Cisco Catalyst 6500 with Cisco Catalyst OS 8.5 provides more compelling reasons for customers to continue migration from their Cisco Catalyst 5000 or Cisco Catalyst 5500 to Cisco Catalyst 6500 converged networks.