===================
Deprecation policy
===================

SD-WAN releases have a limited support lifetime. From time to
time we stop supporting old versions to ensure that nodes run recent
software with bugfixes and useful new features. This also allows us to
simplify our applications by removing legacy code.

This policy applies only to nodes, not to management servers. Because
the SD-WAN vendor upgrades management servers, we are able to
ensure partners always run the most recent management server software.

If a partner has nodes running a deprecated version of SD-WAN,
we will provide training and support to help the partner upgrade the
nodes to the most recent version. If for some reason a partner is unable
to upgrade a node to a fully-supported version, the partner's
environment will not be upgraded to the version that removes support for
the old version. For example, if a partner had a node running version
2013.5, which was no longer supported in 2014.4, the partner would not
be upgraded to 2014.4 but would remain at the latest version that
supported 2013.5, which was 2014.3.

If a node is running a deprecated software version, it is shown with the
following label in the web interface:

|image0|

This error message means that the software version running on the node
will no longer be supported in the next management server version. All
deprecated nodes must be upgraded before the management server will
receive the next upgrade.

Similarly, if a node is running a deprecated Debian/OS version, it is
shown with the following label in the web interface:

|image1|


OS release support
-----------------------

Refer to the :doc:`Release Notes<../release-notes/index>` for detailed
information on supported operating systems and platforms.

.. |image0| image:: /attachments/10158142/12878283.png
.. |image1| image:: /attachments/10158142/12878284.png
