07-20-2018 06:49 AM - edited 07-20-2018 06:49 AM
How long will a software listed as end of life ( https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/support/end-of-life-announcements/end-of-life-summary ) be supported? I have read conflicting information on this.
I suppose support could be defined as:
1) Receive general tech support if a case is opened
2) Receive software updates forissues
I ask as 8.0 is showing an EOL at the first of next year and 8.1 still does not seem to be mainstream.
07-20-2018 08:13 AM
From my understanding EOL is when PAN stops sending any updates and you will not recieve any maintenance updates.
1) You'll receieve support as long as you have a valid support contract. That being said, the first thing TAC is likely to recommend if you call in with an issue is that you upgrade to a newer release. Configuration cases would maintain the same.
2) While I imagine that PAN could make an exception if a security bug was found and enough people where known to be running the EOL version, I wouldn't count on this. EOL means that Palo is done supporting that version.
As for support; the base major version releases will all recieve a smaller life cycle then *.1 releases. I fully expect that PAN will have 8.1.* released in a perfectly capable release by the end of this year, and wouldn't worry about not being able to upgrade to 8.1 by Jan 29th 2019.
07-20-2018 01:33 PM
The terms are defined on the EOL policy page (though there are no links to it from the EOL page you supplied):
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/support/end-of-life-announcements/end-of-life-policy
The key terms are defined at the bottom, but for what you're specifically referring to it means:
"Support includes technical support, bug fixes, maintenance releases, workarounds, and patches for critical bugs"
So essentially, when something is end-of-life (or end-of-support), it means you should not expect to even be able to open a case or get configuration help. By extension, it also means no bug fixes (including security fixes). In fact, you'll notice on the Security Advisories page there are no recent updates for any 7.0 release as that version is EOL.
07-22-2018 02:02 PM - edited 08-16-2018 01:24 AM
Hi
As @BPry already wrote, I am also sure that there will be a release that is usable/recommended untill EOL of 8.0 is here. But I also unterstand @firewall-pupil's point and it's kind of true - looking at statistics it's getting close...
So here are some informations about releases since 6.0:
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 6.0.15 | 17.10.2016 | 109 |
| 6.0.14 | 30.06.2016 | 129 |
| 6.0.13 | 22.02.2016 | 90 |
| 6.0.12 | 24.11.2015 | 90 |
| 6.0.11 | 26.08.2015 | 121 |
| 6.0.10 | 27.04.2015 | 50 |
| 6.0.9 | 08.03.2015 | 46 |
| 6.0.8 | 21.01.2015 | 44 |
| 6.0.7 | 08.12.2014 | 46 |
| 6.0.6 | 23.10.2014 | 30 |
| 6.0.5 | 23.09.2014 | 50 |
| 6.0.4 | 04.08.2014 | 54 |
| 6.0.3 | 11.06.2014 | 49 |
| 6.0.2 | 23.04.2014 | 45 |
| 6.0.1 | 09.03.2014 | 49 |
| 6.0.0 | 19.01.2014 | |
| Average: 66.8 | ||
| Days untill x.x.7: 323 |
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 6.1.21 | 28.06.2018 | 113 |
| 6.1.20 | 07.03.2018 | 96 |
| 6.1.19 | 01.12.2017 | 135 |
| 6.1.18 | 19.07.2017 | 83 |
| 6.1.17 | 27.04.2017 | 90 |
| 6.1.16 | 27.01.2017 | 91 |
| 6.1.15 | 28.10.2016 | 59 |
| 6.1.14 | 30.08.2016 | 42 |
| 6.1.13 | 19.07.2016 | 40 |
| 6.1.12 | 09.06.2016 | 57 |
| 6.1.11 | 13.04.2016 | 50 |
| 6.1.10 | 23.02.2016 | 42 |
| 6.1.9 | 12.01.2016 | 53 |
| 6.1.8 | 20.11.2015 | 60 |
| 6.1.7 | 21.09.2015 | 55 |
| 6.1.6 | 28.07.2015 | 28 |
| 6.1.5 | 30.06.2015 | 50 |
| 6.1.4 | 11.05.2015 | 54 |
| 6.1.3 | 18.03.2015 | 48 |
| 6.1.2 | 29.01.2015 | 43 |
| 6.1.1 | 17.12.2014 | 53 |
| 6.1.0 | 25.10.2014 | |
| Average: ~63.9 | ||
| Days untill x.x.7: 331 |
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 7.0.19 | 04.12.2017 | 87 |
| 7.0.18 | 08.09.2017 | 56 |
| 7.0.17 | 14.07.2017 | 38 |
| 7.0.16 | 06.06.2017 | 48 |
| 7.0.15 | 19.04.2017 | 53 |
| 7.0.14 | 25.02.2017 | 43 |
| 7.0.13 | 13.01.2017 | 36 |
| 7.0.12 | 08.12.2016 | 43 |
| 7.0.11 | 26.10.2016 | 47 |
| 7.0.10 | 09.09.2016 | 39 |
| 7.0.9 | 01.08.2016 | 42 |
| 7.0.8 | 20.06.2016 | 38 |
| 7.0.7 | 13.05.2016 | 52 |
| 7.0.6 | 22.03.2016 | 42 |
| 7.0.5 | 09.02.2016 | 50 |
| 7.0.4 | 21.12.2015 | 69 |
| 7.0.3 | 13.10.2015 | 48 |
| 7.0.2 | 26.08.2015 | 38 |
| 7.0.1 | 19.07.2015 | |
| Average: ~48.3 | ||
| Days untill x.x.7: 299 |
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 7.1.19 | 28.07.2018 | 50 |
| 7.1.18 | 08.06.2018 | 46 |
| 7.1.17 | 23.04.2018 | 46 |
| 7.1.16 | 08.03.2018 | 50 |
| 7.1.15 | 17.01.2018 | 57 |
| 7.1.14 | 21.11.2017 | 40 |
| 7.1.13 | 12.10.2017 | 43 |
| 7.1.12 | 30.08.2017 | 55 |
| 7.1.11 | 06.07.2017 | 45 |
| 7.1.10 | 22.05.2017 | 45 |
| 7.1.9 | 07.04.2017 | 49 |
| 7.1.8 | 17.02.2017 | 49 |
| 7.1.7 | 30.12.2016 | 43 |
| 7.1.6 | 17.11.2016 | 46 |
| 7.1.5 | 02.10.2016 | 52 |
| 7.1.4 | 11.08.2016 | 43 |
| 7.1.3 | 29.06.2016 | 48 |
| 7.1.2 | 12.05.2016 | 24 |
| 7.1.1 | 18.04.2016 | 20 |
| 7.1.0 | 29.03.2016 | |
| Average: ~44.8 | ||
| Days untill x.x.7: 276 |
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 8.0.12 | 09.08.2018 | 35 |
| 8.0.11-h1 | 05.07.2018 | 52 |
| 8.0.10 | 14.05.2018 | 41 |
| 8.0.9 | 03.04.2018 | 51 |
| 8.0.8 | 11.02.2018 | 45 |
| 8.0.7 | 28.12.2017 | 45 |
| 8.0.6 | 13.11.2017 | 54 |
| 8.0.5 | 20.09.2017 | 56 |
| 8.0.4 | 26.07.2017 | 38 |
| 8.0.3 | 18.06.2017 | 52 |
| 8.0.2 | 27.04.2017 | 48 |
| 8.0.1 | 10.03.2017 | 40 |
| 8.0.0 | 29.01.2017 | |
| Average: ~46.4 | ||
| Days untill x.x.7: 333 |
| Version | Releasedate | Days since previous Version |
| 8.1.3 | 13.08.2018 | 61 |
| 8.1.2 | 13.06.2018 | 43 |
| 8.1.1 | 01.05.2018 | 61 |
| 8.1.0 | 01.03.2018 |
For 8.1 there obviously aren't a lot versions yet. So I can only speculate about the future. In the past normally version x.x.7 was installable almost without any risks. So lets assume this will also be the case with 8.1. The overall time between releases since 6.0 was ~54.6 days, but as a release gets older the time between versions increases which is logical as PaloAlto focuses on the newer major versions. So for a (maybe) better prediction I also summed up the days between a new major release till x.x.7. The average for this since 6.0 is 312.4 days.
This means that we get 8.1.7 on the 7th January 2019. Of course this date is only based on average times between releases from the past, but anyway it will be close to EOL of 8.0. Specially for big environments this could mean some work at the end of the year / beginning of 2019 (at least if you want to avoid having a release in production that is EOL).
We'll see 😉
08-17-2018 02:47 AM - edited 08-17-2018 02:50 AM
End of life date for 8.0 has changed. Its now 31 oktober 2019.
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/support/end-of-life-announcements/end-of-life-summary
08-17-2018 04:10 AM
Thanks for the information. This should be plenty of time to update to 8.1
... at least for all who keep their devices up to date 😛
08-16-2022 10:32 PM
As per the PA EOL policy, they would support following,
https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/support/end-of-life-announcements/end-of-life-policy
PAN-OS Version Support Policy
Major feature releases will be supported for 24 months from the date of release.
Minor feature releases (see definition below) will be supported for 42 months from the date of release.
Support may include technical support, bug fixes, Maintenance releases, workarounds, and patches for critical bugs.
VM-Series Accelerated Feature Releases (XFR) will be supported for 12 months from the date of release.
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