Cisco has announced the end of sale and end of life of the ASR 9000 Series 3rd Generation Modular Port Adapters, the MPAs that sit inside the modular line cards of an ASR 9000 router. The bulletin is EOL15989, and Cisco's summary is plain: "The last day to order the affected product(s) is April 21, 2027." If you run ASR 9000 routers with MPAs in a MOD200 or MOD400 line card, or you buy used ASR 9000 parts to keep a network running, this notice sets how long new parts and Cisco engineering last. Below are the dates, the part numbers, what Cisco points you to instead, and how we would plan around it.
The dates in EOL15989
Cisco's Table 1 lists these milestones for the MPAs:
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| End-of-Life Announcement Date | October 21, 2026 |
| End-of-Sale Date | April 21, 2027 |
| Last Ship Date | July 20, 2027 |
| End of SW Maintenance Releases Date | April 20, 2028 |
| End of Routine Failure Analysis Date | April 20, 2028 |
| End of New Service Attachment Date | April 20, 2028 |
| End of Service Contract Renewal Date | July 17, 2031 |
| End of Vulnerability/Security Support | April 30, 2032 |
| Last Date of Support | April 30, 2032 |
The definitions matter more than the dates, so here they are in Cisco's words:
- End of sale. "The last date to order the product through Cisco point-of-sale mechanisms. The product is no longer for sale after this date."
- End of software maintenance. "After this date, Cisco Engineering will no longer develop, repair, maintain, or test the product software."
- End of vulnerability and security support. "The last date that Cisco Engineering may release a planned maintenance release or scheduled software remedy for a security vulnerability issue."
- Last date of support. "After this date, all support services for the product are unavailable, and the product becomes obsolete."
Cisco also says that customers with active service contracts "will continue to receive support from the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) as shown in Table 1 of the EoL bulletin."
Which MPAs the notice covers
Cisco's Table 2 lists every MPA in the 3rd Generation family. Each one comes in a standard version, an FCM version (Cisco's flexible consumption model, part numbers ending in -FC) and spares ending in "=". The standard part numbers are:
| Part number | Cisco's description |
|---|---|
| A9K-MPA-1X100GE | ASR 9000 1-port 100GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-1X200GE | ASR 9000 1-port 200GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-2X100GE | ASR 9000 2-port 100GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-2X40GE | ASR 9000 2-port 40GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-4X10GE | ASR 9000 4-port 10GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-8X10GE | ASR 9000 8-port 10GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-20X10GE | ASR 9000 20-port 10GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-20X1GE | ASR 9000 20-port 1GE Modular Port Adapter |
| A9K-MPA-32X1GE | ASR 9000 32-port 1GE Modular Port Adapter with MACSec |
The FCM twins follow the same pattern, for example A9K-MPA-8X10G-FC, A9K-MPA-20X1G-FC and A9K-MPA-2X100G-FC. The notice also covers the blanks: A9K-MPA-FILR, the "ASR 9000 MPA Slot Filler", and A9K-9001-MPA-FILR, the "ASR 9001 MPA Filler".
What Cisco points you to instead
For the standard MPAs, Cisco's migration part is A9K-4HG-FLEX-X-SE, described as the "ASR 9000 400GE Service Edge Line Card Enhanced". For the FCM MPAs it is A9K-4HG-FLEX-X-FC, the "ASR 9000 400GE Flexible Consumption LC Enhanced". Both are 5th Gen line cards. Notice what that means: the migration product is a whole line card, not another MPA. Moving off these MPAs means replacing the carrier card and its adapters together, and checking that the chassis, route processor and IOS XR release you run will take a 5th Gen card.
For the two fillers Cisco says: "There is currently no migration product available for this product."
Cisco also names two programs. Units may be bought "through the Cisco Refresh (certified remanufactured) program", which Cisco describes as "limited supply for sale in certain countries on a first-come, first-served basis until the Last Date of Support has been reached." And retired hardware can go back through the Cisco Takeback and Reuse Program "where applicable".
The software clock is set by the line card, not the MPA
One line in the bulletin changes the planning more than any date: "The last supported release for the MPAs will align to the terminal release of the line card it is configured with (MOD200 or MOD400); see the EoL announcement for those line cards for details."
Cisco already ended sale of the MOD400 cards in bulletin EOL15291, which covers A9K-MOD400-SE ("400G Modular Linecard, Service Edge Optimized") and A9K-MOD400-TR ("400G Modular Linecard, Packet Transport Optimized"). Its dates:
| MOD400 milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| End-of-Sale Date | June 15, 2024 |
| End of SW Maintenance Releases Date | November 30, 2028 |
| End of Vulnerability/Security Support | June 30, 2029 |
| Last Date of Support | June 30, 2029 |
And its note on software: "IOS XR 25.4.2 is the last XR 64 bit release that will be supported for the HW mentioned in bulletin."
So an MPA in a MOD400 does not really live to April 30, 2032. Its software path ends where the MOD400's does, and Cisco's support for that card ends June 30, 2029. Plan on the earlier of the two dates. If your MPAs sit in MOD200 cards, read the MOD200 bulletin before you set a date; we did not use it here.
Check the route processor too
The route switch processor in the same chassis often runs out first. Cisco's bulletin EOL14645 for the RSP 880 lists A9K-RSP880-TR and A9K-RSP880-SE with an End-of-Sale Date of August 1, 2022 and a Last Date of Support of July 31, 2027, and it says: "IOS XR 7.11 is the last XR 64 bit release and IOS XR 6.9 is the last XR 32 bit release that will be supported for the HW mentioned in bulletin." Its replacement parts are A9K-RSP5-TR and A9K-RSP5-SE.
The older A9K-RSP440-TR is further along. Bulletin EOL10972 gives it a Last Date of Support of August 31, 2022, and says: "6.4 is the last release that will be supported for this HW bulletin."
The earliest date in the box sets the plan. A router with RSP880 processors reaches Cisco's Last Date of Support on July 31, 2027, years before its MPAs do.
What to do if you run these MPAs
1. List every MPA by part number, with the line card and the route processor it sits beside. The notice and its migration parts are per part number. 2. If you need new units from Cisco, order before April 21, 2027. Cisco's Last Ship Date is July 20, 2027. 3. If an MPA is not under contract, add it before April 20, 2028, the End of New Service Attachment Date. Renewals stop after July 17, 2031. 4. Set your software plan by the line card's terminal release, and check the route processor's last release next to it. 5. Keep spares on the shelf for the cards you depend on. After the End of Routine Failure Analysis Date on April 20, 2028, Cisco no longer looks for the cause of a hardware failure. 6. Budget the move to a 5th Gen line card such as A9K-4HG-FLEX-X-SE for the routers you plan to keep past these dates.
What to buy or keep, and where Townsend stands
Routers like these keep working well after the end of sale date. What changes is where parts come from: once Cisco stops selling, spares come from the used and refurbished market, so a known good spare MPA, line card and route processor for each critical router is cheap insurance.
Townsend has ASR 9000 parts in stock now, including the A9K-RSP880-TR route switch processor, the A9K-RSP440-TR route switch processor and an AC powered ASR chassis. We also have the A9K-MPA-FILR slot filler named in this notice in stock.
Browse our Cisco ASR 9000 collection or the wider Cisco collection, or send us your part list through the quote page and we will tell you what we can supply.