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aaronwoland
Contributor

AnyConnect Day 0 Support for Windows 10 and OSX El Capitan

Opinion
Jul 29, 20153 mins
Cisco SystemsNetwork Security

Best practices to get AnyConnect support on Day-1 of Windows 10, and what to do BEFORE you upgrade.

There is this sort of living legend at Cisco whose name is Pete Davis. Everyone who deals with security knows who he is because, frankly, he’s awesome! The guy has forgotten more about remote-access VPN than most of us will ever know, and he’s a total geek – which is the ultimate compliment from a guy like me.

Pete came to Cisco via the acquisition of Altiga, Cisco’s former VPN 3000 series concentrator, the EZ VPN technology, and the classic Cisco IPSEC VPN client. He is also one of the original guys to come up with the AnyConnect concept for a light-weight client, using SSL VPN, being modular, pulling configurations from the policy server (ASA / ISE), etc.  

In addition to all the VPN knowledge, Pete has pretty much owned AnyConnect since its release and continues to be the world’s most passionate advocate for the widely deployed endpoint software client, and is arguably the single-most-responsive Product Manager at Cisco, one of the big reasons why he’s become a legend.

With someone of Pete’s caliber driving an already stellar team, the AnyConnect team is always on-point with their Day-0 support for new operating systems, testing them while they are in preview mode, filing the bugs with the OS vendor, and being ready for the OSes to become generally available. 

Therefore, it is cool to publicly show that AnyConnect is ready for both Windows 10 and Apple’s El Capitan Operating Systems ahead of schedule. However, there are some caveats that I’d like to point out.

AnyConnect: Windows 10 compatibility update

AnyConnect 4.1MR4 (4.1.04011) and 3.1MR10 (3.1.10010) will both be available beginning 7/27/15.

These two releases will officially support Windows 10. To receive support, customers must be running the official release of Windows 10, which is scheduled to become available on 7/29/15.

Caveats & Important notes for Windows 10: For customers upgrading from a prior version of Windows, I.e.: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1:

  • Please ensure you either uninstall or upgrade AnyConnect prior to upgrading to Windows 10.
  • If you are using the Network Access Manager module, this capability must be uninstalled prior to upgrading the Windows system to Windows 10. The great news is that NAM is fully supported on Windows 10, it just needs to be installed after the OS is already there.

AnyConnect: Mac OS X El Capitan pre-release information

An installation issue with AnyConnect on OS X El Capitan has been resolved in 4.1MR4.

There is still an open issue with untrusted certificate validation which has been reported to Apple as an OS regression. Please note that pre-release OS support is not provided by the Cisco TAC. Customers can send any additional issues to ac-mobile-feedback@cisco.com. El Capitan support will not be provided in AnyConnect 3.x as new OS support ends July 2015.

Software Download:

4.1MR4 is now available for download for Cisco customers with AnyConnect Apex or Plus term licenses or perpetual Plus licenses with active contracts. Additional information on Apex and Plus licenses can be found in the Ordering Guide link below.

3.1MR10 will be available for download for Cisco customers with active head-end (ASA/Cisco IOS VPN) SMARTnet contracts.

Release Notes:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/security/anyconnect-secure-mobility-client/products-release-notes-list.html

AnyConnect Ordering Guide:

https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/security/anyconnect-og.pdf

Additional information:

aaronwoland
Contributor

Aaron Woland, CCIE No. 20113, is a Principal Engineer at Cisco Systems, Inc., and works with Cisco’s Largest Customers all over the world. His primary job responsibilities include Secure Access and Identity deployments with ISE, solution enhancements, standards development, and futures. Aaron joined Cisco in 2005 and is currently a member of numerous security advisory boards, and standards body working groups.

Prior to joining Cisco, Aaron spent 12 years as a Consultant and Technical Trainer. His areas of expertise include network and host security architecture and implementation, regulatory compliance, as well as route-switch and wireless. Aaron is the author of Cisco ISE for BYOD and Secure Unified Access book (Cisco Press), and many published white papers and design guides. Aaron is a member of the Hall of Fame for Distinguished Speakers at Cisco Live, and is a security columnist for Network World where he blogs on all things related to Identity. His other certifications include: GHIC, GSEC, Certified Ethical Hacker, MCSE, VCP, CCSP, CCNP, CCDP and many other industry certifications.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of Aaron Woland and do not necessarily represent those of IDG Communications, Inc., its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies, including Cisco Systems.

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