UCS C240 M5 support dates
| Milestone | Date | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| End-of-Life Announcement Date | 1 May 2023 | Vendor-publishedTable 2 lists UCSC-C240-M5SX, -M5L, -M5S, -M5SD and -M5SN, with their -BR, -CH and spare (=) variants (18 C240 M5 PIDs). All share one set of dates. | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended, updated 28 Jan 2025): End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco UCS M5 Rack Servers (C220 M5, C240 M5, C480 M5) |
| End-of-Sale Date | 30 October 2023 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| Last Ship Date | 28 January 2024 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| End of New Service Attachment Date | 29 October 2024 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| End of SW Maintenance Releases Date | 29 October 2026 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| End of Service Contract Renewal Date | 25 January 2028 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| End of Vulnerability/Security Support | 31 October 2028 | Vendor-published | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
| Last Date of Support | 31 October 2028 | Vendor-publishedCisco's C240 M5 support page also shows End-of-Support Date 31-OCT-2028. | Cisco EOL15060 (Amended) |
Where the UCS C240 M5 stands today
Of the dates Cisco published for the C240 M5 in the amended EOL15060 bulletin, three are already behind it: End-of-Sale on 30 October 2023, Last Ship on 28 January 2024 and End of New Service Attachment on 29 October 2024. The support-side milestones lie ahead: End of SW Maintenance Releases on 29 October 2026, End of Service Contract Renewal on 25 January 2028, and the Last Date of Support on 31 October 2028, which is also when vulnerability and security support stops. Cisco's C240 M5 support page shows the status 'End of Sale' and describes the server as still supported but no longer sold.
Table 2 of the bulletin lists 18 C240 M5 product IDs, spanning the UCSC-C240-M5SX, -M5L, -M5S, -M5SD and -M5SN with -BR, -CH and spare variants, and every one carries the same dates, so the drive configuration does not change the support timeline. To confirm the entry, read the chassis PID off the unit's label or out of the Cisco IMC inventory and find it in Table 2. Contract or warranty status for an individual serial number is checked separately, through your Cisco partner or account team.
Dates are per product ID, not per unit. Find the chassis PID (for example UCSC-C240-M5SX or UCSC-C240-M5L) on the label or in the Cisco IMC inventory and match it in Table 2 of EOL15060 (https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-rack-servers/ucs-m5-rack-server-c220-c240-c480-eol.html). Every C240 M5 PID there shares the same dates. Whether a specific serial is covered by a Cisco contract or warranty is a separate entitlement check through your Cisco partner or account team.
What still works after Cisco support ends
For C240 M5 firmware, the bulletin leaves room for final maintenance releases and bug fixes only up to 29 October 2026. The commitment then shrinks to planned security remedies until 31 October 2028, after which the bulletin classes the product as obsolete. Cisco's PSIRT still takes reports on products past their Last Day of Support, but does no analysis, fixing or disclosure and assigns no CVEs. Cisco's policy also allows, at its case-by-case discretion, free software updates for high-severity security issues, usually those rated Critical or High; where Cisco offers one, an eligible noncontract customer can obtain it by contacting TAC with the advisory's URL, and no new licence, feature set or major upgrade comes with it.
Under the no-contract Unified Computing Warranty, with its three-year parts coverage, the C240 M5 SFF spec sheet includes BIOS, driver and firmware update downloads, but it is silent on access after the warranty. Cisco's service routes are narrow: an existing contract can be renewed until 25 January 2028 but cannot run past 31 October 2028, Cisco Certified Refurbished units may be offered in limited numbers in certain countries until the Last Date of Support, and the Technology Migration Program gives trade-in credit where applicable. For units that missed the attachment deadline, Cisco third-party maintenance is a route to hardware cover.
- Up to 29 Oct 2026, Cisco may release final maintenance releases and bug fixes. From then until 31 Oct 2028, the bulletin provides only for planned security remedies. After the Last Date of Support (31 Oct 2028), the bulletin defines the product as obsolete. (cisco.com)
- Once a product passes its Last Day of Support, Cisco PSIRT accepts vulnerability reports but will not analyse, fix or disclose them, and issues no CVEs for them. (sec.cloudapps.cisco.com)
- Cisco may offer free software updates for high-severity security problems as a special customer service. It decides case by case, and such updates are typically limited to Critical and High severity. Eligible noncontract customers may get an offered update by contacting Cisco TAC, with the URL of the advisory offering it. This gives no right to new licences, feature sets or major upgrades. (sec.cloudapps.cisco.com)
- Cisco's C240 M5 SFF spec sheet lists 'Downloads of BIOS, drivers, and firmware updates' among the coverage supplied under the no-contract Unified Computing Warranty, alongside three-year parts coverage. It does not say whether download access continues after the warranty ends. (cisco.com)
Vendor support you can still buy
- Renewal of an existing Cisco service contract — Available until 25 Jan 2028. New service attachment closed on 29 Oct 2024. A renewed contract cannot run past the Last Date of Support (31 Oct 2028). (cisco.com)
- Cisco Certified Refurbished Equipment — The bulletin says refurbished units may be available in limited supply in certain countries, first come first served, until the Last Date of Support. (cisco.com)
- Cisco Technology Migration Program (TMP) — Where applicable, trade-in of eligible products for credit towards new Cisco equipment, per the bulletin. (cisco.com)
What a maintenance contract needs to cover on the UCS C240 M5
Drive bays dominate a C240 M5 contract. The UCSC-C240-M5SX has 24 front 2.5-inch SAS/SATA bays, up to two of them NVMe (bays 1 and 2), plus up to two rear SAS/SATA or two rear NVMe drives. The M5SN splits its front into up to eight NVMe bays and 16 SAS/SATA bays, with up to two rear NVMe drives. The M5S has eight front SAS/SATA bays, up to two of them NVMe, plus up to two rear drives, and the LFF version takes up to twelve 3.5-inch SAS/SATA drives, two rear 2.5-inch drives and up to four NVMe PCIe drives. Each SAS, SATA and NVMe mix needs its own spares.
Around the drives sit a dedicated 12G RAID controller slot, a dedicated mLOM slot, six PCIe 3.0 slots and two 10GBASE-T Intel X550 embedded ports, so each server's cards belong on the contract. Power is one mandatory hot-swappable supply plus an optional second for 1+1, rated 1050 W DC, 770 W AC, 1050 W AC or 1600 W AC. The CIMC-based management controller answers on the 1GE dedicated management port, either LOM port or a Cisco VIC. Cisco's C240 M5 SFF spec sheet (Rev G.18, 6 May 2024) is headed 'This product has been discontinued', and its option lists show what was sold, not what can still be obtained, so a contract, with Cisco or for hardware break-fix support, should be built from the parts actually installed.
| Specification | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Form factor | 2RU rack server | cisco.com |
| Processors | 1 or 2 Intel Xeon Scalable processors, first or second generation, with up to 28 cores per socket | cisco.com |
| Memory | 24 DDR4 DIMM slots (RDIMM, LRDIMM or TSV) plus Intel Optane Persistent Memory. Up to 9 TB using 12 x 256 GB DIMMs and 12 x 512 GB PMem modules. | cisco.com |
| Drive bays (SFF versions) | UCSC-C240-M5SX: 24 front 2.5in SAS/SATA, up to 2 of them NVMe in bays 1-2, plus up to 2 rear SAS/SATA or 2 rear NVMe. UCSC-C240-M5SN: up to 8 front NVMe in bays 1-8, 16 front SAS/SATA in bays 9-24, plus up to 2 rear NVMe. UCSC-C240-M5S: 8 front SAS/SATA, up to 2 of them NVMe, plus up to 2 rear drives. | cisco.com |
| Drive bays (LFF version) | Up to 12 x 3.5in SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs, plus 2 rear 2.5in drives, with up to 4 NVMe PCIe drives | cisco.com |
| Expansion and network | 6 PCIe 3.0 slots plus a dedicated 12G RAID controller slot and a dedicated mLOM slot. Also 2 x 10GBASE-T Intel X550 embedded ports. | cisco.com |
| Power supplies | Up to two hot-swappable units, one mandatory and a second for 1+1 redundancy: 770 W AC, 1050 W AC, 1050 W DC or 1600 W AC | cisco.com |
| Management controller | Baseboard Management Controller running Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) firmware, reachable through the 1GE dedicated management port, the 1GE/10GE LOM ports or a Cisco VIC. (The C240 M5 data sheet lists Cisco IMC 3.1(1) or later as a system requirement, with UCS Manager 3.2(1) or later optional.) | cisco.com |
Extend or refresh the UCS C240 M5?
For a C240 M5 holding a stable data set, running on maintenance until late 2028 is a sound option: Cisco's planned security remedies continue to 31 October 2028, and what third-party maintenance covers, diagnosis, replacement parts and engineer visits, does not depend on Cisco's attachment deadline. A separate note in EOL15060 covers UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects, which went end-of-support from 31 May 2024: a C240 M5 in a 6200 FI domain needs to move to newer interconnects, with the bulletin naming the 6400, 6300 and 6536, for continued TAC support. That is an interconnect date, not a C240 M5 date, but it decides whether TAC support continues in that domain.
The refresh argument rests on software. Once maintenance releases stop on 29 October 2026 the bulletin covers only planned security remedies, not general bug fixes, and after 31 October 2028 even vulnerability analysis ends. EOL15060 points C240 M5 owners to the M6 and M7 line codes (UCS-M6-MLB, UCS-M7-MLB) rather than a named model; the next 2RU models in the same line, and the like-for-like ones to evaluate, are the C240 M6 and C240 M7.
- Software maintenance releases for the M5 platform end on 29 Oct 2026. After that, only planned security remedies continue, until the Last Date of Support on 31 Oct 2028. (cisco.com)
- A C240 M5 with no Cisco contract today cannot get one, because End of New Service Attachment passed on 29 Oct 2024. Existing contracts can be renewed until 25 Jan 2028. (cisco.com)
- The bulletin says UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects are 'going end-of-support from 31-May-2024' and that M5 servers connected to 6200 FI domains 'need to migrate to newer model FIs for continued TAC support'. It says C-Series M5 rack servers can move to 6400, 6300 or 6536 FIs. (cisco.com)
- Cisco's C240 M5 SFF spec sheet (Rev G.18, 6 May 2024) is headed 'This product has been discontinued'. The orderable option lists in it describe what was sold, not what is still available. (cisco.com)
Keep your UCS C240 M5 covered
Tell us how many you run and when your current cover ends, and we will come back with a like-for-like maintenance quote for that estate. Your model and its support status are attached to the enquiry automatically, so there is nothing to re-type.
Related models
The C240 M5 sits on the same EOL15060 bulletin as the UCS C220 M5 and the C480 M5. It followed the UCS C240 M4, whose bulletin EOL12709 named the UCSC-C240-M5SX, -M5L and -M5S as replacements for the C240 M4 SKUs.
- UCS C220 M5 end of lifeEnd-of-life announced — vendor support still available
- UCS C220 M4 end of lifePast the vendor’s last date of support
- UCS C240 M4 end of lifePast the vendor’s last date of support
Look up another model in the server & network end-of-life checker, or read what third-party maintenance covers.
Questions people ask about the UCS C240 M5
Is the Cisco C240 M5 still supported?
Yes. Cisco stopped selling the C240 M5 on 30 October 2023, but its support page still lists it as supported, and bulletin EOL15060 keeps it supported until the Last Date of Support on 31 October 2028.
What is the UCS C240 M5 end-of-support date?
31 October 2028, according to Cisco's bulletin EOL15060, with End of Vulnerability/Security Support on the same day. The date is identical for all 18 C240 M5 product IDs in the bulletin, whatever the drive configuration.
What happens to C240 M5 updates after October 2026?
Cisco's software maintenance releases stop on 29 October 2026. From then until 31 October 2028 the bulletin provides only for planned security remedies, and beyond that date Cisco PSIRT no longer analyses, fixes or discloses vulnerabilities on the product.
Does a 6200 fabric interconnect affect C240 M5 support?
It can. EOL15060 gives 31 May 2024 as the date from which UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects went out of support, and says M5 servers attached to them have to move to newer FIs, the 6400, 6300 or 6536, for continued Cisco TAC support.
What came after the Cisco C240 M5?
EOL15060 gives two product-line codes, UCS-M7-MLB and UCS-M6-MLB, instead of a model name. The next 2RU models in the same line are the C240 M6 and C240 M7.
Sources
Every date, rule and specification above was checked against these on 8 October 2026 by an independent verification pass. Vendors revise lifecycle notices; this page is re-checked by 8 January 2027.
- Cisco EOL15060 (Amended, updated 28 Jan 2025): End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco UCS M5 Rack Servers (C220 M5, C240 M5, C480 M5) — cisco.com
- UCS C240 M5 release — cisco.com
- sec.cloudapps.cisco.com — sec.cloudapps.cisco.com
- cisco.com — cisco.com
- cisco.com — cisco.com
Last reviewed 7 October 2026. Lifecycle dates for the UCS C240 M5 are re-verified against Cisco's own notices at each review; a date a vendor has not published is never filled in.