[c-nsp] Cisco licensing

[Peter Rathlev]

On Wed, 2009-01-21 at 20:11 -0800, Tony wrote:
> This refers to: Replacing one release with another without upgrading
> the feature set. Update to fix a bug or to replace a release that is
> no longer supported. Updates are free of charge."
> 
> So reading the above, it would appear that I can update all of my
> Cisco devices to whatever IOS I want (free of charge and free of
> guilt) as long as I stay within the same feature set ?

I seem to remember having been told that crossing minor-minor version
number (12.2(18) -> 12.2(33)) counts as an upgrade and requires
SmartNet/SP Base/whatever. Only maintenance releases (12.2(18)SXF5 ->
12.2(18)SXF10) was an "update".

If they stop patching some train that gets EOL'ed I guess they'd accept
an upgrade to their recommended replacement.

If you could get the above in write from some AM at Cisco I'd love to
hear it. We currently buy SmartNet for a load of devices that are almost
never upgraded, just updated when there's some bug without a work
around. (I heard we're about to change to SP Base.)

Regards,
Peter