[c-nsp] Re-licensing secondhand Cisco equipment

[scott owens]

We bought a bunch of 6500s a few years back,  saved a bundle ...
however now the "E" chassis are the only ones supported for
Sup720s/VSS/Sup32-10s so any of the gear we bought that was non-E .. has to
be replaced.
Still cheaper.

We can get a Sup32-10G for $2K.  Cisco wants 20+K.
I can put a few spare away and still save money.

It really depends I think on the level of technology you are looking for -
Nexus 7K, 6800 ... gotta go with Cisco.
6500, 2960s, 3850/ ... you can pick up in alternate market.

Haveing said that ... Cisco supposedly does have a refurb market themselves
but most of the time  they did not have the POE line cards we were looking
for.

We did go through the re-cert process on our 6500s .. WASTE OF TIME, some
guy came in and ran "show techs" and booted the gear and captured the
console output when they booted.

Way, way, cheaper to buy grey market ...

>
> Specifically, I'm curious about:
> - the inspection process/logistics
> - the costs associated with the inspection
> - the cost of various software licenses, and whether
> these are standard price list items

The first and last time I thought about doing this (both on
Cisco and Juniper), it was just cheaper to:

        - Continue buying off the grey market, even when
          things break as they tend to do with such avenues,
          or

        - Buy new kit from Cisco and support that from Day
          One.

YMMV.

Mark.