alt.certification.cisco - Question about buying test routers and the IOS

Author

Question about buying test routers and the IOS

Wil

2003-09-06, 12:24 am

Hello to everyone here. I am very new to cisco and am contemplating their
certifications. I want to buy a router or two from Ebay. I was looking at
a couple of 2503's and noticed in the description of one of them it stated:
"Software licensing is the responsibility of the winning bidder." Im not
sure what that means. Does it mean that when you buy a cisco router, it
must be IOS-less? Are you illegally operating a cisco router if you do buy
a router with an IOS? I know these are dumb questions, but I was just
wondering. I have seen this issue of software licensing on other for sale
routers. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,
Wil

Will

2003-09-06, 1:24 am

Wil wrote:

> Hello to everyone here. I am very new to cisco and am contemplating their
> certifications. I want to buy a router or two from Ebay. I was looking at
> a couple of 2503's and noticed in the description of one of them it stated:
> "Software licensing is the responsibility of the winning bidder." Im not
> sure what that means. Does it mean that when you buy a cisco router, it
> must be IOS-less? Are you illegally operating a cisco router if you do buy
> a router with an IOS? I know these are dumb questions, but I was just
> wondering. I have seen this issue of software licensing on other for sale
> routers. Any advice would be helpful.

Check out the license for yourself:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...5
43.html

Essentially, Cisco says that the IOS license is non-transferable. Common
interpretation of that clause is that this means if you buy used Cisco
hardware from a 3rd party, you must purchase a license for the IOS
version/feature set you plan to run on the hardware you just purchased.
So supposedly, the only entity that can sell you a license to use IOS
is an official Cisco reseller.

In practice, if you plan on only using the hardware for learning use,
Cisco isn't going to stop you from operating you Cisco hardware with
whatever unlicensed software came in its flash memory when you bought
it. If you run a business and use the hardware for your business, you
should probably do the right thing (or ask your lawyer what liability
you're incurring otherwise). You may also have trouble getting cisco to
cover the hardware under a support contract if they cannot verify who
sold it to you.

Watch this group for any length of time at all and you'll find that
"piracy" of IOS is rampant. Vendors on ebay sell cat 3550 SMI switches
loaded with the EMI (more features) software, becasue it's $1500
cheaper. Notice they always say, "3550 SMI switch loaded with EMI
software". Same deal as someone selling you a 2501 with "licensing of
software the responsibility of buyer". Thing is, anyone with a support
contract can download any feature set IOS for any hardware platform; it
is simply not worth Cisco's time to enforce the terms of the license in
99.9% of cases. So just don't be that in that .1%.

So chances are, if you're asking in this newsgroup, no, you don't need
to worry about it. Cisco will make more money off you pursuing your
certifications than they ever would by sending their lawyers after you.

-Will

Ben Nelson

2003-09-06, 2:24 am

If you are still in need of a couple of 2503's let me know. We can get you
taken care of thanks.
http://www.usedrouter.com/order.asp?id=208

Ben Nelson
www.usedrouter.com
800-974-2352
"Wil" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:6Mc6b.20$A5.6@bignews2.bellsouth.net...
> Hello to everyone here. I am very new to cisco and am contemplating their
> certifications. I want to buy a router or two from Ebay. I was looking
at
> a couple of 2503's and noticed in the description of one of them it
stated:
> "Software licensing is the responsibility of the winning bidder." Im not
> sure what that means. Does it mean that when you buy a cisco router, it
> must be IOS-less? Are you illegally operating a cisco router if you do
buy
> a router with an IOS? I know these are dumb questions, but I was just
> wondering. I have seen this issue of software licensing on other for sale
> routers. Any advice would be helpful.
>
> Thanks,
> Wil
>
>

DullRazor

2003-09-08, 6:30 pm

On Fri, 5 Sep 2003 23:47:53 -0400, "Wil" <someone@somewhere.com>
wrote:

>Hello to everyone here. I am very new to cisco and am contemplating their
>certifications. I want to buy a router or two from Ebay. I was looking at
>a couple of 2503's and noticed in the description of one of them it stated:
>"Software licensing is the responsibility of the winning bidder." Im not
>sure what that means. Does it mean that when you buy a cisco router, it
>must be IOS-less? Are you illegally operating a cisco router if you do buy
>a router with an IOS? I know these are dumb questions, but I was just
>wondering. I have seen this issue of software licensing on other for sale
>routers. Any advice would be helpful.
>
>Thanks,
>Wil
>
Hi Wil. Don't worry about the software licensing if you should buy a
used router off ebay. Your using it for study purposes so Cisco won't
come after you. BUT, if you should buy one off ebay BE SURE the
password has been removed first or you will have to do a password
recovery. Email the seller first. Also, be sure to get one with 11.0
or later IOS version. The older IOS versions probably will not
understand the commands that you will be issuing at the prompts. Try
to find one with 12.0 IOS if possible. This is just a few tips I have
learned the HARD way. Take care.

goober

2003-09-08, 10:27 pm

hi, i'm also looking to buy some equipment for CCNA. What i'm looking
for is equipment that i can later carry over to a CCNP lab once i've
completed my CCNA.

If i were to get 2 2503's would they be enough for CCNA and would i be
able to carry those over to CCNP? if so, are 2 2503's the only
equipment i would need? or would i also need a switch or other other
type of equipment?

Richard Deal

2003-09-09, 10:25 am

To all,

If you want to do ISDN DDR, you'll need an ISDN simulator, which can be
expensive, even though they've been coming down in price lately. The CCNA
also covers the 1900 and 2950 switches. If you'll be pursing the CCNP, then
I would get a 2950 instead; but again, these ran around $400 the last time I
check a couple of months ago.

Another important thing to point out about buying routers on eBay, that most
people forget are:
* Amount of RAM
* Amount of Flash
* ROM version
* IOS version

You can easily upgrade the RAM and Flash, but this costs $$$. Also, the
router you might be purchasing probably has an old IOS on it--I would
recommend that you have at least IOS 12.x on it. If you don't have a Cisco
support contract for the router, then you're SOL. Also, if the router is a
very early model, and has an old IOS, the chances are that it has an old
ROM chip. To run newer IOS versions, you'll probably have to replace this
also.

When I purchase 2500 series routers, I consider all of these things before
buying. If the router doesn't have 16MB RAM/16MB flash, I consider that it
will probably cost $100 to upgrade it to this. Because of this, I typically
pass on 2500 routers that don't have this.

Hope this helps!

Cheers!

"goober" <xun0@xrs.net> wrote in message
news:f95938e7.0309081713.6da1d889@posting.google.com...
> hi, i'm also looking to buy some equipment for CCNA. What i'm looking
> for is equipment that i can later carry over to a CCNP lab once i've
> completed my CCNA.
>
> If i were to get 2 2503's would they be enough for CCNA and would i be
> able to carry those over to CCNP? if so, are 2 2503's the only
> equipment i would need? or would i also need a switch or other other
> type of equipment?
>

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