Software Center Changes

[stephen.stack]

Hi All,

Merry Christmas to everyone

Have a look over the email below. Is there any truth or validity in it (i ask beacuse i did not recieve this)?
I'm interested to know peoples opinions on it.

Regards

Stephen

From: Cisco Services Update [mailto:ciscoservices@cisco.com]

Subject: Important Update: Get ready and take action for Software Download

Enhancements on the Cisco Website

Software Download Enhancements

Get Ready for Software Download Enhancements on the Cisco Website

Dear Valued Partner, To improve your experience with Cisco and protect your investment in  Cisco Products, we’re pleased to announce the improvement of Software  download entitlement controls effective 10th January, 2011.

In preparation for this change, we ask you to complete the following  actions before 10th January, 2011: •   Verify all applicable Cisco Products are covered under Cisco Service  contracts, and that you have a valid license for Cisco Software. •   Verify your Services contracts are accurate and make necessary  corrections- serial numbers, part ID’s and locations must be accurate on  each Services contract. •   Associate all Services contracts to applicable Cisco.com user ID’s •   Verify all Cisco.com user IDs for your company are valid and  properly assigned to individuals in your company.  Starting 10th January, 2011, software downloads on Cisco.com will be  verified against Products registered on your Services contract. Attempts  to download Software for Products not registered on your Services  contract will not be permitted.

In an effort to minimise entitlement issues, we encourage you to  directly manage Services contract associations to Cisco.com user ID’s  via the Service Access Management Tool (SAMT). This tool enables  administrators to manage which individuals are allowed to request  Service from Cisco (e.g. technical support/ TAC, hardware replacement/  RMA).

Cisco.com users can use the Cisco.com Profile Manager to view which Services contracts are associated to their profiles.

Thank you in advance for your support.

Kind regards, Cisco Services

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Stephen,

Happy Holidays to you as well

I just went through all my e-mail correspondence from Cisco for the last 2 months

(which is a fair stack!) and I never received this one from ciscoservices. I would have also

thought that any upcoming significant changes to the Software Downloads would have

been flagged on the Software Downloads pages on CCO. There is no mention of this

anywhere that I can see.

I would also expect to see any such major change noted here (which it is not);

Online Tool Updates

http://www.cisco.com/web/services/news/ts_newsletter/tool/index.html

I can't say 100% that the note you have is not legit, but I would have thought we'd all have

seen this if this were the case.

Cheers!

Rob

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Stephen,

Just got this page while in the midst of a download;

Service Agreement

Service Agreement Validation Warning:
Read before downloading software

As part of an ongoing effort to provide you with exceptional service and support, Cisco is making enhancements to its tools and processes. As a result, we are revalidating service contract information.

You are receiving this warning message because our service contract information indicates that you may not be authorized to download software for the following products:

Cisco Unity Express Version 3.1.1

Please follow one of the options below to ensure that you are fully covered for service in the future and that your Cisco.com profile is accurate and up-to-date:

• Associate all your appropriate service contract(s) to your profile by following these instructions.
• Contact your authorized Cisco partner, reseller, Cisco account representative, or the individual in your company who manages your Cisco service agreements to ensure that you have the complete list of service contract(s) associated to your profile.

Your prompt attention to take action per this notice is appreciated in order to avoid unnecessary interruptions or delays in the process of downloading software.

So I guess this is legit after all

Cheers!

Rob

[stephen.stack]

Thanks Rob, looks like its coming then. hmmm, scary times for us GNS/Dynamips users.

And i'm not sure how the community will recieve this.

Happy Holidays all

[CARL LINDAHL]

I had not neard any mention of this either, but tring to download software I got the following message.

I know it has been a long time coming. Alot of the new cisco hardware, specifically Nexus you can see the licensing features on them. The N1Kv is actually licensed, Call manager and Unity (or its new name now) is all going licensed.

Service Agreement Validation Warning:
Read before downloading software

As part of an ongoing effort to provide you  with exceptional service and support, Cisco is making enhancements to  its tools and processes. As a result, we are revalidating service  contract information.

You are receiving this warning message because  our service contract information indicates that you may not be  authorized to download software for the following products:

Cisco XXX

Please follow one of the options below to  ensure that you are fully covered for service in the future and that  your Cisco.com profile is accurate and up-to-date:

• Associate all your appropriate service contract(s) to your profile by following these instructions.
• Contact your authorized  Cisco partner, reseller, Cisco account representative, or the individual  in your company who manages your Cisco service agreements to ensure  that you have the complete list of service contract(s) associated to  your profile.

Your prompt  attention to take action per this notice is appreciated in order to  avoid unnecessary interruptions or delays in the process of downloading  software.

I think some bean counters put them up to this personally.....

[stuart.pannell]

Not happy with this, I am a qualified CCNA, CCVP and have worked with Cisco equipment for many years. The initial software releases are always full of bugs and missing features of which they normally do a good job of supplying updates and fixes via their support website. I work for a Cisco re-seller and service provider and partner, hardware is purchased in a number of ways from various suppliers that range from 3rd party support companies to wholesale suppliers. The problem that I have now is that we have so much equipment that we support for various customers that we personally do not have a Cisco support contract for. I cannot now attend a customers site with the latest IOS or software service patch or upgrade and apply this to fix their buggy software. I now have to find out who has the service contract with Cisco, find out if they are registered with Cisco (most customers are not) and get them to try and download the software whilst onsite. Another downfall to this well thought out Cisco plan is that before we can raise a TAC case for a customers device we would have to upgrade to the lastest software version.

I know that not all of this is Ciscos fault, our sales team should learn how to register our customers service contracts to our service provider contract but come on, release software without bugs or allow access to Cisco certified Engineers so that we can do the jobs that we have been trained and paid money to do.

Stuart

[tiwang]

Hi out there

Anyone found a solution for this "little" problem ? Is it possibly to get a service contract agreement with Cisco which has a little bit more "flexibility" so that it is possibly to get access to new patches - kernels etc without knowing the service-contract number etc...

I have now discussed the issue with their support-team - or those replying on ent-dl@cisco.com - and they completely ignore - or won't understand - how cumbersome - if not completely hopeless - it is to find those service-contracts - especially if you have a problem with ne of these devices.

[jeredavi]

Hello,

We do have tools that can help with the contract-to-profile associations that are necessary to obtain service against those contracts.  One in particular that is very helpful for partners/resellers is the Service Access Management Tool (SAMT).  It allows someone in your company to serve the role of managing those associations rather than each individual SE having to do it.  Many times it can also be done at a more macro level than associating individual contracts.

Check out SAMT.  It might be just what you're looking for.  And feel free to reach out if you want additional information on it.

Jeremy Davis

[kfrederick]

Hello Jeremy!  I am the Administrator on my company's Cisco Account and I would like to gain access to the SAMT tool.  I have been sent to nearly every team Cisco has (or at least it feels that way) and each team sends me back to the same CAM who always replies that she is not my CAM and is unable to grant access to the tool.  We are managed by the Partner Advisory Team and from my understanding they are considered our AM.  Can you please point me in the right direction in regards to gaining access to this tool?  We have been trying to find a resolution to the issue of our techs not having access to software downloads for over a year now.  Thanks for any help that you may be able to provide!

Regards,

Kelli

[kobrien]

This is why I hate Cisco as a company.  They are the hardest people to deal with. 

Adtran doesn't charge for updates on the hardware you bought from them.

I just got on tonight because I sold my customer a 891w router and the AP web interface has the enter button problem with the original version.  This is common on all 881-891 aps.  Since I have a smartnet for my 2801 I just log in and get the fixed software and be done with it.

This change now leaves me with an out of the box piece of crap built in ap.

So I call on all of us Cisco slaves to revolt, stand up to the man, and post our valid files on torrents.

or better yet..

Cisco stop the insanity.  If you need my money that much raise the price of your products by 100.00 and give me the updates I need for your hardware to work.  If I want 24x7 support from India let me buy a contract for that.

[jeredavi]

Hi all,

I work in Cisco Services and can certainly understand the frustration that these tool changes can bring.  What's important to note is that downloading software from the Software Download Center on Cisco.com is a benefit of service contract coverage.  And, that contract coverage needs to be for device(s) to which the software being downloaded applies.  That's policy, and always has been, but the tools just haven't been supporting that policy.  That's why having coverage on a 2801 had previously opened the door for you to download software for the 891.  So it's been technically possible but is not the intent of the services policy.  That's what the entitlement changes in the Software Center are addressing.

That said, what you're talking about in this example is more about fulfillment than a services issue.  You sold a device, it came with stale software, you need to get the updated software you're entitled to.  Makes obvious sense.  The question is, how do you get that software?

Our Technical Support staff is able to look into the sales order information to help determine that this is a new buy situation where, for whatever reason, the device doesn't have the right software on it.  They can then publish the software for you, and they are available 24x7x365.  So in this case, Technical Support is the right avenue to get this software since you aren't looking for an upgrade as a benefit of a service contract but rather looking to update the device to the software it should be sold with.

Technical Support contacts information

Does that help?

Jeremy Davis

[stuart.pannell]

 "What's important to note is that downloading software from the Software Download Center on Cisco.com is a benefit of service contract coverage.  And, that contract coverage needs to be for device(s) to which the software being downloaded applies.  That's policy, and always has been, but the tools just haven't been supporting that policy."

"Our Technical Support staff is able to look into the sales order information to help determine that this is a new buy situation where, for whatever reason, the device doesn't have the right software on it.  They can then publish the software for you, and they are available 24x7x365.  So in this case, Technical Support is the right avenue to get this software since you aren't looking for an upgrade as a benefit of a service contract but rather looking to update the device to the software it should be sold with."

Should you be required to have a service contract for a bug filled IOS? There are items of equipment that I maintain that are between 1 and 3 years old that still have bugs in the software at release 4 or 5, if IOS was so stable then why are there maintenance releases and new releases of particular trains with bug fixes. Why is there a bug fix tool and release notes that have resolved and open caveats?  TAC will not entertain you unless you have a service contract for that device.

I have customers that have bought Call Manager 7.1 and there still releasing updates and bug fixes for that.

So how long are customer's required to take out support contracts at extortionate prices for bugs within poorly written software? or features that are promised and not available?

[Rob Huffman]

Hello all,

First off, I wanted to say that Jeremy really deserves some

credit here for jumping in on such a contentious issue here

+5 for having the fortitude to try and explain this policy change

But I think that Stuart really hits on the most salient point

in this discussion (+5 Stuart). I think people could live with

this change if the products that they bought were actually

distributed with a stable IOS/Firmware/Software etc. initially.

But this is not always the case, in fact, it is almost "never"

the case! Too many Level 1,2 & 3 Bugs in Cisco products

make them far too vulnerable at this point in time to try and

install them in a production environment without a support

contract............but is this really fair????

Until such time as Cisco can build and sell products that

can reasonably be expected to perform without incessant

upgrades due to Bug fixes, I think that this policy change

is premature and somewhat unfair.

I can buy a new TV without the "extended warranty" and have

a high level of confidence that the TV will still work 2 years from

the date of purchase, but the same cannot be said for many

Cisco products without the access to the fixes required to keep

them running.

If someone has purchased a Cisco product I think it's only fair

that they have the ability to bring this product into a stable operating

mode without having to pay for the Cisco "extended warranty" ie:

an ongoing support contract.

"Fair is fair" here in my opinion

Cheers!

Rob

[burleyman]

I agree with Rob as well...and I do not like this change either, but I do have a little issue with making it seem that Cisco puts out a cr app y product. There are not any software companies out there that do not have bugs or issues, they all do...Microsoft, Apple, Juniper, Linux...all of them, there is not one that is clean.

What I think Cisco should do is if you prucahsed a level of IOS you get to update that level for the life of that line.

Mike

[stuart.pannell]

I wasn't trying to imply that Cisco puts out a sub standard product just that fixes for bugged software should be available for all. The vendors you have listed above all release software full of bugs and most of them have automated ways to obtain fixes, if there is not an automated way then you can go to their websites and download the fixed software for free without the need for a support contract. As I also have Cisco qualifications and keep my certification up to date I feel that we should get a level of access to the fixed software. I like Cisco products and would recomend them over most other products for the level of service and what was the the ability to get software fixes. Most of the products I deal with day to day are stable it's just the odd issues that has now become a problem.