Re: Cat4000 IOS - standard v. enhanced

gkuzmowycz · ‎09-06-2006

Everything I've read tells me that I need to load the Enhanced image IOS to run EIGRP on a 4500. Yet on a 4507 I have which is very definitely running Standard (or is it Basic?), where "sh ver" says "IOS (tm) Catalyst 4000 L3 Switch Software (cat4000-I9S-M)", I can run EIGRP and establish adjacencies. Am I misunderstanding something here?

glen.grant · ‎09-06-2006

Nope you aren't imagining it , even though the commands are there and appear to work it is "not" supported by cisco if you have a problem. All the routing protocols appear to work even ont he standard version , I have messed around with it in a lab setting and eigrp, ospf and even BGP work in the lab even though its not supported.

Edison Ortiz · ‎09-06-2006

You need the enhanced L3 feature set for EIGRP, according to the software advisor @ Cisco.com

sachinraja · ‎09-06-2006

Yeah.. we need to order enhanced IOS with EIGRP support (at additional cost), inorder to run these protocols on a SUP IV or SUP V of 4500.... check on the software advisor and you can find this out....

Raj

gkuzmowycz · ‎09-07-2006

Thanks to those who replied. However, I do actually know how to read and how to use the Software Advisor, and I know what it tells me. The "problem" I have is that EIGRP does actually work using standard image on a 4507 with Sup IV. All tools I know about indicate that it is participating correctly in the EIGRP network. Why is this? Normally, when something is not supported in a particular IOS image, you can't even enter the commands, let alone have it work. This particular image is not a "k", for instance, so giving SSH commands, for example, throws you an "% Invalid input".

ajagadee · ‎09-07-2006

George,

The difference between Basic and Enhanced is licensing. If you run into an issue that you are not licensed for, TAC and Development Team would not provide any support. This is where the licensing would come very handy.

At present, Cisco works on the honor system. The Basic image has the same features as the Enhanced image but licensing is required to use the features officially supported in Enhanced Images.

I hope it helps.

Regards,

Arul

glen.grant · ‎09-07-2006

As has been said before it is a licensing issue and probably the fact that they didn't want to spend the money on taking out the non supported commands . In the lab all the routing protocols even work on a Sup II+ .