Cisco router license question

[an_ho]

Hi everyone,

I am afraid the cisco smart licensing model does appear rather complicated for a newbie like me, so please don't mind if this is a trivial question:

I own a Cisco C1111X-8P with only the ip base license on it. Now, this router will be located at the edge of my network and therefore I would like to add zone-based firewalling and VPN capabilities to it.

- I guess I need a SmartNet contract to download and install the latest IOS image. However, I cannot find a smartnet contract for the C1111X-8P itself, would CON-SNT-C11118P be fine?

- From the ordering guide, I figured that the router needs the SL-1100-8P-SEC to enable firewalling and (slow) VPN. Would that be correct? What's the meaning of the "=" after some of the license options? 

- Are there any restrictions to buying licenses in other countries than they will be used in?

Any help or clarification is greatly appreciated!

[pieterh · Accepted solution]

the "=" mark has to do with ordering an option together with the device, or separately
this goes both for hardware and software

if the image is the "universal" image you can enable the desired functions for a 90-day trial period
of course running updated software is a good idea from a security perspective.