Catalyst 3850 - OSPF Access Routing - IP Base - Features?

[Martin Houde]

Hello friends,

I'm really confused about what is and isn't supported for the IP base license available on the 3850 catalyst switches.

I would like to use OSPF, however, from researching on the topic, I have noticed that there is a licensed feature limitation for OSPF for IP Base (OSPF Access Routing). 

Is this in terms of capacity?  Are all the features available?  I'm confused...

I would like to know before proposing to buy IP services, because it is quite pricey and obviously we don't want to propose something we won't need.

Thank in advance!

Martin

[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

Hi,

From the IOS release notes for the 3850:

OSPF for Routed Access: Starting from Cisco IOS Release 12.2(55)SE, the IP Base image supports a new feature called OSPF for Routed Access. OSPF for Routed Access is designed specifically to enable you to extend Layer 3 routing capabilities to the wiring closet. It supports only one OSPFv2 and one OSPFv3 instance, with a maximum number of 200 dynamically learned routes.

I have never tested this to see if it actually support more than 200 routes. I would say, test it with IP Base and run OSPF, if there is limitation you can always upgrade to IP Services. The only thing you have to be careful with is support.  If you call TAC, they may not support your device with more than 200 routes.

Link:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/ios-nx-os-software/ios-software-releases-12-2-special-early-deployments/product_bulletin_c25-614546.html

HTH

[Martin Houde]

So to clarify, fully featured OSPF and it's only limited in terms of capacity (Number of Routes (200), and Number of routing instances on the router (1)).

Thank you for you reply!

[Reza Sharifi]

It appears to be so. It may all work if you have 1000, 5000 or more routes, but if something goes wrong and you call TAC they will ask you to install the correct license.  And as you said the IP Services License is not very cheap.  It almost costs as much the switch itself. If you think you never go above these number you should be fine.

HTH