Cisco 2960C / 3560 / 3650 / 3850

[sleepinfire]

If a client has purchased the Cisco 2960C / 3560 / 3650 / 3850 switches from EBAY and currently has them deployed in a production environment is that violating the Cisco licensing ToS on these devices? 

[Mark Malone]

No dont see why it would , you can but them on ebay if you want once there not knockoffs thats not an issue
, there probably not supported so you may want to look at getting them under some type of support contract , if they break so you can RMA them
licenses can be added separately but they all come with some form of base license so they work out of the box , either lanbase or ipbase depending on device

[Eric101]

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Technically it is violating the licensing terms of the software running on the devices.

More information can be found here: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/hw-sw-relicensing-program.html

[Mark Malone]

But it could be a reseller using Ebay no ? like senetic is a authentic reseller but sells huge amount of there products through ebay too as well as there site , maybe thats wrong too

[Richard Burts]

Eric provided a very good link. In that link is this statement

The embedded Cisco software that runs on the hardware—as well as Cisco standalone software—is not transferable unless specifically allowed under the Cisco Software License Transfer and Re-Use Policy. If you purchase used or secondary-market Cisco equipment, you must acquire a new license from Cisco before the software can be used.

I believe that I have seen similar statements in the paper work that we typically ignore as we unpack new Cisco gear. So technically it is a violation of the Terms of Service to purchase on EBAY and run it with the original license. I have not heard of attempts to enforce that restriction. And certainly there are lots of people who do purchase used equipment and run with the original license. But if you are in an organization which has internal policies about observing ToS then this would be an issue.

HTH

Rick

[Eric101]

It is possible that they could be a legitimate seller on Ebay, and they will correctly associate the equipment with the purchasing organisation, and that organisation could get smartnet support on the boxes without problems.
But the fact that the question has been raised would lead me to believe that this is in fact not the case and likely more a secondary market purchase. Not really illegal but the end user could face hurdles in accessing support, if they can get it at all, and there are risks to the organisation. The link I posted outlines it pretty well

[Mark Malone]

Thats very interesting , never bought from ebay as we have specific ISPs/resellers we work with but definitely something to note for the future if it ever comes up again

[Reza Sharifi]

Usually, when you purchase Cisco devices on eBay, you are pretty much on your own when it comes to software upgrades and RMA especially when all these devices are EOL and EOS (the first 3 switches in the list). In addition, usually, Cisco partners will not sell your service contract on a product you did not purchase from them. So, if you are buying this for your organization, and for production, before you make this kind of purchase, ask your manager and get approval in writing 

HTH