I have probably spent 5 - 6 hours at least over the last couple days reading about smart licensing with Cisco, trying to understand what I need to purchase to properly license my two 9300L Cisco switches I bought recently from the Cisco store on Amazon.com.
In tiny text at the bottom of their infographic, Cisco mentions that "C9k hardware includes the Perpetual network stack - Network Essentials or Network Advantage". That's interesting... so why the hell are those boxes at the bottom of the infographic? Let's simplify this. You can buy a switch with either Network Advantage of Network Essentials. That is part of purchasing the switch. So those are your two options. How about a graphic that actually breaks that down in a way that normal people can actually understand?
It's also MANDATORY to "attach DNA license" when ordering C9k. That's interesting, because when I bought mine from the Cisco store on Amazon.com, it wasn't mandatory then. And I can run the switch just fine without it. And I have no idea how I would purchase said licenses even if I wanted to.
IS ANYONE AT CISCO PAYING ATTENTION? THIS SYSTEM MAKES NO SENSE. YOUR PRODUCT TEAMS ARE FAILING TO EXPLAIN THIS, OR TO EXPLAIN WHERE ANYONE CAN BUY THIS STUFF. YOU ARE WASTING YOUR CUSTOMERS' TIME ON THIGNS THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT. PLEASE FIX THIS! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS HOW TO BUY THE THINGS YOU ARE TRYING TO SELL THEM!!!
