some questions about Nexus 77K Licensing

[Peyman Zadmehr]

Hi

I am searching about Licensing on Nexus 7710. I found this article:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/sw/nx-os/licensing/guide/b_Cisco_NX-OS_Licensing_Guide/b_Cisco_NX-OS_Licensing_Guide_chapter_01.html

I have some questions about the licenses regarding the items mentioned in the page:

1- Honor based mode for N77K: What does this mean? I assume if we enable feature without Installing the license the feature works fine but we will have syslog notification every week. Is this correct?

2- MPLS license: We install N77 in the path of MPLS traffic and this device has nothing to do with MPLS traffic. It just passes the MPLS labeled traffic from its inbound port to its outbound port. Do we still need to get license for MPLS for this purpose?

Thank you

[Sergiu.Daniluk]

Hi @Peyman Zadmehr 

1. Honor based licensing = you are not enforced to install a license for the feature to work, but if you do enable it and use it, Cisco assumes you have the license purchased. No further logs are generated other then the very first one at the moment when you enable the feature.

2. If you enable the feature ("feature X") you need the license. If not, then you don't.

Cheers,

Sergiu

[Peyman Zadmehr]

Hi

Thank you for answer. What about MPLS license. Do I need MPLS license for just passing MPLS traffic over the Switch.

additionally Is this applicable for GRE tunneled traffic. The GRE tunnel is pass through the switch.

In summary, N77 is used as Layer-2 Switch not a Layer-3 device.

Thank you

[Sergiu.Daniluk · Accepted solution]

If the N7K is only doing L2 switching (MAC address forwarding), then no licensing is needed. Ifyou want to do label switching and any other MPLS features (L2/L3 vpns) then you need the feature enabled, and implicitly the license.

Same for GRE. Since from perspective of Nexus the traffic is just a l2 switch, then no license is required.

Stay safe

Sergiu

[Peyman Zadmehr]

Hi

Sorry for Asking... you mentioned to N7K. Is the answer applicable to N77K as well?

Thank you

[Sergiu.Daniluk · Accepted solution]

Yes. Applicable to both Nexus 7000 and 7700.

Cheers,

Sergiu

[Peyman Zadmehr · Accepted solution]

Hi

Thank you for the answer

[Peyman Zadmehr]

Hi

Thank you for the Answer