Network Equipment Licensing

Has anyone had any experiences with businesses, both large and small, that do not have licenses for their networking equipment? Have there been any legal issues that they have succumb to? Is not having enough funds for licenses a viable reason to not purchase a license? I'm just curious to hear all of your thoughts and past experiences.

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shodown

I worked at a company that got slammed for having the wrong IOS on a 4500's and 6500's in about 40 locations. Cisco legal was going to take them to the cleaners, but in turn they had to get rid of an avaya system that was only 2-3 years old, for a call manager(this is what I got hired for), new firewalls, and wireless. They also had to purchase smart net for all of it including the stolen IOS. The purchase price of the IOS would have been about 250K if they had done it legal. They had to spend about 4 million to stay out of lawsuits. Your milage may vary.

colemic

To answer one of your questions - if you can't afford the licensing, you can't afford the equipment, OR the lawsuit if it is egregious enough.

iBrokeIT

If I ever come across an employer that refused to properly license their equipment and software I would be heading for the exit as fast as possible.

I personally would keep documentation of management refusing to legally purchase the licenses off site to cover yourself from any legal action.

If they refuse to properly fund IT to purchase licenses what else are they not able properly fund and how safe is your job?

cyberguypr

I've seen places where they have one SMARTnet for each 10-15 pieces of gear. Obviously legal and ethical concerns are at the bottom of the pile. Worst case I've seen was a couple of small PC shops back in 1999 selling hundreds of customers Windows licenses as OEM that they got off the web from dubious sites. The ended up getting caught but don't remember the penalties.

it_consultant

Adam B wrote: »

Has anyone had any experiences with businesses, both large and small, that do not have licenses for their networking equipment? Have there been any legal issues that they have succumb to? Is not having enough funds for licenses a viable reason to not purchase a license? I'm just curious to hear all of your thoughts and past experiences.

All the time!

When I was consulting I almost never saw networking equipment with current licenses or support contracts. I would insist on buying a 3 year support contract with all equipment I would buy because then they couldn't cheap out on year 2 or 3 and by the time 3 years was up I may or may not have to deal with them anymore. Having said that, I also bought equipment that came with lifetime warranty (HP, Brocade, etc) so at the very least they could get replacement equipment if it went hard down. Licensing firewalls is/was always a challenge, no matter who the manufacturer was it is a tough sell for cash strapped (or plain cheap) companies.