Refurbished Cisco router - smart licensing?

[Durzel]

Hi

Purchased a refurbished Cisco router from eBay with some additional licensed features that I required. Everything present and correct when I checked it over, the entitlements were lifetime RightToUse. The router was running 16.09.05 software, which when I checked online appeared to be pretty old, came out in September 2021.

I naively just thought I'd upgrade it to the latest version available (Cupertino-17.9.3a, 17.09.03a)... as it turned out this might have been a terrible mistake. When I booted the router up again it appears to have turned into a Smart Licensing thing. It looks at first glance like I've still got my licence entitlements, but I have no idea for how long.

I have no idea what I'm doing with Smart Licensing - I'm old school Cisco where licences are stored on the device, there's no phoning home or anything like that. I don't have any relationship with Cisco, and am not likely to be buying anything else for the forseeable future that would require smart licensing. Everything else we have is on older software.

I did some more digging and found out that 16.09.08 is the last version of the software before smart llicensing was a thing. There is a process for downgrading to traditional licensing but it portentously says that once you go back after previously being on Smart Licensing, an attempt to upgrade again will render existing RightToUse licenses as Evaluation (if I'm reading it right).

What should I do here? I can't prove the provenance of the licensed features on the device, it was purchased from a company that resells Cisco equipment so there's a good chance they know nothing more about the device than "as is". Without the features that I paid for, the router is of no use to me.

Thanks in advance for any input

"sh lic usage" output below, for what it's worth:

License Authorization:
  Status: Not Applicable

throughput (ISR_4331_300M_Performance):
  Description: throughput
  Count: 1
  Version: 1.0
  Status: IN USE
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED
  Feature Name: throughput
  Feature Description: throughput
  Enforcement type: NOT ENFORCED
  License type: Perpetual

appxk9 (ISR_4331_Application):
  Description: appxk9
  Count: 1
  Version: 1.0
  Status: IN USE
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED
  Feature Name: appxk9
  Feature Description: appxk9
  Enforcement type: NOT ENFORCED
  License type: Perpetual

uck9 (ISR_4331_UnifiedCommunication):
  Description: uck9
  Count: 1
  Version: 1.0
  Status: IN USE
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED
  Feature Name: uck9
  Feature Description: uck9
  Enforcement type: NOT ENFORCED
  License type: Perpetual

securityk9 (ISR_4331_Security):
  Description: securityk9
  Count: 1
  Version: 1.0
  Status: IN USE
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED
  Feature Name: securityk9
  Feature Description: securityk9
  Enforcement type: NOT ENFORCED
  License type: Perpetual

[mrmistoffelees]

The smart licence stuff won't overwrite a perpetual licence. Even with smart, you can still have perpetual. Where it gets really funky is the DNA side of things. Here be dragons.

[Durzel]

mrmistoffelees said:

The smart licence stuff won't overwrite a perpetual licence. Even with smart, you can still have perpetual. Where it gets really funky is the DNA side of things. Here be dragons.

So what would be the prudent thing to do in this situation? Go through the whole rigmarole of signing the device up to a smart account that I create? Don't do anything and just run it "as is"? Downgrade to 16.09.08, revert to trad licensing, and leave it on that software in perpetuity?

I'm worried that anything I do to it now - i.e. conversion to smart licensing, or whatever - risks buggering it up. All I got was a refurbished router, no proof of licence entitlement, etc. If it ends up knackered and drops down to evaluation licensing, I won't have any practical means of resolving it (i.e. I can't provide PAK order details, etc)

[mrmistoffelees]

Leave it as is, no need to sign up for a smart account unless you're intending on adding any new entitlements. If you're wanting to upgrade the 4331 to support say 2 gig throughput then you'd need to do this (sign up for a smart account) at this time.

[Durzel]

mrmistoffelees said:

Leave it as is, no need to sign up for a smart account unless you're intending on adding any new entitlements. If you're wanting to upgrade the 4331 to support say 2 gig throughput then you'd need to do this (sign up for a smart account) at this time.

Thanks. That is a possibility, as it'll be servicing a 300Mb leased line on a 1Gbps bearer, but I don't think it would happen for several months - if ever.

Edited by Durzel on Monday 17th July 11:53

[mrmistoffelees]

Yeah that might be a problem then, you can run:

show platform hardware throughput level

to get the throughput but on a 4331 the base is 100 meg, the performance is 300 and then the boost takes it to "over 2 gig".

E2A: Scratch that, you've already got the 300 meg on a perpetual lic so you're home and dry. Don't need to go over that unless you upgrade the 300 meg line you've got.

[Durzel]

mrmistoffelees said:

Yeah that might be a problem then, you can run:

show platform hardware throughput level

to get the throughput but on a 4331 the base is 100 meg, the performance is 300 and then the boost takes it to "over 2 gig".

E2A: Scratch that, you've already got the 300 meg on a perpetual lic so you're home and dry. Don't need to go over that unless you upgrade the 300 meg line you've got.

Yup, that was why I was anxious that the "throughput" licence might disappear. I went out of my way to get that (and "security", which I need for various things).

[Durzel]

Booted the router today and was presented with this:

Jul 18 16:51:55.377: %CALL_HOME-6-CALL_HOME_ENABLED: Call-home is enabled by Smart Agent for Licensing.
Jul 18 16:51:55.461: %SMART_LIC-6-REPORTING_REQUIRED: A Usage report acknowledgement will be required in 363 days.
Jul 18 16:52:34.536: %SMART_LIC-3-COMM_FAILED: Communications failure with the Cisco Smart License Utility (CSLU) : Unable to resolve server hostname/domain name

I guess this means I would have to register it on smart thingy (Device Led Conversion?). Do I have to do this if those licences are showing as Perpetual?