Feeling a little ripped off....

[Meraki_Scott]

I have a pretty big commitment to Meraki (for a small business) and have loved the product and support from day 1!  I have evangelized the product and company.  Recently we wanted to try the Insights application and after a .lot of effort they granted us a trial license.  I tried to install it and find that our MX80 is on EOL and that Insights is not supported on it.  Even though I have 3.5 years left on my license these new features are not going to be available to me.  Then I had a need to have the MX80 connect to a site to site vpn that uses IKEv2.  Sure no problem, call support and get IKEv2 turned on.  Did that but could not get the tunnel up.  After a couple of support calls I am told the required firmware for IKEv2 isn't supported on the MX80.  Now I say OK give me a quote to upgrade to the MX84.  The hardware is reasonable but the insulting part is they expect me to just eat the remaining 3.5 years on the license.  Is it me or does that seem a little greedy of Meraki?  I get the idea of EOL and product replacement but shouldn't there be a more equitable upgrade path to encourage people like me to stay in the family?  Sincere question all feedback appreciated.

Thanks!

[Aaron_Wilson]

Did you buy a 10 year license or something? 3.5 years left on some that was EOS in 2016 is a long time.

Honestly, this is partly why it's better to go with shorter license durations than longer. We had a similar issue with a 5 year contract with Cisco and they released "free" features, but that was only for people on a newer contract. Had we done 3 tears we would have been able to leverage those features, at a lower cost!

[Meraki_Scott]

We renewed in August '18 for 5 years, your point is well taken that I should have been more aware of the EOL policy.  I understood supported until August 2023 to mean all upgrades and feature enhancements.  I see now I was naive about that.  In the future I guess shorter licenses make more sense. TY

[BrechtSchamp · Accepted solution]

Have you asked licensing@meraki.com or support whether they can convert te remaining license time? Afaik this should be possible. Refer to the FAQ:

https://documentation.meraki.com/zGeneral_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Licensing_FAQs

Do I have to buy more licenses every time I buy new hardware?

Not necessarily; licenses are sold separately from the hardware. For example, you could upgrade from the MR18 to the MR33 without buying new licenses. If you upgrade hardware to a model with a more expensive license, say from an MS225 to an MS250, you can use the “Upgrade” tool to convert the license. The difference in cost between the licenses is made up of time so you will lose some time as an MS250 license costs more than the original MS225 license.

[Meraki_Scott]

I have not asked licensing but my sales rep at Meraki is emphatic that the way I've described it is what their policy is.  I will drop an email to licensing though.  Thanks Brett!

[Meraki_Scott]

UPDATE:

I got a response form licensing that in fact the MX80 license is 1:1 convert-able on the MX84 which is great news!  Thx Brett!  Shouldn't my sales rep know that?

[AnythingHosted]

I would be asking your sales rep why he didn't know that... 🙂

[Meraki_Scott]

I'll be sure to ask her, but I'm not confident the answer will make any sense.  I'm very disappointed in the sales team.  Compared to the previous purchases in earlier years it's not a customer friendly scenario...

[BrechtSchamp]

Well nobody's perfect I guess. Good thing we were able to help you out and things worked out.

[Meraki_Scott]

I agree that nobody is perfect Brett and I'm not expecting that.  I did however challenge them several times about the upgrade policy as I was aware of the conversion policy previously but didn't know if it was a monthly or timed promotion.  I do thank you for all of your help on this community forum.