What Happens to an MX License Balance After EOST?

[MarcAEC]

I'm looking at renewing the license on an MX100 and the renewal would go past the end of support date.  I asked the sales rep if we'd be able to get a pro-rated credit when upgrading to apply to an MX95.  He said no, that in the per-device licensing model the balance of the license would just be lost. 

Part of me thinks he must be mistaken.  That would be an incredibly customer-hostile policy to have.  A pro-rated credit is fair for both Meraki and the customer.  Was the sales rep really correct that MX license balances are discarded when upgrading equipment? 

[alemabrahao]

Your sales rep is right.

[Brash]

As per the following link:

The device-specific licenses corresponding to discontinued hardware products will be available for purchase after the EOS Date

https://meraki.cisco.com/meraki-support/policies/#product-end-of-life-eol-policy

In terms of refund on leftover license time, I don't believe it's possible.

[DarrenOC]

Was the sales rep a Partner or Meraki AM?

Reach out to your Meraki AM and discuss as I’m sure they could bake this into any potential discount to upgrade to the MX95.  

if not, vote with your money and switch vendor. Simples

[MarcAEC]

Since an MX is a security product, to me it becomes useless after support ends.  It doesn't matter if the license is honored, it's no good to me if security exploits in the firmware are not getting fixed.

Thanks everyone for responding so quickly.  It's too bad Meraki's policy is so poor here, but at least we know that's how it is.

[DarrenOC]

The policy states:

If either of the first two situations above occurs, then we will use our best efforts to provide the customer with a workable solution for upgrading from the legacy hardware and, failing that, will credit the value of any remaining license time attributable to the legacy hardware to the customer’s Dashboard organization on a prorated basis.

So a credit IS possible.

[GreenMan]

As Darren mentioned - talk to your Meraki AM.  If you're in PDL there may be no direct mechanism to convert a license to one for the replacement MX model, but there are other steps that account teams can take, to reflect any remaining license value - just make sure you have the conversation before you order the replacements.

[MarcAEC]

I had already been in contact with the AM before my first post here.  Things started out with me asking for a multi-year renewal quote.  I supplied an inventory and then a Zoom meeting was scheduled to discuss the quote. 

It wasn't the AM that brought up the MX100 EOST.  It was someone from my team.  I stupidly responded  "I'm sure Meraki handles this situation reasonably.  The excess is probably transferable.  But, let's bring this up in the meeting to confirm."

The meeting started with the AM producing a quote that would take the MX100 over a year past EOST, but no mention of EOST.  Then we asked about EOST and the AM didn't have an answer for us.  He tried to contact his SE, but the SE didn't respond.  He followed up later via email stating that we would just lose the balance of the license.  That's when I posted here because that policy seemed ludicrous.

The AM did eventually find a solution to our satisfaction.  But I am sad and puzzled that Cisco Meraki's position on this is to screw the customer.  I'm not suggesting that if someone has 8 months left on an MX100 that they should allow a customer to transfer 8 months to an MX250.  But a weighted transfer based on list price difference would be fair and reasonable.  They already have those weights calculated for co-term licensing.  It's puzzling that they won't do the same thing for per-device licensing.

If my team member had not brought this up, we wouldn't have asked, the AM wouldn't have brought it up, and there would have been a very bitter conversation in 2026 or 2027 when we would find that we were sold a license not worth what we thought it was.  I avoided that.  But I bet there will be a lot of unnecessary drama from customers that don't.

[ww]

Yes you need co term to transfer from mx100 to mx95 lic

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Co-Termination_Licensing_Ov...

Maybe you could put it in a new co term org