EOS/EOL Devices - When do the stop working?

[TonySmith]

Hi,

Is there a general rule for EOS devices, for how long they are permitted to continue working?  I believe from what's been posted here that they do not stop working at their EOL date, and indeed renewal licensing can possibly be purchased after that date.

However I don't think I've seen this explicitly stated in a Meraki document.  Nor have I seen any indication of the final dates at which EOL devices would no longer register with the dashboard or in some other way become unusable.

Any information would be welcome,

Thanks, Tony S

[DarrenOC]

Hi @TonySmith , my understanding is that even if the device is End of Life it will continue to work.  Meraki will however cease development of that device and the features it supports. If it breaks, I believe Meraki will ship out the latest equivalent just as long as you have a valid license.

[Russ_B]

I agree with @DarrenOC that the devices will continue to function even after the end of support date.  The End of Life policy (Cisco Meraki Customer Support & Documentation) says that EOL products can typically connect to the cloud after the EOL date, but that's not guaranteed indefinitely.

I would not expect Meraki to replace an EOL device that fails, though.  The Returns, Warranties and EOL page (Returns (RMAs), Warranties and End-of-Life Information - Cisco Meraki) has a footnote about the Lifetime Warranty that says "Product lifetime ends concurrently with product End-of-Support (EOST) Date as described in Cisco Meraki's End of Life (EOL) Policy."

I do know that if a device past the End of Sale date fails, Meraki will typically replace it with a current equivalent device.  I've had a few MS220 switches fail and have received MS120 equivalents as replacements.

Russ

[GreenMan]

There's one exception to this rule, that I'm aware of and it relates just to the original virtual MX 'devices'  (VMX100 in Azure, AWS etc.)

The licences for these are, in effect, also the devices - and you can no longer buy them (they are End of Sale, replaced by more capable and flexible VMX-S/M/L).   When your co-termination date arrives, therefore, you cannot include them in a Dashboard renewal.   If you do just renew - even if you include (say) a VMX-M (functionally equivalent, scale-wise, to VMX100) - your Dashboard will show:    VMX100   License limit 0   Current device count 1 (or more) and you will be non-compliant, licensing-wise - and thus, into your 30-day grace period.

If you have VMX100s, you need to plan to deploy new VMXs (small, medium or large, cloud-platform dependent) and a migration of remote peers from one to the other, in advance of your co-term renewal.