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Comment by kingosticks | Hacker News Reader

Maybe I'm naive but I'm surprised to learn there is much of a 2nd hand market for 9000 series -class network hardware. I would have assumed that the huge complexity in managing a device like that without cisco support, alongside the difficulty in sourcing replacement parts for an EOL system built around redundancy, would make it very unattractive compared to a newer mid-range alternative. Are people really using unsupported hardware like this in their network?!

Disclaimer: I work for Nokia, we also make big switches, I believe we have a similar licensing model for certain products.

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I don't know which particular "9000 series" you're referring to, but C9K (which the article refers to) isn't EOL. It should be straightforward to get parts for these, via multiple channels.

The deployment model for grey market bit is usually on networks that run on cheap models. They'll do things like buy one of the devices through white channel market and get SW access. Then, they'll turn around and buy a bunch more grey channel devices and use the SW access to upgrade, etc. As long as the device can handle the PPS and bitrates needed, its good enough for these networks. If it dies, buy another one and let it hang until it gets replaced. There are plenty of networks that just don't care about the operational issues.. and they love to keep cisco because of talent pipeline and training ecosystem.

Anyway, running equipment without vendor support is fine. If its a config issue, the docs are okay. If it is a bug, 9 times out of 10 TAC throws a random bug ID and tells you to upgrade. Naturally, It becomes an issue more when you run on the periphery of what is supported.

The article talks about selling on hardware even once it's declared end of life and the article also gave the 9000 series as an example of hardware that requires a license. I assumed there was something similar going on already with the 9000's predecessor (the 8000?). I didn't mean to imply that the 9000 is already eol.

It must be hell for these guys when they hit a show-stopper in old sw and they have no access to the fixed sw for their old hw.

It's sad that used goods are considered a "grey market" and not a fully legitimate market like selling any used goods should be.

There are large parts of the world where engineers are cheaper than hardware.

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