Ah, quite right. It's the RSP2 that EOLd, but of course the RSP4/8/16 can be used in the 7500, so the chassis continues to be supported. Good news in this customer's case, though actually, they do have an RSP2, so are still somewhat affected. RSP2 went away as of 16 Feb 2003, as per http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/rt/7500/prodlit/1866_pp.htm. Ray On Mon, Sep 15, 2003 at 02:33:28PM -0500, Austad, Jay wrote:
I couldn't find anything that said the 7500 is end-of-life/support/etc...
-jay
-----Original Message----- From: Ray Wong [mailto:rayw@rayw.net] Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 2:07 PM To: nanog@merit.edu Subject: list thoughts on "unsupported" hardware?
I realize this isn't arguing about Windows patch mechanisms, but recently realized I've never answered this issue to my own satisfaction... How long do we keep upgrading and using network hardware once it's fallen off the support lists? The Cisco 7500 finally went off back in Feb of this year, as I recall. 3rd party upgrades, and used parts, are still readily available.
(Actually, does anyone have suggestions on vendors for said upgrades and parts? I've noticed a lot more discounting than in the past, but usually from vendors I have no experience with).
A client I've recently taken on happens to be relying on a 7500 for their border. In reality, their current use could fit on a 2621/2650, though they have been much larger in the past (there's a small pile of DS3 cards sitting on the shelf). They're still relying on a single provider for connectivity, etc.
So, does anyone have any thoughts on how long we should be letting our poorer customers/employers live with products that are officially off the support lists? Clearly there will be (i.e. IOS) image support for quite some time. Is keeping (tested) spares around sufficient to justify actually spending some money to fit the newer/larger images? Newer/still current hardware seems much more a no-brainer, but advocating spending a thousand bucks to avoid spending 5x that on a more current fire-sale item is a little less clear, to me.
--
Ray Wong rayw@rayw.net
-- Ray Wong rayw@rayw.net