IOS 15.0 upgrade question

[johnnywi43]

I am upgrading the network equipment at my place of employment. We use Cisco C3560, 2960, 4506 and I was noticing that IOS 15.0.x is available. After doing some reading it appears that Cisco is going to a pay for the licensing functionality that you want. Do I need to purchase licenses to upgrade from IOS 12.X to 15.0.x to maintain functionality?

Thanks

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

Do I need to purchase licenses to upgrade from IOS 12.X to 15.0.x to maintain functionality?

You DO NOT need to purchase license if you are not upgrading the Feature Set (IP Base to IP Services, for example).

[johnnywi43]

Thanks for the reply. I just started working for this company and they are running ios versions from several years ago. We do have a cco account but the version they currently have is on the ewa train (basic version) so should I be able to upgrade to sg4 ip based ios without a new license?

Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

You need a CCO login to be able to download software from Cisco.

Your CCO login has to be attached to a valid Service Contract.

[Marvin Rhoads]

Per the agreement you click through to download an updated IOS image, you will only use it on devices for which you have a support contract. Cisco does not currently enforce this agreement in code for most device types, but they have been moving in that direction.

Otherwise you could buy support on only one of a hundred identical devices, download once and install x100. That would be a violation of the license agreement (just like it would be for any licensed software).

Re upgrading - no new license is required as correctly stated earlier but a valid support contract IS required for each device being upgraded.