Cisco routers and switches are built to run for a long time, often well past the warranty and the first support contract. So when the renewal notice for the manufacturer’s support package arrives, the real question isn’t “do we renew?” It’s “what does this equipment still need, and who is best placed to provide it?”
01
Know which date actually matters
Cisco publishes end-of-life announcements for its products, and each one lists a series of milestones. Three of them matter most to a small business:
- End of Sale. You can no longer buy that model new from Cisco. Your existing units keep working exactly as before.
- End of software maintenance and security fixes. After these dates Cisco stops releasing bug fixes and, later, security patches for the software that runs on the device. This is the milestone to plan around for anything facing the internet.
- Last Date of Support. After this, Cisco provides no support of any kind for that product.
Look up your exact models. The dates are often years apart, and a router that is past End of Sale can still have years of security fixes ahead of it.
02
Your three options
- Renew the manufacturer’s package. It makes sense for gear that is critical, recent and still receiving software updates, especially if you rely on Cisco’s own engineers for complex faults.
- Move to third-party support. A provider that manages your whole network can often resolve issues faster than device-by-device support, because they see how the router, switches, firewall and phones interact. They can also cover equipment the manufacturer no longer supports.
- Plan a replacement. If a device is past its last security fix and sits at the edge of your network, replacing it is usually the responsible choice, whoever supports it.
Most small offices end up with a mix: replace the internet-facing router when its security support ends, and keep the internal switches running under third-party support.
03
Do these four things this week
- Make an inventory. Model, serial number and software version for every router and switch.
show inventoryandshow versiongive you all three. - Back up the configurations. Store a copy of each running configuration somewhere that is not the device itself. A failed unit with no saved configuration turns a one-hour swap into a long day.
- Check each model against Cisco’s end-of-life notices. Write the security-support date next to each line of your inventory.
- Decide what a failure would cost. A dead core switch on a Monday morning is a different problem from a spare access point. Put your spending where an outage hurts most.
04
Where we fit in
We support Cisco routers and switches after the warranty, and we manage the complete network rather than one device. If you’d like a second opinion on your renewal notice, see our Cisco support or book a free 15-minute call below.