PA-850 for a home lab

[Packet_man]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a PA-850 for my home lab but after doing some research I have some concerns.

I was planning on buying an 850 on eBay then getting the lab PAN-PA-850-BND-LAB4 through a VAR but I think I will have issues. Based on the article below and what I've researched, you can't simply convert a previously owned device registered to someone else to a lab device without going through a recertification process. That said, has anyone actually gone through this process of converting PA to a lab device? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/services/support/support-policies/secondary-market-policy

Thank you,

[Ronen]

Hey There,

Something else to consider, even if you get it transferred across (which is doable), you will need to pay for the licensing in retrospect. This is a big risk when buying second hand PAN (and other vendor) hardware. You need to know if it is currently licensed. If it has lapsed, how long has it been for. I have a PA-220 I re-licensed, and had to pay an extra 2 years licensing on it.

Food for thought. Best of luck!

~Ronen

[Packet_man]

I didn't know that. Thank you for sharing. Since that's the case, I'm most likely going to purchase a new one because I don't want to risk getting hit with a massive license fee if the PA hasn't been used in years.