Q: What is Cisco smart licensing, and what are the advantages of it?

A: Cisco Smart licensing is a streamlined license management system in which all client licenses (for equipment which is smart license supported) are administered via a centralized Cisco smart license cloud portal. This cloud portal keeps an account of what the client has purchased and what they are using. The portal notifies the client in case they go out of compliance. Smart licensing is a Cisco wide enterprise. Comprehensive information concerning smart licensing and the advantages of using smart licensing can be found at http://www.cisco.com/web/ordering/smart-software-licensing/index.html.

This article covers smart licensing only as it is related to Cisco wireless controllers.

Q Do all the Cisco wireless controllers have support for smart licensing? If not, does Cisco plan to have it available on all its wireless controllers in the near future?              

A: No. Smart licensing support is obtainable only on the Cisco 5520 and 8540 Wireless Controllers and the Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller (vWLC) with AireOS Release 8.2 or later. It is also slated for converged access controllers in future 16.x releases. There are no plans to provide support for smart licensing on the other preexisting controllers (the Cisco 2504, 5508, and 8510 Wireless Controllers; the Cisco Flex 7510 Wireless Controller; and the Cisco Wireless Services Module 2 [WiSM2]).     

Q Does the client have to purchase different SKUs to be able to use Cisco smart licensing?

A: No. The client can continue to purchase preexisting SKUs for the 5520 and 8540 and the vWLC.             

Q: How can the client use smart licensing for new licenses purchased and for previously purchased 5520, 8540, and vWLC licenses?

A:

Step 1: In case the client does not already possess a smart account, the client (or partner in case of a partner-administered account) would have to make a smart account for the client’s organization. (You require just one smart account per organization.) The client (or partner) can evaluate the particulars of the smart account creation procedure or register for live training on smart account creation at https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-56985 .

Step 2: After the licenses have been bought, the client must reach out to the Cisco Global Licensing Operations team via email, utilizing the template given below, with correct information to ask for the migration of their vWLC, 5520, and 8540 license privileges to the client’s smart portal. Please remember that this migration can take up to 72 hours. The client must continue utilizing right-to-use (RTU) licensing until the license migration process is done.

Email template:

To: Licensing@cisco.com

Subject: Smart License Migration for Wireless Controllers

Email Text:

Cisco.com ID: #####

Request: Migrate the following wireless controller licenses to smart licensing.

Smart account domain ID (domain in the form of “xyz.com”): #####

* Smart virtual account name: #####

Serial numbers of the devices on which the licenses were purchased (for non-adder licenses): #####

Number of adder licenses and SKUs that were purchased: #####

PO/SO number: #####

* Virtual accounts are subaccounts which a client can make inside their organization’s smart account to virtually separate different objects inside the company. Virtual account creation is elective. More information concerning virtual accounts can be seen in the General Smart Licensing Q&A at: http://www.cisco.com/web/ordering/smart-software-licensing/index.html .

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2. Smart Licensing (Pooling) Versus Cisco ONE Software (Portability)

Q: Is smart licensing linked to Cisco ONE Software?         

A: Cisco’s Smart licensing and Cisco ONE Software are not replacements of each other, instead they act to supplement each other. Cisco ONE Software is an option for how the client sources the licenses. Smart licensing is an option for how the client can enable the licensing. For 5520, 8540 and vWLC access point licensing, sourcing options available to the client are Cisco ONE Software SKUs, bundle SKUs, and a la carte SKUs. Sourcing options govern whether the license will be moveable across wireless controllers or not. For the Cisco 5520, 8540, and vWLC access point licensing, license activation options available to the client include RTU and smart licensing.

Q: What is the key difference amongst old-style node-locked & RTU licensing and the new Cisco smart licensing?

A: The old-style node-locked and RTU licensing is attached to a serial number and exist on the wireless controller, while smart licensing exists on the cloud portal. For smart licensing, the wireless controller reports only the usage statistics (how many access points are attached to it). Since the licensing is not attached to a serial number, they can be pooled across identical product families.

Q: Since smart licensing is attached to a client and not to single devices, does this imply the client will be able to pool all their wireless controllers’ access point licenses and utilize them on any wireless controller?

A: No. Although with Cisco smart licensing, the licenses are not attached to a specific serial number, the smart licensing portal permits wireless access point licensing to be pooled only inside the same wireless controller product families. Amongst the controllers which are smart license empowered, Cisco reflects the 5520 and 8540 to belong to the same product family, and the vWLC to be a detached product family. So access point licensing can be pooled across all 5520 and 8540 controllers. Access point licensing can also be pooled across all vWLCs. Nevertheless, 5520 and 8540 access point licensing cannot be pooled together with vWLC access point licensing.

Q: Why are there distinct product family pools contained in Cisco smart licensing?

A: Note that the client does not need to pay anything further for smart licensing, and it is chiefly intended to ease license administration and monitoring. It is not developed to supply further privileged advantages. Clients wanting to port licensing across all wireless controllers need to think about sourcing Cisco ONE Software licensing.  

Q: How does this pooling work?              

A: All licensing purchased by a client for a specific wireless controller product family are pooled together. A license from this pool will be utilized when an access point connects to a controller which has smart licensing activated and is a member of that product family. As an example, say a client purchases 300 access point licensing for the 5520 and has three 5520 controllers (5520-1, 5520-2, and 5520-3) in the corporate network. If 53 access points are connected to 5520-1, the obtainable licensing pool in the smart portal will go down to 247 (300 – 53). These 247 licenses are obtainable for 5520-2 and 5520-3 to use. If five access points are cut off from 5520-1, 5 licenses will be reverted to the pool and 252 (247 + 5) licenses will be obtainable for 5520-2 and 5520-3 to utilize. If 270 access points are then connected to 5520-2, the client will go out of compliance (utilizing 270 licenses with only 252 accessible) and will be alerted. The network operations, nonetheless, will not stop while the client is out of compliance.               

Q: Does Cisco smart licensing portal differentiate amongst base and adder licensing?   

A: No, the smart licensing portal does not differentiate amongst base and adder licensing.            

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A: Cisco ONE Software licensing support is not obtainable on the smart portal in AireOS Release 8.2.

Q: What are the licenses types supported on different controllers?

		2504	5508	5520	8510	8540	vWLC	WISM2	7500	3650/3850	5760
FAQs
Can I utilize Cisco One AP Licensing which I bought as a part of Cisco One Wireless Suite?		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
How can I activate licensing on this controller?		Node-locked (PAK)	Node-locked (PAK)	RTU or Smart Licensing	RTU	RTU or Smart Licensing	RTU or Smart Licensing	Node-locked (PAK)	RTU	RTU	RTU
Does it provide support for Smart Licensing with a-la-carte licenses I bought?		No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Does it support utilizing the Smart Licensing Portal with the Cisco One license I bought?		No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

3. Licensing Choices and Enforcement: Right-to-Use (RTU) and Smart Licenses                                                  

Q: Does the equipment (wireless controllers) need to be connected directly to the cloud in case the client wants to utilize smart licensing?                                                                                                                               

A: No. Smart licensing permits two key modes of connecting to the smart licensing portal: (1) Data to be sent straight to the cloud by the controller (utilizing HTTPS and HTTPS proxy) and (2) information to be sent to the cloud by the controller through an on-site satellite collector (like the Smart Call Home Transport Gateway which is obtainable as a VM download at no extra cost). Please see the installation guide for more information.  

Q: Is Cisco smart licensing the solitary licensing choice for smart enabled wireless controllers or can the client continue to utilize RTU licenses?             

A: Smart licensing is elective. If the client does not want to utilize smart licensing on controllers activated for smart licensing, the client can continue to use RTU licenses on the 5520, 8540, and vWLC. For further queries concerning RTU licenses, please see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/wireless/flex-7500-series-wirelesscontrollers/qa_c67-713536.html .            

Q: What happens in case the client attempts to connect more access points to the controllers of a specific product family than the quantity of licenses the client has for that controller family?     

A The pooled licensing count will go into negative for that controller model family. The client will be notified that they are out of compliance. The network operations will not be interrupted while the client is making preparations to get back into compliance.   

4. General Smart Licensing Q&A

Q: Is there a complete list available of smart-enabled products?             

A: Most of the Cisco products are already smart enabled. An updated list of Cisco smart-enabled products can be seen at https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-59102 .

Q: Does Cisco supply software for the on-site collector (satellite software) to clients?

A: Yes. For more information, please see http://www.cisco.com/web/ordering/smart-software-manager/smart-software-manager-satellite.html .

Q: Who will be alerted if the client goes out of compliance?

A: The smart account creator (the client or the partner, in the case of partner-administered accounts) can specify who will get notified in case the client goes out of compliance.

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