Cisco License Options Available for the Cisco ISR G2

Temporary licenses are utilized for assessing new abilities or during emergency circumstances. A temporary license permits a feature set to be utilized for 60 days of actual use. When this 60-day period expires, the hardware device will remain in operation as per it’s normal capabilities until the temporary license is renewed. After the renewal, the hardware device will go back to it’s original functionality prior to the temporary license being activated. Only the real time that the temporary license is activated counts towards the 60-day restriction. The Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) is able to supply an extension license for even longer trials or in other situations.

Feature Licenses: Some of the singular features can be activated or deactivated by the license keys. These features check for their licenses prior to activating themselves. A feature license will normally have a precondition before it will operate, like a requirement for a Universal Communication license before a CUBE feature license will work. Some examples of feature licenses include CME, CUBE etc.

Cisco offers two kinds of Feature licenses.

Software Activation Feature Licenses: These are normally upgrades for one or many technology Package Licenses and can be built-in on new routers or upgraded using Cisco Software Activation. These licenses are prescribed via the Cisco Software Licensing framework.

Right to Use Feature Licenses: These licenses are in the mold of the old-fashioned licensing classics and do not employ Cisco Software Activation. They can be ordered at the time that the router is initially purchased or at a later date.

Subscription licenses are time-based licenses that necessitate the user to regularly renew the subscription otherwise the license will expire after the stipulated time period. A couple of examples of Subscription licenses include URL Filtering and Cisco IPS.

Feature licenses may be either uncounted licenses or counted licenses. Uncounted licenses do not have a count and just allow the unlimited feature on the router if enabled. Counted licenses activate a definite number of uses for example CME User Licenses.

To find out more please contact one of our Cisco Licensing Specialists here.

Differences between the Cisco SEC-K9 and HSEC-K9 Licenses

The HSEC-K9 license eliminates the restriction enforced by the U.S. government’s export limitations on the encrypted tunnel count and encrypted throughput. HSEC-K9 is obtainable for the Cisco 2921, Cisco 2951, Cisco 3925, Cisco 3945, Cisco 3925E, and Cisco 3945E. Utilizing the HSEC-K9 license, the ISRG2 router can exceed the limitation limit of 225 tunnels for IP Security (IPsec) and encrypted throughput of 85-Mbps unidirectional traffic in and out of the ISR G2 router, with a bidirectional total of 170 Mbps. The Cisco 1941, 2901, and 2911 already have the maximum encryption volumes within the export restrictions.

The HSEC license and restriction was announced in the Cisco IOS Software Release 15.0(1)M1 and will be imposed on all images subsequent to that release.

Intended to conform with local and U.S. export requirements for worldwide dissemination to all nations, the SEC-K9 license allows standard encryption (VPN payload and secure voice) on the ISR G2 platforms. This license imposes a limitation on the maximum quantity of encrypted tunnels and the maximum encrypted throughput on the ISR G2 platforms. The SEC-K9 license restricts the quantity of concurrent encrypted sessions and maximum encrypted throughput per device. This boundary helps ensure that the ISR G2 conforms with U. S. government export limitations regardless of the end user destination nation.

If you buy a Cisco ISR G2 chassis and subsequently elect to activate the security features, you will have to purchase a SEC-K9 license. The administrator will need to download the license to the router and follow the license installation commands that accompany the license to be able to benefit from the security features on that router.

The SEC-K9 permanent licenses can be applied to the Cisco 1900, 2900, and 3900 ISR G2 platforms; these licenses restrict all encrypted tunnel counts to 225 tunnels maximum for IP Security (IPsec), Secure Sockets Layer VPN (SSL VPN), a secure time-division multiplexing (TDM) gateway, and secure Cisco Unified Border Element (CUBE) and 1000 tunnels for Transport Layer Security (TLS) sessions.

The SEC-K9 license confines encrypted throughput to <= 85-Mbps unidirectional traffic in and out of the ISR G2 router, with a bidirectional total of 170 Mbps. This condition applies for the Cisco 1900, 2900, and 3900 ISR G2 platforms.

All risk protection and VPN structures that are supported on the Cisco ISR G2 routers are functionally accessible for configuration with the SEC-K9. The image that contains this license is the universal-k9 image. As an example, the Cisco IOS release version is c3900-universalk9-mz.SPA.150-1.M1.

To find out more please contact one of our Cisco Licensing Specialists here.