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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