Wireless Access Point Smart Licensing for Cisco 5520, 8540, and Virtual Wireless Controllers
Q&A
Cisco Public
Wireless Access Point
Smart Licensing for Cisco
5520, 8540, and Virtual
Wireless Controllers
1. Overview, Platform Support, and Setup
Q
What is smart licensing, and what are the benefits
of using it?
A
Smart licensing is a simplified license management system in
which all customers’ licenses (for products that are smart license
enabled) are managed through a central Cisco® smart license
cloud portal. The cloud portal maintains an account of what the
customer has bought and what they are using. The portal alerts the
customer if they go out of compliance. Smart licensing is a Cisco
wide initiative. Detailed information regarding smart licensing and
the benefits of using smart licensing can be found at http://www.
cisco.com/web/ordering/smart-software-licensing/index.html. This
Q&A covers smart licensing only as it relates to wireless controllers.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Q
Do all wireless controllers support smart
licensing? If not, are there any plans to have it
available on all wireless controllers?
A
No. Smart licensing support is available 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
planned for converged access controllers in upcoming 16.x
releases. There are no plans to enable smart licensing on other
existing 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 customer need to buy different SKUs to
use smart licensing?
A
No. The customer can continue to buy existing SKUs for the
5520 and 8540 and the vWLC.
1
Wireless Access Point Smart Licensing for Cisco 5520, 8540, and Virtual Wireless Controllers
Q&A
Cisco Public
Q
A
Smart account domain ID (domain in the form of “xyz.com”):
#####
How would the customer use smart licensing for
new license purchases and for already purchased
5520, 8540, and vWLC licenses?
* Smart virtual account name: #####
Serial numbers of the devices on which the licenses were
purchased (for non-adder licenses): #####
Step 1: If the customer does not already have a smart account,
the customer (or partner for a partner-managed
account) would need to create a smart account for
the customer’s company. (You need only one smart
account per company.) The customer (or partner)
can review the details of the smart account creation
process or register for live training on smart account
creation at https://communities.cisco.com/docs/
DOC-56985.
Number of adder licenses and SKUs that were purchased:
#####
PO/SO number: #####
* Virtual accounts are subaccounts that a customer can create
inside their company’s smart account to virtually separate
different entities within organization. Virtual account creation
is optional. More information regarding virtual accounts can be
found in the General Smart Licensing Q&A at: http://www.cisco.
com/web/ordering/smart-software-licensing/index.html.
Step 2: After the licenses have been purchased, the customer
should contact the Cisco Global Licensing Operations
team by email, using the template below, with
appropriate information to request the migration of their
vWLC, 5520, and 8540 license entitlements to the
customer’s smart portal. Note that this migration may
take up to 72 hours. The customer should continue
using right-to-use (RTU) licensing until the license
migration is complete.
Email template:
To: [email protected]
Subject: Smart License Migration for Wireless Controllers
Email Text:
Cisco.com ID: #####
Request: Migrate the following wireless controller licenses to
smart licensing.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Step 3: Enable smart licensing on smart-enabled wireless
controllers (refer to the deployment guide for details).
By default, the 5520, 8540, and vWLC will continue to
enable RTU licensing.
2. Smart Licensing (Pooling) vs. Cisco ONE Software (Portability)
Q
Is smart licensing related to Cisco ONE™
Software?
A
Smart licensing and Cisco ONE Software are not substitutes
but complements to each other. Cisco ONE Software is a
choice about how the customer procures the licenses. Smart
licensing is a choice about how the customer enables the
licenses. For 5520, 8540 and vWLC access point licenses,
procurement choices available to the customer include
Cisco ONE Software SKUs, bundle SKUs, and a la carte
SKUs. Procurement choice determines whether the license is
portable across wireless controllers or not. For the 5520, 8540,
and vWLC access point licenses, license enablement choices
available to the customer include RTU and smart licensing.
2
Wireless Access Point Smart Licensing for Cisco 5520, 8540, and Virtual Wireless Controllers
Q&A
Cisco Public
Q
What is the main difference between traditional
node-locked and RTU licenses and the new
smart licensing?
A
The traditional node-locked and RTU licenses are tied to a serial
number and reside on the wireless controller, while smart licenses
reside on the cloud portal. For smart licensing, the wireless
controller reports only the usage (how many access points are
connected to it). Since the licenses are not tied to a serial number,
they can be pooled across the same product families.
Q
Since smart licenses are tied to a customer and
not to individual devices, does this mean the
customer will be able to pool all their wireless
controllers’ access point licenses and use them
on any wireless controller?
A
No. Although with smart licensing, the licenses are not tied
to a particular serial number, the smart licensing portal allows
wireless access point licenses to be pooled only within
the same wireless controller product families. Among the
controllers that are smart license enabled, Cisco considers
the 5520 and 8540 to belong to the same product family, and
the vWLC to be a separate product family. So access point
licenses can be pooled across all 5520 and 8540 controllers.
Access point licenses can also be pooled across all vWLCs.
However, 5520 and 8540 access point licenses cannot be
pooled together with vWLC access point licenses.
Q
Why are there separate product family pools
within smart licensing?
A
Note that the customer does not have to pay anything extra
for smart licensing, and it is primarily meant to ease license
management and monitoring. It is not designed to provide
extra entitlement benefits. Customers wishing to port licenses
across all wireless controllers should look at procuring Cisco
ONE Software licenses.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Q
A
How does the pooling work?
All licenses bought by a customer for a particular wireless
controller product family are pooled together. A license from
the pool will be used when an access point connects to a
controller that has smart licensing enabled and belongs to that
product family. For example, say a customer buys 300 access
point licenses for the 5520 and has three 5520 controllers
(5520-1, 5520-2, and 5520-3) in the network. If 53 access
points are connected to 5520-1, the available license pool in
the smart portal will go down to 247 (300 – 53). These 247
licenses are available for 5520-2 and 5520-3 to use. If 5
access points are disconnected from 5520-1, 5 licenses will
be returned to the pool and 252 (247 + 5) licenses will be
available for 5520-2 and 5520-3 to use. If 270 access points
are then connected to 5520-2, the customer will go out of
compliance (using 270 licenses with only 252 available) and
will be notified. The network operations, however, will not stall
while the customer is out of compliance.
Q
Does the smart licensing portal distinguish
between base and adder licenses?
A
No, the smart licensing portal does not distinguish between
base and adder licenses.
Q
Does the smart portal support the use of Cisco
ONE access point licenses that the customer gets
as part of the Cisco ONE Software suite?
A
Cisco ONE Software license support is not available on the
smart portal in AireOS Release 8.2.
3
Wireless Access Point Smart Licensing for Cisco 5520, 8540, and Virtual Wireless Controllers
Q&A
Cisco Public
Q
What are the licenses types supported on different controllers?
FAQ
2504
5508
5520
8510
8540
vWLC
WISM2
7500
3650/3850
5760
Can I use Cisco
One AP License
that I purchased as
part of Cisco One
Wireless Suite?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
How do I enable
licenses on this
controller?
Nodelocked
(PAK)
Nodelocked
(PAK)
RTU or
Smart
Licensing
RTU
RTU or
Smart
Licensing
RTU or
Smart
Licensing
Nodelocked
(PAK)
RTU
RTU
RTU
Does it support
Smart Licensing
with a-lacarte license I
purchased?
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Does it support
using the Smart
Licensing Portal
with the Cisco
One license I
purchased?
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
3. License Options and Enforcement: Right-to-Use (RTU) and Smart Licensing
Q
Do the devices (wireless controllers) have to be connected directly to the cloud if the customer wants to use
smart licensing?
A
No. Smart licensing allows two main modes of connecting to the smart licensing portal: (1) Data to be sent directly to the cloud by the
controller (using HTTPS and HTTPS proxy) and (2) data to be sent to the cloud by the controller via an on-premises satellite collector (such as
the Smart Call Home Transport Gateway that is available as a VM download at no cost). Please refer to the deployment guide for more details.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
4
Wireless Access Point Smart Licensing for Cisco 5520, 8540, and Virtual Wireless Controllers
Q&A
Cisco Public
Q
Is smart licensing the only licensing option for
smart enabled wireless controllers or can the
customer continue to use RTU licensing?
A
Smart licensing is optional. If the customer does not wish to
use smart licensing on controllers enabled for smart licensing,
the customer can continue to use RTU licensing on the 5520,
8540, and vWLC. For additional questions regarding RTU
licensing, refer to http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/
collateral/wireless/flex-7500-series-wireless-controllers/
qa_c67-713536.html.
Q
What will happen if the customer tries to
connect more access points to the controllers
of a particular product family than the number
of licenses the customer has for that controller
family?
A
The pooled license count will go negative for that controller
model family. The customer will get a notification that they are
out of compliance. The network operation will not be disrupted
while the customer makes arrangements to get back into
compliance.
Q
Who will be notified if the customer goes out of
compliance?
A
The smart account creator (the customer or the partner, in the
case of partner-managed accounts) can set who gets notified
when the customer goes out of compliance.
4. General Smart Licensing Q&A
Q
A
Is there a full list of smart-enabled products?
Q
Will Cisco provide software for the on-premises
collector (satellite software) to customers?
A
Yes. For details, go to http://www.cisco.com/web/ordering/
smart-software-manager/smart-software-manager-satellite.
html.
Many Cisco products are already smart enabled. An updated
list of Cisco smart-enabled products can be found at
https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-59102.
© 2016 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks,
go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco
and any other company. (1110R)
C67-736416-01 08/16