Cisco Smart
Software Licensing is a new way of thinking about licensing. It adds
flexibility to your licensing and simplifies it across the enterprise. It also
delivers visibility into your license ownership and consumption.
Cisco Smart Software Licensing helps you to procure, deploy, and manage licenses easily where devices self-register and report
license consumption, removing the need for product activation keys (PAK). It pools license entitlements in a single account
and allows you to move licenses between entities, represented by Virtual Accounts, within your company It is enabled across
Cisco products and managed by a direct cloud-based model (Cisco Smart Software Manager) or a mediated deployment model (Smart Software Manager satellite).
This service
registers the product instance, reports license usage, and obtains the
necessary authorization from Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart
Software Manager satellite.
You can use Cisco
Smart Licensing to:
-
Register with
Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite
-
See the
license usage and count
-
See the
product licenses available on Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart
Software Manager satellite
-
Renew License
Authorization with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager
satellite
-
Renew the
License Registration
-
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning supports multiple types of licenses and one license is required for each feature type. You need a feature license to enable
each of the following available features:
Table 2. Available
Feature Licenses
Features
|
Advanced
Features
|
Assign
Admin to Domain
|
CUM/VC or
CUE
|
IM&P
Servers
|
Max End
Points
|
Access to
API
|
Max Admin
Login at a Time
|
Access to
prebuilt configuration template
|
Unified Communications Manager clusters or CMEs
|
User IDs
in data base
|
Access to
order management
|
Lines, EM
Lines, and RDP Lines
|
Cisco Smart Software
Manager
Cisco Smart
Software Manager is hosted on
software.cisco.com,
allowing product instances to register and report license consumption to it.
You can use
Cisco Smart Software Manager to:
-
Manage and
track licenses
-
Move
licenses across virtual account
-
Remove
registered product instance
For more
information about Cisco Smart Software Manager, see
https://software.cisco.com/.
Cisco Smart
Software Manager satellite
Cisco Smart
Software Manager satellite is a component of Cisco Smart Licensing that manages
product registrations and monitoring of smart license usage for Cisco products.
If you do not want to manage Cisco products directly using Cisco Smart Software
Manager, either for policy or network availability reasons, you can choose to
install Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite on-premises. Products register
and report license consumption to the Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite as
it does on Cisco Smart Software Manager.
For more
information about Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite, see
http://www.cisco.com/web/ordering/smart-software-manager/smart-software-manager-satellite.html.
Product Instance
Evaluation Mode
After installation and before registration, Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning runs under the 90-day evaluation period. During this period, you can use all features in this product. Register Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite to report the license usage to Cisco and obtain
the necessary authorization for entitlement usage. After the evaluation period expires, some features like adding devices,
endpoints, users, RBAC, and self-care will stop working until you register with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart
Software Manager satellite.
Note |
Evaluation period is before the product is registered.
|
License Usage
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning uses multiple types of licenses and one license is required for each feature type. You need one feature license to enable
each of the following available features:
Table 3. Available
Feature Licenses
Features
|
Advanced
Features
|
Assign
Admin to Domain
|
CUM/VC
or CUE
|
IM&P
Servers
|
Max End
Points
|
Access
to API
|
Max
Admin Login at a Time
|
Access
to prebuilt configuration template
|
Unified Communications Manager clusters or CMEs
|
User IDs
in data base
|
Access
to order management
|
Lines,
EM Lines, and RDP Lines
|
The License Manager page shows information on Cisco Prime Collaboration feature license requirements, as reported to the Cisco
Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. The License Manager page is updated daily when Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning communicates with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
License Compliance
When first installed, the Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning is fully operational in evaluation mode for 90 days until it has successfully registered with Cisco Smart Software Manager
or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. Once purchased, the new licenses are deposited to a virtual account off the customer
Smart Account on Cisco Smart Software Manager. If PCP is connected to Cisco Smart Software Manager, the purchased license
are reflected on Cisco SSM satellite via a synchronization process between the satellite and Cisco SSM.
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning reports the total license usage to the Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. The Cisco
Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite totals the license requirements for all connected Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning product instances and compares this total license requirement to the total available installed licenses. The Cisco Smart
Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite then reports the status back to the product instance as Authorized
or as Out of Compliance. CSSM and SSM satellite also show on its portal the Authorized or Out-Of-Compliance (OOC) status.
Out-Of-Compliance occurs when the number of licenses are insufficient.
Authorization Expired occurs when the product has not communicated with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software
Manager satellite for 90 continuous days. In this state, Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning allows you to run in Authorization Expired state for another 90 more days. After which all the 14 features of Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning stop working.
System
Licensing Prerequisites
Complete the
steps to set up Smart and Virtual accounts. For more information about this
process, see
https://software.cisco.com/.
Smart
Software Licensing Task Flow
The following is the Smart Software Licensing Task Flow:
-
Obtain the Product Instance Registration Token: Use this procedure to generate a product instance registration token for your
virtual account.
-
Configure Transport Settings: Perform this step to select transport settings through which Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning can connect to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. Direct option is selected by default
where the product communicates directly with Cisco Smart Software Manager.
-
Register with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite: Perform this step to register Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
Obtain the Product
Instance Registration Token
Before you Begin
Obtain the
product instance registration token from Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco
Smart Software Manager satellite to register the product instance. Tokens can
be generated with or without the Export-Controlled functionality feature being
enabled.
The following is the procedure to obtain the Product Instance Registration Token:
-
Log in to your Smart Account in either Cisco Smart Software Manager or your Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
-
Navigate to the virtual account with which you want to register the Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning cluster.
-
Generate a "Product Instance Registration Token".
Note |
Select the Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box to turn on the Export-Controlled functionality for tokens of a product
instance you wish in this smart account. By checking this check box and accepting the terms, you enable higher levels of the
product encryption for products registered with this Registration Token. By default, this check box is selected. You can uncheck
this check box if you wish not to allow the Export-Controlled functionality to be made available for use with this token.
|
Note |
Use this option only if you are compliant with the Export-Controlled functionality.
|
Note |
The Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box is not displayed for the Smart Accounts that are not permitted
to use the Export-Controlled functionality.
|
-
Copy the token or save it to another location.
For more
information, see
https://software.cisco.com/.
Configure
Transport Settings
Use this procedure to select transport settings through which Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning can connect to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
Before You Begin
Obtain the
Product Instance Registration Token
The following is
the procedure to configure transport settings:
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration > License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the
Smart Software Licensing section, click the
View/Edit link. The Transport Settings dialog box appears.
-
Select one of the following radio buttons:
-
Direct—Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning sends usage information directly over the internet. No additional components are needed. This is the default setting.
-
Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite—Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning sends usage information to an on-premise Cisco Smart Software Manager. Periodically, an exchange of information is performed
to keep the databases in synchronization. Enter the details in the URL text box.
For more information on installation or configuration of the Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite, go to this URL: www.cisco.com/go/smartsatellite.
-
Proxy Server—Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning sends license usage information to Cisco Smart Software Manager through a proxy server which can be an off-the-shelf proxy
such as Cisco Transport Gateway or Apache. The customer would need to install this on their premises and configure the details
in the following fields:
-
Host Name/IP Address
-
Port
Note |
If you choose to use direct connection, then you must configure Domain Name System (DNS) on Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning that can resolve tools.cisco.com.
|
Note |
If you choose not to use the DNS server in your deployment and not connect to the Internet, then you can select the Cisco
Smart Software Manager satellite with manual synchronization in disconnected mode.
|
-
Click
Save.
Register
with Cisco Smart Software Manager
Use this
procedure to register your product with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco
Smart Software Manager satellite. Your product is in Evaluation Mode until
then.
Before You Begin
Configure
Transport Settings
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration> License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Register button. The Smart Software Licensing Product Registration window appears.
-
In the Product Instance Registration Token section, paste the copied or saved "Registration Token Key" that you generated
using the Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
-
Click Register to complete the registration process.
-
Click Close.
Note |
License Usage information is updated once every 24 hours automatically.
|
Smart
Software Licensing Additional Operations
The available
Smart Software Licensing additional operations are:
-
Renew Authorization: Renew Authorization is performed automatically every 30 days by Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning; however, the user can manually do this step to renew the License Authorization Status for all the licenses listed under
License Type.
-
Renew Registration: Registration renewal is automatically performed by Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning every 6 months. However, the user can perform this step manually to renew the ID certificate that has been assigned to Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning.
-
Deregister:
Perform this step to disconnect the Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning cluster from Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. The product reverts to evaluation mode
as long as the evaluation period is not expired. All license entitlements used for the product are immediately released back
to the virtual account and are available for other product instances to use.
-
Reregister
License with Cisco Smart Software Manager:
Perform this step to reregister (register with force) Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. Reregistration means register with force and
this option is used when a product needs to be registered without deregistration first. This could be due to an error condition
making the deregistration before registration not possible.
Note |
Product may migrate to a different virtual account by reregistering with token from a new virtual account.
|
Renew
Authorization
Use this
procedure to manually renew the License Authorization Status for all the
licenses listed under the License Type.
Note |
The authorization renew expires after 90 days if Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning is not connected to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Smart Software Manager satellite. You have an additional 90-day grace
period after the authorization expires, before some of the functionalities like adding devices, endpoints, users, RBAC, and
self-care are affected. The authorization renew is automatically renewed every 30 days.
|
Before You Begin
The product
should be registered with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software
Manager satellite.
The following is the procedure to renew authorization:
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration > License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Actions drop—down list box.
-
Choose Renew Registration Now. The Renew Registration window appears.
-
Click Ok.
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning sends a request to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite to check the "License Authorization
Status" and Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite reports back the status to Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning.
Note |
License Usage information is updated once every 24 hours automatically.
|
Renew
Registration
During product registration to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite, there is a security
association used to identify the product and is anchored by the registration certificate, which has a lifetime of one year
(that is, registration period). This is different from the registration token ID expiration, which has the time limit for
the token to be active. This registration period is automatically renewed every 6 months. However, if there is an issue, you
can manually renew this registration period.
Note |
The initial registration is valid for one year. Renewal of registration is automatically done every six months provided the
product is connected to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
|
Before You Begin
The product
should be registered with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software
Manager satellite.
The following is the procedure to renew registration:
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration> License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Actions drop—down list.
-
Choose Renew Registration Now. The Renew Registration window appears.
-
Click Ok.
Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning sends a request to Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite to check the "Registration Status"
and Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite reports back the status to Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning.
Note |
License Usage information is updated once every 24 hours automatically.
|
Deregister
Use this procedure to unregister from Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite and release all
the licenses from the current virtual account. This procedure also disconnects Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning cluster from Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite. All license entitlements used for the
product are released back to the virtual account and is available for other product instances to use.
Before You Begin
The product
should be registered with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software
Manager satellite.
The following is the procedure to deregister:
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration > License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Actions drop—down list box.
-
Choose Deregister. The Deregister window appears.
-
Click Ok.
Note |
License Usage information is updated once every 24 hours automatically.
|
Reregister
License with Cisco Smart Software Manager
Use this procedure to reregister (register force) Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning with Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
Before You Begin
Obtain the
Product Instance Registration Token
The following is the procedure to reregister a license:
-
From Cisco Prime Collaboration Provisioning GUI, choose Administration > License Management. The License Manager window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Register button. The Registration window appears.
-
From the Smart Software Licensing section, click the Actions drop—down list box.
-
Choose Reregister. The Smart Software Licensing Product Re-registration window appears.
-
In the Product Instance Registration Token section, paste the copied or saved "Registration Token Key" that you generated
using the Cisco Smart Software Manager or Cisco Smart Software Manager satellite.
-
Click Register to complete the registration process.
-
Click Close.
Note |
License Usage information is updated once every 24 hours automatically.
|