Subscriptions overview

Subscriptions provide entitlements that bind devices such as Cisco 6000 series switches within an organization’s fabrics. Subscriptions are required to use Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric.

Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric subscriptions come with embedded support contracts. Subscriptions allow entitled device owners to access Cisco Technical Support for software and hardware related issues.

Ordering and claiming subscriptions

After purchasing a subscription, you will receive an email with the subscription key or subscription ID. The email is sent to the mandatory email contact details provided in the Bill To section of your order.

The subscription ID is a single-use key, and you must use it within 30 days of the order start date. For more information on purchasing new subscriptions, see Subscription support.

Claim, manage, and use subscriptions

Follow these steps to claim, manage and use subscriptions for your organization through Subscriptions tab in the Hyperfabric UI.

Step 1

Select subscriptions in the left pane of the Hyperfabric GUI.

Step 2

Select Management and click Add subscription.

Step 3

In the Add subscription dialog, add the subscription IDs and click Claim.

When you order a subscription, an email is sent to the contact details provided in the Bill To section of the order.

The email contains information about

  • subscription ID for your organization

  • steps on how to claim a subscription

The claimed subscription is added to the Management tab.

For each subscription that you have claimed, you can view the following information.

  • subscription ID

  • product ID: the hardware product ID

  • quantity: the number of subscriptions available for that subscription ID

  • description: description of the subscription level

  • valid from: the date from which the subscription is valid

  • valid to: the date the subscription expires

Step 4

To unclaim a subscription ID, add the subscription ID in the Management tab and select unclaim.

Step 5

Select the Usage tab to view how the subscriptions are used by your organization.

The Usage tab displays the following information.

  • subscription level

  • available balance: number of subscriptions that are not yet allocated

  • allocated to: number of subscriptions that are allocated to a subscription level

  • fabric: name of the fabric to which the subscriptions are allocated

  • compliance: indicates whether the fabric is compliant or non-compliant

  • device model: the hardware PIDs

  • total devices bound: number of devices bound to the fabric

  • entitlements allocated: number of entitlements allocated to a device

  • compliance: indicates whether the device is compliant or non-compliant

Entitlements overview

Subscriptions contains entitlements that bind devices, such as the Cisco 6000 series switches, to fabrics within an organization.

Entitlements are grants that allow devices to be used in a fabric. When a device is bound to a fabric, an entitlement is allocated to that fabric from a pool of entitlements granted by the subscriptions claimed by the organization.

The subscription entitlement levels are

  • Essentials

To maintain compliance, the entitlement level of all devices must be equal to or higher than the entitlement level of the fabric that these devices are bound to. For more information on fabric compliance, see How compliance works.

Fabric entitlement and compliance

A fabric is compliant when the number of devices bound to the fabric does not exceed the entitled amount available for that model and entitlement level. You may bind a device to a fabric using an entitlement of the same level or higher than the fabric it is being bound to.

An organization is non-compliant if one or more fabrics are non-compliant.

Subscription guidelines

These guidelines apply to subscriptions.

  • A valid Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric entitlement is required for every Cisco 6000 series switch that is bound to a network fabric.

  • A network fabric must have sufficient device subscription entitlements with the same entitlement level or higher.

  • A subscription can grant any number of entitlements to use a given device model at a given level of service.

  • Subscriptions are claimed at the organizational level.

  • Collectively, subscriptions grant pools of entitlements grouped by device model and service level.

  • Each time a device of a given model is bound to a fabric of an entitlement level, an entitlement of that device model and entitlement level gets consumed from the pool of entitlements.

  • Organizations can manage multiple fabrics of different entitlement levels.

  • You can renew subscriptions.

Modifying subscriptions

You can modify your existing subscriptions by using these types of subscription modifications.

  • Entitlement term or period: Increase the term of your existing subscription.

  • Entitlement level: Change the level of service of the entitlements granted by this subscription. Entitles devices to be applied to fabrics of this level or lower.

  • Entitlement quantity: Increase the number of entitlements available for use in your organization.

All modifications to existing entitlement subscriptions must be done with the help of a Cisco Reseller. To locate a reseller or partner, see Subscription support.

Modifying the subscription term

You can extend existing subscription terms; however, decreasing a subscription term is not supported.

Existing subscription terms may be extended

  • At the time of renewal. For more information, see Renewing subscriptions.

  • With the purchase of a co-term extension, prior to the time of renewal.

Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric term extensions may be co-terminated with other subscriptions. If you opt for co-term, all subscriptions will co-terminate at the same time. Co-termination means that for any given organization, regardless of how many subscriptions were applied or when they were applied, the subscription expiration date will be the same. Co-termination simplifies the renewal process; it may be an opportunity to consolidate all expiring subscriptions into a single renewal order.

Modifying subscription levels

You can modify the existing entitlement level. To upgrade the entitlement level,

  • modify an existing subscription with a co-term upgrade,

  • create a new subscription with a co-term upgrade, or

  • create a new subscription without a co-term upgrade.

Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric supports multiple concurrent subscriptions.

Downgrading an entitlement level is not supported; if a lower entitlement level is required, you can order a new subscription with a lower entitlement level at the end of the existing subscription term.

Modifying the subscription quantity

When the subscription period ends, you can choose to renew the subscription with same or different quantity of entitlements.

You can add additional subscriptions any time by

  • modifying an existing subscription with a co-term quantity add-on,

  • creating a new subscription with a co-term end date, or

  • creating an add-on subscription without co-term.

Renewing subscriptions

To maintain compliance of your organization’s fabrics, you must renew the existing subscription when it is nearing the end of the term.

The two types of renewal orders are auto renewal and manual renewal.

This table describes the subscription renewal periods that are available for Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric.

Subscription period in months

Entitlement level

Default period

Initial permitted period with co-term

Auto renewal*

Manual renewal with co-term

Essentials

36

12 to 60

12

12 to 60

* Auto renewal of subscriptions is optional.

Auto renewal of subscriptions

If your reseller has selected Auto Renew for your subscriptions, auto renewal is triggered at the end-of-term of an existing subscription.

Partners can activate the auto renewal option for your subscription at any point during its term, provided it is enabled at least 30 days before the subscription expires. Upon renewal, the Subscription ID is unchanged, and no claim actions are necessary.

The renewal takes effect automatically the day after your current subscription ends. Your subscription is extended by a period of one year. All aspects of your subscription, including payment terms, stock keeping units (SKUs), and feature sets, will continue unchanged. If your reseller or partner has already set up the auto renewal, no further action is required from your side.

 Note

If your subscription expires, it is critical to act within the 30-day grace period. During this time, only manual renewal of subscriptions is supported.

Manual renewal of subscriptions

At the end of the subscription period, you can renew your subscription manually, either using the existing subscription ID or using a new subscription ID. You must manually renew your subscriptions if your reseller or partner has not opted for the Auto Renew option.

Renewal with the existing subscription ID

From the date of expiry, you have 30 days to renew the subscription. If the renewal order is incomplete, the subscription is moved to a suspended state for 30 days. If the order is not complete at the end of 60 days, the subscription ID is removed from the available pool of subscriptions.

Renewal with a new subscription ID

You can manually renew subscriptions using a new manual order that triggers a new subscription ID activation email. The details of the subscription ID are emailed to the customer details provided in the Bill To section of the order. The subscription ID is a single-use key that you must use within 30 days of receipt. If you fail to activate the ID within the 30 days, open a Cisco support case.

Canceling subscriptions

Subscriptions can be canceled

  • if a subscription expires and you do not renew it, or

  • if you prematurely terminate the subscription agreement.

A canceled subscription is automatically removed from the pool of subscription IDs within the organization after 30 days. A canceled subscription can result in a network fabric being in a non-compliant state, if the number of subscriptions within the organization is insufficient.

Transferring subscriptions

For information about Cisco’s policy for transfer of subscriptions, see the Software License Transfer and Re-Use Policy.

We recommend that you wait until the end of the current subscription period before creating a new subscription with the adjusted ownership details.

An organization’s administrator can transfer users and roles to the new subscription. The administrator can transfer the control of the organization and subscriptions by adding external users with administrator roles to the organization. All administrators are granted full technical support entitlements for the subscription regardless of the identity of the subscription contract owner.

You can transfer a subscription and the associated devices to a secondary organization if these subscription entitlements and devices are not used in a fabric by the current organization. Subscriptions and the entitlements cannot be used by multiple organizations at the same time.

How compliance works

This section explains how to ensure compliance of your entitlement usage.

Cisco Nexus Hyperfabric entitlement has a 1:1 device-to-entitlement policy. Each device bound to a fabric must have a suitable entitlement. Specifically,

  • the entitlement level matches the fabric service level or higher.

  • the entitlement device model matches the model required by that node position in the fabric.

If this criterion is not met, the fabric will be out of compliance.

When is a fabric out of compliance?

A fabric is out of compliance when the Subscription guidelines for the fabric are no longer met. When a fabric has insufficient entitlements available for devices bound to it, the fabric is non-compliant.

When a fabric is out of compliance for an extended period of time, Cisco directly engages the network administrator of the organization to resolve the issue in accordance with Cisco’s general offer terms. Network administrators receive weekly email reminders when a fabric in their organization is out of compliance.

For help purchasing a new entitlement, see Subscription support.

How to restore compliance?

To restore the fabric entitlement-level compliance, you need to either

If you have questions regarding the type of subscriptions to be purchased, open a case at Cisco Support Case Manager.

If you are no longer using devices without subscriptions, you may remove these devices from the network dashboard.

Subscription support

For help with new purchases or to modify existing subscription purchases, contact your preferred Cisco reseller or partner. To locate a partner, use the Cisco Partner Locator Tool.

If you continue to experience purchasing issues, contact: .