Configuring Licensing

 
Updated August 14, 2025
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New and changed information

The following table provides an overview of the significant changes up to this current release. The table does not provide an exhaustive list of all changes or of the new features up to this release.

Release Version Feature Description

Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1

Improved navigation and workflow when configuring licenses

Beginning with Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, the workflow and navigation for configuring licenses for your Nexus Dashboard fabrics has been enhanced.

Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1

Nexus Dashboard license tier for fabric

With this release, Nexus Dashboard allows you to configure each fabric independently with one of the license tiers: Essentials, Advantage, or Premier. Nexus Dashboard grays out features that may not be entitled and displays a lock icon next to the feature. Hovering over the lock icon displays a tooltip indicating the reason for the feature’s unavailability. For information on features included with each license tier, you can click the tooltip in the License tier for fabric area. For more information, see the View license tier for a fabric.

Navigate to Licensing

The information displayed on Admin > Licensing varies, depending on if you are configuring Nexus Dashboard licensing for the first time, or if you are updating an existing license configuration.

To navigate to Licensing:

  1. Click Admin > Licensing.

  2. If you are configuring Nexus Dashboard licensing for the first time, the text License management is not configured appears on Licensing. Click Configure license management to configure license management in this case. For more information, see Configure license management.

  3. If you’ve already configured license management, but you want to make additional license management configurations, click Configuration setup on Licensing, then click Configure license management on Configuration setup to configure license management. For more information, see Configure license management.

License management

Nexus Dashboard licensing is a software management platform that manages all Nexus Dashboard product licenses.

  1. Navigate to Licensing.

  2. You can view and assign licenses in these tabs on the Licensing page.

The table displays the fields that appear on Fabric license tiers.

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Fabric license tiers appears for LAN deployments only.

Fabric license tiers

Field Description

Smart license server status

Specifies the status of Smart Licensing.

License tiers by fabric

Specifies the the type of license tier.

View license tier details

Click this option for a detailed view of the licensing options.

Fabric name

The name for the fabric. Even though this field is shown, it is not editable.

Fabric type

Specifies the type of fabric.

Switches on fabric

Specifies the switches on the fabric.

License tier

Specifies the licensing tier for the fabric:

  • Essentials

  • Advantage

  • Premier

The table displays the fields that appear on Licenses.

Licenses

Field Description

Nexus Dashboard managed

Specifies the licenses that you need to purchase or that are expiring soon.

Switch-local

Specifies the licenses that you need to purchase or that are expiring soon.

The table displays the fields that appear on Configuration setup.

Configuration setup

The table displays the fields that appear on Configuration setup.

Field Description

License management

Displays a status dashboard of the Nexus Dashboard-managed licenses.

Status

Displays a status dashboard of the smart license details.

Smart licenses

Displays that Smart Licensing is configured. You have to configure Smart Licensing at least once even if you choose a switch only to see the other pages.

Supported NX-OS platform

For license tiering support for Advantage and Premier license tiers, the supported NX-OS version is Cisco NX-OS Nexus 9000 version 10.5.2 and higher.

Guidelines and limitations for LAN license management

  • There are no Actions drop-down list options at the switch level for LAN deployments.

  • In a fabric group, if you configure a switch with a border gateway role, Nexus Dashboard uses an Advantage license tier by default, even if you selected an Essentials license tier.

  • For Cisco Nexus 3000 series switches, Nexus Dashboard applies the Essentials license tier, even though you chose the Advantage or Premier license tier.

Guidelines and limitations for SAN license management

  • SAN deployments include the Actions > Assign all and Unassign all options at the switch level.

  • The Fabric license tiers tab is not available for SAN deployments.

  • SAN deployments continue to use the DCNM-SAN license for all Cisco Nexus 9000 and Cisco Nexus 3000 series switches. SAN deployments do not use license tiers.

Working with Smart Licensing

Nexus Dashboard Smart Licensing is a software management platform that manages all Nexus Dashboard product licenses. You can establish connectivity to the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) from your Nexus Dashboard cluster and track the inventory and license consumption.

Smart Licensing guidelines and limitations

These guidelines apply when enabling CSSM connectivity for Nexus Dashboard.

  • While this release allows you to see the licenses that are currently in use, it does not enforce the licensing policy and is used for informational purposes only.

  • License information is updated any time you add or remove a fabric or a switch.

  • When connecting Smart Licensing to a Smart Account that includes an accented character or a diacritic, you may receive an establishing trust timed-out error message.

Configure the routes for an online direct connection

  1. Ensure that your Nexus Dashboard cluster can connect to the Smart Licensing service.

  2. Verify if your cluster can access the licensing service at https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license, or else you might need to configure a route for your cluster or use the Proxy or On prem transport. For more information, see Nexus Dashboard managed smart license.

Generate a Smart Licensing token

To generate a Smart Licensing token:

  1. Navigate to https://software.cisco.com/software/smart-licensing/inventory.

  2. Choose your virtual account.

  3. Under Product Instance Registration Token, click New Token.

  4. Define the expiration for your new token and click Create Token.

View licenses for fabrics in Nexus Dashboard

Click View details to see the features available for each licensing tier. You can view the existing licenses for fabrics in Nexus Dashboard on the Fabric license tiers page.

To navigate to the Fabric license tiers page, click Admin > Licensing, then click the Fabric license tiers tab, which displays by default.

You can review the licensing information on the Fabric license tiers page.

  • In the upper licensing card, review the fabric licensing information at the Nexus Dashboard level.

    • Smart licensing server status — Shows the status of the licensing.

    • License tiers by fabric — Shows the number of licenses used by the fabrics in the Nexus Dashboard, broken down by tiers. Click on any of the three tiers listed to automatically filter results in the table for only that license tier.

  • In the lower table, review the licensing information for each fabric in Nexus Dashboard.

    • Fabric name — Shows the name of the fabric.

    • Fabric type — Shows the type of fabric.

    • Switches on fabric — Shows the number of switches in the fabric.

    • License tier — Shows the license tier used by the fabric.

View license tier for a fabric

In Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, licensing tier selection is applied on a per fabric basis. Features supported within each tier are based on the hardware and software versions supported on various platforms.

If a feature is unavailable due to insufficient licensing, it will be grayed out and appear with a lock icon. Hovering over the lock icon displays a tooltip with a View details link, which provides more information about the required license tier for that specific feature. For a complete list of features and associated license tiers, see the License tier details page on the Nexus Dashboard UI. For information on how to update your license tier, see Editing license tier assigned for a fabric.

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In Nexus Dashboard 4.1.1, license tier selection is honor-based for all features. In future versions, a grace period will be provided before access is limited to features within the chosen tier.

You can view the license tier for fabric details from one of these pages:

  • Navigate to Manage > Fabrics.

    • Click on a fabric to view the fabric Overview page.

    • Scroll down to the General area and click on the License tier value (for example, Premier) to launch the License tier for fabric page.

  • Navigate to Manage > Fabrics .

    • Choose a fabric and click Actions > Edit Fabric Settings.

    • Scroll down to License tier for fabric field and click the tooltip icon to launch the License tier for fabric page.

Multi-cluster environment considerations

In a multi-cluster environment, you can only change the license tier of a fabric if you are on the owner cluster of that fabric. You can verify the owner cluster information in the Nexus Dashboard UI.

  • Navigate to Manage > Fabrics.

  • Click the Local tab and locate the fabric you want to update.

  • Check the Owner column in the table.

    • If the owner cluster name matches the current cluster name (shown in the top left corner of the Nexus Dashboard UI), you are permitted to modify the license tier.

    • If the cluster names do not match, the License tier section within the Edit Fabric Settings will be disabled (grayed out), and changes to the license tier will not be allowed.

Editing license tier assigned for a fabric

Follow these steps to edit the license tier (Essentials, Advantage, or Premier) assigned for a fabric.

  1. Navigate to Manage > Fabrics.

  2. Locate the fabric to edit the license tier information.

  3. Click the circle next to the fabric you want to edit, then click Actions > Edit Fabric Settings.

    The Edit fabric_name Settings page appears.

  4. In the General tab, scroll to the License tier for fabric field.

  5. Choose the appropriate tier for your fabric: Essentials, Advantage, or Premier.

  6. Click Save to apply the updates to your fabric.

    Nexus Dashboard will redirect you to the fabrics page, where the updated tier will be reflected in the License tier column.

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Changing your fabric’s assigned license tier to a lower tier may require disabling features that are available with the current tier.

View information for Nexus Dashboard-managed licenses and switch-local licenses

You can view the existing Nexus Dashboard-managed licenses and switch-local licenses on the Licenses page.

  1. Navigate to Licensing.

  2. You can review licensing information on the Licenses page.

    • The Nexus Dashboard managed licenses card displays the total number of unlicensed Nexus Dashboard-managed devices where licenses need to be purchased or Nexus Dashboard-managed devices where licenses will be expiring soon.

    • The Switch-local licenses tile displays the total number of switch licenses to purchase and the total number of switch licenses that will be expiring.

Nexus Dashboard managed

The Nexus Dashboard managed tab displays the following information:

  • License status of the managed devices

  • Whether devices are licensed, unlicensed, or running in honor mode

  • License expiry dates

On Nexus Dashboard managed, you can review the status of Nexus Dashboard licenses for each switch. These licenses can be provisioned on the device as a Smart License, an Honor License, or an Unlicensed device.

Choose one or multiple switches by clicking Actions > Assign or Assign All.

When you assign a license to a device, the Nexus Dashboard license service assigns the available license based on availability on the device, the status of smart licensing, and other factors.

The Cisco MDS switches and Cisco Nexus 3000, 5000, 7000, and 9000 series of switches support a server-based smart license.

The table displays the fields that appear on Nexus Dashboard managed.

Field

Description

Switch name

Displays the name of the switch.

Type

Displays the license type of the switch, which can be one of the following:

  • Switch

  • Smart

  • Switch Smart

  • DCNM-Server

State

Displays the license type of the switch, which can be one of the following:

  • Permanent

  • Unlicensed

  • Smart

  • Honor

  • Expired

  • Not Applicable

  • Invalid

Expiration date

Specifies the expiration date of the license. In the case of the Honor license, the expiration data field shows the date that the switch started using an Honor license.

Serial number

Displays the serial number of the device.

Model

Displays the model of the device. For example, DS-C9124 or N9K-C93180YC-FX3.

Fabric

Specifies the name of the fabric.

The table describes the items in the Actions drop-down list that appear on Nexus Dashboard managed.

Action Item

Description

Assign

Choose a switch, then from the Actions drop-down list, choose Assign. A confirmation message appears.

Unassign

Choose a switch, then from the Actions drop-down list, choose Unassign. A confirmation message appears.

Assign all

To assign a license to all the switches in the table:

  1. From the Actions drop-down list, choose Assign all. A confirmation message appears.

  2. Click OK to refresh the table.

Unassign all

To unassign a license from all the switches in the table:

  1. From the Actions drop-down list, choose Unassign all. A confirmation message appears.

  2. Click OK to refresh the table.

Switch-local

The Switch-local tab provides more detailed information about which license feature is currently in use on the switches.

The table displays the fields that appear on the Switch-local tab.

Field

Description

Switch

Displays the name of the switch.

Features

Displays the license features on the switch.

Status

Displays whether the feature on the device is in use or not:

  • Unused

  • IN USE

  • Out Of Compliance

Type

Displays the license type of the switch, which can be one of the following:

  • Temporary

  • Permanent License

  • Smart License

  • Counter Permanent

  • Unlicensed

  • Counted

Warnings

Specifies the warnings about the license, such as the expiration date and time.

Group

Specifies the fabric name.

Manage license files

Nexus Dashboard allows you to upload multiple licenses with a single instance. Nexus Dashboard parses the license files and extracts the switch serial numbers. Nexus Dashboard maps the serial numbers in the license files with the discovered fabric to install the licenses on each switch. License files are moved to bootflash and installed.

To bulk install licenses on the switches on Nexus Dashboard:

  1. On the Switch-local tab, click Manage license files.

    The Manage license files page appears.

  2. Click Actions > Add license.

    The Add license file page appears.

  3. Drag and drop the appropriate files from your local directory, or click Browse to navigate to your local directory to select the appropriate files.

  4. Click Upload.

    The license file is uploaded to Nexus Dashboard. The following information is extracted from the license file:

    • Switch IP — IP address of the switch to which this license is assigned

    • License file — Filename of the license file

    • Features list — List of features supported by the license file

  5. Choose the set of licenses that you want to upload and install on the respective switches. A license file is applicable for a single specific switch.

  6. Click Actions > Install to install the licenses.

    Nexus Dashboard uploads and installs the selected licenses on the respective switches. Status messages, including any issues or errors, are updated for each file as the installation completes.

  7. After the licenses match with their respective switches and completes the installation, the Status column displays the latest status.

The table describes the fields that appear on the Manage license files page.

Field

Description

Switch

Specifies the switch name.

Switch IP

Specifies the switch IP address.

License File

Specifies the type of license file.

Status

Specifies the status of license.

Result Message

Specifies the license details.

Last Upload Time

Specifies the date and time uploaded on server.

Features

Specifies the license features.

View details and status for license management and smart licenses

This information is available in Configuration setup.

License management

The information displayed in this card varies, depending on the following factors:

  • If you’ve already configured license management and you selected Switch based license only on the Configure license management page, then the text "Switch based license only" appears in the License management: Status area.

  • If you’ve already configured license management and you selected Nexus Dashboard smart license or Mixed mode on the Configure license management page, then information related to Nexus Dashboard Smart Agent appears in the License management: Status area:

    • Nexus Dashboard managed smart license: Shows Enabled or Disabled as the state for the Nexus Dashboard Smart Agent.

    • License status: Specifies the status of the licensing on Nexus Dashboard.

If you’ve already configured license management but you want to make additional license management configurations, click Configure license management on the Configuration setup page.

Resync

The Resync area is displayed only if you selected Nexus Dashboard smart license or Mixed mode on the Configure license management page.

When the total number of licenses for Nexus Dashboard devices are not same as the CSSM license count, click Resync to refresh the license count. Resync causes a local audit of the Nexus Dashboard licenses in the switch inventory and updates the smart license counts for reporting.

Smart license details

The Smart license details area is displayed only if you selected Nexus Dashboard smart license or Mixed mode on the Configure license management page.

This card provides detailed smart license information, such as the last report generated date, next report generated date, transport mode, UDI serial number, and so on.

  • If you enabled smart licensing on the server in the online mode, it will also display the Account Name, Virtual Account Name, and Transport URL. For more information, see the Online procedure provided in Nexus Dashboard managed smart license.

  • If you enabled smart licensing on the server in the offline mode, the Export license data and Import license data options are displayed, and are used to export the license data and import the response from the CSSM. For more information, see the Offline procedure provided in Nexus Dashboard managed smart license.

Smart licenses

The Smart licenses area is displayed only if you selected Nexus Dashboard smart license or Mixed mode on the Configure license management page.

The following table describes the fields that appear in the Smart licenses area:

Field Description

Name

Specifies the license name.

Count

Specifies the number of licenses used.

Status

Specifies the status of the licenses used. Valid values are IN USE and NOT IN USE.

Description

Specifies the type and details of the license.

For offline mode only, you need to upload or download license reports, go to https://software.cisco.com/ and navigate to Smart Software Licensing > Reports. In the Usage Data Files tab, click Upload Usage Data to upload usage reports from Nexus Dashboard. After a few minutes of uploading the report, click Download in the Acknowledgment column to download a response, then import the response into Nexus Dashboard.

Configure license management

Follow the procedures in this section to configure license management.

  1. Navigate to Licensing.

    The Licensing page appears.

  2. Click Configure License Management.

    The Licensing > Configuration setup page displays.

  3. In the License management area, click Configure license management.

    The Configure License Management page appears.

  4. Choose the appropriate license management option based on the licenses that you’ve purchased.

    The following sections provide more information for each license management type displayed on this page:

    • Switch-based license only: These are licenses that have one of these characteristics:

      • They are licenses that reside on the switch, such as legacy file-based licenses, or

      • The switch has smart license mode enabled and retrieves its own license from CSSM (DCNM-LAN, DCNM-SAN, and NX-OS Essentials, Advantage, or Premier License)

    • Nexus Dashboard managed smart license: These are smart licenses for the following switches:

    • Mixed mode: These are a combination of both switch-based licenses and Nexus Dashboard smart licenses.

Switch-based license only

To configure switch-based license management:

  1. On the Configure License Management page, click Switch based license only, then click Next.

    The Switch based license only page appears.

  2. Verify that the information provided on this page applies for your switches.

    This mode supports switches operating with the legacy file-based licenses or the switch smart license mode.

    • Legacy file based licenses:

      You should have licenses reside on the switch in this mode.

    • Switch Smart License:

      If smart licensing mode is configured on the switch, the switch reports smart license usage to CSSM (Cisco Smart Software Manager). See the documentation for enabling Smart Mode.

      • Minimum NX-OS version for smart license mode: 9.3(6)

      • Minimum MDS version for smart license mode: 9.2(2)

  3. Click Continue to complete the switch-based license management configurations.

    The Summary page appears.

  4. Review the licensing selections shown on the Summary page.

    The Summary page displays the selection that you made on the Select type page.

  5. When you have verified that the information on the Summary pagew is correct, click Submit.

Nexus Dashboard managed smart license

Nexus Dashboard allows you to configure Smart Licensing. Cisco Smart Licensing is a flexible licensing model that provides you with an easier, faster, and more consistent way to purchase and manage software across the Cisco portfolio and across your organization. You can use the Smart Licensing feature to manage licenses at the device level and renew them if required.

The Smart Licensing policy runs in the license microservice and provides the ability to manage licenses for Nexus Dashboard using CSSM. You can register smart licensing on-premises or in the offline mode.

You can discover, configure, and manage licenses for third-party switches, such as Arista switches, on Nexus Dashboard. You can either configure third-party Essentials licenses for fixed platforms or third-party Essentials licenses for modular platforms.

To view a list of supported platforms and chassis IDs, see Smart Licensing Using Policy for Cisco NDFC, Release 12.1.x.

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  • Enable Nexus Dashboard server Smart Licensing; otherwise, the license will be in the Honor state.

  • When you register Smart Licensing on Nexus Dashboard directly with internet access, you might see an error message because Nexus Dashboard uses IP addresses to access the Smart License rather than using a hostname.

    Ensure that subnets for IP addresses on https://smartreceiver.cisco.com are added to the route table in Nexus Dashboard.

    To add IP addresses/subnets, in Nexus Dashboard, navigate to the Admin > System Settings > Routes area. Click Edit in the Management network routes area and add the necessary IP addresses/subnets, then click Save to confirm.

    You can ping https://smartreceiver.cisco.com to find the most recent subnet. For example:

    $ ping smartreceiver.cisco.com
PING smartreceiver.cisco.com (146.112.59.81): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 146.112.59.81: icmp_seq=0 ttl=52 time=48.661 ms
64 bytes from 146.112.59.81: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=44.730 ms
64 bytes from 146.112.59.81: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=48.188 ms

  • After you register Smart Licensing, you must manually assign licenses to the existing switches. For all switches discovered after registration, Smart Licenses are automatically assigned to the switches.

  • Switch-based Smart Licenses are supported for Multilayer Director Switch (MDS) switches and the Nexus 9000 and 3000 series of switches.

To configure Nexus Dashboard managed smart licenses:

  1. On the Configure License Management page, click Nexus Dashboard managed smart license, then click Next.

    The Select mode step in the license management wizard appears.

  2. Select the appropriate mode for your Nexus Dashboard smart license management:

    • Online: In the Online mode, Nexus Dashboard can communicate with the Cisco Smart Licensing servers to report license usage. This includes:

      • Direct Connection: This is the most commonly used network setting. The Nexus Dashboard must have an Internet connectivity so that the Nexus Dashboard can send RUM reports to the CSSM directly. The DNS must be configured and the CSSM hostname (https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license) must be pingable.

      • Via a proxy: With this setting, the Nexus Dashboard does not have Internet connectivity. The Nexus Dashboard sends RUM reports to the CSSM using your web server. Make sure the web server is properly configured to allow the smart licensing messages to pass through the firewall and to reach the destination (https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license).

      • Using a Cisco OnPrem server: In On-Prem mode, Nexus Dashboard can report to a Smart Software Manager(SSM) On-Prem using the SSM On-Prem’s CSLU URL. The SSM acts as an intermediate server that resides within the local network, with an uplink to Cisco’s SSM for periodic sync. For details on the SSM On-Prem, refer to the SSM On-Prem Cisco documentation.

        You require a trust token for direct connection and proxy. For more information, see the Cisco Software Licensing Guide.

    • Offline: In the Offline mode, you can share data between the Nexus Dashboard instance and CSSM. Operating in an air-gap or disconnected environment, usage reporting is done using an xml file, which is downloaded from Nexus Dashboard before being uploaded to CSSM. A response file is then downloaded from CSSM, which is then uploaded to Nexus Dashboard. For more information, see the Cisco Software Licensing Guide.

Online

To enable the online mode:

  1. Choose the Online option in the Select mode step in the license management wizard, then click Next.

    The Select transport step in the license management wizard appears.

  2. Choose the transport option that you would like to use when establishing trust for the Smart License Agent:

    • Direct: With this transport option, Nexus Dashboard communicates directly with Cisco’s licensing servers. This option uses the following URL: https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license.

      1. Click Direct, then click Next.

      2. In the Establish trust with CSSM step, click Get trust token.

        For Direct transport, Nexus Dashboard must establish Trust with CSSM. A Trust Token can be retrieved or generated at https://software.cisco.com.

      3. Enter the trust token in the Token field, then click Continue.

        The Summary page appears. Go to Step 3.

    • Proxy: With this transport option, Nexus Dashboard uses a proxy to reach https://smartreceiver.cisco.com.

      1. Click Proxy, then enter the URL and port details to access the license using a proxy server.

      2. Click Next.

        The Summary page appears. Go to Step 3.

    • On prem: With this transport option, Nexus Dashboard communicates with OnPrem (CSLU Transport Protocol required).

      note.svg

      You must configure the license smart URL on the product to use the CSLU transport URL.

      1. Click On prem, then enter the CSLU transport URL.

        You do not require a trust token to enable licensing. Trust is established between the CSSM and the OnPrem CSLU. From Nexus Dashboard and the OnPrem CSLU, trust is constant, as it expected to be a local connection.

      2. Click Next.

        The Summary page appears. Go to Step 3.

  3. Review the licensing selections shown on the Summary page.

    The Summary page displays the selections that you made in the Select type, Select mode, and Select transport pages.

  4. When you have verified that the information on the Summary page is correct, click Submit.

    A page appears, displaying the progress at each stage of the online license management configuration:

    • The Enabling Smart Agent field initially shows In Progress, then changes to Success.

    • The Verifying connectivity to <URL> field initially shows Pending, then changes to In Progress, and finally changes to Success.

    • The Establish trust field initially shows Pending, then changes to In Progress, and finally changes to Trusted.

  5. When the state in all fields change to Success and Trusted, click Done.

    You return to the main License Management page, with the Overview tab selected by default.

    The fields in the License Management Status area should display the following values:

    • Nexus Dashboard Smart Agent: Enabled

    • License Status: In Use

    • Trust Status: Trusted

Offline

To export the license data and import the response from the CSSM:

  1. Choose the Offline option in the Select mode step in the license management wizard, then click Next.

    The Summary page appears.

  2. Review the licensing selections shown on the Summary page.

    The Summary page displays the selection that you made on the Select type and Select mode pages.

  3. When you have verified that the information on the Summary page is correct, click Submit.

    A page appears, displaying the progress of the offline license management configuration:

    • The Enabling Smart Agent field changes to Success.

    • The Setting Mode to OFFLINE field moves from In Progress to Success.

  4. When the state in both fields change to Success, click Done.

    You return to the main License Management page, with the Overview tab selected by default.

  5. In the Smart License Details area, click Export License Data.

  6. On Cisco Software Central, navigate to the smart licensing section, then click the Reports tab and choose the relevant usage data files tab.

    You can upload the usage report from Nexus Dashboard, and after few minutes, you can download a response and the import response to Nexus Dashboard.

  7. In the Smart License Details area within the Overview tab on the License Management page, click Import License Data and upload the CSSM acknowledge file to Nexus Dashboard.

Mixed mode

To configure mixed-mode license management:

  1. On the Configure License Management page, click Mixed mode, then click Next.

    The Mixed Mode page appears.

  2. Verify that the information provided on this page applies for your switches.

    This mode supports both switch-based license and Nexus Dashboard Smart License.

    • Switch-based licenses include switches operating with the legacy file-based licenses or the switch smart license mode. See the documentation for enabling Smart Mode.

      • Legacy file based licenses: You should have licenses reside on the switch in this mode.

      • Switch Smart License: If smart licensing mode is configured on the switch, the switch reports smart license usage to CSSM (Cisco Smart Software Manager).

        • Minimum NX-OS version for smart license mode: 9.3(6)

        • Minimum MDS version for smart license mode: 9.2(2)

    • Nexus Dashboard Smart Licenses include smart licenses for N7K, N5K, 3rd party and switches that do not have switch-based licenses.

  3. Click Continue.

  4. Select the appropriate mode for your Nexus Dashboard smart license management:

    • Online: In the Online mode, you can communicate with the Cisco Smart Licensing servers to report license usage. This includes:

      • Direct Connection

      • Via a proxy

      • Using a Cisco OnPrem server

    A trust token is required for direct connection and proxy. See the Cisco Software Licensing Guide for more information.

    • Offline: In the Offline mode, you can share data between the Nexus Dashboard instance and CSSM. Operating in an air-gap or disconnected environment, usage reporting is done using an xml file, which is downloaded from Nexus Dashboard before being uploaded to CSSM. A response file is then downloaded from CSSM, which is then uploaded to Nexus Dashboard. See the Cisco Software Licensing Guide for more information.

Additional Nexus Dashboard licensing information

For more information on Nexus Dashboard licensing, see Nexus Dashboard Licensing.

First Published: 2025-01-31
Last Modified: 2025-01-31

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