Roll back to Traditional Licensing Model

You might want to roll back to a release earlier than Cisco IOS XE 16.10.1a and therefore to the earlier/traditional licensing model in the following scenarios:

  • There are multiple users, and you do not know the actual end user of your software.

  • The software is deployed in a location with limited access to the license and inventory management solution.

  • You have not opted to establish a Smart Call Home relationship with Cisco.

  • A Smart Call Home relationship cannot be maintained with the user owing to logistics.


Note

When you have upgraded from Cisco IOS XE Everest 16.6 release to Cisco IOS XE Gibraltar 16.10.1a or later, and want to rollback, you must reload the router twice to move the licenses to the "Active, In-Use" state.

Figure 1. Roll back to an earlier release

To roll back to the earlier release, perform these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

De-register the device from CSSM by executing the license smart deregister command.

Step 2

Reload the device with an earlier release.
Step 3

Perform a write action (write memory), if required. To do so, execute the write memory command.

Step 4

Reboot the device.

Attention 

When you rollback from the Cisco IOS XE Release 16.10.1a to a previous release, you must reboot the router twice with a write memory in between.

Downgrading a device from Cisco IOS XE Release 16.10.1a or later to any prior release will migrate the smart license to traditional license. All smart license information on the device is removed. In case the device needs to be upgraded back to Cisco IOS XE Release 16.10.1a or later, the license status remains in the evaluation mode until the device is registered again in CSSM. Your RTU licenses will be in evaluation mode, and these licenses cannot be enforced along with the controlled features. You must contact Cisco TAC by telephone to resolve this issue.