Follow these steps to begin using Cisco Prime License Manager:

• Log in to Cisco Prime License Manager. See Log In.

• Add a product instance. See Add Product Instance.

• Use the Dashboard or the License Usage page to determine what licenses are required for your product. For more information on the Dashboard or the License Usage pages, see System Status Information.

• Migrate your existing licenses if your Cisco Prime License Manager is managing any product instances that have been upgraded from a prior version of the product that implemented a different licensing methodology.

  See Migrate Licenses to Cisco Prime License Manager.

• Perform new license fulfillment. See License Planning.

To log into a standalone Cisco Prime License Manager, enter your username and password. Click Login.

For coresident configurations, use the following procedure to log in:

The following procedure describes how to add a product instance in Cisco Prime License Manager.

The following procedure describes how to edit a product instance in Cisco Prime License Manager.

The Cisco Prime License Manager interface provides the following views that enable you to monitor the system status:

• Dashboard View

• License Usage View

The Dashboard provides an “at-a-glance” view of the system. Links in the Dashboard navigate to their related pages within Cisco Prime License Manager.

Note	When Cisco Prime License Manager is first installed, it operates in Demo mode until a license file is installed. While Cisco Prime License Manager is in Demo mode, a warning appears at the top of the GUI.

Note

Demo mode in Cisco Prime License Manager refers to the fact that no license file has been installed yet. During the first license file installation process, Cisco Prime License Manager is registered with the Cisco licensing back office and is no longer in Demo mode. Product instances managed by Cisco Prime License Manager are not in compliance as long as Cisco Prime License Manager is in Demo mode. Each product type (for example, Unified CM, Unity Connection) has its own version of "demo mode" that operates independently of Cisco Prime License Manager’s Demo mode.

The Dashboard contains the following:

Overview

Provides information on Product Instances, Last License Update, and Last Synchronization date and time.

License Usage

Lists the product type and the number of licenses:

• Installed

• Required

License Alerts

Lists alerts according to product type, the status of the alert and the number of licenses available. Alerts indicate:

• License types that are non-compliant

• Licenses that are nearing expiration

Product Instance Alerts

Lists the product instance name, status (including product grace period expiration), and last successful synchronization.

Note

The product grace period expiration provides additional information for products with insufficient licenses. Clicking on the red "x" or alert symbol in the Status column provides more detailed information (for example: "This product instance is consuming more licenses than are available in Cisco Prime License Manager and may experience service degradation until you install sufficient licenses to cover its usage. Check your product documentation for more information.").

The License Usage view, accessed by selecting Licenses > Usage in the Cisco Prime License Manager interface, identifies the licenses installed on the system and how those licenses have been used at the time of the last synchronization.

There are three views available from the License Usage view:

• Table View

• Chart View

• History

Table View

The Table View provides the following information for each license type:

• Type of licenses in use

• Product Type

• Number of licenses required

• Number of licenses installed

• Number of licenses available

• Status of that license type (for example: in compliance, in violation, and so on)

Note	License versions are shown as “9.x” rather than “9.0”. This reduces confusion as 9.0 licenses are valid for all 9.x licenses.

You can also view license properties and usage by selecting one of license types installed on the system. The License Type details page contains the following information:

• License Description

• Usage Chart

• Usage by Instance

• Installed Licenses by Type

For a comprehensive view of all license types, click the View All License Type Descriptions and Device Classifications (new window) link under the License Description section.

Chart View

The Chart View tab presents a graphical view of the number of licenses used for a particular product.

Select the License Type from the drop-down menu to view the chart for that license version. Place your mouse over each of the chart's bars to reveal license count information. The figure below shows a Chart View, customized for each product type, which illustrates the number of licenses:

• Installed

• Borrowed from Upper Tier

• Required

• Loaned to Lower Tier

The Chart View also identifies, with a red “x”, instances where there are insufficient licenses.

Note	The chart you see depends largely on the license type you select from the drop-down menu. For example, Unified CM and has borrowing and tiering whereas Emergency Responder does not. The legend is hidden for product types that do not support license substitution.

Figure 1. License Usage - Chart View

History

This History tab enables you to view how your license usage has changed over time. Usage data is collected at every synchronization with product instance and with each action that changes license usage. To download your usage history, select a date range and the product and click the Generate File button.

Clicking the Generate File button creates a History report that appears at the bottom of the History tab. You can download the History report into a csv file that can be opened in a spreadsheet application. The History report shows licensing installed and license consumption, including the compliance status.

Substitution and Tiering

Note	Substitution and tiering does not apply to all products supported by Cisco Prime License Manager. If your product supports substitution and tiering, refer to the following description and examples.

License types are categorized into license tiers, where the higher license tiers offer more functionality than the lower tiers. For example, CUWL Professional, the highest Unified CM-tiered type, offers more functionality than CUWL Premium or Advanced (the exact functionality is specified in the License Usage Details screen). The License Usage Table View and Chart View (as shown in the figure above) display the types in order of tier, highest to lowest.

License substitution refers to the Cisco Prime License Manager feature where a higher tier license type can be substituted for a lower-tiered type that would otherwise be in overage. In the Chart View example (in the above figure), there are 50 spare CUWL Professional licenses on loan to Basic. In this example, the 50 spare licenses are sufficient to cover the entire Basic overage. If the user installs a license file that adds Basic licenses, the spare CUWL Professional license would then be available for future CUWL Professional requirements.

Once a product instance has been added (see Add Product Instance), you must then identify your licensing requirements and plan accordingly.

Note	You may wish to check your Dashboard or License Usage page first, to determine what licenses are required for your product. For more information on the Dashboard or the License Usage pages, see System Status Information.

Important: If you have licenses that are installable at the product instance that require migration, see Migrate Licenses to Cisco Prime License Manager.

Cisco Prime License Manager provides two main options for performing license fulfillment:

• Electronic fulfillment (e-Fulfillment)

• Manual fulfillment

Under each of these fulfillment options, you may choose to do one of the following:

• New license fulfillment
• License upgrade

e-Fulfillment is the quicker and easier option of the two; however, in deployments where internet connectivity is not available (a locked-down lab for example) Manual fulfillment may be the only option.

e-Fulfillment supports:

• License feature upgrades (for example, a Basic UCL to Enhanced UCL upgrade)
• License version upgrades (for example, a version 9.0 to version 10.0(1) license upgrade)

License Product Authorization Keys (PAKs) can be fulfilled and installed directly from the Cisco Prime License Manager.

e-Fulfillment

Use the following procedure to add new licenses via e-Fulfillment.

1. Log in to Cisco Prime License Manager.

2. Select Licenses > Fulfillment.

3. If not already selected, click the Enable button to enable e-Fulfillment.

4. Select Fulfill Licenses from PAK. The Fulfill Licenses from PAK window appears.

5. Select the Add licenses from a new PAK option and enter the Product Authorization Key (PAK) code.

   If you have previously entered PAKs in Cisco Prime License Manager, you may select the second option, "Add licenses from an already-installed PAK that supports partial fulfillment". Once you have selected that option, select the existing PAK code from the drop-down menu.

6. Click the Next button. If prompted for your Cisco.com account information, enter the username and password you entered when you registered at Cisco.com.

7. Click the Ok button. The Fulfill Licenses section appears.

8. The licenses within the PAK are listed by SKU name. The numbers of each license are categorized under a number of headings to indicate how many have been fulfilled and how many are remaining.

   You can specify the number of licenses you want to fulfill by selecting Fulfill in the Actions column for that license type. The Fulfill Licenses window appears. In this window you can specify the count in the Fulfill column, and click Save then click OK to close the window. The updated count now appears in the Fulfill column of the Fulfill Licenses table.

   Important:

   Some PAKs are not eligible for partial fulfillment.

   Note	If licenses are listed as "Fulfilled" (under "Before Fulfillment" in the Fulfill Licenses table), those licenses have been fulfilled by this or another Cisco Prime License Manager.

   Note	Once you have fulfilled your licenses as selected, you may wish to click the Run Compliance Check button to ensure that you are in compliance.

9. Click the Next button to review your changes. If you are not satisfied with your changes, click Previous to return to the Fulfill Licenses section. If you are satisfied with the changes, click Next to move to the next section.

10. Clicking Next in the Fulfill Licenses section opens the Transaction Options and License Agreement section. In this section, you may enter a description (optional). You may also associate this transaction with a saved license summary by selecting that option and then selecting the name of the license summary from the drop-down list.

11. Select the checkbox to accept the conditions of the End User License Agreement.

12. Click the Finish button.

13. Upon successful completion of the e-Fulfillment process, the new fulfillment appears in the License Fulfillment table.

Adjust PAK fulfillment

In e-Fulfillment mode, you can perform partial fulfillment of a particular PAK that has already been partially fulfilled on that Cisco Prime License Manager using the following procedure:

1. In the Licenses > Fulfillment page, in the License Fulfillment table, select the PAK from the list under the PAK column.

   Note	An edit (pencil) icon denotes PAKs which support partial fulfillment.

2. The PAK Details window opens, showing the original number of licenses in the PAK. Select Adjust PAK Fulfillment to retrieve the current status of the PAK.

3. If prompted, enter your Cisco.com username and password (the information entered when you registered at Cisco.com).

4. You can specify the number of licenses you want to fulfill by selecting Fulfill in the Actions column for that license type. The Fulfill Licenses window appears. In this window you can specify the count in the Fulfill column, and click Save then click OK to close the window. The updated count now appears in the Fulfill column of the Fulfill Licenses table.

5. You have the option of entering a description in the Transaction Options field. This allows you to track this transaction.

6. Once you have adjusted your PAK fulfillment numbers, click the Update PAK Fulfillment button.

   Note	Fulfillment numbers can only be increased, never decreased.

Manual Fulfillment

Manual fulfillment requires additional steps to perform license fulfillment. In situations where internet connectivity is not available, Manual fulfillment is the only method available. Manual fulfillment is also necessary for license migration, as described below:

1. Migrate existing licenses (if applicable) into Cisco Prime License Manager. To migrate existing licenses, see Migrate Licenses to Cisco Prime License Manager

2. Once any existing licenses have been migrated, acquire new licenses using the following procedure: License Planning.

This section describes the different migration paths you can follow using Cisco Prime License Manager.

A standard product is any product type supported by Cisco Prime License Manager other than Cisco Unified Communications Manager or Cisco Unity Connection.

Note

The migration path you follow depends upon a number of factors (For example: the product type, whether servers contain data from a previous version, etc). The following flow charts provide a guide for the decisions that must be made to successfully complete your migration. For a broader view of the migration process, see the release notes for the product instance in question.

Note

If Cisco Prime License Manager is in demo mode, do not create multiple migration requests. Complete the first migration, including installation of the license, prior to initiating a second migration. If a migration request results in multiple license files, install all of them, in order, before proceeding.

Note	Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Cisco Unity Connection each have unique migration processes.

Use the following procedure to plan for migration of product instances whose licenses have not yet been migrated to Cisco Prime License Manager if e-Fulfillment is enabled.

There are three types of license upgrades:

• License feature upgrades
• License version upgrades
• License feature and version upgrades

Note	The content of the PAK determines whether a license can be upgraded by feature or version.

Use the following procedure to fulfill a major version upgrade using eFulfillment.

Next to the Fulfill Licenses from PAK option on the License Fulfillment page, there is another option entitled "Other Fulfillment Options".

In Manual Fulfillment mode, selecting the drop-down arrow under this option reveals only one option: Generate License Request.

In eFulfillment mode, selecting the drop-down arrow under this option reveals three options:

• Fulfill Licenses from File
• Generate License Request
• Retrieve Fulfilled Licenses

Fulfill Licenses From File

To fulfill licenses from a file on your PC:

1. Select Other Fulfillment Options > Fulfill Licenses from File.
2. The Install License File window opens. Click the Browse button to locate the file on your PC. Select the file and click Open.
3. You can add a description and associate the transaction with a saved license plan (optional).
4. Click the Install button to install the license file.

Generate License Request

To obtain a new license (using Manual fulfillment), you must first generate a license request through the Licenses > Fulfillment page, and then use the information generated to submit a request. You will then receive your license file via email. Use the following procedure to generate a license request.

1. Log in to Cisco Prime License Manager.
2. From the Licenses > Fulfillment page, select Generate License Request from the drop-down list under Other Fulfillment Options.
3. The License Request and Next Steps window appears. Copy the selected text to your clipboard or click Save it to a file on your PC.

Retrieve Fulfilled Licenses

The "Retrieve Fulfilled Licenses" option is exclusive to e-Fulfillment. This feature connects to the Cisco licensing servers to retrieve and install the licenses that have been fulfilled for this Prime License Manager. This feature is useful if you wish to synchronize your Cisco Prime License Manager with the Cisco back office with regard to licenses that have been fulfilled.

Use the following procedure to retrieve fulfilled licenses:

1. Log in to Cisco Prime License Manager.

2. Select Licenses > Fulfillment.

3. If not already selected, click the Enable button to enable e-Fulfillment.

4. Under Other Fulfillment Options, select Retrieve Fulfilled Licenses. The Retrieve Fulfilled Licenses window appears.

5. Enter your Cisco Username and Password. You can add a description (optional) in the Transaction Description field.

6. Click the Retrieve and Install Licenses button.

7. Your Cisco Prime License Manager is synchronized with the Cisco back office and all licenses currently fulfilled are installed.