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Installing and Configuring Licenses
You can order Cisco 5508 WLCs with support for 12, 25, 50, 100, 250 or 500 access points as the controller’s base capacity. You can add additional access point capacity through capacity adder licenses available at 25, 50, 100 and 250 access point capacities. You can add the capacity adder licenses to any base license in any combination to arrive at the maximum capacity of 500 access points. The base and adder licenses are supported through both rehosting and RMAs.
The base license supports the standard base software set, and the premium software set is included as part of the base feature set, which includes this functionality:
Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) data encryption for added security across remote WAN and LAN links.
The availability of data DTLS is as follows:
Cisco 5508 WLC—The Cisco 5508 WLC is available with two licensing options: One with data DTLS capabilities and another image without data DTLS.
Cisco 2504 WLC and Cisco WiSM2—These platforms by default do not contain DTLS. To turn on data DTLS, you must install a license. These platforms will have a single image with data DTLS turned off. To use data DTLS, you must have a license.
Cisco Flex 7510 and Cisco 8510 WLCs—The DTLS license is in-built. You are not required to install DTLS license separately.
Support for OfficeExtend access points, which are used for secure mobile teleworking.
All features included in a Wireless LAN Controller WPLUS license are now included in the base license. There are no changes to Cisco Prime Infrastructure BASE and PLUS licensing. These WPlus license features are included in the base license:
For information about upgrade and capacity adder licenses, see the product data sheet of your controller model.
The following are the restrictions you must keep in mind when using licenses for the controllers:
The licensing change can affect features on your wireless LAN when you upgrade or downgrade software releases, so you should be aware of these guidelines:
If you have a WPlus license and you upgrade from 6.0.x.x to 7.x.x.x, your license file contains both Basic and WPlus license features. There is no disruption in feature availability and operation.
If you have a WPlus license and you downgrade from 7.x.x.x to 6.0.196.0 or 6.0.188.0 or 6.0.182.0, your license file contains only base license, and you will lose all WPlus features.
If you have a base license and you downgrade from 6.0.196.0 to 6.0.188.0 or 6.0.182.0, when you downgrade, you lose all WPlus features.
In the controller software 7.0.116.0 and later releases, the AP association trap is ciscoLwappApAssociated. In prior releases, the trap was bsnAPAssociated.
The ap-count licenses and their corresponding image-based licenses are installed together. The controller keeps track of the licensed access point count and does not allow more than the number of access points to associate to it.
The Cisco 5508 WLC is shipped with both permanent and evaluation base and base-ap-count licenses. If desired, you can activate the evaluation licenses, which are designed for temporary use and set to expire after 60 days.
No licensing steps are required after you receive your Cisco 5508 WLC because the licenses you ordered are installed at the factory. In addition, licenses and product authorization keys (PAKs) are preregistered to serial numbers. However, as your wireless network evolves, you might want to add support for additional access points or upgrade from the standard software set to the base software set. To do so, you must obtain and install an upgrade license.
This section describes how to get an upgrade or capacity adder license.
A certificate with a product authorization key (PAK) is required before you can obtain an upgrade license.
You can use the capacity adder licenses to increase the number of access points supported by the controller up to a maximum of 500 access points. The capacity adder licenses are available in access point capacities of 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 access points. You can add these licenses to any of the base capacity licenses of 12, 25, 50, 100 and 250 access points.
For example, if your controller was initially ordered with support for 100 access points (base license AIR-CT5508-100-K9), you could increase the capacity to 500 access points by purchasing a 250 access point, 100 access point, and a 50 access point additive capacity license (LIC-CT5508-250A, LIC-CT5508-100A, and LIC-CT5508-50A).
You can find more information on ordering capacity adder licenses at this URL: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/wireless/5500-series-wireless-controllers/datasheet-listing.html
![]() Note | If you skip any tiers when upgrading (for example, if you do not install the -25U and -50U licenses along with the -100U), the license registration for the upgraded capacity fails. |
For a single controller, you can order different upgrade licenses in one transaction (for example, -25U, -50U, -100U, and -250U), for which you receive one PAK with one license. Then you have only one license (instead of four) to install on your controller.
If you have multiple controllers and want to upgrade all of them, you can order multiple quantities of each upgrade license in one transaction (for example, you can order 10 each of the -25U, -50U, -100U, and -250 upgrade licenses), for which you receive one PAK with one license. You can continue to register the PAK for multiple controllers until it is exhausted.
For more information about the base license SKUs and capacity adder licenses, see the respective controller’s data sheet.
Step 1 | Install a license on the
controller by entering this command:
where url is tftp://server_ip/path/filename.
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Step 2 | If you are prompted to accept the end-user license agreement
(EULA), read and accept the terms of the agreement.
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Step 3 | Add comments to a license or delete comments from a license by entering this command: | ||
Step 4 | Save a backup copy of all installed licenses by entering this command: | ||
Step 5 | Reboot the
controller by entering this command:
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Viewing Licenses
Step 1 | Choose to open the Licenses page. This page lists all of the licenses installed on the controller. For each license, it shows the license type, expiration, count (the maximum number of access points allowed for this license), priority (low, medium, or high), and status (in use, not in use, inactive, or EULA not accepted).
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Step 2 | Click the link for the desired license to view more details for a particular license. The License Detail page appears. This page shows the following additional information for the license: | ||||
Step 3 | If you want to enter a comment for this license, type it in the Comment text box and click Apply. | ||||
Step 4 | Click Save Configuration to save your changes. |
See the license level, license type, and number of access points licensed on the controller by entering this command:
This example shows a sample output of the command run on Cisco 8540 Wireless Controller using Release 8.3:
Manufacturer's Name.............................. Cisco Systems Inc. Product Name..................................... Cisco Controller Product Version.................................. 8.3.100.0 RTOS Version..................................... 8.3.100.0 Bootloader Version............................... 8.0.110.0 Emergency Image Version.......................... 8.0.110.0 OUI File Last Update Time........................ Sun Sep 07 10:44:07 IST 2014 Build Type....................................... DATA + WPS System Name...................................... TestSpartan8500Dev1 System Location.................................. System Contact................................... System ObjectID.................................. 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.1.1615 Redundancy Mode.................................. Disabled IP Address....................................... 8.1.4.2 IPv6 Address..................................... :: System Up Time................................... 0 days 17 hrs 20 mins 58 secs --More-- or (q)uit System Timezone Location......................... System Stats Realtime Interval................... 5 System Stats Normal Interval..................... 180 Configured Country............................... Multiple Countries : IN,US Operating Environment............................ Commercial (10 to 35 C) Internal Temp Alarm Limits....................... 10 to 38 C Internal Temperature............................. +21 C Fan Status....................................... OK RAID Volume Status Drive 0.......................................... Good Drive 1.......................................... Good State of 802.11b Network......................... Enabled State of 802.11a Network......................... Enabled Number of WLANs.................................. 7 Number of Active Clients......................... 1 OUI Classification Failure Count................. 0 Burned-in MAC Address............................ F4:CF:E2:0A:27:00 Power Supply 1................................... Present, OK --More-- or (q)uit Power Supply 2................................... Present, OK Maximum number of APs supported.................. 6000 System Nas-Id.................................... WLC MIC Certificate Types........................ SHA1/SHA2 Licensing Type................................... RTU
![]() Note | The Operating Environment and Internal Temp Alarm Limits data are not displayed for Cisco Flex 7510 WLCs. |
See a brief summary of all active licenses installed on the controller by entering this command:
Information similar to the following appears:
Index 1 Feature: wplus Period left: 0 minute 0 second Index 2 Feature: wplus-ap-count Period left: 0 minute 0 second Index3 Feature: base Period left: Life time License Type: Permanent License State: Active, In Use License Count: Non-Counted License Priority: Medium Index 4 Feature: base-ap-count Period left: 6 weeks, 4 days License Type: Evaluation License State: Active, In Use License Count: 250/250/0 License Priority: High
See all of the licenses installed on the controller by entering this command:
Information similar to the following appears:
License Store: Primary License Storage StoreIndex: 1 Feature: base Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, Not in Use License Count: Non-Counted License Priority: Medium StoreIndex: 3 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Evaluation License State: Active, In Use Evaluation total period: 8 weeks 4 days Evaluation period left: 8 weeks 3 days License Count: 250/0/0 License Priority: High
See the details for a particular license by entering this command:
show license detail license_name
Information similar to the following appears:
Index: 1 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, Not in Use License Count: 12/0/0 License Priority: Medium Store Index: 0 Store Name: Primary License Storage Index: 2 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Evaluation License State: Inactive Evaluation total period: 8 weeks 4 days Evaluation period left: 8 weeks 4 days License Count: 250/0/0 License Priority: Low Store Index: 3 Store Name: Evaluation License Storage
See all expiring, evaluation, permanent, or in-use licenses by entering this command:
show license {expiring | evaluation | permanent | in-use}
Information similar to the following appears for the show license in-use command:
StoreIndex: 2 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, In Use License Count: 12/12/0 License Priority: Medium StoreIndex: 3 Feature: base Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, In Use License Count: Non-Counted License Priority: Medium
![]() Note | Controller platforms do not support the status of “grace period” or “extension” as a license type. The license status will always show “evaluation” even if a grace period or an extension evaluation license is installed. |
See the maximum number of access points allowed for this license on the controller, the number of access points currently joined to the controller, and the number of access points that can still join the controller by entering this command:
Information similar to the following appears:
Licensed Feature Max Count Current Count Remaining Count ---------------- --------- ------------- --------------- AP Count 250 4 246
See statistics for all licenses on the controller by entering this command:
See a summary of license-enabled features by entering this command:
Configuring the Maximum Number of Access Points Supported
You can configure the maximum number APs that can be supported on a controller. The controller limits the number of APs that are supported based on the licensing information and the controller model. The maximum number of APs supported that is specified in the licensing information overrides the number that you configure if the configured value is greater than the licensed value. By default, this feature is disabled. You must reboot the controller if you change the configuration.
Configure the maximum number of access points to be supported on a controller by entering this command: config ap max-count count
See the maximum number of access points that are supported on the controller by entering this command: show ap max-count summary
Configure debugging of licensing core events and core errors by entering this command:
debug license core {all | errors | events} {enable | disable}
Configure debugging of licensing errors by entering this command:
debug license errors {enable | disable}
Configure debugging of licensing events by entering this command:
debug license events {enable | disable}
Activating an AP-Count Evaluation License
If you are considering upgrading to a license with a higher access point count, you can try an evaluation license before upgrading to a permanent version of the license. For example, if you are using a permanent license with a 50-access-point count and want to try an evaluation license with a 100-access-point count, you can try out the evaluation license for 60 days.
AP-count evaluation licenses are set to low priority by default so that the controller uses the ap-count permanent license. If you want to try an evaluation license with an increased access point count, you must change its priority to high. If you no longer want to have this higher capacity, you can lower the priority of the ap-count evaluation license, which forces the controller to use the permanent license.
![]() Note | To prevent disruptions in operation, the controller does not switch licenses when an evaluation license expires. You must reboot the controller in order to return to a permanent license. Following a reboot, the controller defaults to the same feature set level as the expired evaluation license. If no permanent license at the same feature set level is installed, the controller uses a permanent license at another level or an unexpired evaluation license. |
Step 1 | Choose to open the Licenses page. The Status column shows which licenses are currently in use, and the Priority column shows the current priority of each license. |
Step 2 | Activate an ap-count evaluation license as follows: |
Step 3 | If you decide to stop using the ap-count evaluation license and want to revert to using an ap-count permanent license, follow these steps: |
Step 1 | See the current status of all the licenses on your controller by entering this command:
Information similar to the following appears: License Store: Primary License Storage StoreIndex: 0 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, In Use License Count: 12/0/0 License Priority: Medium StoreIndex: 1 Feature: base Version: 1.0 License Type: Permanent License State: Active, In Use License Count: Non-Counted License Priority: Medium StoreIndex: 2 Feature: base Version: 1.0 License Type: Evaluation License State: Inactive Evaluation total period: 8 weeks 4 days Evaluation period left: 8 weeks 4 days License Count: Non-Counted License Priority: Low StoreIndex: 3 Feature: base-ap-count Version: 1.0 License Type: Evaluation License State: Inactive Evaluation total period: 8 weeks 4 days Evaluation period left: 8 weeks 4 days License Count: 250/0/0 License Priority: Low The License State text box shows the licenses that are in use, and the License Priority text box shows the current priority of each license.
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Step 2 | Activate an ap-count evaluation license as follows: | ||
Step 3 | If you decide to stop using the ap-count evaluation license and want to revert to using an ap-count permanent license, follow these steps: |
Right to Use (RTU) licensing is a model in which licenses are not tied to a unique device identifier (UDI), product ID, or serial number. Use RTU licensing to enable a desired AP license count on the controller after you accept the End User License Agreement (EULA). This allows you to add AP counts on a controller interacting with external tools.
RTU licensing is supported only on the following Cisco Wireless Controller platforms:
In the RTU licensing model, the following types of licenses are available:
Permanent or base licenses—These licenses are programmed into the controller hardware at the time of manufacturing. These licenses are base count licenses that cannot be deleted or transferred.
Adder licenses—These licenses are wireless access point count licenses that you can activate by accepting the RTU EULA. The EULA states that you are obliged to purchase the specified access point count licenses at the time of activation. You must activate these licenses for the purchased access points count and accept the EULA.
![]() Note | Licenses embedded in the controller at the time of shipment is not transferrable. |
Evaluation licenses—These licenses are demo or trial mode licenses that are valid for 90 days. Fifteen days prior to the expiry of the 90-day period, you are notified about the requirement to buy the permanent license. These evaluation licenses are installed with the license image. You can activate the evaluation licenses anytime with a command. A EULA is prompted after you run the activation command on the controller CLI. The EULA states that you are obligated to pay for the specified license count within 90 days of usage. The countdown starts after you accept the EULA.
Whenever you add or delete an access point adder license on the controller, you are prompted with an RTU EULA. You can either accept or decline the RTU EULA for each add or delete operation.
For high-availability (HA) controllers when you enable HA, the controllers synchronize with the enabled license count of the primary controller and support high availability for up to the license count enabled on the primary controller.
You can view the RTU licenses through the controller GUI or CLI. You can also view these licenses across multiple wireless controllers through Cisco Prime Infrastructure.
With Release 8.1, the license management for Cisco Virtual Wireless Controller is changed from license-file based management to Right-to-Use-based management. The previous licenses are still valid, and when you upgrade to Release 8.1 from an earlier release, you are required to only accept an end-user license agreement again to the quantity installed before.
Add or delete the number of APs that an AP license can support by entering this command:
license {add | delete} ap-count count
Add or delete a license for a feature by entering this command:
license {add | delete} feature license_name
Activate or deactivate an evaluation AP count license by entering this command:
license {activate | deactivate} ap-count eval
![]() Note | When you activate the license, you are prompted to accept or reject the End User License Agreement (EULA) for the given license. If you activate a license that supports fewer number of APs than the current number of APs connected to the controller, the activation command fails. |
Activate or deactivate a feature license by entering this command:
license {activate | deactivate} feature license_name
See the licensing information by entering this command:
show license all
![]() Note | After you add or delete the license, WLC must use the save config command to save the license. |
This section describes how to rehost licenses.
Revoking a license from one controller and installing it on another is called rehosting. You might want to rehost a license in order to change the purpose of a controller. For example, if you want to move your OfficeExtend or indoor mesh access points to a different controller, you could transfer the adder license from one controller to another controller of the same model (intramodel transfer). This can be done in the case of RMA or a network rearchitecture that requires you to transfer licenses from one appliance to another. It is not possible to rehost base licenses in normal scenarios of network rearchitecture. The only exception where the transfer of base licenses is allowed is for RMA when you get a replacement hardware when your existing appliance has a failure.
Evaluation licenses cannot be rehosted.
In order to rehost a license, you must generate credential information from the controller and use it to obtain a permission ticket to revoke the license from the Cisco licensing site. Next, you must obtain a rehost ticket and use it to obtain a license installation file for the controller on which you want to install the license.
![]() Note | A revoked license cannot be reinstalled on the same controller. |
![]() Note | Starting in the release 7.3, the Right-to-Use licensing is supported on the Cisco Flex 7510 WLCs, thereby the rehosting behavior changes on these controllers. If you require to rehost licenses, you need to plan rehosting the installed adder licenses prior to an upgrade. |
Rehosting a License
Step 1 | Choose to open the License Commands page. |
Step 2 | From the Action drop-down list, choose Rehost. The Revoke a License from the Device and Generate Rehost Ticket area appears. |
Step 3 | In the File Name to Save Credentials text box, enter the path on the TFTP server where you want the device credentials to be saved and click Save Credentials. |
Step 4 | To obtain a permission ticket
to revoke the license, follow these steps:
|
Step 5 | Use the rehost permission
ticket to revoke the license from this controller and generate a rehost ticket
as follows:
|
Step 6 | Use the rehost ticket
generated in
Step 5 to obtain a
license installation file, which can then be installed on another controller as
follows:
|
Step 7 | After revoking the license on original controller, correspondent evaluation licence appear with High pritority. Lower the priority of the evaluation license so that the parmanent license is in "In Use" status. |
Step 1 | Save device credential information to a file by entering this command: |
Step 2 | Obtain a permission ticket to
revoke the license as follows:
|
Step 3 | Use the rehost permission
ticket to revoke the license from this controller and generate a rehost ticket
as follows:
|
Step 4 | Use the rehost ticket
generated in
Step 3 to obtain a
license installation file, which can then be installed on another controller as
follows:
|
Step 5 | After revoking the license on original controller, correspondent evaluation licence appear with High pritority. Lower the priority of the evaluation license so that the parmanent license is in "In Use" status. |
Retrieving the Unique Device Identifier on WLCs and APs
The Unique Device Identifier (UDI) standard uniquely identifies products across all Cisco hardware product families, enabling customers to identify and track Cisco products throughout their business and network operations and to automate their asset management systems. The standard is consistent across all electronic, physical, and standard business communications. The UDI consists of five data elements:
The UDI is burned into the EEPROM of controllers and lightweight access points at the factory. It can be retrieved through either the GUI or the CLI.
Step 1 | Choose Controller > Inventory to open the Inventory page. This page shows the five data elements of the controller UDI. |
Step 2 | Choose Wireless > Access Points > All APs to open the All APs page. |
Step 3 | Click the name of the desired access point. |
Step 4 | Choose the Inventory tab to open the All APs > Details for (Inventory) page. This page shows the inventory information for the access point. |
Use these commands to retrieve the UDI on controllers and access points using the controller CLI: