A product instance is an individual device with a unique device identifier (UDI) that is registered using a registration token. You can register several instances of a product with a single registration token. Each product instance can have one or more licenses that reside in the same virtual account. Product instances must periodically connect to the Cisco SSM servers during a specific renewal period. If a product instance fails to connect, it is marked as having a license shortage, but continues to use the license. If you remove the product instance, its licenses are released and made available within the virtual account.

1. From Cisco Software Central, order a Smart Account and then log into Smart Software Licensing under the License tab. For more information, visit Cisco Smart Account.

2. Assign Virtual Accounts to different administrators and users who manage Cisco products.
3. In the Smart Software Manager screen, select Inventory from the menu options, and select an existing virtual account from the Virtual Account drop-down list.

4. On the General tab, click New Token.

   1. In the Create Registration Token window, enter a description and the number of days the token must be active (range 1-365; recommended is 30 days).
   2. (Optional) In the Max. Number of Uses field, enter the maximum number of uses allowed after which the token expires.

   3. (Optional) Check the Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token check box.

      Enabling this checkbox ensures Cisco compliance with US and country-specific export policies and guidelines. For more information, see https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/global-export-trade.html.

5. Click Create Token to create a token.
6. After successful token creation, click the drop-down arrow next to Actions, and click Copy to copy the token to the clipboard.
7. From the Device WebUI, on the Licensing page, select the Service Settings tab.
8. From the Connection Mode drop-down list, select Directly Connected, and click Next.
9. In the Cisco SSM URL field, enter the URL - https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license.
10. In the Token ID field, paste the token from the clipboard.
11. Choose one of the following buttons:
    1. Select All to establish trust on all devices in a high availability setup.
    2. Select Local to establish trust on only the local device.
12. In the Reporting Interval (Days) field, enter a value for how often the product instance reports its license information to SSM.
13. If you want to synchronize the data with SSM, set the Do you want to Sync reports? button to Enabled.
    1. Select All to synchronize all the systems in a high availability setup.
    2. Select Local to synchronize only the local system.
14. Click Finish.

For deployment scenarios that require enhanced security, Cisco SSM must be configured to gather licensing information from an on-premise collector that acts as a local license authority. This information is exchanged periodically to keep the databases synchronized. For more information, see the Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem User Guide. Perform the following steps for establishing connection with the on-premise collector utility.

1. From Cisco Software Central, order a Smart Account and then log into Smart Software Licensing under the License tab. For more information, visit Cisco Smart Account.

2. Assign Virtual Accounts to different administrators and users who manage Cisco products.
3. In the Smart Software Manager screen, select Inventory from the menu options, and select an existing virtual account from the Virtual Account drop-down list.
4. From the Device WebUI, on the Licensing page, select the Service Settings tab.
5. From the Connection Mode drop-down list, select Connected via CSLU, and click Next.
6. From the Communication Method options, you can communicate to the on-premise collector through three methods as follows:
   1. CSLU Discovery over DNS: Choose this if CSLU is discoverable over DNS.
   2. CSLU Discovery over DNS with IP Domain: Choose this if CSLU is discoverable over DNS but resides behind a HTTPs proxy server. You'll have to enter the IP domain name.
   3. CSLU URL: Choose this if CSLU is directly discoverable over the Web and you know the URL.
7. In the Reporting Interval (Days) field, enter a value for how often the product instance reports its license information to SSM.
8. If you want to synchronize the data with SSM, set the Do you want to Sync reports? button to Enabled.
   1. Select All to synchronize all the systems in a high availability setup.
   2. Select Local to synchronize only the local system.
9. Click Finish.

For advanced security reasons, where deployment scenarios do not allow product instances to connect with the Internet, a license can be reserved and manually registered on the device. For this, you need to obtain a Reservation Request Code from the product instance. To learn how to generate this code, see the configuration guide for the product being licensed. Further, you need to generate an authorization code for the device. Some advanced or export-controlled features require a licensed to be reserved, before they can be enabled on the device. After the licenses are reserved, an authorization code is uploaded to the device to enable the features. Perform the following steps for reserving a software license:

1. From the Device WebUI, on the Licensing page, select the Service Settings tab.
2. From the Connection Mode drop-down list, select Air Gap.
3. Set the Air Gap Feature button to Enabled.

You can use this procedure to upgrade or downgrade license. You can enable advanced features on your device by changing the license level. To do so:

1. From Licensing > General, click the Change License Level button.

   The Change License Level window appears.

2. Select the new license type from the New Level dropdown box.
2. For License Type Network License, you can upgrade from network-essentails to network-advantage.

3. For License Type DNA License, you can choose an upgrade to dna-essentials or dna-advantage.

   Alternately, if you do not want to upgrade, select none.

4. Click Save and Reload to load the licensing configurations.
5. Click Save without Reload to load the configurations later.
6. Click the Reload icon on the top right of the General tab to view the status of the registration. Once the device is successfully registered, some of the fields under General Information change to reflect the successful registration.

View the list of the licenses that are being used by the device - the license names, the count, the status and the type of the license in the Licensing > General > Licenses in Use table. For term licenses, the valid time period is also shown. This view is available to indicate the current status of the licenses that are being used in Evaluation mode and when new licenses are requested during the registration process.

You can extend capabilities of your primary device by adding wireless access. You can use this procedure to upgrade or downgrade license levels of wireless devices attached to your primary device. To do so:

1. From Licensing > General, click the Change Wireless License Level button.

   The Change Wireless License Level window appears.

2. Select the new license type from the Next Reload Level dropdown box.
2. For License Type AIR Network License, you can upgrade from air-network-essentails to air-network-advantage.

3. For License Type AIR DNA License, you can choose an upgrade to air-dna-advantage.

   Alternately, if you do not want to upgrade, select none.

4. Click Save and Reload to load the licensing configurations.
5. Click Save without Reload to load the configurations later.
6. Click the Reload icon on the top right of the General tab to view the status of the registration. Once the device is successfully registered, some of the fields under General Information change to reflect the successful registration.

View the list of the licenses that are being used by the device - the license names, the count, the status and the type of the license in the Licensing > General > Licenses in Use table. For term licenses, the valid time period is also shown. This view is available to indicate the current status of the licenses that are being used in Evaluation mode and when new licenses are requested during the registration process.