Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP) is a software management platform that manages all Cisco ACI product licenses. SLP simplifies license management compared to the original Cisco Smart Licensing feature. SLP provides a licensing solution that does not interrupt the operations of your network and enables a compliance relationship that considers the hardware and software licenses you purchase and use.

You can use one of the following options to report license usage to the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM):

• Online mode

• Offline mode

In online mode, you configure network settings and connect the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) to the CSSM either directly or indirectly using middleware. The Cisco APIC automatically sends a Resource Utilization Measurement (RUM) report, which details license usage, to the CSSM and gets acknowledgment from the CSSM. The online network settings are as follows:

• Direct Connect to CSSM: This is the most commonly used network setting. Cisco APIC must have Internet connectivity so that Cisco APIC can send RUM reports to CSSM directly. The DNS must be configured and the CSSM hostname (tools.cisco.com) must be pingable. In Cisco ACI 6.1(1) or later releases, the CSSM hostname is changed to: smartreceiver.cisco.com, which must be pingable from the Cisco APIC controller.

• Cisco Transport Gateway: With this setting, the Cisco APIC does not have Internet connectivity. Cisco APIC sends RUM reports to CSSM using a transport gateway. The Cisco transport gateway middleware must be already installed in the data center.

• HTTP Proxy: With this setting, the Cisco APIC does not have Internet connectivity. The Cisco APIC 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://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService). In Cisco ACI 6.1 (1) or later releases, the CSSM URL is changed to, https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license. Make sure that the web server can reach this destination.

• Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem (On-Prem): With this setting, Cisco APIC does not have Internet connectivity, whereas On-Prem must have Internet connectivity. Cisco APIC sends RUM reports to CSSM through the On-Prem. The On-Prem middleware must be already installed in the data center. This setting was known as Cisco Smart Software Manager Satellite (Manager Satellite) in Cisco ACI Smart Licensing (SL).

• Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU): With this setting, the Cisco APIC does not have Internet connectivity. The Cisco APIC sends RUM reports to CSSM using the CSLU. The CSLU Microsoft Windows version of the middleware must be already installed in the data center.

In offline mode, the Cisco APIC is isolated without any network connection with the CSSM either directly or indirectly. Because the Cisco APIC cannot reach the CSSM through a network connection, every 12 months you must download a RUM report from the Cisco APIC and import the report into the CSSM. Afterward, you must download an acknowledgment from the CSSM and import the acknowledgment into the Cisco APIC.

SLP defines a Cisco ACI product as unenforced and uses a generic policy type. Unlike the original Cisco Smart Licensing, SLP does not have a 90-day evaluation period, product registration, nor product unregistration. In addition, SLP does not have the license authorization status in the client view.

In the client view, a license entitlement has one of two statuses: in use or not in use. Because the Cisco APIC only manages those licenses that are currently enabled (in use), in the Cisco APIC GUI or CLI, you can only see licenses that have an entitlement status of In Use, and you cannot see licenses that have an entitlement status of Not In Use.

SLP monitors license usage similar to the way that you use a syslog server to monitor faults and events. The CSSM is similar to a syslog server and a RUM report is similar to a fault or event. The CSSM receives a RUM report from each Cisco APIC, stores license usage for each Cisco ACI product instance, and knows if a license entitlement is authorized or out of compliance. The Cisco APIC is only responsible for periodically sending a RUM report to the CSSM and does not know if a license entitlement is authorized or out of compliance. However, you can use the Cisco APIC CLI to show if the Cisco APIC has received the acknowledgment of the last RUM report or not.

SLP incorporates all issues and errors, such as an initial network setting configuration issue or network connectivity issue, into faults. If you do not see any faults in the Cisco APICSmart Licensing GUI, then there are no licensing issues.

SLP is supported starting with the Cisco APIC 5.2(4) release. If you have deployed the 5.2(3) release or earlier, see the Cisco ACI Smart Licensing document instead of this document:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/aci/apic/sw/all/smart-licensing/b_Smart_Licensing.html

Starting with Cisco ACI 6.1(1), the ACI product now sells switch licenses for Spine switches. The license usage that is consumed by the Spine switches are reported to CSSM. The Cisco ACI switch licenses consist of the BASE/ESS/ADV/PREM license tiers. Within an APIC controller or a fabric, if a leaf switch consumes the ADV license, all the Spine switches consume the ADV licenses. Otherwise, all the Spine switches consume the ESS licenses.

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP) uses the following smart licensing policies:

• License Type: Cisco ACI license entitlements are of the generic type, including both perpetual and subscription-based licenses.

• Enforcement: Cisco ACI license entitlements are unenforced. You can use or enable any licensed feature without authorization.

• Export Control: Cisco ACI license entitlements do not support export control or non-export control.

• First Report Requirement: After the system is rebooted, first report of license usage is required within 90 days. This is the Cisco default value and you cannot change it.

• Report on Change: When license usage is changed, the license usage must be reported within 90 days. This is the Cisco default value and you cannot change it.

• Report Interval: When you configure the network setting as an online mode, the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) reports license usage every number of days specified by this policy. The default report interval is 30 days. You can set the report interval to a value between 1 and 90 days.

If the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) does not have Internet access, you must configure a transport server to enable the Cisco APIC to send the RUM reports to the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) indirectly. The required server depends on the network setting that you configured.

• Cisco Transport Gateway: When using the gateway as a proxy server to forward smart licensing messages to the CSSM, configure the following parameters in the Cisco Transport Gateway settings:

  Parameter	Value
  destination	tools.cisco.com
  protocol	https
  port	443

  For information about installing and configuring the transport gateway, see the following document:

  https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/smart_call_home/user_guides/SCH_Ch4.pdf

• HTTP Proxy: This is your web server, served as a proxy server. You must configure the proxy server to allow the destination URL (tools.cisco.com) to pass through the firewall so that smart licensing messages can be forwarded to the CSSM. In Cisco ACI 6.1(1) or the later releases, the destination URL is changed to: https://smartreceiver.cisco.com/licservice/license. Make sure that the proxy server can reach this destination.

• Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem: In Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP), the Cisco Smart Software Manager Satellite is replaced by Ciscom Smart Software Manager On-Prem (On-Prem). On-Prem is a light-weight version of the CSSM and deployed on-premises (or inside your data center). On-Prem can aggregate RUM reports from different Cisco products deployed in the same data center and send the RUM reports to the CSSM. On-Prem supports both "poll" and "push" approaches to get RUM reports from a product instance. For a Cisco ACI product, you must use the "push" approach. That is, in the Cisco APIC GUI, configure the On-Prem URL. The Cisco APIC will push the RUM report to On-Prem.

  For information about installing and configuring On-Prem, see the following document:

  https://www.cisco.com/web/software/286285517/147683/Smart_Software_Manager_On-Prem_7_Installation_Guide.pdf

• Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU): The CSLU is a Windows-based application that enables you to administer licenses and your associated product instances from your premises instead of having to directly connect your Smart Licensed-enabled product instances to the CSSM.

  The CSLU can aggregate RUM reports from the different Cisco products deployed in the same data center and send the RUM reports to the CSSM. The CSLU is similar to On-Prem in that both support scheduled and on-demand synchronization with the CSSM. The difference is that the CSLU does not have a license database and does not bind to a specific virtual account. The CSLU can be connected to any virtual account. The CSLU only supports the Microsoft Windows operating system.

  For information about installing and configuring the CSLU for Microsoft Windows, see the following document:

  https://www.cisco.com/web/software/286327971/154599/CSLU_User_Guide.pdf

Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP) has a license catalog that specifies each license entitlement for the Cisco Cisco ACI fabric. Each license entitlement is considered as a type of license. The Product and Entitlement definition is available as a managed object in XML format. The show license catalog command displays the license catalog in a format similar to the managed object XML format.

The Device Led Conversion (DLC) tool converts Cisco ACI licenses purchased from before the 3.1(1) release into the purchased license pool in the CSSM. The conversion must be performed only once during the lifecycle of a Cisco APIC product. SLP does not support the DLC tool. Therefore, if you have not converted pre-3.1(1) release licenses with the DLC tool, you must convert the licenses before you upgrade to the Cisco APIC 5.2(4) release or later. Cisco APIC releases 3.2(1) through 5.2(3) support the DLC tool.

The standard CLI config and show commands for Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP) are supported in the Cisco ACI fabric with the following exceptions:

• In the CLI, there is no difference between the config and the exec command. Therefore, both config and the exec commands are implemented as a config command.

• By default, Smart Licensing is enabled and cannot be disabled by the user. Therefore, the [no] license smart enable CLI configuration command is not supported in the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC).

• The operational test CLI commands are not supported.

• A few CLI commands specific to the Cisco ACI fabric product line are implemented.

The CLI commands are organized as follows:

• All the show commands start with show license.

• All the configuration commands start with license smart.

• All the keywords are lower case, and a keyword can be auto filled.

• All the values (user-input value) are indicated by italics. For example, authorization_code indicates this is not a keyword, but this is the authorization code a user must type in.

• The keywords and values have help text that explains the purpose of the keywords and values.

The following list describes some common issues with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) Smart Licensing using Policy (SLP):

• In Offline mode, you forgot to download a RUM report and import the acknowledgement for a long time.

• In the Direct Connect to CSSM mode, you forgot to configure DNS on the Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) or the Cisco APIC has no Internet connection.

• In the Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem (On-Prem) mode, On-Prem polls the acknowledgement from the CSSM and the Cisco APIC polls the acknowledgement from On-Prem. The default synchronization between On-Prem and the CSSM is schedule-based, which could delay the synchronization for one or more days. You can log in to On-Prem to do a manual synchronization from On-Prem to the CSSM, which resolves the synchronization issue.