What is Smart Licensing?
Smart Licensing is a cloud-based, flexible software licensing model that enables you to activate and manage Cisco software licenses across their organization. Smart Licensing solution allows you to easily track the status of your license and software usage trends. Cisco Smart Licensing establishes a pool of licenses or entitlements that can be used across the entire organization in a flexible and automated manner. Smart Licensing helps simplify four core functions:
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Purchase—Creates a Smart Account (and optionally, your Virtual Account). Licenses are added to your Smart Account and are immediately available for use.
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Install—Register your product with your Smart Account using an account-based Registration Token. Thereafter, the entire process is automatic. Product Activation Keys (PAKs) and license files are no longer needed.
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Management—Make changes to license consumption by updating your configuration; any license change is automatically reflected in your Smart Account. You can share licenses in your Virtual Account through the license pooling option. License pools (logical grouping of licenses) can reflect your organization structure. Smart Licensing solution also offers Cisco Smart Software Manager, a centralized portal that enables you to manage all your Cisco software licenses from one centralized website.
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Visibility and Asset Management—Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) portal offers an integrated view of the licenses you own and have deployed. You can use this data to make better purchase decisions, based on your consumption.