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:

  • Purchase—Creates a Smart Account (and optionally, your Virtual Account). Licenses are added to your Smart Account and are immediately available for use.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

What is Flexible Consumption Model?

Table 1. Feature History Table

Feature Name

Release Information

Feature Description

Support for Flexible Consumption Model on A900-IMA-8Z-L-CC

Release 7.9.1

Support for Flexible Consumption Model (FCM) is now extended to the following Interface Module:

  • A900-IMA-8Z-L-CC-ASR 900 8 X 10GE Interface Module, Lite, Conformal Coated

Support for Flexible Consumption Model on

  • N560-IMA8Q

  • N560-IMA2C-DD

  • A900-IMA8Z

Release 7.4.1

Support for Flexible Consumption Model (FCM) is now extended to the following interface modules supported on the Cisco routers:

  • N560-IMA8Q

  • N560-IMA2C-DD

  • A900-IMA8Z

Essential and Advantage smart licenses in a combined entitlement

Release 7.4.1

With this release, the Advanced licenses are now referred to as the Advantage licenses, without essential entitlement.

Also, a new license model – Advantage with Essentials, has been introduced that contains both Essential and Advantage licenses as a combined entitlement in a single PID. This simplifies the license procurement and management effort by eliminating the need to procure separate PIDs for Essential and Advantage licenses.

The Flexible Consumption Model (FCM) provides the capability and flexibility to purchase software capacity as needed. FCM delivers the following:

  • Pay-as-you-grow—Enables you to lower initial costs and add more capacity over time.

  • Simplify operations—FCM delivers the carrier-class IOS-XR software feature set with two software suites, Essentials and Advantage, that simplifies license management.

  • Utilize capital efficiently—License pooling enables an efficient way to share licenses across the network.


Note

FCM is enabled by default for Cisco IOS XR Release 7.1.2 and later.

The types of licenses in this model are:

  • Essential Licenses are the base licenses that are required by every active port for its operation. An example of Essential License is ESS-AC-10G-RTU-1.

  • Advantage (earlier known as Advanced licenses) without essential licenses, are the licenses that are required on top of Essential Licenses for ports that use advanced features like L3VPN. An example of an advantage license is ADV-AC-10G-RTU-1.

  • Advantage with Essential combination licenses are the licenses that are packaged together as a combined entitlement. Example of an advantage license with essentials is ADN-AC-100G-RTU-1.

  • Tracking licenses, for example .

To enable Flexible Consumption model licensing on routers running Cisco IOS XR Releases 7.1.1 and earlier: 

Router(config)# license smart flexible-consumption enable 
Router(config)# commit

To verify the Flexible Consumption Model configuration:

Device# show running-config license smart flexible-consumption enable

The following table provides information about FCM licenses for Cisco NCS 560 routers:

Table 2. Flexible Consumption Licensing Model Usage Pattern

Flexible Consumption Model Licenses

Consumption Pattern

Essential Licenses:

  • ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1

Advantage Licenses:

  • ADV-AC-100G-RTU-1

If the router has a modular chassis, the license consumption checks are performed on the chassis.

Hardware Tracking Licenses that support the chassis:

  • N560-4-SYS-TRK

  • N560-4-SYS-E-TRK

  • N560-4-SYS-CC-TRK

  • N560-4-SYSE-CC-TRK

Licensing consumption is checked on every chassis.

Hardware Tracking Licenses that support components in the chassis.

  • N560-IMA2C-TRK

  • A900-IMA8Z-TRK

  • A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK

Licensing consumption is checked on every chassis. For example, the N560-IMA2C-TRK license is tracked on the chassis that has this line card.

Table 3. Advantage with Essential Licenses

License Product ID

License Entitlement

License Description

ADN-AC-100G-RTU-1

1 ESS RTU Tag + 1 ADV RTU Tag

Access Advantage with Essentials SW RTU v1.0 100G

ESS-ADN-AC-100G-RT

1 ADV RTU Tag

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade RTU per 100G

ESS-ADN-AC100G-SST

1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade SIA 100G 1-35 month term

ESS-ADN-AC100G-S3

1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade SIA 100G 3-5 yrs

ESS-ADN-AC100G-S5

1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Essentials to Advantage Upgrade SIA 100G 5-10 yrs

ADN-AC-100G-SIA-3

1 ESS SIA 3 Tag + 1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Advantage with Essentials SIA 100G 3-5 year term

ADN-AC-100G-SIA-5

1 ESS SIA 3 Tag + 1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Advantage with Essentials SIA 100G 5-10 year term

ADN-AC-100G-SIA-ST

1 ESS SIA 3 Tag + 1 ADV SIA 3 Tag

Access Advantage with Essentials SIA 100G 1-35 month term

Software Innovation Access

Table 4. Feature History Table

Release Information

Feature Description

Software Innovation Access (SIA) Entitlement

Release 7.3.1

SIA license grants you access to the latest software upgrades which contain new features, bug fixes, and security enhancements for devices on your network. Also, it enables the consumption of Advantage and Essential Right-to-Use (RTU) licenses on your device, and allows portability of these RTU licenses from one device to another.

Overview

Software Innovation Access (SIA) subscription, a type of FCM licensing, provides access to the latest software upgrades and features for your network. SIA licenses enable the consumption of Right-to-Use (RTU) licenses for your devices to access software innovation and avail support for your devices throughout the term of subscription.

The benefits of SIA subscription are:

  • Access to software innovation: SIA subscription provides access to continuous software upgrades which contain latest features, security enhancements, and bug fixes for all your devices at a network level.

  • Pooling of licenses: SIA subscription enables Right-to-Use (RTU) licenses to be shared across your FCM network from a common license pool through the virtual account.

  • Protects your investment: SIA subscription enables the portability of perpetual RTU licenses purchased for your current device to a next-generation router when you expand or upgrade your network.

The initial term of a SIA subscription is for a term of three years. You can renew the subscription by contacting your Cisco account representative. An equal number of SIA licenses and corresponding RTU licenses are required to enjoy the benefits, and ensure that your network is in compliance. There are two types of SIA licenses available:

  • : To utilize Advantage RTU licenses, you need Advantage SIA licenses.

  • : Essential SIA licenses are required to utilise Essential RTU on your device.

If your device is in a state of SIA Out-of-Compliance (OOC) the benefits cease.

SIA Out-of-compliance (OOC) state

When your device is in a SIA Out-of-compliance state, support for major software version upgrades in your network devices are restricted. However, you can continue to perform minor updates, SMU installations, and RPM installations, and continue to utilize the RTU licenses without support for porting.

A device can get into a SIA Out-of-compliance (OOC) state in the following instances:

  • The SIA License EVAL period of 90 days has expired.

  • The number of SIA licenses consumed has exceeded the number of SIA licenses purchased. This can also occur when the RTU licenses consumed is higher than the number of SIA licenses purchased.

  • The term of the SIA license has expired and you haven’t renewed the subscription.

  • The license authorization status is:

    • Not Authorized: The license authorization code installed doesn’t contain sufficient counts for the request. This can occur when you attempt to use more licenses than the licenses available in your Virtual Account.

    • Authorization expired: The device hasn’t been able to connect to CSSM for an extended period, due to which the authorization status couldn’t be verified.


Note

The CSSM smart license hierarchy applies to the Right-to-Use (RTU) license only. Therefore, if there is an insufficient RTU 100G license, CSSM can convert the RTU 400G license into four RTU 100G licenses. This is not applicable for SIA license.

In order to bring your device to In-Compliance state, perform one of the following steps:

  • Register your device with CSSM if the SIA license EVAL period has expired.

  • If the SIA license has expired or the number of SIA licenses consumed is more than the number of SIA licenses purchased, contact your Cisco Account Representative to purchase or renew the required licenses.

  • If the authorization code has insufficient counts for the request, generate the code with sufficient counts.

  • If the authorization has expired, connect the device with CSSM.

When the device enters an OOC state, a grace period of 90 days (cumulative of all the previous occurences) begins. During this period, SIA license benefits can still be availed. The system attempts to renew the authorization period by connecting with the CSSM during the grace period, or even after the grace period has expired. If an attempt isn’t successful, it remains in an OOC state. If the attempt is successful, a new authorization period begins and the device is In-Compliance.

Verification

To verify the device compliance status, use the show license platform summary command:

Examples

Status: In-Compliance

Router# show license platform summary 
Mon Jan 25 20:52:35.954 UTC
Collection: LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:30:42 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:31:42 UTC
Reporting:  LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:30:42 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:31:42 UTC
SIA Status: In Compliance
                                                                   Count
Feature/Area     Entitlement                                     Last Next
============ =================================================== ==== ====
FCM          Total A900-IMA8CS1Z-M LCs in the system                1    0
FCM          Total A900-IMA8Z LCs in the system                     2    0
FCM          NCS560-4 Base Hardware Tracking PID                    1    0

Status: Out-of-Compliance (Grace Period Remaining)

Router# show license platform summary 
Mon Jan 25 20:52:35.954 UTC
Collection: LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 20:51:51 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 20:52:51 UTC
Reporting:  LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 20:51:51 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 20:52:51 UTC
**********************************IMPORTANT************************************
SIA Status: Out of Compliance(Remaining Grace Period: 90 days, 0 hours)
            SIA license(s) status is Not Authorized. 
            SW Upgrade will still be allowed as SIA Grace Period is remaining
*******************************************************************************
                                                                   Count
Feature/Area     Entitlement                                     Last Next
============ =================================================== ==== ====
FCM          Total A900-IMA8CS1Z-M LCs in the system                1    0
FCM          Total A900-IMA8Z LCs in the system                     2    0

Status: Out-of-Compliance (Grace Period expired and upgrades are blocked)

Router# show license platform summary 
Mon Jan 25 20:52:35.954 UTC
Collection: LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:51:51 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:52:51 UTC
Reporting:  LAST: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:51:51 UTC
            NEXT: Mon Jan 25 2021 21:52:51 UTC
**********************************IMPORTANT************************************
SIA Status: Out of Compliance(Grace Period Expired)
            SW Upgrades are blocked as SIA license(s) are in "Not Authorized" state
*******************************************************************************

                                                                   Count
Feature/Area     Entitlement                                     Last Next
============ =================================================== ==== ====
FCM          Total A900-IMA8CS1Z-M LCs in the system                1    0
FCM          Total A900-IMA8Z LCs in the system                     2    0

How Does Smart Licensing Work?

Table 5. Feature History Table

Feature Name

Release Information

Feature Description

Smart Transport Support

Release 7.4.1

You can now use Smart transport to communicate with CSSM. Smart transport is a transport method where a Smart Licensing (JSON) message is contained within an HTTPs message, and exchanged between a product instance and CSSM, to communicate. The following Smart transport configuration options are available:

  • Smart transport: In this method, a product instance uses a specific Smart transport licensing server URL. This must be configured exactly as shown in the workflow section.

  • Smart transport through an HTTPs proxy: In this method, a product instance uses a proxy server to communicate with the licensing server, and eventually, CSSM.

Figure 1. Smart Licensing - Workflow

  1. Place Order and Create Smart Account—You must have a Smart Account to set up Smart Licensing.

    1. Go to https://software.cisco.com/.

    2. Under the Administration section, click Get a Smart Account or Request Access to an Existing Smart Account.

    3. Verify or enter your Cisco.com profile details to complete creating a Smart Account.

  2. Activate and Use Software—Register your product. For more information, see the Registering your Router section. You can use either of the following options to communicate with the CSSM:

    • Smart Transport—The Smart Transport method is a transport method where a Smart Licensing (JSON) message is contained within a HTTPs message, and exchanged between a product instance and CSSM to communicate. The following Smart transport configuration options are available.

      • Smart Transport: In this method, a product instance uses a specific Smart transport licensing server URL. This must be configured exactly as shown in the workflow section.

      • Smart transport through an HTTPs proxy: In this method, a product instance uses a proxy server to communicate with the licensing server, and eventually, CSSM.

    • Smart Call Home—The Smart Call Home feature is automatically configured. Smart Call Home is used by Smart Licensing as a medium for communication with the CSSM. You can use this feature to page a network support engineer, email a Network Operations Center, or use Cisco Smart Call Home services to generate a case with the Technical Assistance Center. The Call Home feature can deliver alert messages containing information about diagnostics and environmental faults and events. For more information on Smart Call Home feature, see the Smart Call Home Deployment Guide.

    • Smart Licensing CSSM On-Prem—The Smart licensing on-premise option provides an on-premises collector that can be used to consolidate and manage Smart license usage, as well as facilitate communications back to the CSSM at Cisco.com.

  3. Manage Licenses—You can manage and view reports about your overall license usage in the Smart Software Manager portal.

What is Cisco Smart Software Manager?

Cisco Smart Software Manager enables you to manage all of your Cisco Smart software licenses from one centralized website. With Cisco Smart Software Manager, you organize and view your licenses in groups called virtual accounts (collections of licenses and product instances). The Cisco Smart Software Manager allows you to:

  • Create, manage, or view virtual accounts

  • Create and manage Product Instance Registration Tokens

  • Transfer licenses between virtual accounts or view licenses

  • Transfer, remove, or view product instances

  • Run reports against your virtual accounts

  • Modify your email notification settings

  • View overall account information

To access the Cisco Smart Software Manager:

Smart Licensing Deployment Options

The following illustration shows the various options available for deploying Smart Licensing:

Figure 2. Smart Licensing Deployment Options

  1. Direct cloud access—In this method, Cisco products send usage information directly over the internet to CSSM on http://www.cisco.com; no additional components are needed for deployment.

  2. Direct cloud access through an HTTPs proxy—In direct cloud access through an HTTPs proxy deployment method, Cisco products send usage information over the internet through a proxy server—either a Smart Call Home Transport Gateway or off-the-shelf Proxy (such as Apache) to CSSM on http://www.cisco.com.

  3. Mediated access through an on-premises collector-connected—In mediated access through an on-premises collector-connected deployment method, Cisco products send usage information to a locally connected collector, which acts as a local license authority. Periodically, the information is exchanged to keep the databases in synchronization.

  4. Mediated access through an on-premises collector-disconnected—In the mediated access through an on-premises collector-disconnected deployment method, Cisco products send usage information to a local disconnected collector, which acts as a local license authority. Exchange of human-readable information is performed occasionally (once a month) to keep the databases in synchronization.

Options 1 and 2 provide easy deployment options, whereas options 3 and 4 provide secure environment deployment options.


Note

Smart Software On-Premise provides support for options 3 and 4.

The communication between Cisco devices and CSSM is facilitated by the Smart Call Home software.

YANG Data Models for Smart Licensing

YANG is a data modeling language that helps to create configurations, retrieve operational data and execute actions. The router acts on the data definition when these operations are requested using NETCONF RPCs. The data model handles the following types of requirements on the routers for smart licensing functionality:

Data

Data Model

CLI Commands

Configuration data: a set of writable data that is required to configure smart licensing on the router.

Native data model:

Cisco-IOS-XR-smart-license-cfg.yang

  • license smart reservation

  • [no] license smart reservation

  • license smart flexible-consumption enable

  • [no] license smart flexible-consumption enable

Operational state data: a set of data that the system obtains at run time.

Common data model:

cisco-smart-license.yang

Native data model:

Cisco-IOS-XR-smart-

license-platform-oper.yang

Cisco-IOS-XR-infra-

-smartlicense-oper.yang
  • show license platform summary
  • show license platform detail

  • show license [all | summary | usage | udi]

Actions: a set of NETCONF actions that support robust networkwide configuration transactions.

Native data model:

Cisco-IOS-XR-smart-license-act.yang
  • license smart register id token
  • license smart deregister
  • license smart renew id
  • license smart renew auth
  • license smart reservation request local
  • license smart reservation cancel local
  • license smart reservation install file <file path>
  • license smart reservation return local
  • license smart reservation return authorization file <file path>
  • license smart transport smart
  • license smart url <url>
  • license smart software-upgrade enable
  • license smart proxy hostname <hostname/ip>

  • license smart proxy port <port>
You can access the data models from the Github repository. To learn more about the data models and put them to use, see the Programmability Configuration Guide.

Configuring Smart Licensing

Prerequisites for Configuring Smart Licensing

Ensure that you have completed the following activities on Cisco Smart Software Manager:

  • Set up a Cisco Smart Account. For more information, see the How Smart Licensing Works section in this document.

  • Set up Virtual Account or accounts. For more information, see the Virtual Accounts section in the Smart Software Manager Help.

  • Create user roles in the Users tab in the Manage Smart Account page. Provide the appropriate user access rights.

  • Accept the Smart Software Licensing Agreement on Cisco Smart Software Manager to register your router.

  • Have a layer 3 connection set up on your router.

  • Configure a valid DNS and proper time on the router to connect CSSM or CSSM On-Prem.

Setting up the Router for Smart Licensing

Table 6. Three-step Roadmap to Set up the Router for Smart Licensing

Activity

Communication Connection Options

Step 1—Configure Communications

See the Configuring a Direct Cloud Connection section.

See the Configuring a Connection through a HTTP Proxy section.

See the Connecting to CSSM On-Premise section.

Step 2—Register and Activate

See the Registering and Activating your Router section.

Step 3—Verify the Configuration

See the Verifying your Smart Licensing Configuration section.

Configuring a Communications Connection Between the Router and Cisco Smart Software Manager

Configuring a Direct Cloud Connection

In this deployment option, the configure call-home profile is configured by default. Use the show call-home profile all command to check the profile status.

Call Home service provides email-based and web-based notification of critical system events to Cisco Smart Software Manager.

To configure and enable Call Home service:

Procedure
  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

call-home

Example:
Router(config)# call-home

Enters Call Home configuration mode.

Step 3

service active

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# service active

Activates Call Home service.

Step 4

contact-email-addr email-address

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# contact-email-addr username@example.com

Assigns the provided email address. You can enter up to 200 characters in email address format.

Note

 

Spaces are not allowed in the email address.

Step 5

profile CiscoTAC-1

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# profile CiscoTAC-1

Enables the CiscoTAC-1 profile to be used with the Call Home service. By default, the CiscoTAC-1 profile is disabled.

Step 6

destination transport-method http

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination transport-method http

Enables the Call Home service through an HTTP connection.

Step 7

destination address http url

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination address http https://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService

Connects the router to the Cisco Smart Software Manager.

Step 8

active

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# active

Enables the destination profile.

Step 9

no destination transport-method email

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# no destination transport-method email

Disables the email option for the Call Home service.

Step 10

commit

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# commit

Commits the configuration.

Step 11

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# exit

Exits the Call Home destination profile configuration mode and returns to the Call Home configuration mode.

Step 12

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# exit
Router(config)#

Exits the Call Home configuration mode and returns to the global configuration mode.

Configuring a Connection Through an HTTP Proxy

The Call Home service can be configured through an HTTPs proxy server.

Procedure
  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

call-home

Example:
Router(config)# call-home

Enters Call Home configuration mode.

Step 3

service active

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# service active

Enables the Call Home feature.

Step 4

contact-email-address email-address

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# contact-email-addr sch-smart-licensing@cisco.com

Configures the default email address.

Step 5

http-proxy proxy-address port port-number

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# http-proxy 198.51.100.10 port 3128

Provides the proxy server information to the Call Home service.

Step 6

profile CiscoTAC-1

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# profile CiscoTAC-1

Enables the CiscoTAC-1 profile to be used with the Call Home service. By default, the CiscoTAC-1 profile is disabled.

Step 7

no destination transport-method email

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# no destination transport-method email

Disables the email option for the Call Home service.

Step 8

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# exit
Router(config-call-home)#

Exits the Call Home destination profile configuration mode and returns to the Call Home configuration mode.

Step 9

profile profile-name

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# profile test1

Enters the Call Home destination profile configuration mode for the specified destination profile name. If the specified destination profile does not exist, it is created.

Step 10

reporting smart-licensing-data

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# reporting smart-licensing-data

Enables data sharing with the Call Home service through the configured transport method, in this case, HTTP.

Step 11

destination transport-method http

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination transport-method http

Enables the HTTP message transport method.

Step 12

destination address http url

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination address http https://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService

Connects the router to the Cisco Smart Software Manager.

Step 13

active

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# active

Enables the destination profile.

Step 14

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# exit

Exits the Call Home destination profile configuration mode and returns to the Call Home configuration mode.

Step 15

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# exit
Router(config)#

Exits the Call Home configuration mode and returns to the global configuration mode.

Step 16

commit

Example:
Router(config)# commit

Commits the configuration.

Connecting to CSSM On-Premise

This section describes how to configure the Call Home service for on-premise smart software through connected or disconnected mode.

Procedure
  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

configure terminal

Example:
Router# configure terminal

Enters global configuration mode.

Step 2

call-home

Example:
Router(config)# call-home

Enters Call Home configuration mode.

Step 3

profile profile-name

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# profile test1

Enters the Call Home destination profile configuration mode for the specified destination profile name. If the specified destination profile does not exist, it is created.

Step 4

reporting smart-licensing-data

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# reporting smart-licensing-data

Enables data sharing with the Call Home service through the configured transport method, in this case, HTTP.

Step 5

destination transport-method http

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination transport-method http

Enables the HTTP message transport method.

Step 6

destination address http url

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination address http http://209.165.201.15/Transportgateway/services/DeviceRequestHandler 
 
Or  
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination address http https://209.165.201.15/Transportgateway/services/DeviceRequestHandler

Configures the destination URL (CSSM) to which Call Home messages are sent. Ensure the IP address or the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the destination URL matches the IP address or the FQDN as configured for the Host Name on the CSSM On-Prem.

Step 7

no destination address http url

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# no destination address http https://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService

Removes the default destination address.

Step 8

destination preferred-msg-format {long-text | short-text | xml}

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# destination preferred-msg-format xml

(Optional) Configures a preferred message format. The default message format is XML.

Step 9

active

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# active

Enables the destination profile.

Step 10

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home-profile)# exit

Exits the Call Home destination profile configuration mode and returns to the Call Home configuration mode.

Step 11

exit

Example:
Router(config-call-home)# exit
Router(config)#

Exits the Call Home configuration mode and returns to the global configuration mode.

Step 12

http client source-interface ip-version interface-type interface-number

Example:
Router(config)# http client source-interface ipv4 Vlan100

Configures a source interface for the HTTP client.

Note

 

This command is mandatory for a VRF interface.

Step 13

crypto ca trustpool policy crl optional

Example:
Router(config)# crypto ca trustpool policy crl optional

(Optional) Bypasses the Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs) check and establishes the connection. By default, the CRLs check is mandatory while establishing a TLS connection. We recommend this step when the smart licensing-enabled router is within a network and can rely on the License server to check the certificate status without retrieving and caching each CRL for every peer.

Step 14

commit

Example:
Router(config)# commit

Commits the configuration.

Step 15

end

Example:
Router(config)# end

Returns to the global configuration mode.

Registering and Activating Your Router

Product registration securely associates a device with the Smart Account and the Virtual Account of your choice. It also establishes trust between the end product and the CSSM. Tokens are used to register a product with the appropriate Virtual Account on CSSM Cloud (on Cisco.com) or CSSM On-Premise.


Note
When the router is in an unregistered state, the licenses are in EVAL (evaluation) mode. Evaluation period will last for 90 days.

A Registration Token:

  • Can be either used once or reused multiple times. You can set a limit to the number of times a token can be reused when you create the token.

  • Can be created and revoked at any time.

  • Expires after a period of time (default is 30 days; minimum is one day; maximum is 365 days)

A Registration Token is not:

  • Product specific: The same Registration Token can be used on different product types.

  • A license, key, or PAK.

  • Stored on the Cisco device and they are not persistent.

  • Required after the product is registered. Token expiration has no effect on previously registered products; it simply means that that token can no longer be used to register a new product.

Generating a New Token from CSSM

Procedure

Step 1

If you choose the direct cloud access deployment option, log in to CSSM from https://software.cisco.com/#.

If you chose the mediated access deployment option, log in to CSSM On-Prem from https://<on-prem-ip-address>:8443.

Step 2

Select the Inventory tab.

Step 3

From the Virtual Account drop-down list, choose the virtual account to which you want to register your product.

Step 4

Select the General tab.

Step 5

Click New Token.

The Create Registration Token window is displayed.

Step 6

In the Description field, enter the token description.

In the Expire After field, enter the number of days the token must be active. The default value is 30 days.

In the Max. Number of Uses field, enter the maximum number of uses allowed after which the token expires.

Select the Allow export-controlled functionality on the products registered with this token checkbox to ensure 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.

Click Create Token.

Step 7

After the token is created, select and copy the token to a text file.

You need this token to register your router.

What to do next

See the Registering Your Device With the Token section.

Registering Your Device With the Token

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

license smart register idtoken token-ID

Example:

license smart register idtoken $Tl4UytrNXBzbEs1ck8veUtWaG5abnZJOFdDa1FwbVRa%0AblRMbz0%3D%0A

Registers Smart Licensing on the router using the registration token created in the CSSM. On successful registration, the product instance is created in the CSSM virtual account and its license usage is displayed on the CSSM.

Example

Register Device Using YANG Data Model

As an alternative to the CLI command, the Cisco-IOS-XR-smart-license-act YANG data model can also be used to register your device with CSSM On-prem server. The following example shows the NETCONF RPC request:

<rpc xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:netconf:base:1.0" message-id="101">
  <register-id-token xmlns="http://cisco.com/ns/yang/Cisco-IOS-XR-smart-license-act">
    <id-token>$Tl4UytrNXBzbEs1ck8veUtWaG5abnZJOFdDa1FwbVRa%0AblRMbz0%3D%0A</id-token>
  </register-id-token>
</rpc>

Renewing Your Smart Licensing Registration

Your registration is automatically renewed every six months. To find the status of the license, use the license smart renew auth command.

As long as the license is in an 'Authorized' or 'Out-of-compliance' (OOC) state, the authorization period is renewed. Grace period starts when an authorization period expires. During the grace period or when the grace period is in the 'Expired' state, the system continues to try to renew the authorization period. If a retry is successful, a new authorization period starts.


Note

If the smart license renewal fails, then the product instance goes to an unidentified state and starts consuming the evaluation period.

Before you begin

Ensure that the following conditions are met to renew your smart license:

  • Smart licensing is enabled.

  • The router is registered.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

license smart renew {auth | id}

Example:

Router# license smart renew auth

Renews your token ID or authorization with Cisco smart licensing.

Deregistering Your Router from CSSM

When a router is taken off the inventory, shipped elsewhere for redeployment, or returned to Cisco for replacement, you can deregister that router.

Before you begin

Ensure that a Layer 3 connection to CSSM is available to successfully deregister the device.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

license smart deregister

Example:

Router# license smart deregister

Cancels the registration of the router and sends the router into evaluation mode. All smart licensing entitlements and certificates on the corresponding platform are removed. The product instance of the router stored on CSSM is also removed.

Verifying the Smart Licensing Configuration

Use the following show commands to verify the default Smart Licensing configuration. If any issue is detected, take corrective action before making further configurations.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose

Step 1

show license status

Example:

Router# show license status

Displays the compliance status of Smart Licensing. Following are the possible status:

  • Waiting—Indicates that the initial state after your device has made a license entitlement request. The device establishes communication with Cisco and successfully registers itself with the Cisco license manager.

  • Authorized—Indicates that your device is able to communicate with the Cisco license manager, and is authorized to initiate requests for license entitlements.

  • Out-Of-Compliance—Indicates that one or more of your licenses are out-of-compliance. Buy more licenses, or renew the existing licenses.

  • Eval Period—Indicates that Smart Licensing is consuming the evaluation period. Register the device with the Cisco Licensing manager, else your license expires.

    Note

     

    Repetitive 'Smart Licensing evaluation expired' warning messages are displayed on the console every hour, but there is no functionality impact on the device. To stop these repetitive messages, register the device again with new a registration token.

  • Disabled—Indicates that Smart Licensing is disabled.

  • Invalid—Indicates that Cisco does not recognize the entitlement tag as the tag is not in the database.

Step 2

show license all

Example:

Router# show license all

Displays all entitlements in use. The output also displays the associated licensing certificates, compliance status, Unique Device Identifier (UDI), and other details.

Step 3

show license status

Example:

Router# show license status

Displays the status of all entitlements in use.

Step 4

show license udi

Example:

Router# show license udi

Displays the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) information.

Step 5

show license summary

Example:

Router# show license summary

Displays a summary of all entitlements in use.

Step 6

show license platform summary

Example:

Router# show license platform summary

Displays the registration status and provides detailed information about the essential, advantage without essentials, advantage with essentials, and tracking license consumption in generic or vortex license model.

Step 7

show license platform detail

Example:

Router# show license platform detail

Displays detailed information about:

  • Licenses that can be consumed on a platform in both, generic and vortex models

  • The active model, whether generic or vortex model

  • The current count and the next consumption count of a license

Step 8

show call-home smart-licensing statistics

Example:

Router# show call-home smart-licensing statistics

Displays statistics of the communication between the Smart Licensing manager and the Cisco back-end using Smart Call Home.

Note

 

If the communication fails or drops, check your call home configuration for any errors.

Smart Licensing Configuration Examples

Example: Viewing the Call Home Profile

To display the http Call Home profile or the On-Prem Call Home profile, use the show call-home profile all command. 

Router# show call-home profile all 

Mon Jul  6 07:12:03.728 UTC 
  
  
Profile Name: CiscoTAC-1 
    Profile status: ACTIVE 
    Profile mode: Full Reporting 
    Reporting Data: Smart Call Home, Smart Licensing 
    Preferred Message Format: xml 
    Message Size Limit: 3145728 Bytes 
    Transport Method: http 
    HTTP  address(es): https://tools.cisco.com/its/service/oddce/services/DDCEService 
    Other address(es): default 
  
    Periodic configuration info message is scheduled every 5 day of the month at 9 :51 
  
    Periodic inventory info message is scheduled every 5 day of the month at 9 :36 
  
    Alert-group               Severity 
    ------------------------  ------------ 
    inventory                    normal       
  
    Syslog-Pattern            Severity 
    ------------------------  ------------ 
    .*                           critical 

Router# show call-home profile all 
Tue Jul  7 18:48:47.325 UTC 
  
  
Profile Name: CiscoTAC-1 
    Profile status: ACTIVE 
    Profile mode: Full Reporting 
    Reporting Data: Smart Call Home, Smart Licensing 
    Preferred Message Format: xml 
    Message Size Limit: 3145728 Bytes 
    Transport Method: http 
    HTTP  address(es): http://10.30.110.38/Transportgateway/services/RouterRequestHandler 
                        
    Other address(es): default 
  
    Periodic configuration info message is scheduled every 5 day of the month at 9 :51 
  
    Periodic inventory info message is scheduled every 5 day of the month at 9 :36 
  
    Alert-group                Severity 
    ------------------------  ------------ 
    inventory                    normal       
  
    Syslog-Pattern            Severity 
    ------------------------  ------------ 
    .*                                critical

Example: Viewing License Information Before Registration

To display the license entitlements, use the show license all command: 

Router# show license all                          
Mon Jul  6 07:25:24.369 UTC 
  
Smart Licensing Status 
====================== 
  
Smart Licensing is ENABLED 
  
Registration: 
  Status: UNREGISTERED 
  Export-Controlled Functionality: NOT ALLOWED 
  
License Authorization:  
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED on Jul 31 2019 10:11:28 UTC 
  
Export Authorization Key: 
  Features Authorized: 
    <none> 
  
Utility: 
  Status: DISABLED 
  
Data Privacy: 
  Sending Hostname: yes 
    Callhome hostname privacy: DISABLED 
    Smart Licensing hostname privacy: DISABLED 
  Version privacy: DISABLED 
  
Transport: 
  Type: Callhome 
  
License Usage 
============== 
  
(ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(N560-4-SYS-E-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(A900-IMA8Z-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 2 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
Product Information 
=================== 
UDI: PID:NCS560-4,SN:FOX2305P81D 
  
Agent Version 
============= 
Smart Agent for Licensing: 4.9.6_rel/41 
  
Reservation Info 
================  
License reservation: DISABLED

To display the license usage information, use the show license usage command: 

Router# show license usage        
Mon Jul  6 07:26:07.579 UTC 
  
License Authorization:  
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED on Jul 31 2019 10:11:28 UTC 
  
(ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(N560-4-SYS-E-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(A900-IMA8Z-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 2 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED 
  
(A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK): 
  Description:  
  Count: 1 
  Version: 1.0 
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED

To display all the license summaries, use the show license summary command: 

Router# show license summary 
Mon Jul  6 07:27:23.696 UTC 
  
Smart Licensing is ENABLED 
  
Registration: 
  Status: UNREGISTERED 
  Export-Controlled Functionality: NOT ALLOWED 
  
License Authorization:  
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED 
  
License Usage: 
  License                 Entitlement tag                        Count Status 
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
                          (ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1)                 1 EVAL EXPIRED 
                          (N560-4-SYS-E-TRK)                  1 EVAL EXPIRED 
                          (A900-IMA8Z-TRK)                    2 EVAL EXPIRED 
                          (A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK)                1 EVAL EXPIRED

To display the license status information, use the show license status command: 

Router# show license status       
Mon Jul  6 07:28:23.414 UTC 
  
Smart Licensing is ENABLED 
  
Utility: 
  Status: DISABLED 
  
Data Privacy: 
  Sending Hostname: yes 
    Callhome hostname privacy: DISABLED 
    Smart Licensing hostname privacy: DISABLED 
  Version privacy: DISABLED 
  
Transport: 
  Type: Callhome 
  
Registration: 
  Status: UNREGISTERED 
  Export-Controlled Functionality: NOT ALLOWED 
  
License Authorization:  
  Status: EVAL EXPIRED on Jul 31 2019 10:11:28 UTC 
  
Export Authorization Key: 
  Features Authorized: 
    <none>

Example: Registering the Router

To register a device, use the license smart register idtoken command: 

Router# license smart register idtoken Tl4UytrNXBzbEs1ck8veUtWaG5abnZJOFdDa1FwbVRa%0AblRMbz0%3D%0A

Example: Viewing License Information After Registration

To display the license entitlements, use the show license all command 

Router# show license all   
Mon Jul  6 07:13:23.823 UTC  
   
Smart Licensing Status  
======================  
   
Smart Licensing is ENABLED  
   
Registration:  
  Status: REGISTERED  
  Smart Account: Forty-Two uLtd.  
  Virtual Account: IOSXR  
  Export-Controlled Functionality: ALLOWED  
  Initial Registration: SUCCEEDED on Jul 01 2020 07:14:24 UTC  
  Last Renewal Attempt: None  
  Next Renewal Attempt: Dec 28 2020 07:14:23 UTC  
  Registration Expires: Jul 01 2021 07:01:42 UTC  
   
License Authorization:   
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE on Jul 01 2020 07:14:38 UTC  
  Last Communication Attempt: SUCCEEDED on Jul 05 2020 19:15:51 UTC  
  Next Communication Attempt: Jul 06 2020 07:15:50 UTC  
  Communication Deadline: Oct 03 2020 19:10:49 UTC  
   
Export Authorization Key:  
  Features Authorized:  
    <none>  
   
Utility:  
  Status: DISABLED  
   
Data Privacy:  
  Sending Hostname: yes  
    Callhome hostname privacy: DISABLED  
    Smart Licensing hostname privacy: DISABLED  
  Version privacy: DISABLED  
   
Transport:  
  Type: Callhome  
   
License Usage  
==============  
   
Access Essentials SW Right-to-Use v1.0 per 100G (ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1):  
  Description: Access Essentials SW Right-to-Use v1.0 per 100G  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for N560-4-SYS-E Vortex ATO (N560-4-SYS-E-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for N560-4-SYS-E Vortex ATO  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for ASR 900 8-port 10GE Interface Module (A900-IMA8Z-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for ASR 900 8-port 10GE Interface Module  
  Count: 2  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for ASR 900 8/16-port 1GE + 1-port 10GE Interface Module (A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for ASR 900 8/16-port 1GE   1-port 10GE Interface   
               Module  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Product Information  
===================  
UDI: PID:NCS560-4,SN:FOX2305P81D  
   
Agent Version  
=============  
Smart Agent for Licensing: 4.9.6_rel/41  
   
Reservation Info  
================   
License reservation: DISABLED

To display the license usage information, use the show license usage command: 

Router# show license usage  
Mon Jul  6 07:14:55.554 UTC  
   
License Authorization:   
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE on Jul 01 2020 07:14:38 UTC  
   
Access Essentials SW Right-to-Use v1.0 per 100G (ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1):  
  Description: Access Essentials SW Right-to-Use v1.0 per 100G  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for N560-4-SYS-E Vortex ATO (N560-4-SYS-E-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for N560-4-SYS-E Vortex ATO  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for ASR 900 8-port 10GE Interface Module (A900-IMA8Z-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for ASR 900 8-port 10GE Interface Module  
  Count: 2  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED  
   
Tracking PID for ASR 900 8/16-port 1GE + 1-port 10GE Interface Module (A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK):  
  Description: Tracking PID for ASR 900 8/16-port 1GE   1-port 10GE Interface   
               Module  
  Count: 1  
  Version: 1.0  
  Status: AUTHORIZED  
  Export status: NOT RESTRICTED

To display all the license summaries, use the show license summary command: 

Router# show license summary  
Mon Jul  6 07:16:30.036 UTC  
   
Smart Licensing is ENABLED  
   
Registration:  
  Status: REGISTERED  
  Smart Account: Forty-Two uLtd.  
  Virtual Account: IOSXR  
  Export-Controlled Functionality: ALLOWED  
  Last Renewal Attempt: None  
  Next Renewal Attempt: Dec 28 2020 07:14:24 UTC  
   
License Authorization:   
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE  
  Last Communication Attempt: SUCCEEDED  
  Next Communication Attempt: Jul 06 2020 19:15:57 UTC  
   
License Usage:  
  License                 Entitlement tag               Count Status  
  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  Access Essentials SW... (ESS-AC-100G-RTU-1)               1 OUT OF COMPLIANCE  
  Tracking PID for N56... (N560-4-SYS-E-TRK)                1 AUTHORIZED  
  Tracking PID for ASR... (A900-IMA8Z-TRK)                  2 AUTHORIZED  
  Tracking PID for ASR... (A900-IMA8CS1ZM-TRK)              1 AUTHORIZED

To display the license status information, use the show license status command: 

Router# show license status  
Mon Jul  6 07:17:27.729 UTC  
   
Smart Licensing is ENABLED  
   
Utility:  
  Status: DISABLED  
   
Data Privacy:  
  Sending Hostname: yes  
    Callhome hostname privacy: DISABLED  
    Smart Licensing hostname privacy: DISABLED  
  Version privacy: DISABLED  
   
Transport:  
  Type: Callhome  
   
Registration:  
  Status: REGISTERED  
  Smart Account: Forty-Two uLtd.  
  Virtual Account: IOSXR  
  Export-Controlled Functionality: ALLOWED  
  Initial Registration: SUCCEEDED on Jul 01 2020 07:14:24 UTC  
  Last Renewal Attempt: None  
  Next Renewal Attempt: Dec 28 2020 07:14:23 UTC  
  Registration Expires: Jul 01 2021 07:01:42 UTC  
   
License Authorization:   
  Status: OUT OF COMPLIANCE on Jul 01 2020 07:14:38 UTC  
  Last Communication Attempt: SUCCEEDED on Jul 06 2020 07:15:57 UTC  
  Next Communication Attempt: Jul 06 2020 19:15:57 UTC  
  Communication Deadline: Oct 04 2020 07:10:56 UTC  
   
Export Authorization Key:  
  Features Authorized:  
    <none>