Install and Manage Licenses

This document provides detailed information about installing and managing licenses for the DWDM cards. This document includes the following sections:

Understanding Licensing

A license is a permit for a software feature to be functional or enabled on a device. The "pay as you grow" model enables you to upgrade your hardware and software capacity by using a license key. As a result, the upfront deployment cost is reduced and additional capacity or features can be purchased on a need basis. You need not complete a return merchandise authorization (RMA) process to add a new hardware. Instead, you can purchase the license, have it electronically delivered, and use the license key to enable the licensed feature.


Note

On a device, some ports and features are active by default. These are known as base functionality and do not require any license for their use. However, to activate additional ports or features, you need to purchase licenses.

The Cisco Transport Controller (CTC) assists you in deploying the licenses to the Cisco devices in your network, discovering the devices, and managing and viewing your inventory of licenses and devices. The licensing operations are not supported on TL1, SNMP, or Cisco IOS interfaces.

New devices are shipped with preinstalled licenses for specific functionalities based on your order. New licenses have to be added for enabling additional functionalities. New or upgraded Cisco devices must be registered in the Cisco Product License Registration portal and must have a product authorization key (PAK) to obtain licenses from Cisco.

Product Authorization Key

The Product Authorization Key (PAK) is an 11-character alphanumeric key printed on the purchase order document shipped with your hardware device. Accessing Cisco licensing portals require a PAK, which is provided when you order and purchase the right to use a feature set for a particular device. The PAK serves as a receipt and is an important component in the process of obtaining, upgrading, and activating a license. The registration process requires a PAK.

You can also purchase a bulk PAK to fulfill multiple licenses on a device.

Unique Device Identifier

Every Cisco device is provided with a unique device identifier (UDI). The UDI is printed on a label located on the back of most Cisco hardware devices.

Licenses are associated with the UDI. The UDI information present on the license file is compared with the actual UDI of the device during license installation. If they do not match, the UDI mismatch error is displayed.

The UDI has three main components—product ID (PID), version ID (VID), and serial number (SN). However, the license uses only the PID and SN for product identification.

Ensure that the correct UDI information, comprising of PID and SN, is used when the license is registered. For more information, see NTP-L1 Register Cisco Product Licenses.

To view the PID and SN using CTC, go to the node view, and then click the Inventory tab. The PID and SN are displayed in the 'Product ID' and 'Serial #' columns, respectively. The PID and SN can also be retrieved using the TL1 interface command RTRV-INV. The licensable PIDs for the devices are listed in Card Licensing Information.

NTP-L1 Register Cisco Product Licenses

Purpose

This procedure explains how to register Cisco product licenses.

Tools/Equipment

None

Prerequisite Procedures

None

Required/As Needed

As Needed

Onsite/Remote

Onsite or Remote

Procedure

Step 1

Collect the PAK and unique device identifier (UDI) information for the devices you need to register.

Ensure that the correct UDI (PID and serial number) is used during license registration. For more information about PAK and UDI, see Product Authorization Key and Unique Device Identifier. The licensable PIDs for the devices are listed in Card Licensing Information.

Step 2

Go to the Cisco Product License Registration portal. You must have a Cisco.com account before you can access the portal.

Step 3

You need to provide information on the web page in the following sequence:

  1. Enter a PAK Number—Provide the PAK information in the "Product Authorization Key (PAK)" section of the web page and click Submit.

  2. Validate Features—Validate the product information and click All Done.

  3. Designate Licensee—Enter the Product ID and serial number and select the Agreement check box. Click Continue.

    Note 

    Do not enter any "=" symbol in the Product ID.

  4. Finish and Submit—Verify the information summary and click Submit.

    The Cisco Product License Registration portal sends you the license file to the e-mail ID registered with the license portal. The license file has the information about the number of licenses, features, and Stock Keeping Unit (SKUs) supported. The SKU identifies the set of licensed features on the card.

    Stop. You have completed this procedure.

What to do next

Install the license file and deploy the license on your device using CTC. See NTP-L2 Install and Manage Licenses.

Cisco Software License Validation

The Cisco software licensing (CSL) uses validation keys to deploy new feature sets that helps the user to upgrade and maintain software.

The Cisco licensing portal issues a license key to enable the specified number of ports or features, and the license is locked to the device UDI. This is known as a node-locked license.

Software End-User License Agreement

As part of the licensing process, you must accept the terms and conditions provided in the end-user license agreement. You must accept the agreement when you first use a new device.

Read the terms and conditions of the end-user license agreement located in the following URL:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/warranty/English/EU1KEN_.html

License Types

Licenses are classified as:

  • Count-based license—This is used to activate certain number of ports on the card.

  • Feature-based license— This is used to activate a feature on the card.

The different types of licenses are:

Permanent Licenses

Permanent licenses do not have an expiry date, that is, they do not have any limitation in the usage period associated with them. Procure and install a permanent license to increase the number of licensed ports or activate additional features. Permanent licenses provide the necessary permissions required to access the licensed ports and provision licensed features on the device. All permanent licenses are device locked and validated by the Cisco licensing infrastructure. After a permanent license is installed, you do not need to upgrade the license for subsequent releases.

The different types of permanent license are:

  • Exclusive Permanent License

  • Additive Permanent License

Temporary Licenses

Temporary licenses are limited to a specific usage period. The different types of temporary licenses are:

Temporary Licenses for Emergencies

To avoid network downtime in the event of device failure and if the replaced device does not have the same licenses as the failed device, a temporary license can be used on the device. It is not possible to buy temporary license from the license portal. Temporary license is provided by Cisco TAC for a limited usage period.

The “TEMP-LIC” condition is raised on the card when the temporary license is in use. This condition clears after a permanent license is installed. For more information on the “TEMP-LIC” condition, see the Troubleshooting guide.


Note

Prior to expiry of a temporary license, you must go to the Cisco Product License Registration portal to obtain a permanent RMA replacement license and install it on the device. For more information, see NTP-L4 Transfer License Between a Failed and a Working Device.

Built-in Evaluation Licenses

Evaluation licenses are temporary and can be used to evaluate a feature set on new hardware for 60 days. The built-in evaluation license comes preinstalled on the device and cannot be deleted or rehosted.

The “EVAL-LIC” condition is raised on the card when the evaluation license is in use. This condition clears after a permanent license is installed.


Note

You must go to the Cisco Product License Registration portal prior to the expiration of the evaluation license to upgrade the license status to permanent license.

The following conditions prevail for the usage of count-based evaluation licenses:

  • If you are using m number of ports in the evaluation license, and then if you install the permanent license for n ports (where m > n), the evaluation license takes higher priority and will be in use. The evaluation license is in use until the reset of the licensed device or controller card, or the priority of the evaluation license is changed to “Low”.


    Note

    In case of 80-WXC-C, 40-SMR1-C and 40-SMR2-C cards, m and n represent the number of circuits on express (EXP) ports.

  • When the evaluation license expires, the permanent license is used with n ports and the traffic goes down on the extra ports. The number of ports that exceed the license count are displayed in the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features > Unlicensed Count field in CTC. To avoid the traffic hit on ports, increase license counts or unconfigure the ports before the evaluation period expires.

  • When the evaluation license is in use with the usage count as m and you install the permanent license for count n where (n > m), the permanent license takes the priority and continues to run in the permanent mode.

If no permanent licenses are installed on a device, the evaluation license is automatically activated when you try to provision the port or feature that is licensed. An evaluation license enables the full functionality supported by the device only for the evaluation period.

The device defaults to the base functionality when the evaluation license expires. When the evaluation license expires, the traffic continues to flow until the next reset of the device or the controller card. After the reset, the permanent license (if installed) takes the priority and the traffic flow is maintained. If the permanent license does not exist, then the traffic goes down. However, traffic is unaffected on the ports that are under base functionality.

NTP-L2 Install and Manage Licenses

Purpose

This procedure explains how to install and manage licenses.

Tools/Equipment None
Prerequisite Procedures

Log into CTC

Required/As Needed As Needed
Onsite/Remote Onsite or Remote
Security Level Superuser

Procedure

Step 1

From the CTC View menu, choose Go to Other Node. Choose the node on which the card to be licensed is present and click OK.

Step 2

Double-click the In shelf view, double-click the licensed card.

Step 3

As needed, choose the operation described in the following table that best suits your requirement.

Note 

The Licensing tab is displayed only when the card has licensable PIDs and the software release supports licensing for the card.

Operation Description

Install the license on the card.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > License Operations tab.

  2. Choose Install License from the “Choose the operation to perform” drop-down list.

  3. Click Browse to navigate to the license file location and select the saved license file.

  4. Click Open > OK.

Installs the license on the card.

The license file would have been emailed to your registered e-mail address after the license registration on the licensing portal.

Save the license file.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > License Operations tab.

  2. From the “Choose the operation to perform” drop-down list, choose Save Licenses.

  3. Click Browse to choose the folder and file name on which the license will be saved.

  4. Click Save > OK.

Saves the license file.

You can always save a license file that you have installed. If you have lost the license by accidental delete, you can reinstall the license using the saved license file. An evaluation license cannot be saved.

Display details of licensed port counts.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features tab.

    The Counted License Features tab is available only for count-based licensing.

Displays details of licensed port counts. You can view the following information:

  • License Feature Name—Shows the feature name for the license.

  • Total Base count—Shows the number of ports available in the built-in base functionality.

  • Available Base Count—Shows the number of ports available for provisioning the base functionality.

  • Total License Count—Shows the total number of licensed ports that can be used under the current license.

  • Available License Count—Shows the number of ports available to provision under the current in-use license.

  • Unlicensed Count—Shows the number of unlicensed ports.

Note 

For the 80-WXC-C, 40-SMR1-C, and 40-SMR2-C cards, the count refers to the number of wavelengths on EXP ports of the licensed cards.

Note 

For the 17 SMR9 FS, 24 SMR9 FS, 34 SMR9 FS, and SMR20 FS cards, the count refers to the number of ports on EXP ports of the licensed cards.

Display details of licensed features.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Features Licenses tab.

    The Feature Licenses tab is available only for feature-based licensing.

Displays details of licensed features. You can view the following information:

  • License Feature Name—Shows the feature name for the license.

  • Base Functionality—Shows whether the feature is a base functionality or not.

  • License State—Shows whether the license for the feature is provisioned or not.

Annotate comments to a license line.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features or Feature Licenses tab.

  2. Choose the license entry and click Manage License Lines.

  3. Choose the license entry that you want to annotate and click Annotate License.

Enables you to annotate comments to a license line. The comments added are saved in the license file. To view the comments, save the license and view the license file.

Evaluation license cannot be annotated. Annotate license allows you to add a maximum of 99 characters. This operation overwrites the existing user comments, if any.

Change the license priority of an evaluation or temporary license.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features tab.

  2. Choose the license entry and click Manage License Lines .

  3. Choose the license entry that you want to modify and click Modify License Priority.

  4. Choose high or low priority from the “Modify License Priority” drop-down list.

  5. Click OK to continue.

  6. Click Refresh Licenses.

Changes the license priority of an evaluation or temporary license.

  • Changing the priority of the license from high to low or vice versa may affect traffic

  • License priority of a permanent license cannot be modified.

Deletes a permanent or temporary license from the card.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features or Feature Licenses tab.

  2. Choose the license entry and click Manage License Lines .

  3. Choose the license entry that you want to delete.

  4. Click Delete License.

Deletes a permanent or temporary license from the card.

You can delete a license only when the license has expired or when it is in the "Inactive" or "Active, not in use" state.

Refresh the license data.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features or Feature Licenses tab.

  2. Choose the license entry to refresh the license data.

  3. Click Refresh License Data

Refreshes the license data. The refresh license data shows the updated (most recent) license data.

Display license line details.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features or Feature Licenses tab.

  2. Choose the license entry.

  3. Click Manage License Lines.

Note 

You can also view the licensing details of all the devices in a network. To view the licensing details of all the devices in a network, go to network view, click Maintenance > License explorer tab.

Note 

When you change the system time in CTC, the updated expiry date is not reflected in CTC. To view the updated expiry date in CTC, install or delete the license, or change the license priority.

Displays license line details. You can view the following information:

  • License Index—In count-based licenses, the license index is based on the license type and the number of licensed ports. In feature-based licenses, the license index is based on the license type and is always license type-1.

    An example of license index in count-based licenses is temporary-4 where the license type is temporary and the number of licensed ports is 4. An example of license index in feature-based licenses is permanent-1 where the license type is permanent.

  • License State—Shows the license state. Active, Inactive, In_use, or Not In use.

  • License Type—Shows the license type, namely Evaluation, Temporary, or Permanent.

  • Expired—Shows whether the license is expired or not.

  • Validity Period Remaining—Shows the time before the In_use licenses expire.

  • Total License Count—Shows the number of licensed ports.

  • Priority—Shows the priority of the license, as high, medium, or low.

  • Expiry Date—Shows the license expiry date.

Display details of license usage.

  1. Choose the Provisioning > Licensing > Counted License Features tab.

  2. Choose the license entry.

  3. Click Get Detail License Usage

  4. Click the Refresh & Sort Ports By Created Order tab to view the ports in order of creation.

  5. Click the Refresh & Sort By Channel Number tab to view the ports, based on the port numbers.

Displays details of license usage.

You can view the list of ports and the corresponding license status for each of these ports. You can sort the ports displayed, based on the created order or port number.

Stop. You have completed this procedure.

License Synchronization

The license on the licensed device gets synchronized with the control card during the following events:

  • Cold or warm restart of the licensed card.

  • Cold or warm restart of the controller card.

  • Switch over of the controller card.

  • Installation or deletion of the license.

  • Change of license priority.

  • License expiry.

  • Creation or deletion of high rate card modes in AR-MXP and AR-XP cards.

  • Periodically every 24 hours.

Licensing Rules

The licensing rules are as follows:

  • The default priority is low for the evaluation license, and medium for the permanent license. The priority of the evaluation license can be increased or decreased than the permanent license. The priority of the permanent license cannot be modified.


    Note

    The default license priorities cannot be modified for AR-MXP, AR-XP, and 100G-LC-C cards.

  • The license having higher priority is used when there is a license request.

  • All externally installed licenses are active as soon as they are installed.

  • Installation of an exclusive permanent license deletes the existing permanent license for that feature but an additive permanent license does not delete the existing permanent license and both the license will be available.

  • There can be only one license in high priority for any licensed feature at any given time.

  • When there are no high priority licenses, licenses with low priority are considered valid. In this case, the license is selected based on the following logic by the licensing library:

    • Permanent license is selected over any usage-based (evaluation or temporary) license.

    • If more than one permanent license exists, the license with the highest port count is selected.

    • If there are no permanent licenses, and more than one usage based (evaluation or temporary) license exists, the license that has the highest port count is used.

    • If there are no permanent licenses, and more than one evaluation license with the same port count exists, the recently installed license is used.

If a permanent license is already installed on the card, by default the permanent license is used. If you want to use an evaluation license, you must change the priority for that license using CTC. This is useful when there is a need to temporarily use the full capacity supported by the evaluation license while the installed permanent license is for lesser number of ports or features. For example, you have m port permanent licenses, and want to use n ports for some period, where n > m; you can switch to the evaluation mode with higher port counts enabled.

If an evaluation license is in use and a permanent license is installed after that, the permanent license takes higher priority and will be in use.


Note
When an active license expires and there is no other valid license available, the traffic is not hit until one of the following events occur:

  • Reset of the licensed card

  • Reset of the controller card

  • Switch over of the controller card

Rehost License

Transferring a license between two working devices is accomplished by using a process known as rehosting. The rehosting process transfers a license from one UDI to another by revoking the license from the source device and installing it on a new device.

You can also opt for partial revoke. The partial revoke enables you revoke a subset of ports and install it on other devices. For example, if a device is running m port licenses, you can transfer only n licensed ports to other devices (where m > n), and the remaining m - n ports can continue on the same device.

For more information about rehosting license procedure, see NTP-L3 Transfer a License Between Working Devices.

NTP-L3 Transfer a License Between Working Devices

Purpose

This procedure explains how to transfer a license between working devices.

Tools/Equipment None
Prerequisite Procedures Log into CTC
Required/As Needed As Needed
Onsite/Remote Onsite or Remote
Security Level Superuser

Procedure

Step 1

At the node, go to the source device and save the device credentials. Do the following to save the device credentials:

  1. From the CTC View menu, choose Go to Other Node.

  2. Choose the required node, click OK.

  3. If required, open the shelf where the licensed card is present.

  4. Double-click the licensed card.

  5. Click the Provisioning > Licensing > License Operations tabs.

  6. Choose Save Device Credentials (WDC) from the “Choose the operation to perform” drop-down list.

  7. Browse to navigate to the location where you want to save the file.

  8. Click Save and then click OK.

    The device credentials (WDC) associated with the card are saved at the specified location.

Step 2

In the Cisco Product License Registration portal, get the permission ticket. Do the following to get the permission ticket:

  1. Click Device > Filters tab.

  2. Enter the serial number of the source device and click Apply.

  3. Select the device and click Rehost/Transfer.

  4. Select the licenses from source device that needs to be transferred to destination device and click Next.

  5. Enter the device credentials of the source device, saved in the step 1. and click Ok.

  6. Enter the PID, serial number of the destination device and the quantity of SKU to be transferred to the destination device. Click Next.

  7. Accept the End User Agreement. Click Submit. The permission ticket is e-mailed to you.

  8. Save the e-mailed file to a secure location.

Step 3

In CTC, choose the Provisioning > Licensing > License Operations tab and choose Rehost License from the "Choose the operation to perform" drop-down list.

Step 4

Browse and choose the permission ticket file saved in the previous step and click OK.

At this stage, a temporary license with port counts equal to the permanent license count with a validity period of 60 days is installed; this newly installed license remains in the same state as the permanent license that is rehosted. In case of complete rehost, the permanent license is deleted from the source device.

Step 5

Save the rehost ticket file that CTC generates.

Step 6

In the Cisco Product License Registration portal, click the Device > Actions > Complete Secure Rehost/Transfer option.

Step 7

Open the rehost ticket file saved in the previous step in a text editor, copy and paste all the contents to the Enter Rehost Ticket/Key page with the destination device details. Click Next.

Step 8

Verify the license information, accept the End User Agreement. Click Get License. The new license is sent in an e-mail.

Step 9

Save this license file and install the license on the new device using CTC.

Stop. You have completed this procedure.

NTP-L4 Transfer License Between a Failed and a Working Device

Purpose

This procedure explains how to transfer licence between a failed and a working device.

Tools/Equipment None
Prerequisite Procedures None
Required/As Needed As Needed
Onsite/Remote Onsite or Remote
Security Level Superuser

Procedure

Step 1

Obtain the PID and SN of the failed and working devices. See Unique Device Identifier on how to obtain PID and SN.

Step 2

Log into the Cisco Product License Registration portal at http://www.cisco.com/go/license.

You must have a Cisco.com account before you can access the portal.

Step 3

From the Devices > Actions drop-down list, choose RMA.

Step 4

From the Product Family drop-down list, choose the product as Carrier Packet Transport & 15454.

Step 5

Enter the source UDI PID and SN, and target UDI PID and SN and click Next.

The license portal determines the licenses associated with the defective device. The new license for the working device is sent by e-mail.

Step 6

Review the information that you have provided and click Transfer.

Step 7

Install the new license on the working device. Complete the Install and Manage Licences to install the license on the device.

Stop. You have completed this procedure.

Licensing After Software Upgrade

To enable all the software features, all new or upgraded Cisco devices that require software activation must be registered with Cisco. The registration process converts the PAK to an electronic license file containing a unique key for your hardware device. The license file must then be installed on your device to unlock the product and its features. If you want to extend the number of licenses for the increased number of port or feature usage, you can procure the license as described in the task Cisco Product License Registration.