Cisco License Manager

Feature

Description and Benefit

Autodiscovery and building of an inventory of licensed features

Automatically discovers all devices with license enforcement capabilities. In addition, Cisco License Manager automatically collects information about all the licensed features deployed in the network. Helps customers in planning by generating reports on which licenses they have already deployed in their network.

Enhanced security

Cisco License Manager user-security model supports role-based access control and provides the following five user roles.

Cisco License Manager allows customers to restrict access to managed devices and PAKs through access control lists for each user.

Obtain licenses from Cisco.com

Given a Cisco supplied PAK, allows the customer to associate feature SKUs with devices and securely connects to the Cisco.com license server to automatically get license keys. Reduces the complexity associated with software activation. It can also obtain licenses for predeployed or offline devices.

Cisco License Manager resides in the customer premises and has access to the customer network and needs Internet connectivity to the Cisco Website for many of its features. For isolated networks, it supports two-stage license deployment where customers can move Cisco License Manager to a network domain with Internet connectivity and obtain and save licenses to its database by securely communicating with the license server on the Cisco Website. Cisco License Manager can then be moved back to the original isolated network domain to deploy previously obtained licenses to network devices. Please see the Deploying Cisco License Manager in Isolated Networks white paper located at http://www.cisco.com/go/clm for more details.

Rapid license deployment

Simple rule-based policy language completely automates software activation and license management. A user can create simple rule-based policies using common device attributes such as device model, device group, and IP address range and assign a PAK to this policy. This policy can be executed on an on-demand basis, and Cisco License Manager will automatically obtain and deploy the appropriate licenses to the managed devices, matching against the rules in the policy. This helps enable customers to focus more on rolling out advanced services in their network using the licensed features.

Transfer licenses from one device to another

Customers can rehost their licenses by selecting the source and destination devices, and Cisco License Manager simplifies this procedure by securely obtaining rehost permission from Cisco.com, revoking the license from the source device and obtaining and installing the transferred license to the destination device as well as installing a temporary license for the feature being transferred to give the customer enough time to migrate all connections or traffic to the destination device.

Agentless device management

Cisco License Manager can manage licenses on Cisco devices using a command-line interface (CLI) with Secure Shell (SSH) Protocol/Telnet without requiring any agent to be configured and enabled. In addition, it can communicate with license agent in Cisco IOS Software using XML over HTTPS.

Detailed reporting

Helps customers know exactly which licensed software features they have purchased, how many licenses they have obtained, and which licenses are not yet deployed. It also aids in audit compliance through its licensing reports indicating proof of purchase. Saves costs by generating redeployable license reports listing licenses that are deployed on devices but are not needed there. Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) discrepancy report helps customers identify inadvertent license discrepancies that can fail audits.

Java and Perl SDKs

Allow customers to integrate their license and asset-management software with Cisco License Manager and help protect existing investments. SDKs are available for purchase for both Java and Perl.

Faster failure recovery and troubleshooting

Helps enable customers to redeploy licenses from the Cisco License Manager database in case license is accidentally removed or is corrupted. It also provides the capability to resend licenses from the Cisco.com license server for the device with failed storage and redeploy them. This results in lower network downtime. Cisco License Manager also provides the capability to back up and restore its database and configuration files.

In addition, Cisco License Manager provides detailed troubleshooting and diagnostic capabilities to identify the root cause of connectivity failure to devices and the Cisco.com license server. Cisco License Manager presents alerts from devices with ITU X.733-based severities.

Feature

Description and Benefit

Cisco License Manager 2.0 Client and Server software

Available only by download from http://www.cisco.com/pcgi-bin/tablebuild.pl/clm10

Cisco License Manager 2.0 Java Software Development Kit. One SDK is needed for each development workstation.

CLM1.0-JAVA-SDK

Cisco License Manager 2.0 Java Software Development Kit major upgrade from Cisco License Manager 1.0 Java SDK.

CLM2.0-JAVA-SDK-MU

Cisco License Manager 2.0 Perl Software Development Kit. One SDK is needed for each development workstation.

CLM2.0-PERL-SDK