Smart Licensing supports the Flexible Consumption (FCM) licensing model. This model of licensing is available at low initial
investment, provides easy scalability, and allows you to increase consumption of licenses as they expand. Flexible Consumption
model licenses are checked for usage on a monthly basis. The monthly license usage is reported to the Smart Licensing Manager
at Cisco.com.
In order to provide the simplification and flexibility to purchase software capacity as needed, FCM is metering the number
of Subscribers(Modems) it has for each tier (Essential, Advantage, or Premier) which is based on the number of channels that
are configured per Service Group:
-
Essential (ES) tier is for 0–48 channels per Service Group.
-
Advantage(AD) tier is for 49–80 channels per Service Group.
-
Premier(PR) tier is for 81 and above channels per Service Group.
Benefits of FCM
-
Pay-as-you-grow: Enables you to lower initial costs and add more capacity over time using Software Innovation Access (SIA)
-
Great Value: Select the right tier, based on your needs (Essential, Advantage, Premier).
-
Simple: Few pricing and service options.
-
Consistency: Right-to-Use (RTU) model based on per subscriber (end user) basis aligned with other Cisco Service Provider products.
Pricing for Cisco cBR-8 routers consists of a perpetual license, software innovation access (SIA) subscription, and Cisco Solution Support Services.
-
Perpetual licenses are charged as a one-time payment per end customer who is serviced by the platform and entitle permanent
right-to-use of the cBR8 software.
-
SIA is charged as a three, four, or five year subscription per end customer who is serviced by the platform, and entitles
major software version upgrades during the subscription period. At the end of the initial subscription, you can renew the
SIA subscriptions on an annual basis.
-
Support Services (either SWSS-Basic or Solution Support) is required on the perpetual licenses for access to Technical Support
and SW maintenance releases. Term of Support Services must align to the duration of the SIA subscription (i.e. three, four,
or five years).
The following table shows the FCM PID list:
Table 3. Flexible Consumption Model License PID List
PID |
Option Class |
Sub-Option Class |
Maximum Supported Channels Per Service Group |
Rules |
CBR8-SW |
Nested Model |
|
|
|
|
CBR-8 Essential RTU SW License |
|
|
CBR-8 Per subscriber perpetual SW license for CBR8 Essential Tier. Access to 48 channels on CBR-8, SmartPHY, and iNode manager.
applications
|
|
|
CBR8-ES-RTU |
48 channels |
Per subscriber perpetual SW license for CBR-8 Essential Tier. Access to 48 channels on CBR8, SmartPHY, and iNode manager applications. |
|
|
CBR8-ES-SIA-3 |
|
Annual subscription 3-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Essential CBR-8 Tier. |
|
|
CBR8-ES-SIA-5 |
|
Annual subscription 5-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Essential CBR-8 Tier. |
|
|
CBR8-ES-SIA-7 |
|
Annual subscription 7-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Essential CBR-8 Tier. |
|
|
CBR8-ES-SIA-ST |
|
Renewal PID for Transactional Essential SIA PID for 1–12 months, for SIA coterming in SPNA. |
|
CBR-8 Advantage RTU SW License |
|
|
CBR-8 Per subscriber perpetual SW license for CBR-8 Advantage Tier. Access to 80 channels on CBR-8, SmartPHY and iNode manager
applications.
|
|
|
CBR8-AD-RTU |
80 Channels |
Per subscriber perpetual SW license for CBR-8 Advantage Tier. Access to 80 channels on CBR8, SmartPHY and Inode manager |
|
|
CBR8-AD-SIA-3 |
|
Annual subscription 3 year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Advantage CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-AD-SIA-5 |
|
Annual subscription 5 year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Advantage CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-AD-SIA-7 |
|
Annual subscription 7 year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Advantage CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-AD-SIA-ST |
|
Renewal PID for Transactional Advantage SIA PID for 1 to 12 months, for SIA co-terming in SPNA |
|
CBR-8 Premier RTU SW License |
|
|
CBR-8 Premier Tier per subscriber Perpetual SW license - Unlimited channels |
|
|
CBR8-PR-RTU |
Unlimited Channels |
Per subscriber perpetual SW license for CBR-8 Premier Tier. Unlimited Access to channels on CBR-8, SmartPHY, and iNode manager
applications
|
|
|
CBR8-PR-SIA-3 |
|
Annual subscription 3-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Premier CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-PR-SIA-5 |
|
Annual subscription 5-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Premier CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-PR-SIA-7 |
|
Annual subscription 7-year SIA standard per subscriber fee for Premier CBR-8 Tier |
|
|
CBR8-PR-SIA-ST |
|
Renewal PID for Transactional Premier SIA PID for 1–12 months, for SIA coterming in SPNA |
Cisco cBR-8 routers either supports Traditional Mode License or FCM License, it does not allow combining FCM and Traditional
Mode License. The Traditional Mode License is enabled by default. Use the cable license enable-FCM
command to enable FCM. Use no cable license enable-FCM
to disable FCM.
Table 4. Differences Between Traditional Smart License
Traditional Smart License
|
FCM
|
Bandwidth based model
|
Subscriber based model
|
Enabled by default
|
Use the cable license enable-FCM command to enable FCM. Use no cable license enable-FCM to disable FCM.
|
Enforced license types:
-
LCHA_License
-
DS_License
-
US_License
-
DS_D31_License
-
US_D31_License
-
WAN_License
-
NC_License
-
RPHY_BC_Video
|
Enforced license types:
|
All Cisco IOS XE releases are supported.
|
Supported on Cisco IOS XE Cupertino 17.9.1w releases or later.
|
The following example shows the Traditional Mode License Summary:
Traditional Mode License Summary
router#show license summary
Load for five secs: 71%/4%; one minute: 62%; five minutes: 59%
Time source is NTP, 00:05:01.752 CST Mon Oct 17 2022
Smart Licensing is ENABLED
Registration:
Status: REGISTERED
Smart Account: BU Production Test 1
Virtual Account: CBR8-STG2
Export-Controlled Functionality: ALLOWED
Last Renewal Attempt: None
Next Renewal Attempt: Apr 14 22:51:18 2023 CST
License Authorization:
Status: AUTHORIZED
Last Communication Attempt: PENDNG
Next Communication Attempt: Oct 17 23:07:06 2022 CST
License Usage:
License Entitlement Tag Count Status
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CBR8 DOCSIS 3.0 Upst... (US_License) 1279 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 VOD/SDV Downstr... (NC_License) 744 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 DOWNSTREAM RPHY... (RPHY_BC_Video) 5 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 Supervisor 10G ... (WAN_License) 12 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 DOCSIS 3.0 Down... (DS_License) 3005 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 D3.1 Downstream... (DS_D31_License) 1324 AUTHORIZED
cBR8 DOCSIS 3.0 Line-...(DLCHA_License) 1 AUTHORIZED
Determining Service Group(SG) Size
Service Group size only considers DOCSIS channels. Service Group only considers DS channel and does not consider US channel.
-
For I-CMTS, one SG is a DS port. The DS port is DS controller port from CMTS.
-
For RPHY, one SG is an RPD DS port.
Service Group considers max channels that are configured in the group, regardless if channel is up or down. The OFDM channels
are calculated as the sums total of all licensed spectrum, which is divided by 6, and then rounded up. For example:
-
In a Service Group –24 SC QAMs for DOCSIS 3.0 + 96 MHz (equivalent to 16- 6-Mhz channels) of OFDM for D3.1 = 40 total channels
(24 + 16). This is an Essential Tier.
-
In a Service Group –32 SC QAMs for DOCSIS 3.0 + 192 MHz (equivalent to 32- 6-Mhz channels) of OFDM for D3.1 = 64 total channels
(32 + 32). This is an Advantage Tier.
Determining Service Tier
A Cisco cBR-8 router can only have one service tier i.e Essential, Advantage, or Premier, but can’t have a mixture of them.
Here is the chassis level service tier Algorithm with 5% Allowance:
-
Essential SG count >= total SG count * (1–5%), Cisco cBR-8 router service tier is Essential.
-
Premier SG count > total SG count * 5%, Cisco cBR-8 router service tier is Premier.
-
If the previous two conditions are not met, then Cisco cBR-8 router service tier is Advantage.
For example, on a Cisco cBR-8 router, there are 19 Essential SGs (48 DS channels) and 1 Advantage SG (64 DS channels), then
this chassis level service tier is Essential Tier (19/(19+1) = 95%).
Cisco cBR-8 Router Reporting to CSSM
Cisco cBR-8 routers report the number of subscribers that it has for each tier (Essential, Advantage, or Premier). Every license
has two entitlements. The entitlement types are the right-to-use (RTU) and Software Innovation Access (SIA). Cisco cBR-8 routers
report same number of licenses in both RTU and SIA to server. Cisco cBR-8 routers report subscribers to Cisco Smart Software
Manager (CSSM) in one hour after bootup or SUP switchover, post that it reports Monthly. Cisco cBR-8 routers keeps track of
the number of channels per SG and total modems count over the whole month. For example, if Cisco cBR-8 routers did 30 samples
in one month, and the highest modems count and tier of the 30 samples are used for reporting. Cisco cBR-8 routers store the
highest subscriber(modem) count during the reporting period, regardless if the modem is online or offline. DSG STB devices
are excluded from subscriber statistics.(Use the show cable modem docsis device-class
command.). Traditional licenses types are not reported in FCM model except LCHA license.
CSSM Response to Cisco cBR-8 Router
The Hierarchy license structure is as follows: Premier>Advanced>Essential. If there are sufficient RTU/SIA licenses in reported
tier, then server response is Compliance. If the server does not have insufficient RTU/SIA licenses in the reported or higher tier, then server response is Out of Compliance (OOC). If there are insufficient RTU/SIA licenses in reported tier, then the server automatically tries to use licenses of a higher
level than what is reported.
The following is an example where the server response is Compliance:
CSSM has licenses: 1000 Essential-RTU License, 100 Advantage-RTU, 10 Premier-RTU. cBR-8 reports 1050 Essential-RTU to CSSM,
CSSM uses 1000 Essential-RTU License + 50 Advantage-RTU. 1000 + 100 > 1050.
The following is an example where the server response is Out of Compliance (OOC):
CSSM has licenses: 100 Essential -RTU License, 1000 Advantage-RTU, 10 Premier-RTU. cBR-8 reports 1050 Advantage-RTU to CSSM,
CSSM uses 1000 Advantage -RTU License + 10 Premier-RTU, 1000 + 10 < 1050.
Order the required amount of RTU & SIA subscriptions licenses, based on the service tier and number of subscribers that you
plan to deploy.
FCM License Summary
The following example shows how to deploy an FCS License.
router(config)#cable license enable-FCM
router#show license summary
Load for five secs: 26%/2%; one minute: 31%; five minutes: 31%
Time source is NTP, 00:07:14.392 CST Mon Oct 17 2022
Smart Licensing is ENABLED
Registration:
Status: REGISTERED
Smart Account: BU Production Test 1
Virtual Account: CBR8-STG2
Export-Controlled Functionality: ALLOWED
Last Renewal Attempt: None
Next Renewal Attempt: Apr 12 10:32:34 2023 CST
License Authorization:
Status: AUTHORIZED
Last Communication Attempt: SUCCEEDED
Next Communication Attempt: Nov 16 00:07:12 2022 CST
License Usage:
License Entitlement Tag Count Status
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
cBR DOCSIS 3.0 Line-... (LCHA_License) 5 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 - Advantage - RTU (CBR8_ADV_RTU) 264 AUTHORIZED
CBR8 - Advantage Sub... (CBR8_ADV_SIA) 164 AUTHORIZED