topic Re: Licensing start question in Cloud Networking Platform

Licensing start question

ShawJC — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:47:42 GMT

New here...We have a Dashboard which was originally set up by a third party and we are learning it. We have 5 more buildings under renovations and will be adding about 50 AP's. We just received the devices and I want to add them, name them and put in a heat map to make sure the cabling that is starting soon will suffice. My question is...if I add them from the order do I need to apply the licenses and does that activate the license or is it from purchase date? We don't really want to pay for the licenses until they are installed in a few months.

Re: Licensing start question

aleabrahao — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:53:42 GMT

You have a grace period to use without a license.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Licensing_FAQs

Co-Termination Licensing (default)

Licenses start consuming time from the date of purchase, not when you add the devices to the Dashboard.
You cannot defer activation by delaying the claim or installation.
All licenses in the organization are averaged into a single expiration date.

Per-Device Licensing (PDL)

You get a 90-day window to activate the license after purchase.
If not activated within 90 days, the license automatically starts on day 91.
This model allows more flexibility, like assigning licenses to specific devices and having different expiration dates.

Re: Licensing start question

ShawJC — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:04:51 GMT

So we have 90 days from the purchase date before the license activates if we don't apply them first but I can claim and set up the devices in my dashboard. Thanks for the quick responses.

Re: Licensing start question

ArcenioIT — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:38:35 GMT

Most likely, if you're dealing with older devices, you'll be using the per-device licensing model. You have 90 days to activate the license after purchase.
If it's not activated within 90 days, the license automatically becomes effective on the 91st day.
This model allows you to assign licenses to specific devices and has different expiration dates.

On the other hand, if your company uses the co-termination model, as soon as you add new devices to your network, you'll see a change in the expiration date of your license.

Do you know what licensing model you are currently using?

Re: Licensing start question

p.deleuw — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 06:38:34 GMT

PDL is EoL and not available for new orgs since September 2023. You can choose between Co-term and Subscription licensing. For Subsciption licensing you buy licenses with a defined start day, if I remember correctly.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Subscription_-_MR_Licensing

Re: Licensing start question

MerakiGnome — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 10:17:42 GMT

Do you know what licenses you’ve procured? I’m going to assume you’ve purchased co-term and they’ve started burning.

License Start Date

Licenses in the Co-Termination model start consuming time from the date it was processed, not the date they are added to an organization.

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Co-Termination_Licensing_Overview

Re: Licensing start question

Ryan_Miles — Sat, 06 Sep 2025 16:32:05 GMT

This is the correct answer assuming you're using the standard co-term license model.

On the date the email(s) arrived for the order(s)/shipment(s) is when the license(s) activated and started "burning". So, while you can claim them later when the deployment is underway it doesn't change the fact the days are already be counted.

Re: Licensing start question

BlakeRichardson — Sun, 07 Sep 2025 19:26:03 GMT

I assumed this as well unless OP ordered hardware only but I doubt that.

@ShawJC If you haven't added the order number into your inventory you could manually add each AP's into your inventory via it's serial number and then add the license code when you are ready to go into production.

I would also suggest if you are not sure about cabling to get a professional site survey done.

Re: Licensing start question

ShawJC — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 14:43:21 GMT

It is co-termination so from what was stated here the licenses started when the order was shipped. I assume I might as well add the AP's by the order number as it looks to be the best or quickest way. We had a heat map done by the company before we ordered the switches and AP's but I want to do it myself and get all the equipment named and into my inventory.