topic FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in use in Network Security

FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in use

swscco001 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:50:45 GMT

Hello everybody,

our customer has FMCv (rel. 6.6.7) and two ASA5525 (rel. 6.6.7).
(see screendump)

Even if the ASAs do not use Smart Licensing I get the following error
message in the Health Monitor (see Licensing ScreenDumps):

Critical Modules:1,Normal Modules:25,Disabled Modules:16
ModuleSmart License Monitor: Smart Agent is not registered with Smart Licensing Cloud

What is the reason for this error message?

Every hint is welcome!

Thanks a lot!

Bye
R.

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

khorram1998 — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:57:36 GMT

The error message you are seeing in the Health Monitor of your Firepower Management Center (FMC) may be caused by the Smart Agent on the ASA devices not being properly configured or communicating with the Smart Licensing cloud.

Even though you are not using Smart Licensing on your ASA devices, the Smart Agent is still running and looking for a connection to the Smart Licensing cloud. If it is unable to communicate with the cloud, it will generate an error message in the Health Monitor.

Here are a few things you can try to resolve the issue:

Check the network connectivity between the ASA devices and the Smart Licensing cloud to ensure that they are able to communicate.
Check the configuration of the Smart Agent on the ASA devices to ensure that it is properly configured and pointing to the correct Smart Licensing cloud.
Check the Smart Licensing status on the ASA devices by running the "show smart license status" command.
If you do not want to use Smart Licensing, you can disable the smart licensing feature on the ASA devices by running the command "no smart-license" under the configuration mode.
Check the related logs in the FMC for the detailed information about the error.

If you are still experiencing issues after trying these steps, you may want to contact Cisco TAC for further assistance.

Please rate this and mark as solution/answer, if this resolved your issue
All the best,
AK

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

Marius Gunnerud — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 11:35:45 GMT

Are these ASAs that have the FPR module running ontop of the ASA image or have the ASAs been reimaged to FTD software completely?

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

Marvin Rhoads — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 17:20:12 GMT

Your ASA firepower service modules do not require (nor can they use) Smart licensing. Those use only classic licensing.

Despite not requiring Smart licenses, newer versions of FMC will always check to see if they are registered with Cisco's Smart license portal. You can disable this check in the system's health policy to eliminate this unhelpful alert.

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

swscco001 — Wed, 25 Jan 2023 10:37:49 GMT

Hi Marvin,

this solved the issue.

Thanks a lot for the useful hint!

Bye
R.

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

tanios191 — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 13:47:03 GMT

Hi Marvin,

I have ASA 5555 which was running with firepower services managed by FMC with traditional url filtering license which has expired

I have purchased now smart license

I register the FMC with my smart license but it is not reflected on the smart account

is it that the ASA5555 is not compatible with smart licensing?

Best Regards,

Tanios

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

Marvin Rhoads — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:55:58 GMT

As I noted earlier in this thread (last year), "ASA firepower service modules do not require (nor can they use) Smart licensing. Those use only classic licensing."

Most of the SKUs (part numbers) for ASA 5555-X Firepower services license are discontinued. The ones that were available would result in a classic (PAK) license type.

What exactly was the license SKU that you ordered?

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

tanios191 — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 15:44:20 GMT

L-ASA5555T-TMC=
Cisco ASA5555 Threat Defense Threat, Malware and URL License

Re: FMC: Smart licensing error message even if no smart licensing in u

Marvin Rhoads — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 16:20:01 GMT

That SKU should result in you receiving an email with the Product Activation Key (PAK). You then need to go to the LRP section of software.cisco.com for "Traditional Licenses". There you can use the tool to ""Get Licenses" once you see and select the PAK. You will enter the license key from your FMC classic licenses section and enter it there. You will then receive a license (long string of Base64-encoded text) that you can enter in your FMC in the classic license section and then assign it to your ASA 5555-X under the Device Management menu of your FMC.