Smart Licensing impact on switches after upgrading to 16.12.4

[gurbinder.kabbay]

Hi Experts,

I am upgrading my cisco hardware " 3850 to  version 16.12.4" and "9300 to  version16.12.03a" , and i read somewhere that smart licensing is mandatory for it, if we are upgrading these devices to these versions. As currently smart licensing is not enabled on these switches after upgrade and these switches are currently running in evaluation mode for 90 days. "I want to know the impact if after 90 days also , i am not enabling smart licensing on it."

what things will be stopped working or there will be no impact of it, even after restart of device or without restart (in both conditions)?

kindly help regarding this , its bit urgent.

Regards,

Gurbinder

[balaji.bandi]

There is no operation impact since it got RTU License for 90days(maybe more), good to register with a smart license so you get support with TAC.

you can convert your PAK to a smart License.

[gurbinder.kabbay]

Thanks Balaji,

One more thing which arises from your answer that is , will i get the TAC support, if I am running evaluation version on my switches:

"after expiry (after 90 days) or before expiry (before 90 days) of license "?

Thanks,

Gurbinder

[balaji.bandi]

If your exiting device still in the cisco support contract yes and you get support. but cisco advises registering with a smart License for better visibility and support.

[gurbinder.kabbay · Accepted solution]

Thanks Balaji,

from your  first reply , i just want to double check that, after 90 days , when this license will be expired, will there be any operational Impact ?

Regards,

Gurbinder

[balaji.bandi · Accepted solution]

YES / NO, if this switch has a basic feature which is perpetual work as expected if any other security services  or feature which is not licensed  - have an impact (officially)

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

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@gurbinder.kabbay wrote:

I want to know the impact if after 90 days also , i am not enabling smart licensing on it

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NOTHING will happen.

[mwalsleben]

Best thing is to do a simple conversion of the RTU license to the corresponding smart license.

Just type in

license smart conversion start

But remember, you have to configure your smart licensing first, either on-prem or with the cisco cloud.

If the PAK ist still in your License account you can also convert it there to a smart license.