Cisco Software Licencing Website Woes!

[MDB11]

Hi all... this is kinda of embarassing.. but at the same time frustrating.,.

I've been configuring cisco pix/asas for years. Normally 5505/5510/5515's etc and more recently 5506 and 1010's.
I've never had a problem with PAK licencing and registering etc, as this was all pretty simple.
I'm not a cisco reseller, I buy from resellers for my customers.

Since the 1010s were purchased (I've a handful to config and install) the licencing of these seems to be a total mare!

They don't come with 3DES license but to activate this I need an FRP1000 license and another license for the Free 3DES?

I visit the portal, somehow managed to activate one using Smart licencing, but the portal shows as being -1 (red alerts etc) and I've no idea how to get any kind of license into the portal. I just want to activate 3DES so I can setup some vpns. It really shouldn't be this difficult.

I've raised 2 tickets with TAC. Firstly they say the firewalls are not under warranty/support (90 days) even though these are 2 weeks old from new, and that we have to purchase extended warranty to get answers. After complaining that I just want support on their own website and the licensing process so I can get these working, not technical support, they said I have to raise it with my account manager (I don't have one).  I've asked how we go about getting an account manager, only to be told I have to raise a TAC ticket, which I can't as we don't have a firewall support contract.

All the messages are from abroad where they don't understand the question, and I'm unable to speak to anyone sensible to just ask HOW I LICENSE THESE DEVICES TO USE THEM!!!

I've recently installed some Sophos devices, and whilst I don't much like them, the process was dead simple and I didnt have any of this headache.
I'm seriously tempted to return/sell these FPR1000's and switch to Sophos. Cisco support is a barrier to their customers.

Does ANYONE have any point of contact for Cisco Licensing support of ANY KIND that can assist with this very very simple and basic task?

[Marvin Rhoads · Accepted solution]

As part of order fulfillment for a Smart-licensed device like the Firepower 1010 (running either FTD or ASA image), the reseller should be ensuring that the customer's Smart account is identified and properly associated with the free base licenses and any optional license that may have been ordered.

In cases where that has not been done, you can either contact the reseller to get it corrected or at the very least provide the Cisco sales order number so that you (or the end customer) can do it yourself.

It sounds like your use case is ASA image on a Firepower 1010. If that's correct then the original order should have included both L-FPR1000-ASA= and L-FPR1K-ENC-K9= for the Base ASA and 3DES-AES smart licenses respectively.

Those are both $0 SKUs so perhaps your reseller can place an order for those and get them correctly assigned to the desired end customer smart account if they were indeed somehow left off the original order.

[ciscoMDB11]

Many thanks Marvin for your speedy response. This is indeed what is going to happen, and the reseller has admitted their mistake, though it would appear that mistake is made repeatedly!

Just a shame after many times of asking Cisco Support their response is simply to purchased warranty on the firewalls, just to find out how to license them for free. We warranty the firewalls with a 3rd party for replacement if they fail, hence no need to warranty with Cisco.

Thanks again.

[Marvin Rhoads]

@ciscoMDB11 you're welcome. I hope you get it straightened out.

I know it can be frustrating dealing with Cisco licensing. Combine that with dealing with the TAC (who doesn't really answer this sort of question) and you have an even greater potential for customer dissatisfaction. Cisco relies heavily upon its resellers to handle this sort of thing and unfortunately they are not uniformly qualified to do so.