cisco 3850 licensing and smart license

[Tam Chu]

Hello experts,

I have migrated OS for some Cisco 3850s to 16.9.8 and 16.12.x . Before migration Switch has ip-service and ip-base license, but after migration the license is going to EVAL mode with 90 days. I have reading the smart license, and understand the benefit and concepts of smart license. However, going with the new smart license infrastructure is not a good solution to business at the moment, and we are thinking to stick to traditional license management. Therefore, my questions are

1. Is smart license a mandatory requirement to license devices from OS 16.9.1 and above ? And do I need to purchase license for switch to operate with routing and switching if we still want to keep these OS like that

2. Why the conversion of the switch license after migration is missing IPService ?

3. What happen if EVAL license expires after 90 days? does it switch function normally with routing and switching on ?

****** License before migration *************

#sho license right-to-use
Slot# License Name Type Period left
----------------------------------------------------
1 ipservices Permanent Lifetime
1 ipbase Permanent Lifetime
----------------------------------------------------
License Level on Reboot: ipservices

***** License after migration *************

#sho license all
Smart Licensing Status
======================

Smart Licensing is ENABLED
License Reservation is ENABLED

Registration:
Status: UNREGISTERED
Export-Controlled Functionality: NOT ALLOWED

License Authorization:
Status: EVAL MODE
Evaluation Period Remaining: 78 days, 8 hours, 44 minutes, 47 seconds

..................

..................

License Usage
==============

(C3850-48 IP Base):
Description:
Count: 2
Version: 1.0
Status: EVAL MODE
Export status: NOT RESTRICTED
Reservation:
Reservation status: NOT INSTALLED

[Flavio Miranda]

Hi @Tam Chu 

 From what I´ve been reading and my understanding, if your device is already licensed, this eval must turn in permanent after this period. Unless, the licensing is manually deleted.

  For new unlicensed devices that can not access the internet in order to use smart licensing, Cisco also have Specific License Reservation (SLR) which is similar to the old PAK style.

[Leo Laohoo]

Is there any reason why the switch needs to be on 16.9.X or 16.12.X? 
Will it make any difference if the switch is loaded with the latest 16.6.X (traditional license/no Cisco Smart License)?

[Tam Chu]

I have received confirmation from Cisco. Above 16.9.1 OS version, smart license is mandatory. However, switch still can functionalize without affect after 90 days EVAL license expired. the IP base or Network Essential in smart license will equals IPbase + IPservice in lower OS.