Cisco Anyconnect 3.x with APEX Licence

[Andy Robinson]

Hi,

Can anyone confirm if APEX licencing is compatible with Anyconnect version v3.x. I have a client who is currently running AC v3.x with Premium licencing and needs to upgrade to APEX. I assuming it should be compatible but the documentation I have found so far does not make reference to APEX licencing backwards compatibility with AC version v3.x. It only seems to make reference to needing APEX licencing to use AC v4.x.

Thanks

Andy

[Richard Burts]

Andy

What is the nature of the requirement to upgrade to APEX licensing? If they are currently running AC3.x and they have the Premium license for AC3.x then what is the requirement to go to APEX?

I would assume that installing APEX would not impact the current AC3.x which should continue to run with its Premium license. If they are planning to upgrade AC to 4.x then is when they will need APEX.

HTH

Rick

[Andy Robinson]

Hi Rick,

Premium licencing is EoS as of last year so they need to migrate to APEX to increase licence count.

Like you I cannot see how changing the activation key on an ASA would affect connectivity for 3.x, but struggling to find anything documented to support APEX licencing compatibility with AC v3.x. I am pretty certain I have read somewhere that when you activate the new APEX key it shows as premium in a show ver.

Thanks

Andy

[Karsten Iwen]

I have no documentation at my fingertip, but using AC3 with AC4 PLUS or APEX licenses is technically supported and fully compliant from a licensing perspective.

[Andy Robinson]

Thanks for the reply Karsten.

[Marvin Rhoads · Accepted solution]

Yes - applying an AnyConnect Apex activation key will make the ASA show the Premium license count (as well as Advanced Endpoint Assessment and AnyConnect for Mobile which used to be separately licensed features).

You can continue to use the AC 3.x image as your client image but you're encouraged to migrate to 4.x since 3.x development will not be moving forward after this spring (2016). Reference: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/security/anyconnect-secure-mobility-client/eos-eol-notice-c51-734084.html

Currently the Apex keys at any level of count will increase the displayed count to the maximum supported by the hardware platform. This is because Cisco has not yet figured out how to technically build in enforcement of the "named user" licensing model. 

[Andy Robinson]

Thank you for the reply.