Ask the Expert: One Management with Prime Infrastructure 1.2

[ciscomoderator]

With Tejas Shah

Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to learn and ask questions from Cisco expert Tejas Shah on One Management with Prime Infrastructure 1.2 Combining the wireless functionality of Cisco Prime Network Control System (NCS) with the wired functionality of Cisco Prime LAN Management Solution (LMS),  Cisco Prime Infrastructure simplifies and automates many of the day-to-day tasks associated with maintaining and managing the end-to-end network infrastructure from a single pane of glass. The new converged solution delivers all of the existing wireless capabilities for RF management, user access visibility, reporting, and troubleshooting along with wired lifecycle functions such as discovery, inventory, configuration and image management, automated deployment, compliance reporting, integrated best practices, and reporting.

Tejas Shah is a senior technical marketing engineer for Cisco Prime Infrastructure and Collaboration products. He has deployed Cisco Prime Collaboration Manager at various customer sites to help customers monitor and troubleshoot their video infrastructure. In addition, he is part of the Network Operations Center team at Cisco Live events for six years. Shah joined Cisco in 1995 and was in the Technical Assistance Center team supporting various network management system products for more than six years.

Remember to use the rating system to let Tejas know if you have received an adequate response. 

Tejas might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Wireless Mobility sub-community discussion forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through Sept 21, 2012. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

[bgandhi]

Hi,

I wish to consider Cisco Prime for ASA, Routers,switches and IPS management alongwith log analysis. Are these features supported in Prime alone or addition management solution would be required.

Regards,

Bhavesh

[tshah]

Bhavesh,

Focus for Prime Infrastrucure 1.2 was mainly to converge wired and wireless infrastructure, and assurance .  The current release mostly support routers/switches/controllers/APs.   ASA's and IPS are currently not supported, but I'm sure more devices will be supported in upcoming releases.

[dporod]

Hello Tejas,

In LMS 4.2 we have a "Reports > Switch Port > Reclaim > Unused Up" report. I do not see a similiar report in Prime Infrastructure 1.2, do you know of a way to run such a report?

Thank You

Dave

[sean_evershed]

Hi,

With Prime Infrastructure 1.2 do you need any additional licenses in order to support EnergyWise functionality?

Thanks

Sean

[tshah]

Great Q Dave..  Currently Prime  Infrastructure 1.2 doesn't have that report, but it will be added in  upcoming releases.   I would definitely be interested in know what are  the other key reports that we should consider prioritizing?

best regards,

Tejas

[raun.williams]

Tejas,

Can you go over the licensing method with Prime Infrastructure 1.2 please?  I currently have NCS and do NOT currently have LMS.  I know I can move to Prime Infrastructure through Cisco Product Upgrade Tool.  However, what I am confused about is do I still have to buy LMS to have LMS functionality in Prime Infrastructure 1.2?  If not, do the licenses I transfer into Prime Infrastructure 1.2 from NCS also work for devices to work under LMS?  Mean, can my currently 350 licenses be used for AP's as in NCS and routers in the LMS portion of Prime Infrastructure 1.2?

Thank you!

[tshah]

Raun, please see my responses inline:

Can you go over the licensing method with Prime Infrastructure 1.2 please? 

Raun, you can check out the following link for ordering guide at

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12239/products_data_sheets_list.html

I currently have NCS and do NOT currently have LMS.  I know I can move to Prime Infrastructure through Cisco Product Upgrade Tool.  However, what I am confused about is do I still have to buy LMS to have LMS functionality in Prime Infrastructure 1.2? 

==> Not at all.  The converged product will give you basic management capability for routers and switches that LMS provided in this release.   Feature/Functionality will keep on growing with upcoming releases.

If not, do the licenses I transfer into Prime Infrastructure 1.2 from NCS also work for devices to work under LMS? 

==> Licensing is different than NCS or LMS.  You don't have to transfer the license.  Each install of Prime Infrastructure will have a unique UID string on which the licenses are based.  A new license will be applied to the product.

Mean, can my currently 350 licenses be used for AP's as in NCS and routers in the LMS portion of Prime Infrastructure 1.2?

==> I would recommend getting a total count of your wired and wireless devices and match the right SKU based on that.

Hope this helps.. Let me know if you have any further questions,

Tejas

[m.yost]

Even after reading the ordering/licensing guide, I'm still a little confused on the licensing.  If I'm running NCS v1.1.1.24 and I have a license for 75 devices and I decide to upgrade to Prime Infrastructure v1.2, is it safe to assume those 75 devices apply to the Base license?  If I wanted to get Lifecycle features (which I would assume is a good chunk of the LMS features) I would then need to get 75 Lifecycle licenses in addition?

What if I have 2 controllers, 70 lightweight APs and 20 switches?  Would I need 100 base licenses and 25 lifecycle licenses?  How does the system know which devices you want to apply Lifecycle licenses to?

[tshah]

Existing NCS 1.1 licenses will  work fine on PI 1.2.   And those NCS 1.1 licenses correspond to the Lifecycle  feature set.

So for the mix of  devices listed in your question, then you need a total of 90 device licenses (WLCs don’t  consume a license).  If you already have 75, then you could simply order the  new 25-device Lifecycle license (L-PI12-LF-25) and that will bring them to 100  devices total.

Does that help?  Let me know if more clarification is needed.

best regards,

Tejas

[edward.arango]

HI,

After reading the Ordering Document for 1.2  it`s not cleare for me what type of licenses I must order to get the LMS and what type of license I need for use the NCS.

For example:

- I need to implement WIPs in my wireless Network. For this, i need the WCS for 2 Controllers 5508 and 10 Access Points.

Could you tell me what is the ordering part numbers that I migh have in mind.

Thanks.

[tshah]

Hello  Ed,

I  guess the confusion could come from the fact that we are now converging pervious  version LMS and NCS into Prime Infrastructure 1.2   How many devices were you  managing in LMS and NCS previously?  You could get the upgrade SKU to match  them.  I only see 12 wireless devices, but I’m sure you may have more wired  devices from LMS as well.  Let us know the details, and we can definitely help  you with it.

Best  regards,

Tejas

[Pamela Martinez Barajas]

Hello,

My customer is upgrading from LMS 3.2, and the Config tool only allows me to upgrade to the Lifecycle. My problem is that I don`t get the option to select the Automated Deployment Gateway, and the Assurance Licences.

So, my first question is ¿can I order those licenses separately, and then install those with the upgrade license?

And my second question is: In order to keep all the functionality from LMS 3.2, will my customer need 2 separate servers? One for LMS 4.2, and the other for the Lifecycle, Assurance and the Gateway.

Thanks

[raun.williams]

From a previous LMS customer and current NCS customer standpoint, perhaps you could help us relate what is available in base licensing and Life Cycle Management licensing? This is what I"m under the impression of currently:

NCS and LMS applications under Cisco Prime Infrastructure requires a base license, correct?

NCS Licensing is considering Life Cycle Management licenses.  This is true for LMS devices licenses as well, correct?

What applications under LMS with the LIfe Cycle Management license are available? 

[tshah]

When upgrading from LMS 3.2 to PI 1.2 (R-PI12-UP-K9 skus), customers will get the following software:

* Prime Infrastructure 1.2

* LMS 4.2

They will also get the following licenses:

* Prime Infrastructure 1.2 Base

* Prime Infrastructure 1.2 Lifecycle for N number of devices they had with LMS 3.2

* LMS 4.2 for N number of devices they had with LMS 3.2

They are entitled to install and use both software and licenses.  They should be on separate servers or VMs.

They can also add additional licenses for more Lifecycle (via R-PI12-K9 skus), which can be used for both Prime Infrastructure and LMS.

Additionally, they can use the same R-PI12-K9 skus to add Assurance and Automated Deployment Gateway skus to be used for Prime Infrastructure.  These will not work on LMS.

Hope this helps clarify a bit..

Tejas