Scalability Considerations

Licensing

The majority of software is copyrighted by the manufacturer, and ownership of the software remains with the software publishing vendor. The right to use the software is extended to the consumer through an end-user license agreement (EULA). A mechanism to account for the deployment instances of the product is especially important for vendors that reuse copyrighted or open source code from other vendors and need to account for the usage and potential royalties of reselling those capabilities.

The industry has shifted toward more virtualization of appliances, and functionality that used to be performed on purchased hardware appliances can now be installed as virtual software instances. With the flexibilities of virtualization and ease of software instance portability, there is now a greater need for software vendors to govern the extent to which their software can be deployed. This control is accomplished through software licensing, with the specific aim of accounting for and controlling the number of instances of a piece of software that are running, as well as sometimes also controlling the capacity supported by each instance.

General Licensing Considerations

Although the licensing behavior across vendors varies greatly, this section outlines some of the common areas where an SBC may require licensing. In many SBC implementations, it is an important requirement to consider licensing as part of SBC procurement, design, and deployment.

Licensing types can generally be grouped into three categories:

• Base license—A general license for the base capabilities on a specific instance.

• Feature license—A license with the ability to enable specific restricted features.

• Capacity license—A license that dictates the capacity or number of instances of a feature that are supported on the device. This may refer to licensing limitations for concurrent calls, calls per second, or utilization of special features for which the vendor has chosen to apply licensing limitations.

The most common and basic licensing is to require a license for each SBC instance that is deployed in the environment, which entitles the SBC to run a certain foundational capability as either a single instance or for the cluster. Such licenses may also allow for a certain amount of call capacity before enforcing a restriction at a specific capacity.

Some additional features may then be licensed á la carte, such as special optional features or codecs that require royalties. With SBCs, it is common to also license based on capacity. Some vendors, for example, implement a maximum number of concurrent calls or calls per second to be handled on the SBC.

Across the various vendors’ current SBC platforms, the following features require additional licensing (for at least one vendor) to be acquired before the features are enabled:

• Media forking/call recording

• Video support

• Transcoding

• Specific codec support (for example, G.722)

• Secure RTP (SRTP)

• IPv6 support

• Load balancing

• Quality of service (QoS)

• ENUM support

• Denial-of-service (DoS) detection

• High availability

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all features that could be licensed by a vendor, but it demonstrates some of the advanced features for which licensing may be required. Vendor-specific documentation should be consulted during the SBC design phase to ensure that the cost and acquisition of the needed features for the SBC deployment are appropriately considered.

Some vendors may also alternatively or additionally implement licensing based on capacity. This is a common licensing approach today across many of the SBC vendors. Typically, capacity licensing in SBCs is handled through either one or a combination of these two constructs:

• CPS—Restricting the platform to a specific number of incoming call setups within a specific interval of time.

• Concurrent calls—Restricting the number of total concurrent calls from which a platform can handle and accept incoming call requests.

There are two main vehicles for offering these license types:

• Perpetual — A license is purchased only once for each instance, and it does not have a time-based expiration. Such a license typically applies for the lifetime of the intended hardware for which it is deployed. These licenses may not be able to carry over during upgrades to new software versions, and they rarely carry over to new hardware instances.

• Subscription based — This type of license has a terminal expiration date on the license, after which the license becomes invalid.

Subscription-based licensing may be ideal for deployments where the intended capacity is expected to significantly change over the life of the device. This model allows for purchasing a lower initial capacity and augmenting licensing purchases as the deployment grows in capacity. This model also may allow for a lower total cost of ownership over purchasing a perpetual license, based on the amount of time the SBC is expected to be in production. When there is an opportunity to leverage either licensing model for a deployment, it is wise to model the return on investment and other benefits of both types to determine which approach is more desirable for the specific deployment intention.

The general licensing constructs mentioned here should assist with licensing planning for an SBC deployment, but it is important to consult the vendor on the options that are available or required, as licensing approaches vary greatly between vendors. The next portion of this chapter provides an example of an SBC licensing approach and demonstrates the licensing applicable for CUBE.

It is important to understand the service impact of exceeding licensed limits on a platform so that it does not result in service impacts during scenarios where licensed limits may be exceeded, as vendors implement licensing enforcement in various forms. Some vendors or products enforce license violations, in which case exceeding the licensed limit results in rejecting calls or features that exceed the licensed limit. Other vendor implementations may not strictly enforce the limitations and either may allow a temporary overutilization or may not systematically enforce the licensed quantity.

CUBE Licensing Models

There are two stages to CUBE licensing: The first is to license the Unified Communications (voice) feature capability on the device. A CUBE license is then applied over the top of the Unified Communications feature license.

There are two ways to consume both of these license types:

• Single-use licensing—This is the legacy licensing model, wherein a license is a onetime purchase that is locked to the specific device and cannot be transferred to another device when, for example, replacing changing chassis platforms to a newer hardware model.

• Cisco ONE licensing—This is a subscription-based licensing model, in which a license is purchased for a single instance. The license is not locked to the specific device and can be transferred to another platform when upgrading hardware platforms by only repurchasing the underlying hardware.

UC Feature Set Licensing

The feature license for Unified Communications (UC) needs to be applied to the platform, either through the single-use framework or the Cisco ONE framework.

Single-Use Technology Pack Licensing

For all modern CUBE platforms, a Cisco IOS or IOS-XE software image is a universal file that contains the superset of router features. These binaries are identified with the descriptor universalk9 in the filename. (Images not suitable for export of cryptology are instead signified with universalk9-npe.)

UC (collaboration) features are then made available on the image type through the purchase of a technology package, which unlocks that set of features. All collaboration technology capabilities (including CUBE) are unavailable on the platform until the technology package is applied.

There is no UC technology pack specific to the CSR 1000v. Instead, there are two feature licenses available that contain CUBE:

• AppX—Contains most CUBE features but does not contain security features to allow for running TLS/SRTP on CUBE.

• AX—Contains all features, including TLS/SRTP support.

On older software releases or older platforms where a universal or universalk9-npe image is not available, there are individual binary files for each of the various technology feature combinations. In these scenarios, one of the following feature sets should be used when CUBE features are desired:

• ASR Series

  • Advanced IP Services (advipservices)

  • Advanced Enterprise Services (adventerprise)

• ISR Series

  • IP Voice (ipvoice)

  • Enterprise Services (entservices)

  • SP Services (spservices)

  • Advanced IP Services (advipservices)

  • Advanced Enterprise Services (adventerprise)

  • Int Voice/Video (ipvoicek9_ivs or adventerprisek9_ivs)

The image binary with the descriptor that contains the descriptor noted in bold is contained in the filename and must be downloaded onto the router. Note that k9 may or may not be a present feature and specified in the filename, depending on whether the image contains cryptology and whether it is suitable to export to the available country.

To obtain a UC technology license, the following procedure is followed:

• Step 1. Purchase the license through identification of the Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) identifier for the desired license. The purchase of the license results in a unique Product Authorization Key (PAK) code.

• Step 2. Identify the Universal Device Identifier (UDI) for the targeted device being licensed by issuing the command show license udi.

• Step 3. Visit the Cisco License Registration Portal (https://www.cisco.com/go/license) and register the PAK to the UDI of the desired device.

• Step 4. Download the resulting license file from the License Registration Portal.

• Step 5. Copy the license file to the router’s local storage by using the copy command.

• Step 6. View and accept the EULA with the command license accept end user agreement.

• Step 7. Install the license file on the router with the command license install, as shown in Example 8-14.

• Step 8. Reload the router with the reload command for the licensing to take effect.

• Step 9. Validate proper licensing by using the command show license.

Example 8-14 UC Technology Package License Installation

CUBE# license install flash0:uck9-C3900-SPE150_K9-FHH12250057.xml
Installing licenses from "uck9-C3900-SPE150_K9-FHH12250057.xml"
Installing...Feature:uck9...Successful:Supported
1/1 licenses were successfully installed
0/1 licenses were existing licenses
0/1 licenses were failed to install

CUBE# show version

!Command output abbreviated.

-------------------------------------------------
Device# PID SN
-------------------------------------------------
*0 C3900-SPE150/K9 FHH12250057


Technology Package License Information for Module:'c3900'

----------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Technology-package Technology-package
Current Type Next reboot
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ipbase ipbasek9 Permanent ipbasek9
security None None None
uc uck9 Permanent uck9
data None None None

An alternative to the license application approach just described is to use the Call Home functionality to apply the license. The advantage of this approach is that it doesn’t require access to the License Registration Portal to download the license file. Before registering the device, Call Home must be enabled, as demonstrated by Example 8-15.

Example 8-15 Basic Call Home Configuration

ip name-server 192.0.2.99
service call-home
call-home
 sender from cube1@example.com
 contact-email-addr net-admin@example.com
 mail-server smtp.example.com
 http-proxy https://myhttpproxy.example.com port 3128

The http-proxy command is necessary only if you are downloading signatures directly from Cisco’s repository when there is no direct Internet connectivity from the device. The information shown in Example 8-15 can also all be configured in a single commandlet:

call-home reporting contact-email-addr email-address http-proxy hostname port port-number

When Call Home is enabled, the router can then be licensed with the license call-home install pak command, as shown in Example 8-16.

Example 8-16 Installing a Technology Pack License by Using Call Home

CUBE# license call-home install pak 4XCSL17E380
CCO User name : myCiscoComID
CCO password : myPassword
!
.....................
Pak Number : 4XCSL17E380
Pak Fulfillment type: PARTIAL
SKU Name : L-2900-LIC
SKU Type : NOMAPPING
Description : L-2900-LIC :
Ordered Qty : 1
Platform Supported : N/A
1. SKU Name : L-29-UC-K9
SKU Type : Feature
Description : L-29-UC-K9 :
Ordered Qty : 1
Available Qty : 1
Feature List :
Feature name: uck9 Count: Uncounted
Platform Supported : N/A
Select SKU to install [1-1] or Quit: 1
Selected SKU is : L-29-UC-K9
Please enter the user's detail:
First Name : John
Last Name : Smith
Title : Network Admin
Company Name : Cisco Systems Inc
Address1 : 170 West Tasman Dr
Address2 [Optional]:
City : San Jose
State : CA
Province [Optional]:
Zipcode : 95134
Country : U.S.A
Phone : (408)555-1234
Fax [Optional]:
Email : jsmith@example.com
!.
......................
Installing...Feature:uc9...Successful:Supported
1/1 licenses were successfully installed
0/1 licenses were existing licenses
0/1 licenses were failed to install

Cisco ONE Advanced Application Licensing

The alternative to the single-use feature license approach just discussed is to consume Cisco ONE subscription-based licenses. The advantage with this approach is that a new license does not need to be repurchased when it comes time to upgrade the underlying CUBE hardware.

Cisco ONE (C1) feature licensing is similar to single-use licensing, but the license packages have been simplified. UC capabilities are offered in the Advanced Application feature set. If additional security features are needed, a Cisco ONE Advanced Security license can also be purchased.

The following steps show an example of the procedure for purchasing an ASR 1001-X on which there is a plan to run 150 redundant CUBE sessions:

• Step 1. Purchase the ASR 1001-X hardware by using SKU C1-ASR1001-X/K9.

• Step 2. Purchase the Advanced Application + UC bundle upgrade for C1 by using SKU C1-ASR1K-ADD and software part code C1AUAASR1100RK9. This entitles the user to 100 Redundancy CUBE sessions.

• Step 3. Purchase 50 additional á la carte C1 CUBE session license upgrades by using a quantity of 50 for SKU C1-CUBEE-RED.

With Cisco ONE, the technology pack corresponding to a feature is unlocked by connecting the device to the Cisco Smart Licensing server. This communication leverages the Call Home connectivity outlined in Example 8-16.

After Call Home is configured, you can enable smart licensing by following these steps:

• Step 1. Enable smart licensing with the command license smart enable.

• Step 2. Log in to the Cisco Smart Software Manager (https://tools.cisco.com/rhodui/index#/) and generate a new token for the device.

• Step 3. Install the token on the device with the command license smart register idtoken generated-token.

• Step 4. Install the UC technology license with the command license boot suite AdvUCSuiteK9.

• Step 5. Save the configuration with copy running-configuration startup-configuration.

• Step 6. Reload the router.

• Step 7. Verify licensing with show license status, as shown in Example 8-17, to ensure proper communication with the licensing server.

Example 8-17 Validating Cisco ONE Licensing

CUBE# show license status
Smart Licensing is ENABLED

Registration:
 Status: REGISTERED
 Smart Account: BU Production Test
 Virtual Account: CUBE  Initial
 Registration: SUCCEEDED on Thu Jan 05 2017 15:04:18 UTC
 Last Renewal Attempt: None
 Next Renewal Attempt: Tue Jul 04 2017 15:04:18 UTC
 Registration Expires: Fri Jan 05 2018 09:25:50 UTC

License Authorization:
 Status: AUTHORIZED on Thu Jan 05 2017 15:17:04 UTC
 Last Communication Attempt: SUCCEEDED on Thu Jan 05 2017 15:17:04 UTC
 Next Communication Attempt: Sat Feb 04 2017 15:17:04 UTC
 Communication Deadline: Fri Jan 05 2018 09:25:50 UTC

CUBE Licenses

After the UC feature set is licensed on the platform, CUBE must then also be licensed. Cisco offers two main approaches for basic CUBE licensing:

• Platform license—This license type covers the right to use the CUBE feature up to the maximum that is technically supported on the platform. (Platform maximums are outlined earlier in this chapter.) This is an older licensing model and not available on the majority of the current CUBE platforms. These licenses are also not available for the Cisco ONE suite.

• Session count license—This license type allows for the purchase of a license for a specific number of maximum concurrent calls on the platform. A call is defined as a single end-to-end two-way call across CUBE. A single session can account for multiple media streams (for example, a call containing both voice and video, or a recorded call with forked media). When using the Cisco ONE suite, this is the only way to license CUBE capability.

The session count license method allows for a minimum license count to be purchased at initial deployment, with incremental additional licenses being purchased later, as the consumption of services across CUBE increase the concurrent call volume of the platform. Purchasing multiple session count licenses is permitted and will account for the sum of the multiple counts across the license files. For example, one FL-CUBEE-25 and one FL-CUBEE-100 license can be purchased separately to permit a total of 125 concurrent sessions across the node to which the license pertains.

In addition to CUBE licenses, the following additional features may also be licensed:

• Redundancy

• NanoCUBE

A redundancy license allows for the purchase of a single license to entitle a pair of active/standby devices for CUBE. The advantage of the redundancy license is that the price of the redundant node is offered at a discount from the full license price to license the second CUBE node. This license can also be used to license a node that is being reserved as a warm-standby node that is not part of a CUBE HA pair. An example of this would be a CUBE in a backup disaster recovery data center that would be activated only when there is failure with the primary active CUBE in the primary active data center. Single-node licenses cannot be upgraded to redundancy licenses after initial purchase.

For in-box redundancy, such as on the ASR platforms, purchasing of the redundancy license is not necessary.

NanoCUBE licenses can only be purchased for the subset of platforms that support the feature.

Table 8-9 shows the platform and session licenses currently available for the platforms. Because these license values also correlate to capacity and hence vary based on each platform model, refer to platform documentation and the available platform packages or SKUs to determine what licenses are appropriate to the specific platform model(s) of interest.

Table 8-9 SKUs for CUBE Platform and Session Count Licenses

Because CUBE licenses are not systematically enforced, there is no necessary configuration to apply the licensing once the right-to-use license is purchase.

Cisco ONE simplifies the SKUs required for CUBE. When a device or bundle is purchased under a Cisco ONE SKU, additional sessions can be added with the generic CUBE SKUs, shown in Table 8-10.

Table 8-10 SKUs for Cisco ONE CUBE Licensing

Much as with the CUBE session licenses with the classic licensing models, the CUBE session licenses do not need to be installed on a platform with the Cisco ONE licensing suite.