License Activation Grace Period?

[ToryDav]

Hello,

Is there a license activation grace period? I have heard you have up to 90 days to claim licenses before the "countdown" begins.

I have always assumed the countdown began when the license key is cut and issued.

Does anyone know?

[Inderdeep]

Check out @ToryDav 

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Per-Device_Licensing_Overvi.... 

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Co-Termination_Licensing_Ov... 

[Ryan_Miles · Accepted solution]

The doc links explain it, but just to summarize. In the default license mode of co-term the licenses start to burn the day they're shipped (emailed) out in the order email.

In Per Device Licensing licenses have a 90 day activation window and the details are mentioned here.

Grace Period specifically refers to the automatic 30 day timer that initiates when your license state is out of compliance. That could mean you're oversubscribed (more devices than licenses) or your Org (or device in PDL) has expired.

[ToryDav]

Very helpful, thank you 

[K2_Josh]

I don't understand this, so it would be really great to get clarification. 

The "The Science behind Licensing Co-Termination" document always refers to devices needing to be both "purchased and activated".

https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Co-Termination_Licensing_Ov...

The "Meraki Co-Termination Licensing Overview" mentions "active devices" which I read as devices that are part of a network in the dashboard.
https://documentation.meraki.com/General_Administration/Licensing/Meraki_Co-Termination_Licensing_Ov...

I had always assumed that this happen when a device was first added to a network. Am I to understand that the license usage start immediately, even before devices are claimed into an organization?

And if true, does that (perhaps obviously) mean that organizations would save money in many cases by only ordering licenses on the same order as hardware if there is a chance that not all hardware will be immediately deployed? It seems that with the 30-day grace period that this would make this very doable. And this could add up since the base price listed publicly (on that page) for the MX250 is $10,000.00. Adding up licensing costs for a few devices, and an extra bit of paperwork might be worthwhile.

I don't expect to change any minds, and I don't expect to migrate to a new subscription modality. But I would like to better understand what I'm missing when reading the documentation. I'm assuming that it is clear and that I am just not reading the documentation correctly 

[Ryan_Miles]

Yes, licenses start burning when they are processed/shipped - not when claimed, not when devices start consuming them. This is documented here.

So in your scenario yes one could order hardware then later when it's going to be deployed order licensing. PDL and Subscription based licensing offer a little more flexibility with activation windows and selectable start dates.

[K2_Josh]

So under co-termination, is there any way to extend the license expiration if one removed/turned off Meraki equipment? I'm trying to understand if there's any sort of proration possible under any scenario without waiting until the license expiration. If not, it seems like the only approach might be to minimize the number of years of licenses associated with new equipment so the co-term license expiration would also be sooner so that the licenses paid for would be mapped to the devices in use.

[Ryan_Miles]

Removing/turning off devices does not change license burn or give any extra time back to remaining devices.

3 and 5 year licenses have built in discounting vs. doing 3 x 1 year or 5 x 1 year. So, I think every situation is going to be different and there's no single answer that applies to every customer/deployment. 

With all that said licensing and budgeting conversations are best had with your Meraki Sales rep in order to make sure you're getting what you need and what best fits your requirements.

[K2_Josh]

@Ryan_Miles I really appreciate explaining this and steering me on the right path. I would be happy to reach out to my contacts at Cisco to ask more about this before making any future Meraki license purchases.

I hope that the co-termination documents can be improved by the appropriate parties at Cisco to make this information more clear for others.

And now I know that simply ordering the three or five year license on a new device may actually not save any money in the long-term depending on the number/type of devices in-use and that will likely be not-in-use before the co-termination expiration date. Because even if I'm sure that a new Meraki device will be in service for the three or five year term, purchasing a longer license may be the wrong choice from an organizational perspective, if it is done with the expectation that paying more now will reduce future costs because it will delay the co-termination date which might be the only opportunity to stop paying to license devices that are not in use.

I feel like I'm shooting the messenger. Thank you again @Ryan_Miles .