Cisco Classic Licensing vs Smart, SLR & PLR Explained

Cisco licensing methods have come a long way to support today’s enterprise networking needs. Understanding the differences between Cisco SLR Licensing, Cisco PLR Licensing, and Cisco Classic Licensing is important for operations, compliance, and cost savings. So, let us dive deep into all the Cisco licensing options available to businesses.

Cisco Classic Licensing

Cisco Classic licensing also referred to as traditional licensing, has traditionally been the way to enable software features on Cisco devices. This involves generating a Product Authorization Key to manually activate a license on each individual device. Cisco Classic licensing has a fixed licensing model that is linked to a specific hardware platform, so you cannot transfer or share licenses between hardware.

Cisco Smart Licensing

Cisco Smart Licensing represents a shift toward a more unified and adaptive approach to managing licenses across the network. It allows organizations to manage licenses through a central portal while providing a defined view of license consumption, availability, and compliance.

This model allows for license pooling for licenses that can be utilized on multiple devices. Unlike Cisco Classic Licensing, which binds licenses to certain hardware, Smart Licensing allows for reassignment and sharing of licenses throughout the network.

Typically, a Smart License model requires devices to maintain regular contact with Cisco’s licensing management system, which can be an impediment to use. In an environment with enhanced security or where disconnection happens routinely, this presents limitations on the license model.

Cisco SLR Licensing

Cisco SLR Licensing, or Specific License Reservation, takes into consideration the internet dependency challenges of Smart Licensing. SLR is suited best for networks that use isolated or secured environments that are unlikely to have regular contact with Cisco’s license validation systems.

With Cisco SLR Licensing, the network administrator will generate a license request file on the device and process it via Cisco’s license management system for an authorization code. When obtained, this code is uploaded to the device to enable the licenses to be activated offline.

Cisco SLR Licensing is very useful in government, defense, or other environments where security and isolation of the network are imperative. It still allows us to efficiently manage licenses while also providing operational security. This makes Cisco SLR Licensing an effective solution for air-gapped infrastructures.

Cisco PLR Licensing

Cisco PLR Licensing provides a level of licensing that goes even further, allowing for perpetual licenses that will not need periodic renewal or validation. After being installed on a device, Cisco PLR Licensing allows for all the features available on that device to be used forever.

This licensing model is optimized for use within mission-critical and high-security environments where devices are not allowed to connect to external servers.

Once a device has been configured under Cisco PLR Licensing, the device only requires a one-time activation and will operate at its full capacity thereafter with no additional communication or connection to Cisco’s systems.

It allows for the organization to not worry about when their licenses are going to expire and streamlines the implementation of long-term deployment tactics.

Making the Right Licensing Choice

When determining the best licensing option, is dependent on the organization’s operational model and risk tolerance for security. For small, or static environments, Cisco Classic Licensing is most likely sufficient. Smaller or cloud-connected networks, on the other hand, take advantage of the flexibility provided by Smart Licensing.

For secured or offline networks, Cisco SLR Licensing provides controlled flexibility while still allowing for compliance, while Cisco PLR Licensing is ideal for organizations that need complete autonomy, providing a permanent license without external validation.

So, if you are looking to acquire any Cisco licenses for your business network, connect with us on WhatsApp today.