Meraki MR License Guide

Claiming an MR Upgrade License in PDL Organizations

Let’s assume you have a PDL organization with one network with a 1x MR access point. This access point is licensed with a recently purchased one-year MR Enterprise (LIC-MR-ENT-1Y) license. You would like to get one of the features included with the MR Advanced license, like Automatic Umbrella Integration in the network.

In the PDL model, assigning multiple licenses to the same device is possible. For example, one use case is when you would like to “true-up” an expiration date between numerous devices in the same PDL network. With MRs, it’s also possible to assign an MR Upgrade license to an access point with a valid MR Enterprise license to get features included with the MR Advanced license.

In our example, you can fulfill the licensing requirement for Automatic Umbrella Integration by simply purchasing and assigning a one-year MR Upgrade license to your AP.

After assigning the MR Upgrade license, you will notice that your AP has two License expiration dates: one for the original MR Enterprise license and one for the newly assigned MR Upgrade license. This AP is entitled to the same functionality as if you assigned 1x an MR Advanced license to it.  

Since MR Enterprise and MR Upgrade licenses have been purchased and assigned separately, they have separate expiration dates. In our example, these dates are almost identical. However, these dates can be very different if you were to assign an MR Upgrade license sometime midway through the MR Enterprise expiration date or later. 

Suppose an MR Enterprise license expires before the MR Upgrade license. In that case, your access point will be out of the licensing compliance, leading to an individual device shutdown after the 30 days grace period. A valid MR Enterprise license is required for every AP in the PDL model.

If an MR Upgrade license expires before an MR Enterprise license, any functionality that the MR Upgrade license has added will stop working on that access point. However, the access point will continue to function normally, and all standard MR features will continue to operate.

Per-Device Licensing Model FAQ

Q: Can I mix MR Enterprise and MR Advanced licenses in a PDL organization? 

A: Yes, since licenses are assigned to individual devices, it’s possible to have APs with MR Advanced licenses in one network and access points with MR Enterprise licenses in another network within the same Meraki organization.

 

Q: Can I assign MR Advanced licenses in a PDL organization for only a subset of my APs?

A:  Yes, since licenses are assigned to individual devices you can have networks where APs have  MR Advanced licenses and networks with MR Enterprise licenses. Typically, features included in the MR Advanced license require all MRs in a network to be licensed with MR Advanced or MR Enterprise + MR Upgrade licenses.

 

Q: Can a PDL organization be converted back to co-term org?

A: No, switching from PDL back to co-term is not supported

MR Advanced Product Edition Upgrade

If you wish to convert your co-term organization from MR Enterprise to MR Advanced Product Edition, please follow these steps:

• Purchase a number of MR Upgrade (LIC-MR-UPGR-XY) licenses precisely matching the number of existing MR Enterprise (LIC-MR-ENT-XYR) licenses. For example, if there are 100x LIC-MR-ENT-5YR licenses currently claimed (License Limit on the License info page), 100x LIC-MR-UPGR-XY must be purchased, where X is the number of years.

• The license term of MR Upgrade licenses does not have to be the same as the license term of the existing MR Enterprise licenses. For example, you could add 100x LIC-MR-UPGR-1Y licenses to an organization with 100x LIC-MR-ENT-5YR licenses. However, MR Upgrade licenses with a longer license term will extend the co-termination date further into the future compared to the shorter term MR Upgrade licenses.

• Add newly purchased MR Upgrade license(s) to the Meraki organization (Organization > License info > Add another license > License more devices)

Co-termination Date Calculation

Cisco Meraki Co-Termination licensing model works based on co-termination. For any given organization, regardless of how many licenses were applied or when they were applied, the license expiration date for all licenses claimed to that organization will be the same. 

Here is a typical example of how adding MR Upgrade licenses to your organization will affect the co-termination date.

• Organization A has 2x MR access points with 2x LIC-MR-ENT-1YR claimed simultaneously, and the current co-term date is 365 days away.

• After six months (185 days), 2x LIC-MR-UPGR-1Y licenses have been added to upgrade the organization product edition from MR Enterprise to MR Advanced.

• A new co-termination date will be calculated the following way:

  • Determine the amount of time remaining on your current network before the new purchase: Time Remaining = 365 days (Original Co-term date in days) - 185 days (Amount of days passed) = 180 days

  • Calculate Incremental Network Time for new licenses = 365 days (Time Purchased) - 180 days (Time Remaining) = 185 days

  • Convert Incremental Network Time into Incremental Dollar Days: 185 days (Network Incremental Time) x $150 (License Price) x 2 (Amount of Licenses) = 55,000 (Incremental Dollar Days)

  • Calculate Daily License Usage Rate = 2 MR APs × $300 (License Rate for LIC-MR-ADV) = $600

  • Convert incremental Dollar Days into Incremental Time Purchased: 55,000 (Incremental Dollar Days) / $600 (Daily License Usage Rate) = 200 days

  • Add Incremental Time Purchased to Remaining Time to calculate the New Remaining Time = 180 days + 200 days = 380 days

For more information about the co-term date calculation please refer to our detailed co-term documentation.

Co-term Licensing Model FAQ

Q: Can I mix MR Enterprise and MR Advanced licenses in a co-term organization? 

A: No, all MR licenses must have the same edition (MR Enterprise or MR Advanced) across a co-term organization. You can use MR Upgrade licenses to convert your existing MR Enterprise licenses into MR Advanced licenses and convert your organization’s Product Edition from MR Enterprise to MR Advanced.

 

Q: Can I assign MR Advanced licenses in a co-term organization to only a subset of my APs?

A:  No, this is not supported. 

 

Q: Can I convert my co-term organization with MR Enterprise Product Edition to PDL licensing model?

A: Yes, please use the link on the License info page to initiate a conversion.

 

Q: Will claiming MR Upgrade licenses into a co-term organization with MR Enterprise Product Edition trigger PDL conversion?

A: No, the organization will stay co-term; however, the MR Product Edition will change to MR Advanced.

 

Q: How can I downgrade a co-term organization with MR Advanced Product Edition to Enterprise Product Edition? 

A: We recommend waiting until your co-termination date is near the end and purchasing and claiming a needed number of MR Enterprise licenses using the Renew my Dashboard license operation.

 

Q: What MR license types can I claim after converting my co-term organization to the MR Advanced Product Edition?

A: Only MR Advanced licenses can be claimed after the conversion. Adding MR Enterprise or MR Upgrade licenses is not supported.