Managing On-Premises Devices via the Cisco Meraki Dashboard For EAs Customers

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Overview

Whether an Enterprise Agreement (EA) is managed through the Cisco Meraki Dashboard or Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM) depends on whether the agreement includes Meraki-specific suites.

If the EA includes Meraki suites, all Cisco Networking Wireless, and/or Cisco Networking Switching, suites associated with that EA are managed through the Meraki Dashboard rather than CSSM. Therefore, on-premises devices licensed under the Cisco Networking Wireless or Switching suite must be claimed in the Meraki Dashboard.

To determine whether your deployment is a Hybrid, review your Enterprise Agreement details in the Cisco EA Agreements portal. If you are an on-premises-only customer, do not follow this guide. It applies only to hybrid customers.

This guide covers:

Reviewing EA subscription and consumption details in Cisco Commerce EA Workspace.
Reviewing the subscription, Smart Account, and network association in the Meraki Dashboard.
Reviewing CSSM consumption details for associated EA Smart/Virtual Account.

Terminology Used in This Article

Term	Meaning in the demonstrated workflow
Enterprise Agreement (EA)	A flexible, volume-based licensing program for accessing and managing multiple Cisco products and services under one agreement.
Smart Account	A centralized online account for managing, accessing, and transferring Cisco software licenses and entitlements across an organization.
Virtual Account	A subdivision of a Smart Account used to organize and manage licenses by department, business unit, or location.
Cloud-managed	The management-mode option labeled 'Manage devices on Meraki Dashboard.'
On-premises managed	Managing and administering Cisco devices through locally hosted infrastructure rather than a cloud-based dashboard.

Confirm the EA subscription in Cisco Commerce EA Workspace

Start in Cisco Software Central and open the EA Workspace tile, where you generate and manage licenses purchased through a Cisco Enterprise Agreement.

Open Access EA Workspace from Cisco Software Central.

2. Open the target subscription's Consumption page.

3. Review the Suites Included in this Subscription table. Take note of the subscription ID, Smart Account/Virtual Account context, status, start and end dates, and consumption state before you make a Dashboard change.

Note: Use the same Smart Account and Virtual Account throughout this process for synchronization to succeed. Users must also have administrator access to EA Workspace, CSSM, and the Meraki Dashboard.

Logging into the Meraki Dashboard

Go to https://dashboard.meraki.com.
Enter your registered email and password.
Click Sign in to access your dashboard.

Creating a Network

A network holds devices and information related to those devices. Generally, networks will represent physical locations or actual LANs at different sites. Please review the following configuration to create a new network: Create a Network

Claiming Your Devices

New Devices on EA's

Locate your Order Claim Key in the hardware shipment notifications. This key allows you to claim all items from your order at once, regardless of whether the hardware is delivered in multiple shipments. - Claiming your Hardware with a Order Claim Key

2. Claim Devices: To begin utilizing a device in the Dashboard, it must be claimed. You can start the claim process from any page where devices can be added.

Network-wide > Configure > Add Devices
Organization > Configure > Inventory

Note: If your inventory is empty, you will be prompted to enter your Claim Key. If you already have devices in inventory, click the Claim Devices button.

This image displays to enter the order number.

3. Claim Devices:

Upon a successful claim event, you will be prompted with a screen to review the details of your order.

This image displays the details of the order.

For more information you can go to: Using the Organization Inventory on EAs

Existing Customers Devices - Transitioning To Enterprise Agreement (EA) Licensing

To determine whether your deployment is a Hybrid, review your Enterprise Agreement details in the Cisco EA Agreements portal.

Centralized management: When you transition to an EA, the Meraki Dashboard becomes the default licensing controller.
Compliance requirements: Register all APs and/or switches, including newly deployed and existing devices, in Meraki Dashboard inventory. Devices not present in the Dashboard are flagged as non-compliant.
Brownfield deployments: For existing on-premises deployments, claim APs and/or switches in the Meraki Dashboard. Then assign them to a network configured for On-premises managed mode to maintain proper management and compliance.

Note: Ensure all on-premises devices are identified and prepare all on-premises devices before finalizing the EA transition to prevent compliance alerts. To see the hardware that would need to be claimed in Meraki Dashboard if cover by the Cisco Networking Wireless and /or Cisco Networking Switching please see:
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/produc...specifications

DNA Licensed Devices do not need to be claimed in Meraki Dashboard. The DNA Suite will still be managed via EAworkspace and CSSM.

For on-premises-only customers transitioning from A La Carte (ALC) licensing to an Enterprise Agreement (EA), do not use the Meraki Dashboard.
For on-premises-only customers Centralized management: After the transition, EA Workspace becomes the default controller for both licensing and device consumption.
For on-premises-only customers Brownfield deployments can remain as they are today.

Setting the Network to On-Prem Management

Customers who manage devices on-premises while still utilizing the Meraki dashboard for your licenses and inventory management will be in a mix mode.

Prerequisite

Confirm the EA subscription in the Meraki Dashboard has been claimed. See How to Activate an EA Subscription.How to Activate an EA Subscription
Have the Smart Account and Virtual Account information available. They must match the SA/VA where the EA resides, as identified in the earlier steps. See Smart Account Administration.Smart Account Administration

1. Log into the Meraki dashboard by going to dashboard.meraki.com and input your Email and Password. Click Log in once you are ready.

Graphical user interface, applicationDescription automatically generated

2. In Meraki Dashboard, open the organization. Navigate to Organization > Subscription & License Info.

Select the Subscriptions view.
Locate the EA subscription row and confirm that its Status is Active.
Confirm the displayed Smart Account, Subscription ID, end date, and utilization correspond to the EA record you reviewed.

Note: At the time of EA provisioning All networks in this organization are automatically associated with the new EA After the initial EA provisioning all new networks must be bound to the EA by the Network admin. Networks managed through the Meraki Dashboard (cloud) require no additional action. For networks managed on-premises, continue with the following steps.

3. Select the network you want to move to on-premises

4.Navigate to Network-Wide > Management Mode, then select On-premises managed.

Note: This is a per-product-family configuration.

For wireless, place every AP you want to manage through a WLC or Catalyst Center in this network. The WLC does not need to be in the Meraki Dashboard for this configuration.
For switching, place every switch you want to manage through Catalyst Center in this network that is eligible to covert.
This configuration is not specific to wireless or switching. It synchronizes the Meraki Dashboard with the Smart Account/Virtual Account in CSSM where the EA resides.

for a full list of hardward that is elibigle to go throught this process - https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/produc...specifications

IMPORTANT: Create the network and change its management mode to On-premises managed before adding any devices. After confirming that the network is in On-premises managed mode, add the APs to the network. The APs will not reboot when added.

IMPORTANT: For both wireless and switching, devices will reboot if they already added to the network prior to changing the Management Mode and then they will follow the normal on-premises discovery process configured in your on-premises network.

5. Select the appropriate SA/VA. It must be the same account in which the EA is held in EA Workspace.

6. If prompted, enter the required credentials. Use the same administrator credentials used for EA Workspace and CSSM.

7. For the wireless workflow, this screen indicates that AP's will reboot if they are already assigned to the network when the management-mode change is applied. After rebooting, the AP's follow the standard on-premises discovery process. Confirm that the network is configured for discovery, such as through DHCP or DNS. Click Next

8. After reviewing the information, click Confirm.

Note: If you use an on-premises SSM and have not assigned devices to the Meraki Dashboard network, the devices are assigned automatically to the configured network. The on-premises SSM must synchronize each time a new AP is activated to obtain a license.

9. After the management-mode change, return to the EA-associated network and verify the displayed subscription and on-premises association.

Open Organization > Subscription & License Info and select the target network.
Confirm the right-side Subscription Info panel identifies the expected subscription, status, end date, wireless feature tier, Smart Account, and Virtual Account.
Review the consumption indicator and available-license information shown for the subscription.

Verify the license in Cisco Smart Software Licensing

Once hybrid mode is configured, sign in to Cisco Software Central with administrator credentials for the SA/VA that has access to both the EA and CSSM.Cisco Software Central

1. Open Cisco Software Central and select Manage licenses under Smart Software Manager.

Note: Do not use Cisco License Central (CLC) to view this synchronization. It is not yet available there, and the displayed information will be incorrect.

2. Click Inventory, then select the required Smart Account and Virtual Account.

Note: This must be the same account used in EA Workspace for synchronization to work correctly.

3. Click Licenses and locate the entitlement changed to on-premises management. In this example, look for Cisco Wireless Advantage

4. Review the Available to Use, In Use, and Balance values. If needed, open the entitlement to view product details and usage.

Note: For EAs, the Balance value may not show the full quantity; this is expected. It shows licenses that have been generated. Available to Use and In Use reflect only devices added to the Meraki Dashboard and consumed on on-premises network(s). Devices that remain cloud-managed in a different Meraki Dashboard network, and licenses not yet consumed or generated, are not shown. For a broader EA view, use the Meraki Dashboard or EA Workspace.

5. Hover over the entitlement to view product details, including the "Organization:network - product family" from which the information originates.

6. Select Organization:network - product to view details such as the subscription ID, start date, and end date.

7. Select Product Instances to see which devices consume the licenses.

Note: You cannot edit or delete licenses in the CSSM Virtual Account while using this mode because the Meraki Dashboard manages the licenses.

Configure the WLC to Retrieve Compliance from CSSM

After the Meraki Dashboard and CSSM synchronization is complete, verify that the synchronization was performed using the correct Smart Account (SA) and Virtual Account (VA). You can then configure the Wireless LAN Controller (WLC) to retrieve licensing compliance information from CSSM.

Follow the Cisco guide below to configure Smart Licensing Using Policy on the WLC:

Implementing Smart Licensing Using Policy for Cisco Wireless Controllers

Select the workflow that matches your deployment topology, such as direct connectivity to CSSM, connectivity through Cisco Smart Licensing Utility (CSLU), or an on-premises Smart Software Manager deployment.

Note: The WLC must be associated with the same SA/VA where the EA entitlement was synchronized. This configuration enables the WLC to communicate with CSSM for compliance reporting; it does not replace the Meraki Dashboard synchronization.