Switch Engine v34.1.1 Licensing Guide

Perpetual Licenses

Perpetual licenses provide permanent access to Switch Engine software features. Once installed on a switch, perpetual licenses never expire and remain valid for the life of the switch. Perpetual licenses are stored in switch Flash memory and are bound to the switch serial number.

Types of Perpetual Licenses

Switch Engine offers three types of perpetual licenses:

Base License—Included with all universal switches. Provides L2 switching, L3 routing, VLANs, and core management features. See Base License Features for detailed feature matrix.
Premier License—Available on select platforms. Adds advanced routing, multicast support, Precision Time Protocol (PTPv2), and application hosting. See Premier License Features for platform support and SKU information.
MACsec License—Separate perpetual feature license for IEEE 802.1AE link-level encryption. See MACsec (Media Access Control Security) for supported platforms and SKU information.

Platform Support

Perpetual licenses are supported on all Switch Engine universal platforms:

Table 1. Perpetual License Platform Support
Platform Series	Models	Minimum Version
4000 Series	4120, 4220	33.1.1
5100 Series	5120	33.1.1
5300 Series	5320	33.1.1
5400 Series	5420	33.1.1
5500 Series	5520	33.1.1
5700 Series	5720	33.1.1
7500 Series	7520 only	33.1.1
7700 Series	7720	33.1.1

Installing Perpetual Licenses

Perpetual licenses are installed on the switch using a license activation file. See Installing and Uninstalling Licenses on Universal Switches for installation procedures.

Perpetual License Storage and Characteristics

Perpetual Software Licenses are stored in Flash memory on the switch. For detailed information on storage mechanism, validation, and recovery procedures, see Perpetual License Characteristics.