Meraki MR License Guide

Cisco Meraki cloud-managed access points provide wireless, security, location, and analytics services but only need a single license to support these features. MR licenses are model-agnostic and include Enterprise, MR Advanced, and MR Upgrade types.

MR License Types and SKUs

Refer to the table below for available MR license types and corresponding SKUs.

All three MR license types (MR Enterprise, MR Advanced, MR Upgrade) are available in both co-termination (co-term) and per-device (PDL) licensing models.

Note: LIC-MR-ADV-1D and LIC-MR-UPGR-1D SKUs are meant for license “true-ups” when using the PDL licensing model. Please refer to  Meraki Per-Device Licensing documentation for more information. While you can claim these licenses into a co-term organization, they would not make a significant difference to a co-termination date.

Free Trials Support

Free trials for MR Advanced (LIC-MR-ADV) and MR Upgrade (LIC-MR-UPGR) are currently available with the following limitations:

• Countries supported: the U.S. and Japan

• Trial extensions will not be reflected in the dashboard; please work with your sales rep to get a new trial expiration date.

• There is not a 30-day grace period for free trials

MR Features by License Type

All Cisco Meraki access points require valid licensing to operate. MR Enterprise license covers the standard MR features, including but not limited to:

• Cloud management

• Zero-touch firmware upgrades

• Zero-touch provisioning

• 24x7 enterprise support

• RMA

• API support

• Bluetooth and ESL integration with SES-imagotag (supported on access points with the IoT radio)

• Meraki Health

• NBAR integration (minimum firmware and hardware requirements apply)

• Security features like Air Marshal, Layer 3 and Layer 7 firewall rules

• API Umbrella integration (requires a separate Cisco Umbrella license)

• And others

MR Advanced license includes all MR Enterprise features plus additional ones, as noted below.

Note: * MR Upgrade license is not a standalone license and cannot be used to license an AP by itself. MR Upgrade provides an upgrade path for customers with existing MR Enterprise licenses in both PDL and co-term licensing models.

In simple terms, MR Enterprise + MR Upgrade = MR Advanced. However, applying MR Upgrade license differs between PDL and co-term.

Please see the details of using MR Upgrade licenses in both licensing models below.

MR Licenses in the PDL Licensing Model

The PDL licensing model supports MR Enterprise, MR Advanced, and MR Upgrade licenses.

With this model, licenses are assigned to individual devices, which makes it possible to have access points with MR Advanced licenses in one Meraki network and access points with MR Enterprise licenses in the other Meraki network within the same Meraki organization.

Claiming an MR Upgrade License in PDL Organizations

Note: By default, all newly created Meraki organizations start with the co-term licensing model. You can initiate conversion from co-term to PDL organization on the Organization > Configure > License info page > Convert to per-device licensing. Please refer to Conversion to Per-Device Licensing for more information.

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 Advanced 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.