# Licensing Requirements for SME Configuration

To use the SME feature, you need the appropriate SME license. However, enabling SME without a license key starts a counter on the grace period. You then have 120 days to install the appropriate license keys or disable the use of SME. If at the end of the 120-day grace period the switch does not have a valid license key for SME, it will be automatically disabled.

Note Although you need to install DCNM-SAN, you do not need a DCNM-SAN license to use SME. Additional DCNM-SAN capabilities are not enabled by default with SME, so there is no free performance monitoring or other functionality.

To identify if the SME feature is active, use the show license usage license-name command.

The Cisco MDS 9000 SME package is licensed on a per-encryption-engine basis. The total number of licenses needed for a SAN fabric is equal to the number of Cisco MDS 9000 18/4-Port Multiservice Modules plus the number of fixed slots on Cisco MDS 9222i switches used for SME plus the number of encryption engines on Cisco MDS 9000 16-Port Storage Services Nodes (SSN-16).

Each interface in the SSN-16 module is licensed and priced individually.

Table 1-1 lists the SME licenses that are available.

Table 1-1 SME Licenses

Part Number | Description | Applicable Product
M9500SME1MK9 | SME package for MSM-18/4 module | MDS 9500 Series with MSM-18/4 module
M9200SME1MK9 | SME package for MSM-18/4 module | MDS 9200 Series with MSM-18/4 module
M9200SME1FK9 | SME package for fixed slot | MDS 9222i Switch only
M95SMESSNK9 | SME package for one service engine on SSN-16 module, spare | MDS 9500 Series with SSN-16 module
M92SMESSNK9 | SME package for one service engine on SSN-16 module, spare | MDS 9200 Series with SSN-16 module

The following table shows the licensing requirements for this feature:

License | License Description
SME_FOR_IPS_184_PKG SME_FOR_SSN16_PKG SME_FOR_9222i_PKG | Activates SME for MSM-18/4 module. Activates SME for a SSN-16 engine. Activates SME for the Cisco MDS 9222i Switch.

To obtain and install SME licenses, refer to the Cisco MDS 9000 Family NX-OS Licensing Guide.