Questions About License Templates

Why should I use automated license assignment?

  • Automatically grant new users the right licenses to use their services.

  • Avoid slow, manual method of assigning licenses.

Group templates or Organization template?

Can I configure a license template for my whole organization?

Yes, you can configure a license template for the whole organization.

Can I configure license templates for specific Groups in my organization?

Yes, you can configure license templates for specific groups within the organization.

This feature requires that you are synchronizing your groups from AD with Webex. See Cisco Directory Connector.

Can I use both types of template together?

No, you can only have one of these options active in your organization, but you can change your decision at any time.

Screenshot of the Licenses page in Control Hub, showing option to choose license assignment mode.

What happens when I change the scope from organization-based template to groups-based templates?

If you change the scope, from groups to organization based assignment (or the other way), Webex deletes the existing licensing templates. Then you define a new template (or templates) to automatically assign licenses to new users from that point on.

Who gets licenses from the organization template?

If you choose to apply a licensing template to your whole organization, then all new users receive the assigned services.

Who gets licenses from the group templates?
If you choose to apply licensing templates to groups, then new users in those AD groups will receive the group's assigned services.

How do license templates work?

Can I change licenses for existing users?
Yes, you can always manually override a user's licensing.
Can I use templates to assign or remove services for existing users?
No. Users who are already in the organization, or groups within the organization, are not affected when you apply or change the license template/s.
What happens when I change a license assignment template?

When you remove a service from a template, or delete the template, the users who were originally licensed by the template keep all the services they were originally assigned.

New users who are licensed by a modified template do not get the service you removed. If you removed the whole template, then new users do not automatically receive any licenses.

Can nested groups inherit the license template from the parent group?

No. A group's template only assigns licenses to new users who are direct members of the group in Active Directory. Users in nested groups don't get the licenses from the parent group's template.

How does moving users between AD groups affect their licensing?

When you move a user from one AD group into another, the user keeps their licenses from the original group and gains the licenses from the new group (unless it would be a duplicate assignment).

The user keeps licenses from the original group's template even if the user leaves the group, or you subsequently delete services from that template.

What if a user is in two or more AD groups that have license templates?

If a user is in multiple AD groups, the user gains licenses from the templates applied to all their groups (unless there would be a duplicate assignment).


An exception to this is automatic license templates that assign hosts and attendees for a Meetings site: Make sure that you don't put users in multiple AD groups with templates that assign both of those account types, or you'll get an undefined behavior.

What if users receive the same license from both groups? Do they consume two licenses?

No, users cannot be assigned the same service more than once.

There is an exception to this rule: If you have multiple meetings sites, you can potentially grant users multiple meetings licenses (one for each site).

Can I use license templates to assign Webex Calling licenses to users?

No. Automatic license assignment is not supported for Webex Calling. You can’t select Webex Calling on the license template.

What about Meetings licenses in Control Hub?

Can I assign Meetings licenses for sites managed in Control Hub?

Yes. Users linked from Site Administration are subject to automatic licensing.

So, if you have organization based assignment, newly linked users automatically receive the licenses specified in the template as they come into your Control Hub organization.

What happens if I have multiple Meetings sites?

Licenses are distinct in different meetings sites. So, if you have two sites with different AD group templates for each, then when you move users from one AD group into another, the result is those users get licenses for both meetings sites.

Can I assign the Attendee role with the license template?

Yes. If your template has a Meetings license on it, then you get an option to assign Attendee role using the license template.

The license assignment wizard, showing the option to select between Host and Attendee role

How does Webex allocate licenses from multiple subscriptions?

You can apply licenses from multiple subscriptions to the same template. This could be the case if you originally bought a subscription for 100 messaging licenses, then bought another subscription for 50 when more of your users wanted Webex.

In such cases, Webex assigns the licenses from the oldest subscription until they are all used, and then moves on to the next oldest subscription. You can see subscription creation dates in Control Hub.

Select License Template Scope

Your license assignment template applies to your whole organization by default. If you synchronize your Active Directory users with Webex, then you can choose groups-based licensing instead.

1

Sign in to Control Hub.
2

Go to Organization Settings > Licenses assignment .

3

Select your license assignment scope:

  • Organization based management (default)
  • Group based management

What to do next

If you chose organization based management, click Set up to create the license assignment template for the whole organization. See Configure Organization-based Automatic Licensing for New Users.

If you chose groups based management, save your choice and then configure templates for your groups. See Configure Automatic Licensing for New Users in Active Directory Groups.

Configure Organization-based Automatic Licensing for New Users

1

Sign in to your Control Hub organization https://admin.webex.com, and go to the Users page

2

Click Licenses in the top right corner.

3

Select Organization-based management then Set up.

4

Select from the available services (Calling, Meetings, Messaging).

If you select a Webex Meetings license, the wizard will have another page. Click Next to choose the account type:

  • Host: A new user governed by this template automatically gains host privilege, and your meetings license count decreases by one.
  • Attendee: A new user governed by this template automatically gains attendee privilege. Your meetings license count does not decrease.

 

The attendee account type isn't available for users with the Webex Site Administrator role. If you want to assign these users with an attendee account, you must remove their administrative privileges for that Webex Meetings site.

5

Review the licenses in your template and click Save.

Your license template is activated and licenses are automatically assigned when new users are added.

Configure Automatic Licensing for New Users in Active Directory Groups

When you synchronize your Webex organization with Active Directory, any new users are granted the licenses you selected on that group's template.

If you assign licenses to an inactive user from an unverified domain, then the licenses aren’t activated until the user signs in for the first time and becomes active.

If you verified or claimed domains and want new users to use Webex services before signing in, then you should Configure Single Sign-On (SSO) and suppress automated emails before synchronizing users to the Webex cloud with the Cisco Directory Connector.

Before you begin

You may need to select groups-based automatic license management, see Select License Template Scope.

1

Sign in to https://admin.webex.com, go to Users > Groups.

2

Find and click the group you want to manage, then find the Licenses assignment section.

3

Click Set up.

4

Select from the available services (Calling, Meetings, Messaging) to assign to this group's new users.

If you select a Webex Meetings license, the wizard will have another page. Click Next to choose the account type:

  • Host: A new user governed by this template automatically gains host privilege, and your meetings license count decreases by one.
  • Attendee: A new user governed by this template automatically gains attendee privilege. Your meetings license count does not decrease.

 

The attendee account type isn't available for users with the Webex Site Administrator role. If you want to assign these users with an attendee account, you must remove their administrative privileges for that Webex Meetings site.

5

Click Save.

Your license template is activated. The associated services are automatically assigned to new users in this group when they become Active.

Modify Your Automatic License Assignment Template(s)

To modify the licenses assigned by a template, follow the same steps for an organization template or for a group template; there is just a different path to get to the license assignment wizard.

1

Sign in to your organization at https://admin.webex.com, and open the Users page.

2

Navigate to the license assignment template:

  • Click Groups if you're automatically assigning licenses to new users in AD groups.
  • Click Licenses if you're automatically assigning licenses to all new users in the organization.
3

Click Modify.

4

Modify the services assigned by this template (Calling, Meetings, Messaging).

If you select a Webex Meetings license, the wizard will have another page. Click Next to choose the account type:

  • Host: A new user governed by this template automatically gains host privilege, and your meetings license count decreases by one.
  • Attendee: A new user governed by this template automatically gains attendee privilege. Your meetings license count does not decrease.

 

The attendee account type isn't available for users with the Webex Site Administrator role. If you want to assign these users with an attendee account, you must remove their administrative privileges for that Webex Meetings site.

5

Review the licenses in your template and click Save.

Delete Your Automatic License Assignment Template

To delete a license template, follow the same steps for an organization template or for a group template; there is just a different path. If you are changing the license assignment mode, the templates from the mode you're moving away from are automatically deleted.

1

Sign in to your organization at https://admin.webex.com and open the Users page.

2

Navigate to the license assignment template:

  • Click Groups if you're deleting a group template.
  • Click Licenses if you're deleting the organization template.
3

Click Delete.

Acknowledge the warnings and proceed.