Set up automatic license assignments in Control Hub in webex

The following article explains how automatic licensing works, and how your organization can make use of it for its groups and users. As a result, you can reduce the amount of time it takes to assign licenses to users by using this method.

Questions about license assignments

Why should I use automated license assignment?

• Whenever a new user registers for their services, their licenses will automatically be granted to them.

• Assigning licenses in a manual manner is a slow and inefficient process.

• Create an account in Control Hub for existing users and assign licenses to them.

Group license assignment or organization license assignment?

Can I configure license assignments for my whole organization?

There is no limit on the number of licenses an organization can assign to its users.

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

Depending on the organization, you will be able to assign licenses to specific groups within that organization if you wish.

The group feature in Webex is required in order to take advantage of this feature. To learn how you can sync your Active Directory group with Webex, please refer to Cisco Directory Connector.

Can I use both types of license assignments together?

There is only one option that can be activated in your organization at a time, but you are always able to change it at any time you want.

What happens when the scope is changed from organization-based licensing to groups-based licensing?

Whenever you wish to move from an organization-based assignment to a group-based assignment in Webex, you need to change the scope of the assignment in order to avoid the assignment that you created at the organization level from being deleted. Existing license assignments for existing users are not affected by this action.

There is then a need to define new license assignments based on the groups you belong to.

Who gets licenses from the organization license assignment?

When you add a new user to your organization, organization-based assignments are automatically applied to those users. On the license assignment page of the organization, you can see that the Future users checkbox (always checked) is always checked.

You have the option of allowing assignment to be applied to existing users as well. There is an option in this menu that allows you to modify the license that is assigned to all of your existing users. It happens when the change is saved after the change has been made.

It is also possible to choose Preserve licenses for existing users if you choose Existing users, if you choose Existing users. It is possible, for example, to change the assignment of a license to exclude a specific user’s Advanced Messaging license, so that the user will keep their advanced messaging capabilities. Those features would be lost for existing users if the box is not checked.

Who gets licenses from the group license assignment?

In addition to the new users who join the group, group-based assignments will always apply to them as well. On the license assignment page, the Future users checkbox appears as an indication (always checked) that these users will be added to the group.

The assignment can also be made applicable to existing users if you wish. All users that are already members of that group will have their licenses changed if they select this option. If you save the change, it will happen as soon as you save it.

Depending on the choice you make, you will have the option of Preserving licenses for existing users if you choose Existing users. You may change the assignment of the license to exclude one of the licenses that users in this group already have, for example, if some of the users in this group already have Advanced Messaging, then these users will be able to keep their advanced messaging capabilities. Users who already belong to that group will lose the ability to access those features if the box is not checked.

When users change groups, their licenses are automatically transferred to the new group. Depending on what you choose, they can keep their old licensing, or they can lose their old assignments when they move when you choose whether or not they will also keep their old licensing. In order to control this, you can toggle the Preserve licenses toggle under Users > Licenses > Preserve licenses.

How do license assignments work?

Can I change licenses for existing users?

If you check the Existing users option when adding or modifying license assignments, you will be able to add licenses to existing users whose licenses have already been assigned. Using the Remove license box, you can remove licenses you don’t want by ticking Preserve licenses for existing users (the box is checked by default), so you must also uncheck this box.

Can I use license assignments to assign or remove services for existing users?

As long as you check the Existing users check box towards the bottom of the license assignment screen, you are able to assign or remove services for existing users.

If you want to remove licenses from users who already have them, you should disable the option to preserve licenses if you wish to do so. As far as assignment to organizations and groups is concerned, this is also applicable.

What happens when I change a license assignment?

In the event that you delete a license assignment or remove a service from a license assignment, you have two options when it comes to license preservation. The license preservation feature can be enabled or disabled based on your preference. There is no need to worry when you keep license preservation on, since the original licensees will retain all the services that were assigned to them at the time of licensing. The licenses are removed when the feature is turned off.

A modified license assignment does not allow the service to be given to new users who are licensed under the modified license assignment. There is no need to automatically issue licenses to new users if the entire license assignment has been removed.

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

No. The license assignments of a group can only be made to users who directly belong to the group and have their licenses assigned to them. A nested group does not have its licenses assigned to its members from the license assignment of its parent group. Groups are arranged in a flat hierarchy in the Control Hub.

How does moving users between groups affect their licensing?

It is possible to choose whether or not to preserve the licenses of users when they are transferred from one group to another as soon as they are moved from one group to another. It is possible to choose whether or not to preserve licenses during group transitions from the License assignment page under a separate setting that is located on the License assignment page. Upon enabling, that setting controls asynchronous operations such as group transitions.

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

The user gains licenses when he belongs to more than one group (unless there is a duplicate assignment).

This rule does not apply when a user is assigned multiple license assignments that grant them both a host license and an attendee role for the same Meetings site. In these cases, the user does not receive an attendee license for those Meetings sites in question, instead being assigned only host licenses for those Meetings sites. If there are not sufficient host licenses available for the user to be assigned an attendee role, the user will be given a role as an attendee instead.

It used to be that users were assigned to attendee roles even if there were no licenses available for them, even if they had previously been assigned to attendee roles. As a result of this, we have made certain that a host license is assigned to users so that they can utilize the software on their own servers.

As part of the group license assignment process, both attendee roles as well as host licenses will be assigned to new users as soon as they gain access, regardless of whether they are able to obtain any host licenses. These group license assignments ensure that at the very least, new users get attendee roles when they gain access to the system. In the event that there are any available host licenses available, those users will be granted a host license.

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

There can be no more than one assignment of the same service per user.

It is possible to issue multiple licensing licenses to users if you have multiple meeting sites; however, if you do, each site will be granted a different meeting license.

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

No. Currently, Webex Calling does not support the automatic assignment of licenses. If you try to assign a license, you won’t be able to choose Webex Calling.

What about Meetings licenses in Control Hub?

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

Yes. Licensing is automatically applied to users who are linked from the Site Administration area.

When a new user is added to your Control Hub organization based on a specific organization-based assignment, the licenses specified in the assignment are automatically assigned to the newly added user.

What happens if I have multiple Meetings sites?

There are different licenses for different meeting sites. As a result, when you move users from one group to another, the result of that move will be that they end up with licenses for both sites if you have two sites with different group assignments for each.

Can I assign the Attendee role with the license assignment?

Yes. There is an option to assign Attendee roles using the license assignment method if your assignment has a Meetings license attached to it.

In order to add users as attendees to your Webex site, you must have the Attendee account feature enabled. We would like to advise you that if you do not see the Attendee account column in the CSV file, then you should contact your Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC), Cisco Partner Success Manager (PSM), or your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to enable this feature for your Webex site.

How does Webex allocate licenses from multiple subscriptions?

A license from more than one subscription can be applied to a single assignment. If you purchased a subscription for 100 messaging licenses and then later decided that more of your users needed Webex, then you would have to purchase another subscription for 50 when more of your users requested it.

Webex assigns licenses from one subscription to the next with these exceptions: once the oldest subscription has all its licenses assigned, Webex moves on to the second oldest subscription, and so on. In the Control Hub, you can see the date on which a subscription was created.

If I add a new user through API or CSV and assign them with a specific license, will the organization-based auto license template be applied to that user?

No. It will not be possible to assign an organization-based auto license template to a new user if you assign a license to the new user at the same time you create the account.

Select license assignment scope

Default settings apply to all license assignments in your organization if you have a license assignment template. Alternatively, if you use Webex groups for your meetings, you can select group-based licensing as an option.

• Log in to the Control Hub by clicking here.
• You can find your licenses under Users > Licenses.
• Choose the license scope you would like to assign to your license:

• Management based on organizational structure (default)

• Management based on a group of people

An organization has the choice of applying organization-based license templates or group-based license templates to its users. The organization cannot use both types of license templates to license users. License templates that are based on an organization and those based on a group can’t be used together.

• There is also the option to set up what happens when users change the membership of a group if you select Group-based management:

• It is possible for users to keep their licenses if they are assigned to a new group and if Preserve license when a user transfers to a new group is turned on.

• A user whose license was assigned to an old group and is transferred to another, will lose his or her license from the old group back when the new group’s licenses are assigned to them.

What to do next

If you decide to use an organization-based licensing system, then click Set up to create a template for assigning licenses to everyone in your organization. The following section explains how to configure automatic licensing at the organizational level for new users.

When choosing group-based management, you need to save your decision, and then you will be able to configure your group templates. At the group level, automatic licensing can be configured to apply to new users who join.

Configure automatic licensing for users at the organization level

• You can access the Users page by logging in to your Control Hub account at https://admin.webex.com and then going to the Users tab.
• Please click on the Licenses tab.
• Then click on Organization-based management and follow the instructions.
• Depending on the service (Calling, Meetings, Messaging), you can choose from the available services.

In the event that you choose to use a Webex Meetings license, you will be redirected to another page of the wizard. Select the type of account you would like to create by clicking Next:

• Host: If this license assignment is in effect, users affected by this assignment will automatically receive host privileges, and the number of meetings licenses you have is reduced by one.

• Attendee: This license assignment grants automatic attendee privileges to users who are covered by this license assignment. There is no decrease in the number of meeting licenses in your account.

Users who have the role of Webex Site Administrator are not able to create an Attendee account type. You need to remove their administrative privileges from the Webex Meetings site that these users are logged into if you want to assign them an attendee account.

• There are a number of options you can select from in the Apply scope section if you want to determine how you would like to apply the license change within the scope of your own business:

• Future users: In order to apply licenses only to future users, you need to select this option.

• Existing users: If you also wish to apply changes to license assignment for existing users, then you will need to select this option. The Preserve licenses for existing users option is automatically selected for you once you select Existing users. The result of this is that users who already own the licenses that were removed from the organization assignment can continue to use them without having to purchase them again. In order to remove licenses from users, you must clear the box if you wish to use the assignment for this purpose.

The license modifications will be applied to all current users of the organization when the Save button is clicked if Existing users is selected.

It is possible to select the Existing users setting during a session, but this setting does not persist between sessions. Whenever you save this page and leave it, when you return to it, the Existing users setting will be unchecked again the next time you open it.

• Please review your license assignments and click the Save button once you have finished reviewing them.

I am pleased to inform you that your license assignment has been activated. If you add new users to an organization, Webex will automatically assign them the licenses you choose when you add them. When a person becomes Active in Webex (e.g., when he or she signs into Webex for the first time), they can use the associated services.
If a user is added to an organization with a specific license assigned at the time of his/her creation, then license assignments do not apply to users not assigned licenses at that time. It is important to keep in mind that if you wish license assignments to continue automatically assigning licenses to new users, you should not manually assign licenses to them.

Configure automatic licensing for users at the group level

You can grant new users the licenses that were selected on the license assignment process for that group when you synchronize your Webex organization with Active Directory. In order to synchronize AD groups, you should only use Group Policy to synchronize the groups. Active Directory distribution groups cannot be automatically assigned to Webex accounts as it is not supported by this feature.

There are times when licenses will not be activated until the user signs in for the first time and becomes active, if you assign licenses to an inactive user from an unverified domain.

In order to use the Webex cloud with the Cisco Directory Connector, you will need to configure Single Sign-On (SSO) and to suppress automated emails after verifying or claiming your domains so that new users will be able to access Webex services before signing in.

Before you begin

The automatic license management for groups may need to be selected, see Selecting a license assignment scope for more information.

In the event that participants are in more than one group, then they will receive licenses from all of the license assignments that have been applied to the groups they belong to within the system (unless there are duplicate license assignments).

The exception would be if there are multiple groups that assign the same Meetings site both the host license and attendee role, in which case users will only be assigned host licenses for the Meetings site that they belong to. In the event that there are not enough host licenses available, attendees are assigned host roles instead.

• Visit https://admin.webex.com and click on Users > Groups to access the Users > Groups page.
• You will have to go to the License assignment section within the group you would like to manage once you find it and click on it.
• Then click the Setup button.
• If you would like to assign your new users to any of the services that are available (Calling, Meetings, Messaging, Hybrid Services), you can select from the services available.

There are no licenses available for the Contact Center.

The wizard has another page if you choose a Webex Meetings license during the installation process. Select the type of account you would like to create by clicking Next:

• Host: If you issue this license assignment to a new user, that user will automatically receive the host privilege, resulting in a decrease in the number of meetings licenses.

• Attendee: It is automatically granted attendee privileges to a new user governed by this license assignment after the first use of this license. There is no decrease in the number of meeting licenses in your account.

A user with the Webex Site Administrator role is not able to create attendee accounts because the type of account cannot be created. You must remove their administrative privileges for the Webex Meetings site that you wish to assign these users with attendee accounts if you want to do so.

• When you are in the section entitled “Apply Scope”, you will be able to choose one of the following choices regarding the scope of the license change that you wish to apply:

• Future users: In order to apply licenses only to future users, you need to select this option.

• Existing users: In order to change the license assignment for existing users as well, you can select this option as well. The Preserve licenses for existing users option will automatically be selected when you select Existing users. Consequently, users who already have licensing assigned to their groups will not be affected by the removal of licenses from their group assignments. Using an assignment of licenses is able to remove licenses from users when you tick the box that allows you to do so.

Upon clicking Save, all the existing users of the group will be affected by the license modifications if you select Existing users.

• Save the file by clicking the Save button.

You have successfully assigned your license to your account. The licenses are automatically assigned to group members when they become active as a member of the group, so they can use those services as well.

Modify your automatic license assignment

There is a different path to get to the license assignment wizard when you change the licenses assigned by a license assignment. Simply follow the same steps you would for modifying licenses assigned by an organization license assignment or for modifying licenses assigned by a group license assignment.

• Go to https://admin.webex.com and select the Users tab to access the list of users in your organization.
• Click on the Licenses tab on the left-hand side of the screen:

• Using the Groups list, you can change the assignment of a group in the list of groups that you selected earlier. There is an Assignments tab on the left side of the screen where you can see the license assignments.

• The current assignment of the license appears in the section for license assignment in the organization-based management system.

• Then click the Edit button.
• Choose which licenses (Calling, Meetings, Messaging) you want to include in this assignment.

Depending on what license you choose, the wizard will display a different page if your license is for Webex Meetings. In order to select the type of account you wish to create, click Next:

• Host: If your license assignment grants host privileges to new users, your meeting license count will decrease by one, and the number of users governed by this license assignment will increase.

• Attendee: It is automatically granted attendee privileges to a new user governed by this license assignment after the first use of this license. There is no reduction in the number of meeting licenses you have.

Users who have the role of Webex Site Administrator are not able to create an Attendee account type. You need to remove their administrative privileges from the Webex Meetings site that these users are logged into if you want to assign them an attendee account.

• There are a number of options you can select from in the Apply scope section if you want to determine how you would like to apply the license change within the scope of your own business:

• Future users: In order to apply licenses only to future users, you need to select this option.

• Existing users: In this case, you will also be able to apply the changes to existing users who already possess licenses. By choosing Existing users, we will automatically choose for you Preserve licenses for existing users even if you change your mind. As a result, removing licenses from the assignment doesn’t affect users that already have the licenses, so removing licenses from the assignment has no effect on them. Please make sure that the assignment is set up so that you can use it to remove users’ licenses from the system.

The license modifications apply to all members of the group or organization if the Existing users option is selected and the Save button is clicked.

• If you would like to save your assignment, you will need to review the licenses that are in it.

Delete your automatic license assignment

Delete a license assignment is as easy as following the same steps you follow for deleting a license assignment for an organization or a group license assignment as it is just a different path. A license assignment mode change automatically deletes all assignments from the mode you are moving away from when you are changing the license assignment mode.

• Go to https://admin.webex.com and open the Users section of your organization once you have signed in.
• Click on the Licenses tab on the left-hand side of the screen:

• Using the Groups list, you can change the assignment of a group in the list of groups that you selected earlier. There is an Assignments tab on the left side of the screen where you can see the license assignments.

• The current assignment of the license appears in the section for license assignment in the organization-based management system.

• There is an icon next to the Edit button that looks like a trashcan. Click on it.

The warning has been acknowledged.

• The license assignment will be removed when you click the Delete button.

Licenses that had previously been assigned to users will not be removed by this action. Essentially, this means that the Webex system will not automatically assign licenses to anybody coming into the group or organization in the future. If you prefer, you can assign these licenses manually, or you can create a new license assignment before adding new users to the system if you choose.

Known issues

Change to Preserve licenses toggle persists on Cancel

In Control Hub, if the admin deselects the Preserve licenses toggle, a warning will appear prompting the admin to click on the disable button in order to eliminate it. There is a problem with the toggle if the admin cancels out of the warning dialog in order to remove it from the toggle list.

All images and contents credit goes to help.webex.com