For a free 56-bit DES encryption license, you can request an activation key from the [Pix 56-bit License Upgrade Key] page.
For a 3DES/AES encryption license, you need to register your Pix device on the [Pix Firewall 3DES/AES License Registration] form. You will receive an email with the activation key and instructions on how to apply it.
For other licenses, such as failover, VPN, or unrestricted licenses, you need to purchase them from Cisco or an authorized reseller. You will receive a Product Authorization Key (PAK) that you can use to generate an activation key on the [Customer Registration] form.
How to apply an activation key
Once you have obtained an activation key, you need to apply it to your Pix device. The procedure varies depending on the software version of your Pix device. Here are some common steps:
For Pix software version 6.2 and later, you can use the activation-key command in the configuration mode. For example, pixfirewall(config)# activation-key 0x12345678 0x12345678 0x12345678 0x12345678.
For earlier software versions, you need to use the monitor mode or the boothelper mode to change the activation key. You can access these modes by rebooting the Pix device and interrupting the boot sequence. For more details, refer to the [Changing PIX Activation Keys] document.
How to verify an activation key
To verify that your activation key has been applied successfully and that your Pix device has the features you expect, you can use the show version command in any mode. This command will display information about your Pix device, such as the serial number, the software version, the hardware configuration, and the licensed features. For example:
pixfirewall# show version Cisco PIX Firewall Version 6.3(5) Cisco PIX Device Manager Version 3.0(4) Compiled on Thu 04-Aug-05 21:40 by morlee pixfirewall up 1 hour 28 mins Hardware: PIX-515E, 64 MB RAM, CPU Pentium II 433 MHz Flash E28F128J3 @ 0xfff00000, 16MB BIOS Flash AM29F400B @ 0xfffd8000, 32KB 0: ethernet0: address is 0009.e8c7.bf9a, irq 10 1: ethernet1: address is 0009.e8c7.bf9b, irq 11 Licensed Features: Failover: Enabled VPN-DES: Enabled VPN-3DES-AES: Enabled Maximum Physical Interfaces: 6 Maximum VLANs: 25 Inside Hosts: Unlimited Throughput: Unlimited IKE peers: Unlimited This PIX has an Unrestricted (UR) license.
You can also use the show activation-key command in any mode to display only the current activation key and its status. For example:
pixfirewall# show activation-key The current activation key is: 0x12345678 0x12345678 0x12345678 0x12345678 This key is valid.
References
[Pix 56-bit License Upgrade Key]
[Pix Firewall 3DES/AES License Registration]
[Customer Registration]
[Changing PIX Activation Keys]
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