topic Re: ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual? in Network Access Control

ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual?

musultan — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 19:57:56 GMT

Hi,

When we tried editing the VM settings in vCenter to the paravirtual adapter, but then the appliance would be stuck with a blinking cursor when powered on and would not boot.

How can we do it ? Please advise or only re-image is the option?

Ref Doc: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/ise/2-4/install_guide/b_ise_InstallationGuide24/b_ise_InstallationGuide24_chapter_01.html

Disk Controller

Paravirtual (default for RHEL 7 64-bit) or LSI Logic Parallel

For best performance and redundancy, a caching RAID controller is recommended. Controller options such as RAID 10 (also known as 1+0) can offer higher overall write performance and redundancy than RAID 5, for example. Additionally, battery-backed controller cache can significantly improve write operations.

Re: ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual?

Arne Bier — Thu, 18 Oct 2018 12:17:26 GMT

Bad news is that this doesn't work AFTER installing ISE with LSI. It seems that the drivers required for the pvscisi are not available after you make the change in the VMWare config file. Therefore when I build an ISE node I always create my VM (virtual hardware profile) and then edit the .vmx file and replace all the virtual scsi controllers "lsilogic" to "pvscsi" - then (and only then) do I boot from the .iso installer. Then all is well

I have noticed that Cisco don't ship the .OVA with pvscsi enabled (but vmxnet3 is enabled). And again, it's too late to change it.

This is why I avoid Cisco's OVA like the plague - they don't install in vCenter 6.5 anyway (unless you convert them ...) - just build the VM from scratch. Then you can rest assured they are built with the best performance in mind.

Re: ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual?

musultan — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 23:39:37 GMT

bug filed: CSCvn09684 for the same issue to document.

Re: ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual?

TimpoSpawar724 — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 18:22:38 GMT

@musultan wrote:
bug filed: CSCvn09684 for the same issue to document.

Bug is marked as fixed but no fix version. Would like to change to pvscsi but not if it requires rebuild. Will it work in 2.6?

Re: ISE 2.x || how to change the disk controller from LSI to Paravirtual?

Bwitz — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 20:44:01 GMT

I can confirm this still does not work in 2.6. looks like a reinstall is necessary