topic ISE VM block size and type of data access in Network Access Control

ISE VM block size and type of data access

Eduardo Miralles — Wed, 30 Aug 2017 18:20:34 GMT

Hi community,

I was wondering if you could help me with the next question.

Is there information about the recommended block size when installing ISE VM under VMware infrastructure for the different versions of VMFS5 & VMFS6 and how is the data access sequential or random for ISE 2.3?

I have looked into the ISE installation guide for version 2.3 and the only comment is "For VMFS5, the 1-MB block size supports up to 2 TB virtual disk size." but it does not give more information nor mentions about how data is access.

Regards

Re: ISE VM block size and type of data access

Craig Hyps — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 18:29:06 GMT

No need to change/tune block size from default on VMware.

Re: ISE VM block size and type of data access

Eduardo Miralles — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 22:45:15 GMT

Hi chyps

Ok, understood about the part that does not require changes on the block size.

Do you know if there is information on how is the data accessed from the ISE VM sequentially or randomly?

Best regards,

Eduardo

Re: ISE VM block size and type of data access

Craig Hyps — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 02:46:38 GMT

We have different databases for config and logging. We don't prescribe the method, but this article may provide some insight into typical design where logging is often sequential and transactional data is random: Optimizing Virtual Platform Disk Performance (ESX)

We do not have option to change how data is written or read. We do however verify if the disk IO is suitable for ISE by performing read/write test at point of install and periodically after install. If fail to meet 300MB/sec read or 50MB/sec write, then an alarm is triggered. Occasional alarms should not raise too much concern as possible that there is a significant IO process running at same time periodic check is scheduled, but constant alarms should necessitate a change in hardware or disk/controller config. See BRKSEC-3699 session on ciscolive.com (reference presentation) for more details on disk testing and recommendations.

Craig

Re: ISE VM block size and type of data access

Eduardo Miralles — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 23:21:52 GMT

Thank you Craig really appreciate the help.

Best regards,

Eduardo