topic ISE hardware appliance offline installation. in Network Access Control

ISE hardware appliance offline installation.

mmisonne — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 14:31:56 GMT

Hello,

I read in the installation guide that Cisco do not recommend to do an offline installation.

However, I want to do the first setup offline, because the Appliance should be send to the Data-center allready configured, with the first setup to be able to access it remotely.

Can I do the first setup in my lab ?

Maybe it is better to do it with a simulated NTP server on a router ?

And if yes , do I need also to add a simulated DNS server ?

Michel Misonne

Re: ISE hardware appliance offline installation.

Damien Miller — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 15:30:47 GMT

Yes, you would simulate the subnet, default gateway, NTP, and DNS to do this. The alternative I would prefer would be to assign the correct IP/mask/default gateway to the CIMC of the appliance then ship it to the DC. Once at the DC you can access the CIMC and complete the set up as if you had a keyboard and mouse plugged directly in to it. The HTML/JAVA KVM available on the CIMC will provide you all you need to set up the ISE node remotely.

Re: ISE hardware appliance offline installation.

mmisonne — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 16:29:56 GMT

Thanks for your reply.

If I use CIMC, I suppose it is possible to install ISO first in lab, send the appliance to DC and then launch the KVM remotly to start the Setup.

I think also, firewall port in DC must be open for KVM console ( tcp 2068)

Michel

Re: ISE hardware appliance offline installation.

Damien Miller — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:03:13 GMT

Yes, for the CIMC you need 443 to get to the web UI, and then 2068 as you indicated for KVM.

The SNS appliance will ship with ISE pre-installed, but the version may not match what you want. In that case you could use a USB thumb drive or the CIMC KVM to run the install from the correct version ISO. As you indicated, it's easiest to stage the appliance at the "setup" script stage post ISO install, then run the setup once in place and complete the build.