topic Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade in Network Access Control

ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

kanes.ramasamy — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 03:18:49 GMT

Hi All,

I am having an issue around the hardware compatibility.

We are using version 3.X ISE with 1 PAN and MNT node.

On VM: ESXi 6.7 and later (version 14)

On Host: ESXi7.0 U2 and later (version 19).

Can I go ahead and upgrade to match host?

Appreciate your assistances.

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

Marvin Rhoads — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 03:26:49 GMT

Yes - you should upgrade the VM to match host.

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

kanes.ramasamy — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 03:43:11 GMT

Hi @Marvin Rhoads,

How would I know if my ISE is compatible - apologies as I am not seeing any good details on the doco.
Appreciate if you can help share some doco if there is any.

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

Marvin Rhoads — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:25:56 GMT

Cisco documented the compatibility in the 3.0 Installation Guide here:

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/ise/3-0/install_guide/b_ise_InstallationGuide30/b_ise_InstallationGuide30_chapter_2.html

(search for "VMware Virtual Machine Requirements for Cisco ISE").

Later versions of the document (3.1+) seem to have removed this particular reference.

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

ahollifield — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 14:17:21 GMT

What exact version of ISE? You have no PSN? Only a PAN and MnT? What exactly are you using ISE for?

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

Arne Bier — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:23:14 GMT

I always update the VM compatibility if the version change only results in new features like more RAM support, more CPU support, and loads of things that have no bearing on ISE. Never had a problem. The requirements for ISE (Redhat Linux) are quite simple and somewhat flexible. The ISE VM doesn't need more RAM or CPU of course, and it also doesn't complain about it either. You can take a look at this link from VMWare (broadcom will soon break this website too) to see a feature comparison table of the versions .

Here's a screenshot for posterity

Re: ISE and VM Hardware compatibility/Upgrade

kanes.ramasamy — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 23:08:20 GMT

Thank you all for your help.
Truly appreciated.