3595 for ESXi + ISE VM

[gtilburg]

hi,

Would it be supported to buy the 3595 appliance and run ESXi on it so that we can use ISE as a VM?

Any limitations and would we be able to deploy the 3595 OVA on it?

REgards

Gert

[Craig Hyps · Accepted solution]

Not clear what the value of doing that, but it is possible.  However, you would then be treating the server as a generic appliance and may even require ISE-VM-K9 license on top of the appliance cost.  You would also be reducing the overall capacity of mem/cpu resources which are now allocated to ESXi.   If the goal is to run VM, then recommend purchase the UCS appliance of choice--and this could even be same platform as SNS--but with additional mem/cpu/disk as required.

In short, when deployed as an SNS-35x5 appliance, we only support direct installation of the ISE software, not foreign software--including hypervisors.  Due to secure boot, that too may block install of the software.

/Craig

[gtilburg]

Thanks Craig.

Main driver is the flexibility in upgrading. A rollback is superfast compared to appliances.

I assume we should calculate for some overhead of ESXi?

i.e:

HW MEM: 32GB

ESXI mem req: 0.5  GB

remaining: 31,5GB

In that case we would not be able to deploy an ova that requires 32GB.

[Craig Hyps]

3595 is based on 64GB, not 32GB.   Allocation of 32 GB would correspond to 3495 specs.  From a VM perspective, I don't think 512MB of mem is going to make a significant difference in performance profile, but using an actual SNS appliance as a VM host seems like an expensive option versus the purchase of comparable UCS platform.  Now you also need to purchase and install hypervisor (where applicable), purchase ISE-VM-K9 license, and purchase of SASU to cover the VM appliance.  There is technically no entitlement for VM because physical appliance or SmartNET purchased on physical appliance.