Backup and restore upgrade

[dgaikwad]

Hi Experts,
Going to perform a backup and restore method upgrade.
To perform this its planned to use only the DR and run it for a few days to sort out issues.

But then question is that then, how would one manage the licenses?
What if secondary PAN is de-registered, will it have copy of licenses?
Or could the licenses be exported from Primary PAN and restored on the new cluster? Is this even possible?

Any pointers or suggestions?

[Charlie Moreton]

That depends.  PAK or Smart Licenses?

If PAK-based, did you add the secondary UDI to the license file?  If not, you will need to open a Licensing case to get it added.

If Smart License, then your secondary should already be connected to the Smart License server. 

You can check both scenarios by going to Administration > System > Licensing. If both UDIs are listed, then the secondary Admin Node is properly registered.  

To re-host ISE licenses to a new deployment, you will either need to open a licensing case OR convert to Smart licensing (supported from 2.4 and newer).  Smart licensing has the benefit of being able to register as many ISE nodes to is as you'd like and share the same pool of licenses.

[dgaikwad]

@Charlie Moreton checked them and yes the secondary PAN is registered with the PAK licensing.
So, now the question that I have is that, if I de-register the secondary PAN will it have the same number if licenses?

And as off now we are not keen on converting to Smart Licensing, thus needing this way around to get to the new version as well keep the downtime and issues to a minimum while the upgrade is done.

[Charlie Moreton]

What version are you upgrading to?

[Marcelo Morais · Accepted solution]

Hi @dgaikwad ,

1st remember that when a Node is deregistered from the PPAN, it becomes a Standalone Node and its License is reset to Evaluation.

2nd since you " ... as off now we are not keen on converting to Smart Licensing ... ", you are probably not thinking of upgrading to ISE 3.x, because ISE 3.0+ ONLY supports Smart Licensing and remember that after activating Smart Licensing, you have a 90-day Evaluation Period (during this time, ALL Licenses are active and you can explore Smart Licensing and ALL the ISE features). 

Hope this helps !!!

[dgaikwad]

@Marcelo Morais 
Thanks for the explanation, I guess this is what I was looking for.
So, if I get temporary licenses for the duration of upgrade and post formation of the entire cluster on 2.7, the importing the original license will overwrite the these temporary ones?
Or if I upgrade and add the PPAN back in new cluster, would it still then overwrite the temporary licenses?

[Marcelo Morais · Accepted solution]

Hi @dgaikwad ,

 yes, the importing of the License will overwrite the "temporary" ones.

Hope this helps !!!