Changing timezone from EST to UTC in ISE 3.3 patch-4

[ZscalerSME]

Hi guys,

I have a five nodes cluster ISE 3.3 patch-4:

Node 1:  PAN & Primary MNT

Node 2:  SAN & Secondary MNT

Node 3, 4, 5:  PSN

These servers were built before I work here, and the engineer before me used EST time zone instead of UTC as recommended by Cisco.  We are on the Eastern time zone and currently the clock shows that we are one hour behind the current local time.  For example, the "show clock" shows 12:37pm but it is actually 1:37pm.  The clock will show correctly when we have to move back the clock one hour in November.  

I want to change the time zone from EST to UTC but I've been really scared of doing so because this is stated in Cisco documentation:  https://community.cisco.com/t5/network-access-control/cisco-ise-timezone-change-in-ver-3-0/td-p/4520720

Changing the Time Zone on Cisco ISE Nodes

Changing the time zone on a Cisco ISE appliance after installation causes the Cisco ISE application on that node to be unusable. However, the preferred time zone (default UTC) can be configured during the installation when the initial setup wizard prompts you for the time zones.

Has anyone successfully changed the time zone in a PRODUCTION environment in an ISE cluster?

TIA...

[Marcelo Morais]

Hi @ZscalerSME ,

for ISE 3.1+, please take a look at: Cisco Identity Services Engine CLI Reference Guide, Release 3.3 - Chapter: Cisco ISE CLI Commands in Configuration Mode, search for: clock timezone and Changing the Time Zone on Cisco ISE Nodes.

Note 1: remember to disable the PAN Auto-Failover configuration before you set the timezone.

Note 2: pay special attention to

" ... Changing the time zone on the PSN or MnT Nodes of a Cisco ISE appliance after installation, causes some known issues with the sorting order of the Live Logs and Live Sessions pages. The old logs and sessions are not displayed in the right sorting order based on timestamps. New sessions created after the time zone change are sorted and displayed in the right order. ISE Reports may also have data inconsistencies in the timestamp fields and incorrect sorting order ... "

Hope this helps !!!

[adamscottmaster2013]

Yikes.  This is not good.  I am also facing the same issue.

The only reasonable solution is to rebuild the ISE.  Wow, this is 2025 and not 2005.  Changing time zone should not require a rebuild of the ISE, IMHO.  

[Marcelo Morais]

@adamscottmaster2013  and @ZscalerSME ,

 for ISE 2.x setting the timezone via CLI is not supported, the clock cannot be changed after installation (even though the clock timezone command exists in CLI).

 From ISE 2.2 P17, ISE 2.4 P11, ISE 2.6 P5 and ISE 2.7 P1 changing the timezone on an ISE Appliance after installation could causes the ISE Application on that Node to become unusable, so it was recommended to rebuild ISE.

ise/admin(config)# clock timezone <timezone>
 % On ise distributed deployments, it is recommended all nodes be
 % configured with the same time zone.
 % Changing the time zone may result in undesired side effects
 % Recommended to reimage the node after changing the time zone
 Are you sure you want to change the time zone?
 You must restart ISE for change to take effect. Do you want to restart ISE now?
 Proceed? [yes,no]

 From ISE 3.0 P8, ISE 3.1 P8, ISE 3.2 P3 and ISE 3.3 please take a look at my 1st post:

ise/admin(config)# clock timezone <timezone>
 % On ise distributed deployments, it is recommended all nodes be
 % configured with the same time zone.
 Are you sure you want to change the time zone?
 You must restart ISE for change to take effect. Do you want to restart ISE now?
 Proceed? [yes,no]

Note: I faced a big issue in the past (ISE 2.4) when installing a daylight save time, although the clock command has evolved a lot, I always treat any clock change as something critical   :  )

Hope this helps !!!

[adamscottmaster2013]

@Marcelo Morais:  This is in the Cisco 3.0 documentation:

In the Rel. 3.0 cli reference guide you find the following:

Changing the Time Zone on Cisco ISE Nodes

Changing the time zone on a Cisco ISE appliance after installation causes the Cisco ISE application on that node to be unusable. However, the preferred time zone (default UTC) can be configured during the installation when the initial setup wizard prompts you for the time zones.

How do you explain that?

[Marcelo Morais]

@adamscottmaster2013 ,

 as I wrote before " ... From ISE 3.0 P8, ISE 3.1 P8, ISE 3.2 P3 and ISE 3.3 please take a look at my 1st post: ... "., in my 1st post I wrote: " ... for ISE 3.1+, please take a look at: ... "

Note: please take a look at: Cisco Identity Services Engine CLI Reference Guide, Release 3.0 - Chapter: Cisco ISE CLI Commands in Configuration Mode, this link was updated on May 7th, 2025., now the description is:

" ...

Changing the Time Zone on Cisco ISE Nodes

Changing the time zone on the PSN or MnT nodes of a Cisco ISE appliance after installation, causes some known issues with the sorting order of the live logs and live sessions pages. The old logs and sessions are not displayed in the right sorting order based on timestamps. New sessions created after the time zone change are sorted and displayed in the right order. ISE reports may also have data inconsistencies in the timestamp fields and incorrect sorting order.

... "

Hope this helps !!!