Cisco ISE 2.6.0 > 3.2.0 Upgrade

[JH8286]

I am looking at uplifting a small (2 node) ISE deployment from 2.6.0 > 3.2.0 (via 2.7.0 as required)

Currently the 2.6.0 deployment is running classic licenses - base, VM, and device admin.

I understand 3.2.0 requires smart licenses, however the environment is air-gapped, I see SLR would solve this but would the upgrade fail if SMART/SLR was not implemented prior to going from 2.6.0 > 2.7.0 > 3.2.0? From what I can see 2.6.0 doesn't support SLR.

Thanks

[ahollifield · Accepted solution]

https://community.cisco.com/t5/security-knowledge-base/ise-version-upgrade-matrix/ta-p/3653501

[thomas]

https://cs.co/ise-licensing should answer ISE Licensing migration questions. If not, send document feedback that it should answer your question. 

▷ Upgrading your Cisco ISE Deployment 2021/09/07

00:20 Agenda
01:44 ISE Versions and Suggested Releases
02:57 ISE 3.1 Release Features
03:40 Supported Releases for Upgrading to ISE 3.1
06:02 Upgrade Workflow
07:04 Upgrade Methods: Backup & Restore, GUI, or CLI
11:00 Upgrade Preparations: Backup, Certs, Health Check
14:32 Upgrade Options Overview: Split and Full Upgrades
17:40 Full Upgrade Process Details
21:28 Upgrade Pre-Checks
27:09 Demo of Full Upgrade from ISE 2.7 to 3.1
38:45 Split Upgrade Process Details
44:11 Demo of Split Upgrade from ISE 2.6 to 3.1
52:38 Split vs Full Upgrade Process Comparison
54:38 Post Upgrade Tasks
56:13 ISE Upgrade Resources
56:21 Questions

• https://cs.co/ise-3-1-upgrade

[JH8286]

Thanks - the link to the PDF seems to be broken?

The video talks about migrating the licences before upgrade, since 2.6/7 does not appear to support SLR and there is no local SSM this wont be possible. 

I assume upgrade to 3.2 would have evaluation period and in that time the licences could be converted to SLR and then the 3.2 deployment licenced accordingly?

[Marcelo Morais · Accepted solution]

Hi @JH8286 ,

  for Smart Licensing: " ... after activating Smart Licensing, you have a 90-day Evaluation Period. During this time, ALL Licenses are active. During this time, you can explore Smart Licensing and ALL the ISE features. If you don't register Smart Licensing with a valid Token before the Evaluation Period expires, you cannot use ISE... " (at Cisco ISE Administration Guide 2.7).

Hope this helps !!!

[aumate]

Hello - The upgrade of the deployment will not fail because of lack of 3.x SLR licenses. However, once the upgrade is complete, customer would need the 3.x licenses in their Smart Account and local SSM server within 30 days. Otherwise, ISE portal becomes read-only until 3.x licenses are available. Hope this helps.