ISE 2.6 install time on hardware?

[Dustin Anderson]

Greetings,

Due to a bug I have to reformat my ISE units and reinstall. We are going to ISE 2.6. We have SNS-3595's. I believe 2.3 only took about 30-45 min, but 2.6 is taking a lot longer. Anyone have an idea on time?

[Dustin Anderson · Accepted solution]

OK, the issue is the doc's are all over the place, so here is what I found.

DO NOT use the vKVM to mount the ISO unless it is your only option as it can be 6+ hour install.

I stopped and went to USB once I got it working. Here is the corrected info for USB.

From the USB drive, open the following text files in a text editor:

• isolinux/isolinux.cfg

• EFI/BOOT/grub.cfg

Replace the term "cdrom" in both the files.

• If you have a SNS 3515, 3595, 3615, 3655, or 3695 appliance, replace the term "cdrom" with "hd:sdb1" in both the files.

Specifically, replace all instances of the "cdrom" string. For example, replace

ks=cdrom/ks.cfg

with

ks=hd:sdb1:/ks.cfg

**Note the sdb1, I saw some docs listed sda1**

[syedishtiyaq]

Dear Dustin,

Thank you for your reply, it helped me reinstalling the ISE 2.7 on SNS-3615, I was following another blog to reinstall but I was getting an error as that blog was mentioning to replace the "cdrom" to "sdb1" but after googling the error message I reached your post and found the correct solution to replace the "cdrom" to "hd:sdb1". I am thankful to you and Willem who posted the solution on his blog. Install Cisco Identity Services Engine v2.4 From USB — REDELIJKHEID

[Nadav]

Hi,

Assuming you installed over vKVM, how long did it take? Did you install it over vKVM on the LAN or did you do so over the WAN?

If it's honestly taking several hours, then you should check with TAC if a case isn't open. Using USB as has been suggested is not a valid method for many enterprises and it really shouldn't come to that even if it were. 

[Dustin Anderson]

We were trying vKVM over network and stopped it at 3 hours. It was just starting oracleSW part 3, so we figure it would have been at least 7+ hours to install. 

[Colby LeMaire]

The install time will depend on the hardware that you have.  I did the 2.6 install on a VM with 3595 specs and it was just shy of 2 hours.  We used the vKVM and it worked fine.  Depending on your network connection between vKVM and the appliance, the initial copying of the file to the appliance may take longer or shorter.  But once the file is loaded in memory on the appliance and the install is started, the network piece is done.  There are a couple of parts in the install that appear to be stuck but it just takes a long time.  One is the Oracle SW installation and the other spot is something like NTP configuration import.  Just be patient and let it finish.  Like I said, approximately 2 hours.  If it is taking 3+ hours, then I recommend engaging TAC because there could be a hardware problem.  On a SNS/UCS, you can check the health of the hardware in CIMC.  For a VM, I would blow it away and create a new one to start over if you suspect corruption.

[Dustin Anderson]

These were SNS-3595s, No hardware faults and install from USB took under 45min. I don't think the install is a quick copy from memory, vs just acting like a stream. I have a gig on my PC, so should have been fast, but looking on task manager, I was only seeing around 3Mbps transfer rates.

They also pushed to remove java from systems, so this was the HTML vKVM.

[Colby LeMaire]

It is not a stream.  The installation bundle is copied to the appliance first and then the hash is verified before the installation continues.  We used the Java version of vKVM.  A 2.4 installation on 3595 hardware appliances also took less than 2 hours using the Java vKVM.