ISE Replication through Replication Solution

[MSJ1]

Hi, 

I am doing replication of ISE node using one replication solution. I have some questions regarding this. If I bring up the replicated ISE Node , how the licensing will behave ? Is the licensing mapped with a MAC Address of ISE  ? I wonder if any of you had replicated before and share your experience  ?

[Arne Bier]

In the pre-smart licensing days, ISE licensing was tied to the serial number of ISE (UDI) - for physical appliances this was tied to the server chassis serial. For VMs it was generated during the system installation. If you clone ISE, you will also most likely clone the UDI. I don't know for sure, but I reckon that if you are cloning a VM for the purpose of disaster recovery, then the cloned ISE VM will be identical. In most hypervisors (like VMWare) you can either randomise the VM's Ethernet MAC address or set is manually. Perhaps in this case you'd have to ensure that your clone's Ethernet MAC address is identical to the original ISE VM. 

[MSJ1]

thanks Arne. @Arne Bier 

When ISE VM's are smart licensed do I need to redo the licensing work when I bring up the ISE Cloned Node  ? In other words , will it loose licensing at a cloned VM ?

[Arne Bier]

Not as far as I know. The clone is an identical replica of the original. The main thing for Cisco licensing checks is the UDI. That won’t change.