Recover ISE VM from Backup to resolve ISE application service error

[dpad]

Hello Team,

We have an issue with our Cisco ISE SAN where the services are not starting after recovering from high CPU. Stop the services (#applicatino stop ise) first but when starting it's giving an error. Also done reload from CLI and vCenter but no go.

# application start ise
% Application failed to start

It was recommended that we re-image the device which had always been a secondary admin node. However, we do have a backup of the SAN as a VM and I'm thinking that maybe we can use this instead of creating the vm from scratch. 

Would this be possible? and if it is then are any other things to consider? 

I read an article and maybe there are more inputs from other users. The ISE version is 2.2

https://community.cisco.com/t5/network-access-control/cisco-ise-restore-from-vm-snapshot/td-p/2740827

Thanks! 

[Damien Miller · Accepted solution]

The guidance you have been given to reimage the node is a valid fix and does not require a backup. You actually do not want to restore a backup on to this node. 

When you reimage the SAN and join it back to the deployment it will sync all of the config from the primary admin node its joining.

You will have to apply the same patch as the current primary before it can be joined back. You may have to restore or reissue any specific system certificates it had. And you will have to join it back to AD if it was joined through the external ID source AD connector.