Upgrading of Cisco ISE without using FTP / SFTP / TFTP etc

[NgTurngHui7950]

Hi Guys,

I recently was involved in a project that requires me to upgrade the customer ISE from version 2.3 to 2.7. However as I only can access the ISE remotely via the customer's laptop through zoom, I am unable to use my laptop as the FTP / SFTP Server. The customer does not have a FTP / SFTP Server in their environment and I am unable to access our public hosted FTP Server from my customer environment.

I am in a pickle here. I understand that the upgrade bundle must be installed to the ISE local DISK:\ repository before any upgrade can be perform. However without the above mentioned methods, is there any way I can copy the file from my client's laptop to the local disk of the Cisco ISE server?

I also know that for patches installation I am able to use the GUI to select the patch file from the laptop. Not sure why isn't this method available for upgrade bundle. If anyone know of any alternative kindly let me know. Appreciate any input on the matter.

Best Regard,

Turng Hui

[Damien Miller]

The upgrade bundle doesn't have to be loaded to disk:/, but it's certainly something I recommend to prevent transfer timeouts during the inline upgrade process. Without the option to use FTP, SFTP, or TFTP you are somewhat limited. The repository options are similar to the other methods for loading the upgrade bundle to the machine. Do they not have a repository set up for backups? I would be very concerned about doing an upgrade in this environment if they don't have backups, and if they do have a backup repo, you could load the upgrade bundle to the same one. 

If you're not able to load the upgrade bundle, how are you planning on running the Upgrade Readiness Tool (URT) bundle? I would not recommend an inline upgrade without first running that. 

I would suggest you try to get a FTP server set up internally, even if it's on a jumpbox/laptop you will be using via zoom. I often use the filezilla server since it is very simple and always works after I open up a firewall rule to allow it. https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=server

[NgTurngHui7950]

Hi Damien,

Thank you for taking the time to response to my query. As mentioned in my initial question, I have difficulty getting a FTP Server set up in my Client's Environment therefore i am looking for alternatives to get the upgrade bundle or URT bundle into the Cisco ISE local respository.

From what you mentioned it seems like there is no alternative other then to get my client to setup a FTP Server locally on their laptop. If that's the case I would have no choice but to get them to do so.

It would be great if Cisco can incorporate the function to upload and download to / from the desktop instead of having to go through a FTP / SFTP server. I know of another NAC product that have this function and it certainly ease up the pain of upgrading the product.

Anyway could you confirm tentatively that there is no way to get the upgrade bundle to the local repository without a FTP / SFTP server? Appreciate your reply on the matter.

Best Regards,

Turng Hui

[rschlayer]

ISE also supports downloading the files from an HTTP server maybe that helps you?

Afaik there is no other way.

[NgTurngHui7950 · Accepted solution]

Hi rschlayer,

Thank you for your input on the matter. I understand that http / https Server is also possible for downloading the upgrade bundle file. However that requires a http server to be present which my client also does not have. I believe between having FTP server set up on the client's laptop and a HTTP server, I will still go with the first option.

If there is no other way, I will let my client know about it. Once again Thank You for inputting your knowledge on the matter.

Best Regards,

Ng Turng Hui

[balaji.bandi]

source available :

 cdrom:  Local CD-ROM drive (read only)
  disk:   Local hard disk storage
  ftp:    URL using a FTP server
  http:   URL using a HTTP server (read only)
  https:  URL using a HTTPS server (read only)
  nfs:    URL using a NFS server
  sftp:   URL using a SFTP server
  tftp:   URL using a TFTP server