ISE VM Size/Licensing

[virtualpedia]

Hi All,

I have a question in regards to the ISE VM size and licensing.  If I look at the OVA for ISE 2.7, it shows for example

ISE 2.7 OVA file - 600GB disk for Small or Medium (Recommend for PAN or MnT).

If I have purchased Small VM license, when I import the OVA, prior to turning on the VM, could I increase the disk size to say 800 GB or does that not work/break licensing?    I'm assuming if I took a small vm, increase memory and cpu, ise would complain I need a medium license

[balaji.bandi]

ISE recommended size is 600GB, More is good for you - Less have performance issue like storage since ISE capture heavy data and stores.

[virtualpedia]

Thanks but you didn't answer my question.

[Damien Miller]

You can expand the disk, however ISE will not take advantage of it. You need to reinstall the application/VM from the ISO in order to take advantage of the additional disk space. The small VM license is based on the CPU and memory assigned the node, you can have any disk size you want up to around 2TB.  This is a pretty common task, not everyone wants to use the same disk size since needs differ. 

You have two supported options to increase the disk space, but both require the ISO. 

1. Deploy the OVA, increase the disk to 800 GB, mount the ISO, boot from the ISO and reinstall.

2. Deploy the VM straight from ISO, building your own VM template.  This is OK if you know the exact cpu/disk settings for a small VM already. 

If you adjust the disk at any point from 600 to 800 without the reinstall from the ISO, then ISE will only ever see the original 600. 

[virtualpedia]

ah okay, thanks @Damien Miller !!

That was the step I was missing.  I thought maybe when you deploy the OVA, it installs ISE fresh when you power on.  

Option 1 makes more sense.   I guess my next question is, is the default 600GB typically enough? 

[balaji.bandi]

You are talking about License - Personally i do not believe it cost anything, this is your HDD space ( maybe provider charge you extra for VM space) not from the cisco ISE point of view. hope that makes sense?

[Marcelo Morais]

Hi @virtualpedia ,

 yes, the default 600GB is typically enough.

 Please take a look at: ISE Performance & Scale.

Hope this helps.