Tag Archives: migrate acs to ise

August 29, 2011

Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4 Released

Cisco new logo should be 300x218 Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4 Released

Information on the Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4 release:
Highlights of Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4
Release notes for Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4

Here is a summary of the Cisco Identity Services Engine ISE 1.0.4 release:

1) Integrating Cisco NAC Appliance, Release 4.9 with ISE 1.0.4. and available when you have installed an advanced or wireless license on the maintenance release of Cisco ISE. This is important for customers with NAC appliance looking to add profiling. Cisco NAC profiler appliance technology is no longer for sale so this new release permits using ISE 1.0.4 as a profiling element for NAC appliance installations.

2) New Wireless License options enable the same number of endpoints on existing ISE 1.0.4 Base and Advanced License package

3) Upgrade and Backup/Restore Enhancements: Upgrade ISE 1.0 to ISE 1.0.4. Migrate from ACS 5.1/5.2 to ISE 1.0 and then upgrade to ISE 1.0.4. Do not directly migrate from ACS to ISE 1.0.4

4) Administrator lockout following failed attempts and administrator password reset: In the new release, you can lockout your admin account after a failed number of login attempts. The instructions on how to reset the “locked” administrator password are described in the “Performing Post-Installation Tasks” chapter of the Cisco Identity Services Engine Hardware Installation Guide, Release ISE 1.0.4.

5) Client support for Windows Internet Explorer 9 and Mozilla Firefox 4.x browsers and the Mac OS 10.7 operating system

6) Cisco ISE 1.0.4 does not consume advanced licenses when endpoints are statically assigned to a profile

7) Profiling update: Correlating IP addresses and MAC addresses of endpoints using DHCP and RADIUS probes. The Cisco ISE 1.0.4 release implements an ARP cache in the profiler service so that you can reliably map IP addresses and MAC addresses of endpoints.

8) Some Cisco ACS-to-Cisco ISE 1.0.4 Migration updates

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August 14, 2011

How To Migrate To Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE): NAC to ISE /ACS to ISE

Borat1 300x300 How To Migrate To Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE): NAC to ISE /ACS to ISE
Today you may have Cisco NAC appliance or ACS and have heard great things about Cisco’s latest access control technology known as Identity Services Engine (ISE). What are you options to migrate to ISE? Here are some things you should know.

NOTE: These tips apply to how things are August 2011.

OVERVIEW:
ISE provides all the functionality of legacy NAC appliance, NAC Profiler and NAC Guest server. ISE provides all the functionality of ACS except device administration. This makes all existing customers running these services except ACS device administration (TACACS /RADIUS) an upgrade candidate. Many customers are keeping ACS for device management and purchasing new ISE solutions.

SOFTWARE
ISE is a free software upgrade for customers who have NAC appliance or NAC profiler. This is for both for the base and advance licenses.

ISE is a 50% software discount for customers who have ACS or NAC guest server. The 50% discount is a migration part for the base license only. The advance features license will not be impacted by this discount.

HARDWARE
ISE is supported on current generation NAC appliance hardware (3315, 3355,3395) and ACS (1121) hardware.

ISE is not support on any previous generation hardware (3310,3350, 3390, 1120, 3140, etc.). There are hardware/vmware migration discounts for customers moving from these platforms to the latest appliance or VMware systems.

ISE is available in appliance and VMware. There are VMware bundle options to increase discount when purchasing multiple VMware instances.

ISE hardware is discounted if the customer owns older NAC appliance (3310,3350 or 3390) or ACS appliance (1120).

Example 1:
Customer has a NAC manager appliance, 2000 user Cisco NAC Server appliance, Cisco Profiler appliance and Cisco Guest server. All hardware is the newer model IBM appliances (3315,3355 or 3395). The customer can get ISE software at no cost. They can download ISE .ISO for free from cisco.com and reimage the appliances to the latest ISE software. They can order a license from a Cisco partner at no cost as long as they have an active Smartnet contract and the supported hardware. The customer only needs one license since license management is centralized regardless of the number of existing appliances.

Example 2:
Customer has a NAC manager appliance, 2000 user NAC Server, Cisco Profiler and Cisco Guest server. All hardware is older HP servers (3310,3350 or 3390). The customer can download ISE .ISO for free from cisco.com and order a license at no cost. The hardware will not support ISE. This customer will have to migrate to the latest ISE appliance or vmware system for each NAC appliance server. The cost of the hardware will be discounted.

Example 3:
Customer has Cisco ACS supporting 2000 users and wants to migrate to ISE. They will need to purchase the 50% discounted ISE base and full advance licenses. They will need to migrate to ISE via VMware or Appliance if they don’t own an ACS 1121 appliance.

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July 28, 2011

Summarizing Cisco Access Control / NAC technologies (ISE, NAC Appliance, ACS 5.X).

Summarizing Cisco Access Control / NAC technologies (ISE, NAC Appliance, ACS 5.X).
Here is a breakdown of my last post about Cisco Access Control / NAC / ISE technologies in a list format.

Framework:
• Network based access control. End of Life

NAC Appliance:
• Offers Authentication, Authorization and Remediation
• Covers Wireless, VPN and LAN.
• Only can be used as an appliance. No virtualize offerings. For small locations which ISR routers, a 50 and 100 user module is available.
• Licensed by user count matching and applied to the corresponding enforcement server. Users bundles are 50, 100, 250, 500, 1500, 2500, 3500 and 5000.
• Uses SNMP V1,2 and 3 or can be in-band / bump in the wire.
• Can leverage Cisco Profiler or whitelist non-NAC capable devices.
• Cisco enforcement appliances can provide collecting abilities for Cisco Profiler with an additional license.
• Can Leverage Cisco Guest server for advance guest access.
• Comes in HP or IBM appliance formats.
• IBM appliances are 3315, 3355 and 3395 appliances. They can support ISE
• HP appliances are 3310, 3350 and 3390 appliances. They cannot support ISE

ACS 5.X:
• Offers 802.1x NAC features and device management (TACACS/RADIUS).
• Can be an appliance or Vmware. Appliances that are IBM hardware can support ISE. VMware can be migrated to ISE for an additional cost.
• Provides Authentication and Authorization. Does not offer remediation.
• Requires switches that support 802.1x COA as specified on cisco.com/go/acs to function as the enforcement agent. ACS alone cannot offer access control.
• 802.1x NAC features do not require additional licenses for up to 500 users/devices. To scale beyond 500 users/devices, an additional large deployment license is required.

Cisco Profiler:
• Provide profiling of non-NAC capable devices such as printers, card-readers, Xboxes, IP-phones, etc.
• Profiler is no longer sold by Cisco. ISE is the replacement solution.
• Profiler feeds findings into NAC solutions, which updates their whitelisted devices list.
• The main benefits of Profiler are making deployments easier since administrators don’t have to develop a whitelist of non-NAC capable devices manually and providing monitoring of whitelisted devices for changes in behavior (IE spoofing).
• Can bolt onto NAC appliance or ACS 802.1x solutions.
• Available in HP or IBM appliances.
• Management system could be IBM 3315 or 3355. Both can support ISE
• Management system could be HP 3310 and 3350. Both cannot support ISE
• Collector only appliances are needed for Profiler to work when NAC appliance isn’t providing collecting. NAC appliance offered this feature in enforcement appliances at an additional license cost.
• Collector appliances that are IBM can be migrated to ISE (3315, 3355).
• Collector appliances that are HP based (3310, 3350) cannot support ISE.

Cisco Guest Server:
• Provides advance guest access for NAC solutions.
• Can bolt onto NAC appliance or ACS 802.1x solutions.
• Available in HP or IBM appliances
• Guest server could be a HP or IBM appliance (3310 or 3315).
• The 3315 Cisco Guest Server can support ISE.

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE):
• Released spring of 2011
• Combines NAC appliance, ACS 802.1x NAC, Cisco Guest Server and Cisco Profiler in one solution.
• Can be purchased as an appliance or virtual appliance.
• ISE is licensed centrally meaning one license is required for all appliances in one cluster. ISE has two license options, which are base and advanced. Base licenses are purchased one time and provide Authentication and Guest services. Advanced licenses are a subscription service and provide Posture and Remediation.
• Can scale from one appliance to managing all functions or can break up functional components depending on design requirements. The only function that cannot be combined is the iPEP appliance. ISE iPEP appliances must be a physical appliance and cannot be use for any other function. iPEPs are used to support VPN, non-802.1x COA capable switches, hubs, etc.
• ISE is the replacement for profiler. Profiling is cisco homegrown and und updated through the advance license subscription service.
• Today (July 2011), ISE cannot be integrated into a NAC appliance or ACS solution
• Today (July 2011), ISE cannot support device management (TACACTS/ Radius) like ACS. Customers should keep their ACS solutions if this function is desired.

Here is a great video that summarizes the Cisco ISE release

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July 28, 2011

Comparing Cisco NAC Solutions: Identity Services Engine (ISE), Network Admission Control (NAC) and ACS.

NAC1 Comparing Cisco NAC Solutions: Identity Services Engine (ISE), Network Admission Control (NAC) and ACS.
Many people have invested into an automated access control solution from Cisco. In the past, Cisco offered NAC Framework and NAC appliance. There are Cisco press books explaining NAC Framework as the go to enterprise solution utilizing the network as the enforcement point while NAC appliance was the simple “turn-key” solution leveraging SNMP or in-band / bump in the wire type designs. Eventually Framework died and was replaced by an 802.1x-based solution. The release of ACS 5.0 added new features for 802.1x authentication, which left customers with the option to have remediation using the NAC Appliance solution or only authentication with the 802.1x NAC solution.

Cisco found that they had some gaps in their NAC solutions and eventually added bolt on products to their appliance and 802.1x offerings. To manage non-NAC capable devices, which include printers, card readers, X-boxes, IP-phones, etc., Cisco re-branded Great Bay Software’s Beacon appliance as Cisco Profiler. Another gap was around sponsoring guest users, which Cisco offered Cisco Guest server as an additional appliance to handle advanced guest user features.

This spring, Cisco released their latest access control solution Identity Services Engine (ISE). ISE takes on the features of NAC appliance, ACS 802.1x, Cisco Profiler and Cisco Guest server. ISE can be purchased as a VMware or appliance and licensed centrally which is different from how NAC appliance was sold. Smaller networkers can utilize one appliance or VMware to provide what use to be multiple appliances, which saves money as well as centralizes management. Mid to larger deployments can scale by breaking out the functions of ISE into separate Vmware / appliance components. If customers need to support none 802.1x COA switches, hubs or VPN concentrators, they will need to purchase a separate ISE iPEP appliance which cannot be virtualized or include any other ISE functions.

There are some features that are not available in the ISE 1.0 release. ACS customers who use TACACS/Radius support for network device management and 802.1x NAC will need to keep their ACS solutions for device management while ISE can take over the 802.1x NAC function. Another feature missing is the ability to intergrade ACS or NAC with ISE. These and other features are rumored to be road mapped into the solution as well as advancements in profiling to enhance how ISE identifies devices accessing the network. More information on Cisco ISE, NAC appliance and ACS can be found on the NAC links in this blog.

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