Arraya Insights | March 10, 2022
Keeping your technology current means always looking ahead. For Cisco customers, we’ve compiled a list of everything that businesses and IT teams need to know as they plan ahead.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Release 3.0 Brings Licensing Changes
Cisco ISE has numerous features that are mapped out to specific licenses and each business can select the licensing that fits their individual organizational needs.
With the Cisco ISE Release 3.0, legacy licenses will no longer be supported, such as Base, Plus, and Apex licenses. Instead, licenses will be managed entirely through a centralized database called the Cisco Smart Software Manager (CSSM). Here, users can register, activate, and manage all licenses with a single-token registration.
For the Cisco ISE Release 3.0, licenses will be supplied in the following packages:
- Tier Licenses, which have been renamed:
- Base will now be Essentials
- Apex will now be Advantage
- Plus will now be Premier
For those still using Base, Apex, or Plus, these will need to be converted into the new tier licenses using the CSSM.
- Device Administrative Licenses: These are Policy Service nodes (PSN) that have the TACACS+ persona enabled on them and use Device Administration licenses.
- Virtual Appliance Licenses, which are available in three forms:
- VM Small
- VM Medium
- VM Large
- Evaluation Licenses: These are enabled by default when Cisco ISE Release 3.0 is installed. This is a 90-day license that grants access to all Cisco ISE features. License consumption is not reported to the CSSM during this period.
For those upgrading to Cisco ISE Release 3.0 with existing smart licenses, these will be upgraded to the new license types in Cisco ISE but must be registered in CSSM to activate them in the newest release.
For those with traditional Cisco ISE licenses, these will have to be converted to smart licenses.
There will be notifications sent out in Cisco ISE at 90, 60, and 30 days prior the expiration date. As a warning, you will lose all admin control if your license consumption is out of compliance for more than 45 days.
Cisco End of Support Dates to Know
All software and hardware will someday reach it’s “End of Life.” This means the product will no longer be manufactured, supported, or updated and it’s time to transition to the newest generation product.
There are a number of risks associated with running software or hardware that has reached its EOL. This could lead to security issues, inefficient processes, poor reliability, and high operational costs. IT teams should always be looking ahead and taking note of EOL dates so they have plenty of time to plan their upgrades.
Several Cisco products will be reaching lifecycle milestones that users need to take note of. Our Hybrid Infrastructure team got together to compile some key products and their end of service dates:
- R-ISE-VM-K9=: The last date of service was 2/28/22.
As this sku will no longer be supported, our suggested replacement sku is R-ISE-VMM-K9=. Customers can continue to receive support based on the support contract they initially purchased. Customers should open a case with Cisco Customer Service and request the EOL’d product PID to be replaced with the new product PID in order to renew and receive support.
- Meraki ANT-11 Antennas: The last date of service will be 4/24/22.
This can be replaced with the newer model, which is number MA-ANT-21, the Meraki 5GHz Sector Antenna.
- Meraki ANT-13 Antennas: The last date of service will be 4/24/22.
This can be replaced with the newer model, which is number MA-ANT-23, the Meraki 2.4GHz Sector Antenna.
- 2900 Series Integrated Services Routers: The last date of service will be 12/31/22.
Cisco is encouraging its customers to migrate to the Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers.
- Unified Computing System B-Series Blade Servers: The last date of service will be 5/12/23.
Users can refer to Table 2 for recommended replacement products. When replacing end-of-life equipment, Cisco recommends that you use the Customer Recycling Solutions (CRS) program which allows customers to return this equipment to Cisco free of charge.
For a comprehensive list of 2022 EOL dates, please reference the following chart:
Next Steps: Plan Ahead to Keep Your Data Center Current
If your business is up against any of the above EOL dates or running on legacy licenses, it’s time to make changes so you don’t run into issues down the road. At Arraya, our team of experts can help your business plan the upgrade that best fits your specific needs.
To get started, reach out to an Arraya expert today to start a conversation.
Visit Contact Us – Arraya Solutions to connect with our team now.
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