If you happen to have been at Cisco Dwell in Las Vegas earlier this week you certainly noticed that Cisco had plenty of new merchandise to announce. One in every of these new merchandise was the replace to Cisco Id Companies Engine (ISE 3.3).
Each community admin or safety operator has the identical problem: you’re attempting to boost your community’s safety, whereas including visibility and boosting effectivity, all with out sacrificing flexibility. In different phrases, you need extra options with out the problems. Cisco ISE 3.3 has that.
Cut up Improve and Multi-Issue Classification provides flexibility
With regards to flexibility, Cisco ISE 3.3’s Cut up Improve function will change the best way you take a look at ISE upgrades. Clients could be hesitant to replace to the most recent model of Cisco ISE, as a result of it will probably take a very long time for ISE nodes with massive databases to finish the improve. Cut up Upgrades is a brand new course of that’s much less complicated, as recordsdata are downloaded earlier than upgrades and prechecks are completed. Cut up Improve provides you higher management on which ISE nodes to improve at any given time, with none downtime.
One other function in Cisco ISE 3.3 supplies a method to simply determine clusters of unidentified endpoints discovered on the community. These endpoints are unidentified as a result of oftentimes quite a lot of endpoints hook up with the community that aren’t straight provisioned by IT. This function makes use of AI/ML Profiling and multi-factor classification (MFC) to shortly determine clusters of equivalent unknown endpoints by way of a cloud-based ML engine. From there, the units could be reviewed by proposed profiling insurance policies by way of the ML engine and have the units labeled as both MFC {Hardware} Producer, MFC {Hardware} Mannequin, MFC Working System and MFC Endpoint Sort.
By putting the unidentified system into considered one of these 4 buckets, Cisco ISE has taken a giant chunk of guessing what goes the place out of the equation. From there it’s simpler for the client to find out what the endpoints are and what insurance policies ought to govern them when on the community.
Distinctive to Cisco: Wi-Fi Edge Analytics
A Cisco-only function referred to as Wi-Fi Edge Analytics will permit community admins to mine information from Apple, Intel and Samsung units to higher enhance profiling. Cisco Catalyst 9800 wi-fi controllers will go alongside endpoint-specific attributes, similar to mannequin, OS model, firmware, amongst others, to ISE by way of RADIUS. From there this data might be used to profile widespread endpoints discovered on the community. Community Admins will now have extra information permitting them to create extra outlined profiles. The extra data that’s on the fingertips of the admin, the extra exact the profile.
Even Extra Flexibility with Managed Software Restart
To extend effectivity, predictability and scale back downtime, Cisco ISE 3.3 provides Managed Software Restart. It advantages clients by saving them time and eliminating plenty of the complications that include managing ISE admin certificates. Clients are actually given the flexibility to regulate the alternative of the ISE administrative certificates permitting them the flexibility to plan for upkeep as soon as their present certificates expires. Previous to this new function, a certification alternative required an entire reboot of all of the PSNs within the deployment with out the flexibility to know or management the order to the reboot, which may trigger some admins to permit the certification to lapse.
Adjustments to certificates require a restart because it impacts systemwide configuration and can’t be completed throughout operational hours because it requires important downtime. Nevertheless, Cisco ISE 3.3 now supplies flexibility for these certifications to be scheduled the restart on the community admins’ comfort; throughout the nighttime or on weekend when community utilization is low. This eliminates the necessity for that downtime and helps to easy safety updates with out disruption.
Managed Software Restart is a response to an trade development the place clients are shifting to a short-term certificates resulting from added safety. This new function is helpful as the upkeep wanted to replace the certification—which may take upwards of half-hour per certificates—could be scheduled for the nighttime, when community use is low, saving each time and sources.
Improved Insights with pxGrid Direct Visibility
pxGrid Direct Visibility has improved visibility from the final iteration of Cisco ISE (ISE 3.2) and now clients get improved endpoint attributes by way of exterior databases similar to Service Now. These attributes can now be proven in Context Visibility. Whether or not the information comes from endpoints, customers, units or which apps are operating over the community and its completely different attributes, it supplies plenty of data such because the system sort, system proprietor and different issues like whether or not the system is operational.
Getting this endpoint information in an simply accessible vogue means that you can make higher community choices primarily based on info. This information can then be spun to run the community in a extra environment friendly method permitting for a safer community and fewer time spent on translating data.
More durable Safety with the TPM Chip
The brand new TPM Chip (for supported {hardware}) is a response to the necessity for elevated safety. Discovered on the brand new SNS-3700 fashions and in some digital environments (in a type of Digital TPM), the TPM chip is a devoted chip the place delicate data could be saved. Beforehand if Cisco ISE used a password to connect with a database, it was saved within the file system, which is much less safe. However now with the data housed on the bodily TPM Chip, and with the flexibility to create true random numbers for key technology, it has confirmed to be harder to entry thus offering a safer place for data to be saved.
With the variety of new options and performance that involves you with the newest Cisco ISE 3.3 replace, your community’s safety be enhanced, and you’ll discover a rise in effectivity and visibility.
Watch the Cisco ISE site for extra particulars on availability: https://www.cisco.com/website/us/en/merchandise/safety/identity-services-engine/index.html
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