Understand SXP Log Mechanism in ISE–Catalyst Communication

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Updated:June 20, 2025
Document ID:222201

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    Introduction

    This document describes how to configure and understand the Security Group Exchange Protocol (SXP) connection between ISE and Catalyst 9300 Switch.

    Prerequisites

    Requirements

    Cisco recommends that you have knowledge of the SXP Protocol and Identity Services Engine (ISE) configuration.

    Components Used

    The information in this document is based on these software and hardware versions:

    • Cisco Catalyst 9300 switch with software Cisco IOS® XE 17.6.5 and later
      Cisco ISE, Release 3.1 and later

    The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.

    Background Information

    SXP is the Security Group Tag (SGT) Exchange Protocol used by TrustSec to propagate IP to SGT mappings to TrustSec Devices.

    SXP was developed to allow networks including third-party devices or legacy Cisco devices that do not support SGT inline tagging to have TrustSec capabilities.

    SXP is a peering protocol; one device can act as a Speaker and the other as a Listener:

    • The SXP speaker is responsible for sending the IP-SGT bindings and the listener is responsible for collecting these bindings.
    • The SXP connection uses TCP port 64999 as the underlying transport protocol and MD5 for message integrity/authenticity.

    Configuration

    Network Diagram

    Connection Network Diagram

    Traffic Flow

    PC authenticates with C9300A and ISE dynamically assigns SGT through Policy sets.
    When the authentication has passed, bindings are created with an IP equal to the Framed-IP address RADIUS attribute and SGT as configured in the policy.
    The bindings propagate in all SXP bindings under the default domain.
    C9300B receives the SXP mapping information from ISE through SXP protocol.

    Configure Switch

    Configure the switch as an SXP listener to get the IP-SGT mappings from ISE.

    cts sxp enable
    cts sxp default password cisco
    cts sxp default source-ip 10.127.213.27
    cts sxp connection peer 10.127.197.53 password default mode peer speaker hold-time 0 0 vrf Mgmt-vrf

    Configure ISE

    Step 1. Enable SXP Service On ISE

    Navigate to Administration > System > Deployment > Edit the node and under Policy Service, select Enable SXP Service.

    Enable SXP Service on ISE

    Step 2. Add SXP Devices

    In order to configure SXP listener and speaker for the corresponding switches, navigate to Work Centers > Trustsec > SXP > SXP Devices.
    Add the switch with peer role as Listener and assign to default domain.

    Add SXP Devices

    Step 3. SXP Settings

    Ensure Add radius mappings into SXP IP SGT mapping table is checked, so that ISE learns dynamic IP-SGT mappings through Radius Authentications.

    SXP Settings

    Verify

    Step 1. SXP Connection on Switch

    C9300B#show cts sxp connections vrf Mgmt-vrf
    SXP : Enabled
    Highest Version Supported: 4
    Default Password : Set
    Default Key-Chain: Not Set
    Default Key-Chain Name: Not Applicable
    Default Source IP: 10.127.213.27
    Connection retry open period: 120 secs
    Reconcile period: 120 secs
    Retry open timer is not running
    Peer-Sequence traverse limit for export: Not Set
    Peer-Sequence traverse limit for import: Not Set
    ----------------------------------------------
    Peer IP : 10.127.197.53
    Source IP : 10.127.213.27
    Conn status : On
    Conn version : 4
    Conn capability : IPv4-IPv6-Subnet
    Conn hold time : 120 seconds
    Local mode : SXP Listener
    Connection inst# : 1
    TCP conn fd : 1
    TCP conn password: default SXP password
    Hold timer is running
    Duration since last state change: 0:00:23:36 (dd:hr:mm:sec)


    Total num of SXP Connections = 1

    0x7F128DF555E0 VRF:Mgmt-vrf, fd: 1, peer ip: 10.127.197.53
    cdbp:0x7F128DF555E0 Mgmt-vrf <10.127.197.53, 10.127.213.27> tableid:0x1

    Step 2. ISE SXP Verification

    Verify the SXP status is ON for the Switch under Work Centers > Trustsec > SXP > SXP Devices.

    ISE SXP Verification

    Step 3. Radius Accounting

    Ensure ISE received the Framed-IP address RADIUS attribute from Radius Accounting Packet after successful authentication.

    Radius Accounting

    Step 4. ISE SXP Mappings

    Navigate to Workcenters > Trustsec > SXP > All SXP Mappings to view the dynamically learned IP-SGT mappings from Radius session.

    ISE SXP Mappings

    Learned by:

    Local - Statically assigned IP-SGT bindings on ISE.
    Session - Dynamically learned IP-SGT bindings from Radius session.

    note-icon

    Note: The ISE has the capability to receive IP-SGT bindings from another device. These bindings could be displayed as Learned by SXP under All SXP Mappings.

    Step 5. SXP Mappings on Switch

    The switch learned IP-SGT mappings from ISE through SXP protocol.

    C9300B#show cts sxp sgt-map vrf Mgmt-vrf brief
    IP-SGT Mappings as follows:
    IPv4,SGT: <10.197.213.23 , 5>
    Total number of IP-SGT Mappings: 2
    conn in the sxp_bnd_exp_conn_list (total:0):
    C9300B#

    C9300B#show cts role-based sgt-map vrf Mgmt-vrf all
    Active IPv4-SGT Bindings Information

    IP Address SGT Source
    ============================================
    10.197.213.23 5 SXP

    IP-SGT Active Bindings Summary
    ============================================
    Total number of SXP bindings = 2
    Total number of active bindings = 2

    Troubleshoot

    This section provides information you can use to troubleshoot your configuration.

    ISE Report

    ISE also allows you to generate SXP binding and connection reports, as shown in this image.

    ISE Report

    Debugs on ISE

    Collect the ISE support bundle with these attribute to be set at the debug level:

    • sxp 
    • sgtbinding
    • nsf
    • nsf-session
    • trustsec

    When a user is authenticated from ISE server, ISE assigns an SGT in the access accept response packet. Once the user gets the IP address, the switch sends the Framed IP address in the Radius Accounting Packet.

    show logging application localStore/iseLocalStore.log:

    2024-07-18 09:55:55.051 +05:30 0000017592 3002 NOTICE Radius-Accounting: RADIUS Accounting watchdog update, ConfigVersionId=129, Device IP Address=10.197.213.22, UserName=cisco, NetworkDeviceName=pk, User-Name=cisco, NAS-IP-Address=10.197.213.22, NAS-Port=50124, Framed-IP-Address=10.197.213.23, Class=CACS:16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6:pk3-1a/510648097/25, Called-Station-ID=C4-B2-39-ED-AB-18, Calling-Station-ID=B4-96-91-F9-56-8B, Acct-Status-Type=Interim-Update, Acct-Delay-Time=0, Acct-Input-Octets=413, Acct-Output-Octets=0, Acct-Session-Id=00000007, Acct-Authentic=Remote, Acct-Input-Packets=4, Acct-Output-Packets=0, Event-Timestamp=1721277745, NAS-Port-Type=Ethernet, NAS-Port-Id=TenGigabitEthernet1/0/24, cisco-av-pair=audit-session-id=16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6, cisco-av-pair=method=dot1x, cisco-av-pair=cts:security-group-tag=0005-00, AcsSessionID=pk3-1a/510648097/28, SelectedAccessService=Default Network Access, RequestLatency=6, Step=11004, Step=11017, Step=15049, Step=15008, Step=22085, Step=11005, NetworkDeviceGroups=IPSEC#Is IPSEC Device#No, NetworkDeviceGroups=Location#All Locations, NetworkDeviceGroups=Device Type#All Device Types, CPMSessionID=16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6, TotalAuthenLatency=6, ClientLatency=0, Network Device Profile=Cisco, Location=Location#All Locations, Device Type=Device Type#All Device Types, IPSEC=IPSEC#Is IPSEC Device#No,

    show logging application ise-psc.log:


    2024-07-18 09:55:55,054 DEBUG [SxpSessionNotifierThread][] ise.sxp.sessionbinding.util.SxpBindingUtil -::::-
    logging the session values received from PrrtCpmBridge :
    Operation type ==>ADD, sessionId ==> 16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6, sessionState ==> ACCEPTED, inputIp ==> 10.197.213.23, inputSgTag ==> 0005-00, nasIp ==> 10.197.213.22null, vn ==> null

    The SXP node stores the IP + SGT mapping in its H2DB table and later PAN node gathers the IP + SGT mapping and reflects in Work Centers >Trustsec > SXP > All SXP Mappings.

    show logging application sxp_appserver/sxp.log:

    2024-07-18 10:01:01,312 INFO [sxpservice-http-96441] cisco.ise.sxp.rest.SxpGlueRestAPI:147 - SXP-PEERF Add Session Bindings batch-size: 1
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,317 DEBUG [SxpNotificationSerializer-Thread] cpm.sxp.engine.services.NotificationSerializerImpl:202 - processing task Task [add=true, notification=RestSxpLocalBinding(tag=5, groupName=null, ipAddress=10.197.213.23/32, nasIp=10.197.213.22, sessionId=16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6, peerSequence=null, sxpBindingOpType=null, sessionExpiryTimeInMillis=0, apic=false, routable=true, vns=[])]

    2024-07-18 10:01:01,344 DEBUG [SxpNotificationSerializer-Thread] cisco.cpm.sxp.engine.SxpEngine:1543 - [VPN: 'default'] Adding new binding: MasterBindingIdentity [ip=10.197.213.23/32, peerSequence=10.127.197.53,10.197.213.22, tag=5, isLocal=true, sessionId=16D5C50A00000017C425E3C6, vn=DEFAULT_VN]
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,344 DEBUG [SxpNotificationSerializer-Thread] cisco.cpm.sxp.engine.SxpEngine:1581 - Adding 1 binding(s)
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,344 DEBUG [SxpNotificationSerializer-Thread] cisco.cpm.sxp.engine.MasterDbListener:251 - Submitting task to H2 Handler for adding bindings, bindings count: 1
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,344 DEBUG [H2_HANDLER] cisco.cpm.sxp.engine.MasterDbListener:256 - MasterDbListener Processing onAdded - bindingsCount: 1

    The SXP node updates the Peer Switch with the latest IP-SGT bindings.

    2024-07-18 10:01:01,346 DEBUG [pool-7-thread-4] opendaylight.sxp.core.service.UpdateExportTask:93 - SXP_PERF:SEND_UPDATE_BUFFER_SIZE=32
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,346 DEBUG [pool-7-thread-4] opendaylight.sxp.core.service.UpdateExportTask:116 - SENT_UPDATE to [ISE:10.127.197.53][10.127.197.53:64999/10.127.213.27:31025][O|Sv4]
    2024-07-18 10:01:01,346 DEBUG [pool-7-thread-4] opendaylight.sxp.core.service.UpdateExportTask:137 - SENT_UPDATE SUCCESSFUL to [ISE:10.127.197.53][10.127.197.53:64999/10.127.213.27:31025][O|Sv4]

    Debugs on Switch

    Enable these debugs on the switch to troubleshoot SXP connections and updates.

    debug cts sxp conn

    debug cts sxp error

    debug cts sxp mdb

    debug cts sxp message

    Switch received the SGT-IP mappings from the SXP Speaker ISE.

    Check Show logging to view these logs:


    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-MSG:sxp_recv_update_v4 <1> peer ip: 10.127.197.53
    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-MDB:IMU Add binding:- <conn_index = 1> from peer 10.127.197.53
    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-MDB:mdb_send_msg <IMU_ADD_IPSGT_DEVID>

    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-INTNL:mdb_send_msg mdb_process_add_ipsgt_devid Start
    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-MDB:sxp_mdb_inform_rbm tableid:0x1 sense:1 sgt:5 peer:10.127.197.53
    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-MDB:SXP MDB: Entry added ip 10.197.213.23 sgt 0x0005
    Jul 18 04:23:04.324: CTS-SXP-INTNL:mdb_send_msg mdb_process_add_ipsgt_devid Done

    Related Information

    Revision History

    Revision Publish Date Comments
    2.0
    20-Jun-2025
    Initial Release
    1.0
    24-Jul-2024
    Initial Release
    TAC Authored

    Contributed by Cisco Engineers

    • Praveenkumar Palanisamy
      Technical Consulting Engineer

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