Cisco ISE Release 2.6 Administrator Guide

Administration Portal

The administration portal provides access to Cisco ISE configuration and reporting. The following figure shows the main elements of the menu bar of the administration portal.

Table 1. Components of the Cisco ISE Administration Portal
1	Menu Drop-downs	Context Visibility: The context visibility windows display information about endpoints, users, and network access devices (NAD). The context visibility information is segmented by features, applications, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), and other categories, depending on the licenses you have registered. The context visibility windows use a central database and gather information from database tables, caches, and buffers. As a result, the content in the context visibility dashlets and lists updates quickly. The context visibility windows consist of dashlets at the top, and a list of information at the bottom. When you filter data by modifying the column attributes in the list, the dashlets refresh to display the modified content. Policy: Policy windows include tools for managing network security in the areas of authentication, authorization, profiling, posture, and client provisioning. Administration: Administration windows include tools for managing Cisco ISE nodes, licenses, certificates, network devices, users, endpoints, and guest services.
2	Top-Right Menu Icons	Use this icon to search for endpoints and display their distribution by profiles, failures, identity stores, location, device type, and so on. Click this icon for a drop-down list that allows you to access the online help for the currently displayed page, and links to the Cisco ISE Community, Portal Builder, and more. Click this icon to access the following options: PassiveID Setup: The PassiveID Setup option launches the PassiveID Setup wizard to set up passive identity using Active Directory. Configure the server to gather user identities and IP addresses from external authentication servers and deliver the authenticated IP addresses to the corresponding subscriber. Visibility Setup: Visibility Setup is a Proof of Value (PoV) service that collects endpoint data such as applications, hardware inventory, USB status, firewall status, and the overall compliance state of Windows endpoints. The collected data is then sent to Cisco ISE. When you launch the ISE Visibility Setup wizard, it allows you to specify an IP address range to run endpoint discovery for a preferred segment of the network or a group of endpoints. The PoV service uses the Cisco Stealth Temporal agent to collect endpoint posture data. Cisco ISE pushes the Cisco Stealth Temporal agent to computers running Windows with an Administrator account type, which automatically runs a temporary executable file to collect context. The agent then removes itself. To experience the optional debug capabilities of Cisco Stealth Temporal agent, check the Endpoint Logging check box (Visibility Setup > Posture) to save the debug logs in an endpoint or multiple endpoints. You can view the logs in either of the following locations: C:\WINDOWS\syswow64\config\systemprofile\ (64-bit operating system) C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\systemprofile\ (32-bit operating system) Wireless Setup (BETA): The Wireless Setup (BETA) option provides an easy way to set up wireless flows for 802.1X, Guest services, and BYOD. This option also provides workflows to configure and customize each portal for Guest services and BYOD. Click this icon for a menu of system activities, including launching online help, and configuring account settings.

Cisco ISE Home Dashboards

The Cisco ISE Home dashboard displays live consolidated and correlated statistical data that is essential for effective monitoring and troubleshooting. Dashboard elements typically display activity over 24 hours. The following figure is an example of the information available in a Cisco ISE dashboard. You can view the Cisco ISE dashboard data only in the primary Policy Administration node (PAN) portal.

The home page has five default dashboards that show a view of your Cisco ISE data. Each of these dashboards has several predefined dashlets.

Summary: This dashboard contains a linear metrics dashlet, pie chart dashlets, and list dashlets. The metrics dashlet is not configurable. By default this dashboard contains the dashlets,Status Endpoints, Endpoint Categories, and Network Devices.
Endpoints: By default, this dashboard contains the dashlets Status, Endpoints, Endpoint Categories, and Network Devices.
Guests: This dashboard contains dashlets that provide information on guest user type, log in failures, and location of acitivity.
Vulnerability: This dashboard displays the information that vulnerability servers report to Cisco ISE.
Threat: This dashboard displays the information threat servers report to Cisco ISE.

Configuring Home Dashboards

You can customize a home page dashboard by clicking the Gear icon in the upper right corner of the page:

The following options are displayed in the drop-down list:

Add New Dashboard allows you to add a new dashboard. Enter a value in the field that is displayed and click Apply.
Add Dashlet(s) displays a dialog box with a list of dashlets available. Click Add or Remove next to the dashlet name to add or remove a dashlet from the dashboard.
Export saves the selected home page view to a PDF.
Layout Template configures the number of columns that are displayed in this view.
Manage Dashboards contains two options:
- Mark As Default Dashboard: Choose this option to make the current dashboard the default view when you choose Home.
- Reset All Dashboards: Use this option to also reset all the dashboards and remove your configurations on all the Home dashboards.

Context Visibility Views

The structure of a Context Visibility page is similar to the Home page, except that Context Visibility pages:

Retain your current context (browser window) when you filter the displayed data
Are more customizable
Focus on endpoint data

You can view the context visibility data only from the Primary Administration Node (PAN).

Dashlets on Context pages show information about endpoints, and endpoint connections to NADs. The information currently displayed is based on the content in the list of data below the dashlets on each page. Each page shows a view of endpoint data, based on the name of the tab. As you filter the data, both the list and dashlets update. You can filter the data by clicking on parts of one or more of the circular graphs, by filtering rows on the table, or any combination those actions. As you select filters, the effects are additive, also referred to as cascading filter, which allows you to drill down to find the particular data you are looking for. You can also click an endpoint in the list, and get a detailed view of that endpoint.

There are four main views under Context Visibility:

Endpoints—You can select which endpoints to display based on types of devices, compliance status, authentication type, hardware inventory, and more. Refer to the The Hardware Dashboard section for additional information.

Note

We recommend that you enable the accounting settings on the NADs to ensure that the accounting start and update information is sent to Cisco ISE.

Cisco ISE can collect accounting information, such as the latest IP address, status of the session (Connected, Disconnected, or Rejected), inactivity days of an endpoint, only if accounting is enabled. This information is displayed in the Live Logs/Live Sessions and the Context Visibility pages. When accounting is disabled on a NAD, there might be a missing, incorrect, or mismatch in the accounting information between the Live Sessions/ Live Logs and Context Visibility pages.

Note

The Visibility Setup wizard allows you to add a list of IP address range for endpoints discovery. After this wizard is configured, Cisco ISE authenticates the endpoints, but the endpoints that are not included in the configured IP address range are not displayed in the Context Visibility > Endpoints tab and the Endpoints listing page (under Work Centers > Network Access > Identities > Endpoints).

User-Based—Displays user information from user identity sources.

Note the following points while using this view:
1. If there is any change in the username or password attribute, it will be reflected immediately on this page when there is a change in the authentication status.
2. If any other attribute other than the username is changed in the Active Directory, the updated attributes are displayed only after 24 hours upon re-authentication.
3. If the username and other attributes are changed in the Active Directory, the updated changes will be displayed immediately after re-authentication.

Network Devices—List of NADs that have endpoints connected to them. You can click the Number of Endpoints on a NAD (right-most column) to get a Context Visibility screen listing all those devices filtered by that NAD.

Note

If you have configured your network device with SNMPv3 parameters, you cannot generate the Network Device Session Status Summary report that is provided by the Monitoring service (Operations > Reports > Catalog > Network Device > Session Status Summary). You can generate this report successfully if your network device is configured with SNMPv1 or SNMPv2c parameters.

Application—The Application view is used to identify the number of endpoints that have a specified application installed. The results are displayed in graphical and table formats. The graphical representation helps you make a comparative analysis. For example, you can find out the number of endpoints with the Google Chrome software along with their Version, Vendor, and Category (Anti-phishing, Browser, and so on) in a table as well as a bar chart. For more information, see The Application Tab section.

You can create a new view under Context Visibility to create a custom list, for additional filtering. Dashlets are not supported in custom views for this release.

Clicking a section of a circular graph in a dashlet opens a new page with filtered data from that dashlet in Context Visibility mode. From that new page, you can continue to filter the displayed data, as described in Filtering Displayed Data in a View.

For more information about using Context Visibility to find endpoint data, see the following Cisco YouTube video, which uses ISE 2.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvonGhrydfg.

Attributes in Context Visibility

The systems and services that provide attributes for Context Visibility sometimes have different values for the same attribute name. A few examples are shown below:

For Operating System

OperatingSystem—Posture operating system
operating-system—NMAP operating system
operating-system-result—Profiler consolidated operating system

Note

There might be some discrepancies in the endpoint operating system data displayed in the Context Visibility page when multiple probes are enabled for the endpoint in Cisco ISE.

For Portal Name

Portal.Name—Guest portal name when device registration is turned on
PortalName—Guest portal name when device registration is not turned on

Portal User

User-Name—User name from RADIUS authentication
GuestUserName—Guest user
PortalUser—Portal user

The Application Dashboard

Table 2. Description of the Application Dashboard
Label	Description
1	The Summary tab is selected by default. It displays the Application Categories dashlet, which contains a bar chart. Applications are classified into 13 categories. Applications that do not fall into any of these categories are termed Unclassified. The available categories are Anti-Malware, Antiphishing, Backup, Browser, Data Loss Prevention, Data Storage, Encryption, Firewall, Messenger, Patch Management, Public File Sharing, Virtual Machine, and VPN Client.
2	Each bar corresponds to a classified category. You can hover over each bar to view the total number of applications and endpoints that correspond to the selected application category.
3	The applications and endpoints that fall under the Classified category are displayed in Blue. Unclassified applications and endpoints are displayed in Gray. You can hover over the classified or unclassified category bar to view the total number of applications and endpoints that belong to that category. You can click Classified and view the results in the bar chart and table (5). When you click Unclassified, the bar chart is disabled (grayed out) and the results are displayed in the table (5).
4	The applications and endpoints are displayed based on the selected filter. You can view the breadcrumb trail as you click different filters. You can click Deselect All to remove all filters.
5	When you click multiple bars, the corresponding classified applications and endpoints are displayed in the table. For example, if you select the Antimalware and Patch Management categories, the following results are displayed.
	Application Name	Version	Vendor	Category	Application OS	Endpoints With This Software
	Gatekeeper	9.9.5	Apple Inc.	Antimalware	windows 7 64-bit,mac osx 10.10,mac osx 8,mac osx 9	5
	Gatekeeper	10.9.5	Apple Inc.	Antimalware	windows 8 64-bit,mac osx 10.10	3
	Software Update	2.3	Apple Inc.	Patch Management	windows 7 64-bit,mac osx 10.10,mac osx 8,mac osx 9	5
6	Click an endpoint in the Endpoints With This Software column in the table to view the endpoint details, such as Mac address, NAD IP address, NAD port ID/SSID, IPv4 address, and so on.
7	You can select an application name and choose the Create App Compliance option from the Policy Actions drop-down list to create application compliance condition and remediation.

The Hardware Dashboard

The endpoint hardware tab under context visibility helps you collect, analyze, and report endpoint hardware inventory information within a short time. You can gather information, such as finding endpoints with low memory capacity or finding the BIOS model/version in an endpoint. You can increase the memory capacity or upgrade the BIOS version based on these findings. You can assess the requirements before you plan the purchase of an asset. You can ensure timely replacement of resources. You can collect this information without installing any modules or interacting with the endpoint. In summary, you can effectively manage the asset lifecycle.

The Context Visibility > Endpoints > Hardware page displays the Manufacturers and Endpoint Utilizations dashlets. These dashlets reflect the changes based on the selected filter. The Manufacturers dashlet displays hardware inventory details for endpoints with Windows and Mac OS. The Endpoint Utilizations dashlet displays the CPU, Memory, and Disk utilization for endpoints. You can select any of the three options to view the utilization in percentage.

Devices With Over n% CPU Usage.
Devices With Over n% Memory Usage.
Devices With Over n% Disk Usage.

Note

The hardware inventory data takes 120 seconds to be displayed in the ISE GUI. The hardware inventory data is collected for posture compliant and non-compliant states.

Note

The Quick Filters in the Hardware Visibility Page need at least 3 characters to take effect. Another way to make the Quick Filter work efficiently is to click on the filters of other column attributes after entering the characters.
Some of the column attributes are greyed out as this table is only used to filter based on attributes related to hardware.
The Operating System filter applies only to the Manufacturers Chart. It is not relevant to the table below it.

The hardware attributes of an endpoint and their connected external devices are displayed in a table format. The following hardware attributes are displayed:

MAC Address
BIOS Manufacturer
BIOS Serial Number
BIOS Model
Attached Devices
CPU Name
CPU Speed (GHz)
CPU Usage (%)
Number of Cores
Number of Processors
Memory Size (GB)
Memory Usage (%)
Total Internal Disk(s) Size (GB)
Total Internal Disk(s) Free Size (GB)
Total Internal Disk(s) Usage (%)
Number of Internal Disks
NAD Port ID
Status
Network Device Name
Location
UDID
IPv4 Address
Username
Hostname
OS Types
Anomalous Behavior
Endpoint Profile
Description
Endpoint Type
Identity Group
Registration Date
Identity Store
Authorization Profile

You can click the number in the Attached Devices column that corresponds to an endpoint to view the Name, Category, Manufacturer, Type, Product ID, and Vendor ID of the USB devices that are currently attached to the endpoint.

Note

Cisco ISE profiles the hardware attributes of a client’s system, however, there may be a few hardware attributes Cisco ISE does not profile. These hardware attributes may not appear in the Hardware Context Visibility page.

The hardware inventory data collection interval can be controlled in the Administration > System > Settings > Posture > General Settings page. The default interval is 5 minutes.

Dashlets

The following image is an example of a dashlet:

The stacked window symbol “detaches”,open new window icon opens this dashlet in a new browser window. The circle refreshes. The X deletes this dashlet, but is only available on the Home page. You delete dashlets in Context Visibility using the gear symbol in the top-right corner of the screen.
Some dashlets have different categories of data. Click the category to see a pie chart with that set of data.
The pie chart shows the data that you have selected. Clicking one of the pie segments opens a new tab in Context Visibility with the filtered data, based on that pie segment.

Clicking a section of the pie chart in a Home dashboard opens in new browser window that displays data filtered by the section of the pie chart that you clicked on.

Clicking a section of the pie chart in a Context view filters the displayed data, but does not change the context; the filtered data displays in the same browser window.

Filtering Displayed Data in a View

Clicking any of the dashlets on a Context Visibility page filters the data that is displayed by the item you clicked, for example, a section of a pie chart.

If you click mobil…vices in the Endpoints dashlet, the window redisplays with two Endpoints dashlets, a Network Devices dashlet, and a list of data. The dashlets and list show data for mobile devices, as shown in the following examplea new window is displayed with the data, as shown in the following image:

You can continue to filter data by clicking more sections of the pie charts, or by using the controls on the list of data.

The gear icon filters the displayed columns. The drop-down lets you chose which columns to display in this dashboard’s list.
The Quick filter is displayed by default. Entering characters into the box (label number 3) filters the list based on the result. The Custom Filter provides a more granular filter, as shown below.

You can save your custom filters.

Create Custom Filters

You can create and save custom filters and modify the filter criteria in preset filters. Custom filters are not saved in the Cisco ISE database. You can only access them using the same computer and browser used to create them.

Procedure

Step 1	Click the Show drop-down list and choose Advanced Filter.
Step 2	Specify the search attributes, such as fields, operators, and values from the Filter menus.
Step 3	Click + to add additional conditions.
Step 4	Click Go to display the entries that match the specified attributes.
Step 5	Click the Save icon to save the filter.
Step 6	Enter a name and click Save. The filter now appears in the Show drop-down list.

Filter Data by Conditions Using the Advanced Filter

The Advanced Filter allows you to filter information based on specified conditions, such as, First Name = Mike and User Group = Employee. You can specify more than one condition.

Procedure

Step 1	Click the Show drop-down list and choose Advanced Filter.
Step 2	Specify search the search attributes, such as fields, operators, and values from the Filter menus.
Step 3	Click + to add additional conditions.
Step 4	Click Go to display the entries that match the specified attributes.

Filter Data by Field Attributes Using the Quick Filter

The Quick Filter allows you to enter a value for any of the field attributes displayed in the listing page, refreshes the page, and lists only those records that match your filter criteria.

Procedure

Step 1	Click the Show drop-down list and choose Quick Filter.
Step 2	Enter search criteria in one or more of the attribute fields, and the entries that match the specified attributes display automatically.

Endpoint Actions in a View’s List

The toolbar at the top of the list allows you to take actions on endpoints in the list that you selected. Not all actions are enabled for every list, some actions depend on a feature being enabled for use. The following list shows two endoint actions that must be enabled in Cisco ISE before you can use them.

If Adaptive Network Control (ANC) is enabled, you can select endpoints in the list, and assign or revoke network access. You can also issue a change of authorization (CoA):

ANC (Endpoint Protection Services) is enabled in Cisco ISE in the Adaptive Network Service window. In the Cisco ISE GUI, click the Menu icon () and chooseAdministration > System > Settings > Endpoint Protection Service > Adaptive Network Control\. For more information, see Enable Adaptive Network Control in Cisco ISE.
If MDM is installed, you can perform MDM actions on selected endpoints.

Cisco ISE Dashboard

The Cisco ISE dashboard or home page (Home > Summary) is the landing page that appears after you log in to the Cisco ISE administration console. The dashboard is a centralized management console consisting of metric meters along the top of the window, with dashlets below. The default dashboards are Summary, Endpoints, Guests, Vulnerability, and Threat. See the Cisco ISE Home Dashboards section for additional information.

Note

You should view the dashboard data only in the Primary PAN.

The dashboard’s real-time data provides an at-a-glance status of the devices and users accessing your network as well as an overview of the system's health.

Click the gear icon in the second level menu bar for a drop-down list of dashboard settings. The following table displays information about the options that are available under Dashboard Settings:

Option

Description

Add New Dashboard

You can have a maximum of 20 dashboards, including the five default dashboards.

Rename Dashboard

To rename a dashboard (available only for custom dashboards):

Click Rename Dashboard.
Specify a new name.
Click Apply.

Add Dashlet

To add a dashlet to the home page dashboard:

Click Add Dashlet(s).
In the Add Dashlets window, click Add adjacent to the dashlets that you want to add.

Click Save.

Note

You can add a maximum of nine dashlets per dashboard.

Export

You can export the dashlet data as a PDF or a CSV file.

To do this:

Select the corresponding dashboard, for example, Summary, from the Cisco ISE home page.
Choose Dashboard Settings > Export.
In the Export dialog box, select one of the following file formats:
- The PDF format to view a snapshot of the selected dashlets.
- The CSV format to download the selected dashboard data as a ZIP file.
In the Dashlets section, select the required dashlets.
Click Export.

The ZIP file contains individual dashlet CSV files for the selected dashboard. Data related to each tab in a dashlet appear as separate sections in the corresponding dashlet CSV file.

When you export a custom dashboard, the ZIP file is exported with the same name. For example, if you export a custom dashboard named MyDashboard, then the exported file name is MyDashboard.zip.

Layout Template

You can change the layout of the template in which the dashlets are displayed.

To change the layout:

Choose Dashboard Settings > Layout Template.
Select the required layout from the options available.

Manage Dashboards

The following options are available under Manage Dashboards:

Mark as Default Dashboard: Use this option to set a dashboard as your default dashboard (home page).
Reset all Dashboards: Use this option to reset all the dashboards to their original settings.

You can delete a dashboard that you have created by clicking the close (x) icon adjacent to the corresponding custom dashboard.

Note

You cannot rename or delete a default dashboard.

All the dashlets have a toolbar at the top-right corner, with the following options:

Detach: To view a dashlet in a separate window.
Refresh: To refresh a dashlet.
Remove: To remove a dashlet from the dashboard.

You can drag and drop the dashlet using the gripper icon that is present at the top-left corner of the dashlet.

Quick Filter in Alarms Dashlet: You can filter alarms based on their severity, such as Critical, Warning, and Info. The Alarms dashlet is found on the home page, and contains the Filter drop-down list with the Quick Filter option.

Cisco ISE Internationalization and Localization

Cisco ISE internationalization adapts the user interface to the supported languages. Localization of the user interface incorporates location-specific components and translated text. In Windows, MAC OSX, and Android devices, the native supplicant provisioning wizard can be used in any of the following supported languages.

In Cisco ISE, internalization and localization support focuses on support for non-English text in UTF-8 encoding to the end user-facing portals and on selective fields in the administration portal.

Supported Languages

Cisco ISE provides localization and internalization support for the following languages and browser locales.

Table 3. Supported Languages and Locales
Language	Browser Locale
Chinese traditional	zh-tw
Chinese simplified	zh-cn
Czech	cs-cz
Dutch	nl-nl
English	en
French	fr-fr
German	de-de
Hungarian	hu-hu
Italian	it-it
Japanese	ja-jp
Korean	ko-kr
Polish	pl-pl
Portuguese (Brazil)	pt-br
Russian	ru-ru
Spanish	es-es

End-User Web Portal Localization

The Guest, Sponsor, My Devices, and Client Provisioning portals are localized into all the supported languages and locales. This includes text, labels, messages, field names, and button labels. If a client browser requests a locale that is not mapped to a template in Cisco ISE, the portal displays content using the English template.

Using the administration portal, you can modify the fields that are used in the Guest, Sponsor, and My Devices portals for each language. You can also add other languages. Currently, you cannot customize these fields for the Client Provisioning portal.

You can further customize the Guest portal by uploading HTML pages to Cisco ISE. When you upload customized pages, you are responsible for the appropriate localization support for your deployment. Cisco ISE provides a localization support example with sample HTML pages, which you can use as a guide. Cisco ISE allows you to upload, store, and render custom internationalized HTML pages.

Note

NAC and MAC agent installers, and WebAgent pages are not localized.

Support for UTF-8 Character Data Entry

Cisco ISE fields that are exposed to the end user (through the Cisco client agent or supplicants, or the Sponsor, Guest, My Devices, and Client Provisioning portals) support UTF-8 character sets for all languages. UTF-8 is a multibyte character encoding for the Unicode character set, which includes many different language character sets including Hebrew, Sanskrit, and Arabic.

Character values are stored in UTF-8 in the administration configuration database, and the UTF-8 characters display correctly in reports and user interface components.

UTF-8 Credential Authentication

Network access authentication supports UTF-8 username and password credentials. This includes RADIUS, EAP, RADIUS proxy, RADIUS token, and web authentication from the Guest and administration portal login authentications. UTF-8 support for username and password applies to authentication against the local identity store and external identity stores.

UTF-8 authentication depends on the client supplicant that is used for network login. Some Windows native supplicants do not support UTF-8 credentials.

Note

UTF-8 authentication with RSA is not supported as RSA does not support UTF-8 users. RSA servers, which are compatible with Cisco ISE, also do not support UTF-8.

UTF-8 Policies and Posture Assessment

Policy rules in Cisco ISE that are conditioned on attribute values may include UTF-8 text. Rule evaluation supports UTF-8 attribute values. You can also configure conditions with UTF-8 values through the administration portal.

Posture requirements are modified as File, Application, and Service conditions based on a UTF-8 character set.

UTF-8 Support for Messages Sent to Supplicant

RSA prompts and messages are forwarded to the supplicant using a RADIUS attribute REPLY-MESSAGE, or within EAP data. If the text contains UTF-8 data, it is displayed by the supplicant, based on the client’s local operating system language support. Some Windows-native supplicants do not support UTF-8 credentials.

Cisco ISE prompts and messages may not be in synchrony with the locale of the client operating system on which the supplicant is running. You must align the end-user supplicant locale with the languages that are supported by Cisco ISE.

Reports and Alerts UTF-8 Support

Monitoring and troubleshooting reports and alerts support UTF-8 values for relevant attributes for the languages that are supported in Cisco ISE. The following activities are supported:

Viewing live authentications.
Viewing detailed pages of report records.
Exporting and saving reports.
Viewing the Cisco ISE dashboard.
Viewing alert information.
Viewing tcpdump data.

UTF-8 Character Support in the Portals

More character sets are supported in Cisco ISE fields (UTF-8) than are currently supported for localizations in portals and end-user messages. For example, Cisco ISE does not support right-to-left languages, such as Hebrew or Arabic, although the character sets themselves are supported.

The following table lists the fields in the Admin and end-user portals that support UTF-8 characters for data entry and viewing, with the following limitations:

Cisco ISE does not support guest usernames and passwords with UTF-8 characters.
Cisco ISE does not support UTF-8 characters in certificates.

Table 4. Administration Portal UTF-8 Character Fields
Administration Portal Element	UTF-8 Fields
Network access user configuration	Username The usernames can contain any combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, space, and special characters (except `, %, ^, ;, :, [, {, \|, }, ], \, ‘, “, =, <, >, ?, !, and control characters). You cannot submit usernames with only spaces. First Name Last Name Email
User list	All filter fields. Values displayed in the User List window. Values displayed in the left navigation quick view.
User password policy	The passwords can contain any combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters (including !, @, #, $, ^, &, *, (, and ). The password field accepts any characters including UTF-8 characters, but it does not accept control characters. Some languages do not have uppercase or lowercase alphabets. If your user password policy requires the user to enter a password with uppercase or lowercase characters and the user’s language does not support these characters, the user cannot set a password. For the user password field to support UTF-8 characters, uncheck the following check boxes in the user password policy page (Administration > Identity Management > Settings > User Authentication Settings > Password Policy): Lowercase alphabetic characters Uppercase alphabetic characters You cannot use dictionary words, their characters in reverse order, or their letters replaced with other characters.
Administrator list	All filter fields. Values that aredisplayed in the administrator list window. Values that are displayed in the left navigation quick view.
Admin login page	Username
RSA	Messages Prompts
RADIUS token	Authentication tab > Prompt
Posture Requirement	Name Remediation action > Message shown to Agent User Requirement list display
Posture conditions	The following fields in the Policy > Policy Elements > Conditions > Posture windows: File Condition > Add > File Path. Application Condition > Add > Process Name. Service Condition > Add > Service Name. Conditions list displays.
Guest and My Devices settings	Sponsor > Language Template: all supported languages, all fields. Guest > Language Template: all supported languages, all fields. My Devices >Language Template: all supported languages, all fields.
System settings	SMTP Server > Default email address
Operations > Alarms > Rule	Criteria > User Notification > email notification user list
Operations > Reports	Operations > Live Authentications > Filter fields Operations > Reports > Catalog > Report filter fields
Operations > Troubleshoot	General Tools > RADIUS Authentication Troubleshooting > Username
Policies	Authentication > value for the antivirus expression within policy conditions Authorization or posture or client provisioning > other conditions > value for the antivirus expression within policy conditions
Attribute value in policy library conditions	Authentication > simple condition or compound condition > value for the antivirus expression Authentication > simple condition list display Authentication > simple condition list > left navigation quick view display Authorization > simple condition or compound condition > value for the antivirus expression Authorization > simple condition list > left navigation quick view display Posture > Dictionary simple condition or dictionary compound condition > value for the antivirus expression Guest > simple condition or compound condition > value for the antivirus expression

UTF-8 Support Outside the Cisco ISE User Interface

This section contains the areas outside the Cisco ISE user interface that provide UTF-8 support.

Debug Log and CLI-Related UTF-8 Support

Attribute values and posture condition details appear in some debug logs. All debug logs accept UTF-8 values. You can download debug logs containing raw UTF-8 data that can be viewed with a UTF-8-supported viewer.

Cisco Secure ACS Migration UTF-8 Support

Cisco ISE allows the migration of Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) UTF-8 configuration objects and values. Migration of some UTF-8 objects may not be supported by Cisco ISE UTF-8 languages, which might render some of the UTF-8 data that is provided during migration unreadable using the administration portal or report methods. Convert the unreadable UTF-8 values (that are migrated from Cisco Secure ACS) into ASCII text. For more information about migrating from Cisco Secure ACS to Cisco ISE, see the Cisco Secure ACS to Cisco ISE Migration Tool for your version of Cisco ISE.

Support for Importing and Exporting UTF-8 Values

The administration and Sponsor portals support plaintext and CSV files with the UTF-8 values to use when importing user account details. Exported files are provided as CSV files.

UTF-8 Support on REST

External Representational State Transfer (REST) communication supports UTF-8 values. This applies to configurable items that have UTF-8 support in the Cisco ISE user interface, except for administrator authentication. Administrator authentication in REST requires ASCII text credentials for login.

UTF-8 Support for Identity Stores Authorization Data

Cisco ISE allows Microsoft Active Directory and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to use UTF- 8 data in authorization policies for policy processing.

MAC Address Normalization

Cisco ISE supports normalization of the MAC address that you enter in any of the following formats:

00-11-22-33-44-55
0011.2233.4455
00:11:22:33:44:55
001122334455
001122-334455

Provide full or partial MAC addresses in the following Cisco ISE windows:

Policy > Policy Sets
Policy > Policy Elements > Conditions > Authorization
Authentications > Filters (Endpoint and Identity columns)
Global search
Operations > Reports > Report Filters
Operations > Troubleshoot > Diagnostic Tools > General Tools > Endpoint Debug

Provide full MAC addresses (six octets separated by ‘:’ or ‘-’ or ‘.’) in the following Cisco ISE windows:

Operations > Endpoint Protection Services Adaptive Network Control
Operations > Troubleshoot > Diagnostic Tools > General Tools > RADIUS Authentication Troubleshooting
Operations > Troubleshooting > Diagnostic Tools > General Tools > Posture Troubleshooting
Administration > Identities > Endpoints
Administration > System > Deployment
Administration > Logging > Collection Filters

REST APIs also support normalization of full MAC address.

The valid ranges for an octet are 0 to 9, a to f, or A to F.

Cisco ISE Deployment Upgrade

Cisco ISE offers a GUI-based centralized upgrade from the administration portal. The progress of the upgrade and the status of the nodes are displayed in the Cisco ISE GUI. For information on the preupgrade and postupgrade tasks you must carry out, see the Cisco Identity Services Engine Upgrade Guide for the Cisco ISE release that you want to upgrade to.

The upgrade Overview window (Administration > System > Upgrade > Overview lists all the nodes in your deployment, the personas that are enabled on them, the Cisco ISE version that is currently in use, and the status (whether a node is active or inactive) of each node. You can begin upgrade only if all the nodes are in the Active state.

Administrator Access Console

The following steps describe how to log in to the administrative portal.

Procedure

Step 1

Enter the Cisco ISE URL in the address bar of your browser (for example, https://<ise hostname or ip address>/admin/).

Step 2

Enter the username and case-sensitive password that were specified and configured during the initial Cisco ISE setup.

Step 3

Click Login or press Enter.

If your login is unsuccessful, click the Problem logging in? link in the log in window and follow the instructions that are displayed.

Administrator Login Browser Support

The Cisco ISE administration portal supports the following HTTPS-enabled browsers:

Mozilla Firefox Version 79 and earlier versions
Mozilla Firefox ESR Version 60.9 and earlier versions
Google Chrome Version 84 and earlier versions

ISE Community Resource

ISE Pages Fail to Fully Load When Adblock Plus is Used

Administrator Lockout Due to Failed Login Attempts

If you enter an incorrect password for an administrator user ID enough times, the account is either suspended for a specified time or locked out (as configured). If Cisco ISE is configured to lock you out, the administration portal locks you out of the system. Cisco ISE adds a log entry in the Server Administrator Logins report and suspends the credentials for that administrator ID. Reset the password for that administrator ID as described in the Section "Reset a Disabled Password Due to Administrator Lockout" in the Cisco Identity Services Engine Installation Guide. The number of failed login attempts allowed before an administrator account is disabled is configured as described in the Section Administrative Access to Cisco ISE of the Cisco Identity Services Engine Administrator Guide. After an administrator user account is locked out, Cisco ISE sends an email to the associated user, if this information is configured.

Only an administrator with the role of Super Admin (including Microsoft Active Directory users) can configure the disable administrator access option.

Configure Proxy Settings in Cisco ISE

If your existing network topology requires you to use a proxy server to enable Cisco ISE to access external resources (such as the remote download site where you can find client provisioning and posture-related resources), use the administration portal to configure the proxy settings.

The proxy settings impact the following Cisco ISE functions:

Partner Mobile Management
Endpoint Profiler Feed Service Update
Endpoint Posture Update
Endpoint Posture Agent Resources Download
Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Download
Guest Notifications
SMS Message Transmission
Social Login

The Cisco ISE proxy configuration supports basic authentication for proxy servers. NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication is not supported.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Settings > Proxy.
Step 2	Enter the proxy IP address or DNS-resolvable hostname, and specify the port through which proxy traffic travels to and from Cisco ISE in the Proxy host server : port field.
Step 3	Check the Password required check box, if necessary.
Step 4	Enter the username and password that are used to authenticate to the proxy servers in the User Name and Password fields. Reenter the password in the Confirm Password field.
Step 5	Enter the IP address or the address range of hosts or domains that must be bypassed in the Bypass proxy for these hosts and domain text box.
Step 6	Click Save.

Ports Used by the Administration Portal

The administration portal uses HTTP port 80 and HTTPS port 443 and you cannot change these settings. You cannot configure any of the end user portals to use these ports, to reduce the risk to the administration portal.

Enable External RESTful Services Application Programming Interface

The External RESTful Services application programming interfaces (API) are based on HTTPS protocols and REST methodology and use port 9060.

The External RESTful Services APIs support basic authentication. The authentication credentials are encrypted and are part of the request header.

You can use any REST client like JAVA, cURL Linux command, Python, or any other client to invoke External RESTful Services API calls.

You must assign special privileges to a user for the user to perform operations using the External RESTful Services APIs. In Cisco ISE Release 2.6 and later, External RESTful Services users can be either internal users or belong to an external Microsoft Active Directory group. The Active Directory group to which the external users belong must be mapped to either ERS Admin or ERS Operator groups:

ERS Admin: This user can create, read, update, and delete External RESTful Services API requests. They have full access to all External RESTful Services APIs (GET, POST, DELETE, PUT).
ERS Operator: This user has read-only access (GET requests only).

Note

A user with the role Super Admin can access all External RESTful Services APIs.

ERS session idle timeout is 60 sec. If several requests are sent during this period, the same session is used with the same Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) token. If the session has been idle for more than 60 sec, the session is reset and a new CSRF token is used.

The External RESTful Services APIs are disabled by default. If you evoke the External RESTful Services API calls before enabling them, you will receive an error response. Enable the Cisco ISE REST API feature for the applications developed for a Cisco ISE REST API to be able to access Cisco ISE. The Cisco REST APIs uses HTTPS port 9060, which is closed by default. If the Cisco ISE REST APIs are not enabled on the Cisco ISE administration server, the client application receives a timeout error from the server for any Guest REST API requests.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Settings > ERS Settings.
Step 2	Click the Enable ERS for Read/Write radio button to enable External RESTful Services on the Primary Administration node (PAN).
Step 3	Click the Enable ERS for Read for All Other Nodes radio button if there are any secondary nodes in your deployment. External RESTful Service requests of all types are valid only for primary Cisco ISE nodes. Secondary nodes have read-access (GET requests).
Step 4	In the CSRF Check area, click the radio button for one of the following options: Use CSRF Check for Enhanced Security: If this option is enabled, the External RESTful Services client must send a GET request to fetch the CSRF token from Cisco ISE and include the CSRF token in the requests that are sent to Cisco ISE. Cisco ISE will validate a CSRF token when a request is received from the External RESTful Services client. Cisco ISE processes the request only if the token is valid. This option is not applicable for External RESTful Services clients earlier than Cisco ISE Release 2.3. Disable CSRF for ERS Request: If this option is enabled, CSRF validation is not performed. This option can be used for External RESTful Services clients earlier than Cisco ISE 2.3.
Step 5	Click Save.

All REST operations are audited and the logs are logged in the system logs. External RESTful Services APIs have a debug logging category, which you can enable from the debug logging window in the Cisco ISE GUI.

When you disable External RESTful Services in Cisco ISE, port 9060 remains open but no communication is allowed through the port.

Enable External AD Access for External RESTful Services Application Programming Interface

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > Identity Management > External Identity Sources > Active Directory.
Step 2	Add the Active Directory groups that the external user belongs to as an external identity source. See Active Directory as an External Identity Source
Step 3	Add user groups from the Active Directory. See Add Users
Step 4	Choose Administration > Admin Access > Authentication > Authentication Method.
Step 5	Choose AD: <Join Point Name> from the Identity Source drop-down list.
Step 6	Choose either Password Based or Client Certificate Based authentication by clicking the corresponding radio button.
Step 7	Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Administrators > Admin Groups.
Step 8	Click ERS Admin group or ERS Operator from the list of administration groups,
Step 9	Click Add and add the external group to the administrator group as a member user.
Step 10	Click Save.

The Cisco ISE administrator must assign special privileges to a user to allow the user to perform operations using the External RESTful Services APIs. In Cisco ISE Release 2.6 and later, External RESTful Services users can be either internal users or belong to an external Active Directory. The Active Directory group to which the external users belong must be mapped to either ERS Admin or ERS Operator groups:

ERS Admin: This user can create, read, update, and delete External RESTful Services API requests. They have full access to all External RESTful Services APIs (GET, POST, DELETE, PUT).
ERS Operator: This user has read-only access (GET requests only).

Note

A user with the role Super Admin can access all External RESTful Services APIs.

External RESTful Services Software Development Kit

Use the External RESTful Services (ERS) software development kit (SDK) to build your own tools. You can access the External RESTful Services SDK with the URL https://<ISE-ADMIN-NODE>:9060/ers/sdk. Only users with the role ERS Admin can access the External RESTful Services SDK.

The SDK consists of the following components:

Quick reference API documentation.
A complete list of all available API operations.
Schema files available for download.
Sample application in Java available for download.
Use cases in cURL script format.
Use cases in Python script format.
Instructions on using Chrome Postman.

Specify System Time and Network Time Protocol Server Settings

Cisco ISE allows you to configure up to three NTP servers. Use the NTP servers to maintain accurate time and synchronize time across different timezones. You can also specify whether Cisco ISE must use only authenticated NTP servers and enter one or more authentication keys for that purpose.

We recommend that you set all Cisco ISE nodes to the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) timezone, especially if your Cisco ISE nodes are installed in a distributed deployment. This procedure ensures that the timestamps of the reports and logs from the various nodes in your deployment are always synchronized.

Cisco ISE supports public key authentication for NTP servers. NTP Version 4 uses symmetric key cryptography and also provides a new Autokey security model that is based on public key cryptography. Public-key cryptography is considered to be more secure than symmetric key cryptography. This is because the security is based on a private value that is generated by each server and never revealed. With the Autokey security model, all key distribution and management functions involve only public values, which considerably simplify key distribution and storage.

You can configure the Autokey security model for NTP server from the Cisco ISE CLI in Configuration Mode. We recommend that you use the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system as this system is most widely used.

Before you begin

You must have either the Super Admin or System Admin administrator role assigned.

If you have both primary and secondary Cisco ISE nodes in your deployment, you must log in to the user interface of each node and configure the system time and Network Time Protocol (NTP) server settings.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Settings > System Time.
Step 2	In the NTP Server Configuration area, enter the unique IP addresses (IPv4 or IPv6 or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) value) for your NTP servers.
Step 3	Check the Only allow authenticated NTP servers check box to restrict Cisco ISE to use only authenticated NTP servers to keep system and network time.
Step 4	(Optional) To authenticate the NTP server using private keys, click the NTP Authentication Keys tab and specify one or more authentication keys if any of the servers that you specify require authentication via an authentication key. Carry out the following steps: Click Add. Enter the necessary values in the Key ID and Key Value fields. Specify whether the key in question is trusted by checking or unchecking the Trusted Key check box, and click OK. The Key ID field supports numeric values between 1 to 65535 and the Key Value field supports up to 15 alphanumeric characters. Click OK. Return to the NTP Server Configuration tab.
Step 5	(Optional) To authenticate the NTP server using public key authentication, configure the Autokey security model on Cisco ISE from the CLI. See the ntp server and crypto commands in the Cisco Identity Services Engine CLI Reference Guide for your Cisco ISE release.
Step 6	Click Save.

Change the System Time Zone

Once set, you cannot edit the time zone from the administration portal. To change the time zone setting, enter the following command in the Cisco ISE CLI:

clock timezone timezone

For more information about the clock timezone command, see Cisco Identity Services Engine CLI Reference Guide.

Note

Cisco ISE uses Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX)-style signs in the time zone names and the output abbreviations. Therefore, zones west of Greenwich have a positive sign and zones east of Greenwich have a negative sign. For example, TZ='Etc/GMT+4' corresponds to 4 hours behind Universal Time (UT).

Caution

When you change the time zone on a Cisco ISE appliance after installation, Cisco ISE services restart on that particular node. We recommend that you perform such changes within a maintenance window. Also, it is important to have all the nodes in a single Cisco ISE deployment that is configured to the same time zone. If you have Cisco ISE nodes located in different geographical locations or time zones, you should use a global time zone such as UTC on all the Cisco ISE nodes.

Configure SMTP Server to Support Notifications

Configure a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server to send email notifications for alarms, to enable sponsors to send email notification to guests with their login credentials and password reset instructions, and to enable guests to automatically receive their login credentials after they successfully register themselves and with actions to take before their guest accounts expire.

Which ISE Nodes Send Email

The following list shows which node in a distributed ISE environment sends email.


Email Purpose	Node That Sends the Email
guest expiration	Primary PAN
alarms	Active MnT
sponsor and guest notifications from guest and sponsor portals	PSN
password expirations	Primary PAN

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Settings > SMTP Server.
Step 2
Step 3	Enter the hostname of the outbound SMTP server in the SMTP server field. This SMTP host server must be accessible from the Cisco ISE server. The maximum length for this field is 60 characters.
Step 4	Choose one of these options: Use email address from Sponsor to send guest notification email from the email address of the sponsor and choose Enable Notifications. Use the default email address to specify a specific email address from which to send all guest notifications and enter it in the Default email addressfield.
Step 5	Click Save.

The recipient of alarm notifications can be any internal admin users with the Include system alarms in emails option enabled. The sender’s email address for sending alarm notifications is hardcoded as ise@<hostname>.

Federal Information Processing Standard Mode Support

Cisco ISE Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140 mode initializes the Cisco FIPS Object Module cryptographic module into FIPS 140-2 mode. Cisco ISE uses embedded FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules. For details of the FIPS compliance claims, see FIPS Compliance Letter.

When the FIPS mode is enabled, the Cisco ISE administrator interface displays a FIPS mode icon at the left of the node name in the top-right corner of the window.

If Cisco ISE detects the use of a protocol or certificate that is not supported by the FIPS 140-2 standard, it displays a warning with the name of the protocol or certificate that is noncompliant, and the FIPS mode is not enabled. Ensure that you choose only FIPS-compliant protocols and replace non-FIPS compliant certificates before you enable the FIPS mode.

The certificates that are installed in Cisco ISE must be re-issued if the encryption method that is used in the certificates is not supported by FIPS.

When you enable the FIPS mode, the following functions are affected:

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) over SSL

Cisco ISE enables FIPS 140-2 compliance via RADIUS shared secret and key management measures. When the FIPS mode is enabled, any function that uses a non-FIPS-compliant algorithm fails.

When you enable the FIPS mode:

All non-FIPS compliant cipher suites are disabled for EAP-TLS, PEAP, and EAP-FAST.
All non-FIPS compliant cipher suites are disabled in SSH.
Certificates and private keys must use only FIPS-compliant hash and encryption algorithms.
RSA private keys must be 2048 bits or greater.
ECDSA private keys must be 224 bits or greater.
ECDSA server certificate works with only TLS 1.2.
DHE ciphers work with DH parameters of 2048 bits or greater for all ISE TLS clients.
3DES ciphers are not allowed for Cisco ISE as a server
SHA-1 is not allowed for generating certificates.
SHA-1 is not allowed in client certificates.
The anonymous PAC provisioning option in EAP-FAST is disabled.
Local SSH server operates in FIPS mode.
The following protocols are not supported for RADIUS:
- EAP-MD5
- PAP
- CHAP
- MS-CHAPv1
- MS-CHAPv2
- LEAP

Once the FIPS Mode is enabled, all the nodes in the deployment are rebooted automatically. Cisco ISE performs a rolling restart by first restarting the primary PAN and then restarting each secondary node, one at a time. Hence, it is recommended that you plan for the downtime before changing the configuration.

Tip

We recommend that you do not enable FIPS mode before completing the database migration process.

Enable Federal Information Processing Standard Mode in Cisco ISE

To enable the FIPS mode in Cisco ISE:

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Settings > FIPS Mode.
Step 2	Choose Enabled from the FIPS Mode drop-down list.
Step 3	Click Save and restart your machine.

What to do next

After you enable FIPS mode, enable and configure the following FIPS 140-2 compliant functions:

Generate a Self-Signed Certificate.
Create a Certificate Signing Request and Submit the CSR to a Certificate Authority.
Configure RADIUS authentication settings as mentioned under Network Device Definition Settings.

You may want to enable administrator account authorization using a Common Access Card function. Although using Common Access Card functions for authorization is not strictly a FIPS 140-2 requirement, it is a well-known secure-access measure that is used in several environments to bolster FIPS 140-2 compliance.

Configure Cisco ISE for Administrator Common Access Card Authentication

Before you begin

Ensure that the domain name server (DNS) in Cisco ISE is set for Active Directory.
Ensure that Active Directory user and user group memberships have been defined for each administrator certificate.

To ensure that Cisco ISE can authenticate and authorize an administrator based on the Common Access Card-based client certificate that is submitted from the browser, configure the following:

The external identity source (Active Directory in the following example).
The Active Directory user groups to which the administrator belongs.
How to find the user's identity in the certificate.
Active Directory user groups to Cisco ISE RBAC permissions mapping.
The Certificate Authority (trust) certificates that sign the client certificates.
A method to determine if a client certificate has been revoked by the certificate authority.

You can use a Common Access Card to authenticate credentials when logging in to Cisco ISE.

Procedure

Step 1

Configure an Active Directory identity source in Cisco ISE and join all Cisco ISE nodes to Active Directory.

Step 2

Configure a certificate authentication profile according to the guidelines.

Be sure to select the attribute in the certificate that contains the administrator username in the Principal Name X.509 Attribute field. For Common Access Cards, the Signature Certificate on the card is normally used to look up the user in Active Directory. The Principal Name is found in this certificate in the Subject Alternative Name extension, specifically in the Other Name area of the extension. So the attribute selection here should be Subject Alternative Name - Other Name.

If the Active Directory record for the user contains the user's certificate, and you want to compare the certificate that is received from the browser against the certificate in Active Directory, check the Binary Certificate Comparison check box, and select the Active Directory instance name that was specified earlier.

Step 3

Enable Active Directory for password-based administrator authentication. Choose the Active Directory instance name that you connected and joined to Cisco ISE earlier.

Note

You must use password-based authentication until you complete other configurations. Then, you can change the authentication type to client certificate based at the end of this procedure.

Step 4

Create an external administrator group and map it to an Active Directory group. Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Administrators > Admin Groups. Create an external system administrator group.

Step 5

Configure an administrator authorization policy to assign RBAC permissions to the external administrator groups.

Caution

We strongly recommend that you create an external Super Admin group, map it to an Active Directory group, and configure an administrator authorization policy with Super Admin permissions (menu access and data access), and create at least one user in that Active Directory Group. This mapping ensures that at least one external administrator has Super Admin permissions once Client Certificate-Based Authentication is enabled. Failure to do this may lead to situations where the Cisco ISE administrator is locked out of critical functionality in the administration portal.

Step 6

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Store > Trusted Certificates to import certificate authority certificates into the Cisco ISE trusted certificates store.

Cisco ISE does not accept a client certificate unless the certificate authority certificates in the client certificate’s trust chain are placed in the Cisco ISE Certificates store. You must import the appropriate certificate authority certificates in to the Cisco ISE Certificates store.

Click Import and click Choose File in the Certificate File area.
Check the Trust for client authentication and Syslog check box.
Click Submit.

Cisco ISE prompts you to restart all the nodes in the deployment after you import a certificate. You can defer the restart until you import all the certificates. However, after importing all the certificates, you must restart Cisco ISE before you proceed.

Step 7

Configure the certificate authority certificates for revocation status verification.

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > OSCP Client Profile.
Click Add.
Enter the name of an OSCP server, an optional description, and the URL of the server in the corresponding fields.
Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Store.
For each certificate authority certificate that can sign a client certificate, specify how to do the revocation status check for that certificate authority. Choose a certificate authority certificate from the list and click Edit. On the edit page, choose OCSP or certificate revocation list (CRL) validation, or both. If you choose OCSP, choose an OCSP service to use for that certificate authority. If you choose CRL, specify the CRL Distribution URL and other configuration parameters.

Step 8

Enable client certificate-based authentication. Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Authentication.

In the Authentication Method tab, click the Client Certificate Based radio button.
Choose the certificate authentication profile that you configured earlier from the Certificate Authentication Profile drop-down list.
Select the Active Directory instance name from the Identity Source drop-down list.
Click Save.

Here, you switch from password-based authentication to client certificate-based authentication. The certificate authentication profile that you configured earlier determines how the administrator’s certificate is authenticated. The administrator is authorized using the external identity source, which in this example is Active Directory.

The Principal Name attribute from the certificate authentication profile is used to look up the administrator in Active Directory.

Supported Common Access Card Standards

Cisco ISE supports U.S. government users who authenticate themselves using Common Access Card authentication devices. A Common Access Card is an identification badge with an electronic chip containing a set of X.509 client certificates that identify a particular employee. Access via the Common Access Card requires a card reader into which you insert the card and enter a PIN. The certificates from the card are then transferred into the Windows certificate store, where they are available to applications such as the local browser running Cisco ISE.

Common Access Card Operation in Cisco ISE

You can configure the administration portal so that Cisco ISE authentications occur only through a client certificate. Credentials-based authentication that requires user IDs or passwords is not permitted. In client certificate-based authentication, you insert a Common Access Card card, enter a PIN, and then enter the Cisco ISE administration portal URL into the browser address field. The browser forwards the certificate to Cisco ISE, and Cisco ISE authenticates and authorizes your login session, based on the contents of the certificate. If this process is successful, the Cisco ISE Monitoring and Troubleshooting home page is displayed and you are given the appropriate RBAC permissions.

Secure SSH Key Exchange Using Diffie-Hellman Algorithm

Configure Cisco ISE to only allow Diffie-Hellman-Group14-SHA1 Secure Shell (SSH) key exchanges. Enter the following commands from the Cisco ISE CLI Configuration Mode:

service sshd key-exchange-algorithm diffie-hellman-group14-sha1

Here is an example:

ise/admin#conf t

ise/admin (config)#service sshd key-exchange-algorithm diffie-hellman-group14-sha1

Configure Cisco ISE to Send Secure Syslog

Before you begin

To configure Cisco ISE to send only TLS-protected secure syslog between the Cisco ISE nodes and to the monitoring nodes, perform the following tasks:

Ensure that all the Cisco ISE nodes in your deployment are configured with appropriate server certificates.
Ensure that the default network access authentication policy does not allow any version of the SSL protocol.
Ensure that all the nodes in your deployment are registered with the primary PAN. Also ensure that at least one node in your deployment has the Monitoring persona enabled on it to function as the secure syslog receiver (TLS server).
Check the supported RFC standards for syslogs. See Cisco Identity Services Engine Network Component Compatibility guide for your Cisco ISE release.

Procedure

Step 1

Configure a secure syslog remote logging target.

Step 2

Enable logging categories to send auditable events to the secure syslog remote logging target.

Step 3

Disable TCP Syslog and UDP syslog collectors. Only TLS-protected syslog collectors must be enabled.

Note

Cisco ISE Release 2.6 and later releases include TLS-protected UDP syslogs if you enable the use of Cisco ISE Messaging Service for delivering UDP syslogs to MnT nodes. See Syslog over Cisco ISE Messaging Service

Configure Secure Syslog Remote Logging Target

Cisco ISE system logs are collected and stored by log collectors for various purposes. To configure a secure syslog target, choose a Cisco ISE node with the Monitoring persona enabled on it as your log collector.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to the Cisco ISE administration portal.
Step 2	Choose Administration > System > Logging > Remote Logging Targets.
Step 3	Click Add.
Step 4	Enter a name for the secure syslog server.
Step 5	Choose Secure Syslog from the Target Type drop-down list.
Step 6	Choose Enabled from the Status drop-down list.
Step 7	Enter the hostname or IP address of the Cisco ISE monitoring node in your deployment, in the Host / IP Address field.
Step 8	Enter 6514 as the port number in the Port field. The secure syslog receiver listens on TCP port 6514.
Step 9	Choose the syslog facility code from the Facility Code drop-down list. The default value is LOCAL6.
Step 10	Check the following check boxes to enable the corresponding configurations: Include Alarms For This Target Comply to RFC 3164 Enable Server Identity Check
Step 11	Check the Buffer Messages When Server Down check box. If this option is checked, Cisco ISE stores the logs if the secure syslog receiver is unreachable, periodically checks the secure syslog receiver, and forwards the logs when the secure syslog receiver comes up. Enter the buffer size in the Buffer Size (MB) field. For Cisco ISE to periodically check the secure syslog receiver, enter the reconnect timeout value in the Reconnect Time (Sec) field. The timeout value is configured in seconds.
Step 12	Choose the CA certificate that Cisco ISE must present to the secure syslog server from the Select CA Certificate drop-down list.
Step 13	Ensure that the Ignore Server Certificate validation check box is not checked when configuring a Secure Syslog.
Step 14	Click Submit.

Remote Logging Target Settings

The following table describes the fields in the Remote Logging Targets window that you use to create external locations (syslog servers) to store logging messages. The navigation path for this window is Administration > System > Logging > Remote Logging Targets. Click Add.

Table 5. Remote Logging Target Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Name	Enter a name for the new syslog target.
Target Type	Select the target type from the drop-down list. The default value is UDP Syslog.
Description	Enter a brief description of the new target.
IP Address	Enter the IP address or hostname of the destination machine that will store the logs. Cisco ISE supports IPv4 and IPv6 formats for logging.
Port	Enter the port number of the destination machine.
Facility Code	Choose the syslog facility code that must be used for logging from the drop-down list. Valid options are Local0 through Local7.
Maximum Length	Enter the maximum length of the remote log target messages. Valid values are from 200 through 1024 bytes.
Buffer Message When Server Down	This check box is displayed when you choose TCP Syslog or Secure Syslog from the Target Type drop-down list. Check this check box to allow Cisco ISE to buffer the syslog messages when a TCP syslog target or secure syslog target is unavailable. Cisco ISE retries sending the messages to the target when the connection to the target resumes. After the connection resumes, messages are sent sequentially, starting with the oldest and proceeding to the newest. Buffered messages are always sent before new messages. If the buffer is full, old messages are discarded.
Buffer Size (MB)	Set the buffer size for each target. By default, it is set to 100 MB. Changing the buffer size clears the buffer and all existing buffered messages for the specific target are lost.
Reconnect Timeout (Sec)	Enter the time (in seconds) to configure how long the TCP and secure syslogs are stored before being discarded, when the server is down.
Select CA Certificate	This drop-down list is displayed when you choose Secure Syslog from the Target Type drop-down list. Choose a client certificate from the drop-down list.
Ignore Server Certificate Validation	This check box is displayed when you choose Secure Syslog from the Target Type drop-down list. Check this check box for Cisco ISE to ignore server certificate authentication and accept any syslog server.

Enable Logging Categories to Send Auditable Events to the Secure Syslog Target

Enable logging categories for Cisco ISE to send auditable events to the secure syslog target.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Logging > Logging Categories.
Step 2	Click the radio button next to the Administrative and Operational Audit logging category, then click Edit.
Step 3	Choose WARN from the Log Severity Level drop-down list.
Step 4	In the Targets area, move the secure syslog remote logging target that you created earlier to the Selected area.
Step 5	Click Save.
Step 6	Repeat this task to enable the following logging categories. Both these logging categories have INFO as the default log severity level and you cannot edit it. AAA Audit. Posture and Client Provisioning Audit.

Configure Logging Categories

The following table describes the fields which you use to configure a logging category. Set a log severity level and choose the logging targets for the logs of a logging category. The navigation path for this window is Administration > System > Logging > Logging Categories.

Click the radio button next to the logging category you want to view, and click Edit. The following table describes the fields that are displayed in the edit window of the logging categories.

Table 6. Logging Category Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Name	Displays the name of the logging category.
Log Severity Level	For some logging categories, this value is set by default and you cannot edit it. For some logging categories, you can choose one of the following severity levels from a drop-down list: FATAL: Emergency level. This level means that you cannot use Cisco ISE and you must immediately take the necessary actions. ERROR: This level indicates a critical error condition. WARN: This level indicates a normal but significant condition. This is the default level set for many logging categories. INFO: This level indicates an informational message. DEBUG: This level indicates a diagnostic bug message.
Local Logging	Check this check box to enable logging events for the category on the local node.
Targets	This area allows you to choose the targets for a logging category by transferring the targets between the Available and the Selected areas using the left and right arrow icons. The Available area contains the existing logging targets, both local (predefined) and external (user-defined). The Selected area, which is initially empty, then displays the targets that have been chosen for the category.

Disable TCP Syslog and UDP Syslog Collectors

For Cisco ISE to send only secure syslog between the nodes, you must disable the TCP and UDP syslog collectors, and enable only Secure Syslog collectors.

Note

Cisco ISE Release 2.6 and later releases include TLS-protected UDP syslogs if you enable the use of Cisco ISE Messaging Service for delivering UDP syslogs to MnT nodes. See Syslog over Cisco ISE Messaging Service

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Logging > Remote Logging Targets.
Step 2	Click the radio button next to a TCP or UDP syslog collector.
Step 3	Click Edit.
Step 4	Choose Disabled from the Status drop-down list.
Step 5	Click Save.
Step 6	Repeat this process until you disable all the TCP or UDP syslog collectors.

Default Secure Syslog Collector

Cisco ISE provides default secure syslog collectors for the MnT nodes. By default, no logging categories are mapped to these default secure syslog collectors. The default secure syslog collectors are named as follows:

Primary MnT node: SecureSyslogCollector
Secondary MnT node: SecureSyslogCollector2

You can view this information on the Remote Logging Targets window (click the Menu icon () and choose Administration > System > Logging > Remote Logging Targets). You cannot delete the default syslog collectors and cannot update the following fields for the default syslog collectors:

Name
Target Type
IP/Host address
Port

During a fresh Cisco ISE installation, a certificate that is named Default Self-signed Server Certificate is added to the Trusted Certificates store. This certificate is marked for Trust for Client authentication and Syslog usage, making it available for secure syslog usage. While configuring your deployment or updating the certificates, you must assign relevant certificates to the secure syslog targets.

During a Cisco ISE upgrade, if there are any existing secure syslog targets pointing to MnT nodes on port 6514, the names and configurations of the target are retained. After the upgrade, you cannot delete these syslog targets and you cannot edit the following fields:

Name
Target Type
IP/Host address
Port

If no such targets exist at the time of upgrade, default secure syslog targets are created similar to the fresh installation scenario, without any certificate mapping. You can assign the relevant certificates to these syslog targets. If you try to map a secure syslog target that is not mapped to any certificate to a logging category, Cisco ISE displays the following message:

Please configure the certificate for log_target_name

Offline Maintenance

If the maintenance time period is less than an hour, take the Cisco ISE node offline and perform the maintenance task. When you bring the node back online, the PAN node will automatically synchronize all the changes that happened during maintenance time period. If the changes are not synchronized automatically, you can manually synchronize it with the PAN.

If the maintenance time period is more than an hour, deregister the node at the time of maintenance and reregister the node when you add the node back to deployment.

We recommend that you schedule the maintenance at a time period during which the activity is low.

Note

Data replication issues may occur if the queue contains more than 1,000,000 messages or if the Cisco ISE node is offline for more than six hours.
If you are performing maintenance on the primary MnT node, we recommend that you take an operational backup of the MnT node before performing maintenance activities.

Certificate Management in Cisco ISE

A certificate is an electronic document that identifies an individual, a server, a company, or other entity and associates that entity with a public key. A self-signed certificate is signed by its own creator. Certificates can be self-signed or digitally signed by an external Certificate Authority (CA). A CA-signed digital certificate is considered industry standard and more secure.

Certificates are used in a network to provide secure access. Cisco ISE uses certificates for internode communication, and for communicating with external servers such as the syslog server, feed server, and all the end-user portals (guest, sponsor, and personal devices portals). Certificates identify a Cisco ISE node to an endpoint and secures the communication between that endpoint and the Cisco ISE node.

You can use the Admin portal to manage certificates for all the nodes in your deployment.

Certificates Enable Cisco ISE to Provide Secure Access

The Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) relies on public key infrastructure (PKI) to provide secure communication with both endpoints and administrators, as well as between Cisco ISE nodes in a multinode deployment. PKI relies on X.509 digital certificates to transfer public keys for encryption and decryption of messages, and to verify the authenticity of other certificates representing users and devices. Cisco ISE provides the Admin Portal to manage the following two categories of X.509 certificates:

System certificates—These are server certificates that identify a Cisco ISE node to client applications. Every Cisco ISE node has its own system certificates, each of which are stored on the node along with the corresponding private key.
Trusted certificates—These are certificate authority (CA) certificates used to establish trust for the public keys received from users and devices. The Trusted Certificates Store also contains certificates that are distributed by the Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP), which enables registration of mobile devices into the enterprise network. Certificates in the Trusted Certificates Store are managed on the Primary Administration Node (PAN), and are automatically replicated to all other nodes in an Cisco ISE deployment.

In a distributed deployment, you must import the certificate only in to the certificate trust list (CTL) of the PAN. The certificate gets replicated to the secondary nodes.

In general, to ensure certificate authentication in Cisco ISE is not impacted by minor differences in certificate-driven verification functions, use lower case hostnames for all Cisco ISE nodes deployed in a network.

Certificate Usage

When you add or import a certificate in to Cisco ISE, you should specify the purpose for which the certificate is to be used:

Admin: For internode communication and authenticating the Admin portal
EAP: For TLS-based EAP authentication
RADIUS DTLS: For RADIUS DTLS server authentication
Portal: For communicating with all Cisco ISE end-user portals
pxGrid: For communicating with the pxGrid controller

You can associate different certificates from each node for communicating with the Admin portal (Admin), the pxGrid controller (pxGrid), and for TLS-based EAP authentication (EAP). However, you can associate only one certificate from each node for each of these purposes.

With multiple Policy Service nodes (PSNs) in a deployment that can service a web portal request, Cisco ISE needs a unique identifier to identify the certificate that has to be used for portal communication. When you add or import certificates that are designated for portal use, you must define a certificate group tag and associate it with the corresponding certificate on each node in your deployment. You must associate this certificate group tag to the corresponding end-user portals (guest, sponsor, and personal devices portals). This certificate group tag is the unique identifier that helps Cisco ISE identify the certificate that has to be used when communicating with each of these portals. You can designate one certificate from each node for each of the portals.

Note

EAP-TLS client certificate should have KeyUsage=Key Agreement and ExtendedKeyUsage=Client Authentication for the following ciphers:

ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384

EAP-TLS client certificate should have KeyUsage=Key Encipherment and ExtendedKeyUsage=Client Authentication for the following ciphers:

AES256-SHA256
AES128-SHA256
AES256-SHA
AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256
ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA
ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA
EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA
DES-CBC3-SHA
RC4-SHA
RC4-MD5

Certificate Matching in Cisco ISE

When you set up Cisco ISE nodes in a deployment, those two nodes communicate with each other. The system checks the FQDN of each ISE node to ensure they match (for example ise1.cisco.com and ise2.cisco.com or if you use wild card certificates then *.cisco.com). In addition, when an external machine presents a certificate to an ISE server, the external certificate that is presented for authentication is checked (or matched) against the certificate in the ISE server. If the two certificates match, the authentication succeeds.

For , matching is performed between the nodes (if there are two) and between the and pxGrid.

Cisco ISE checks for a matching subject name as follows:

Cisco ISE looks at the subject alternative name (SAN) extension of the certificate. If the SAN contains one or more DNS names, then one of the DNS names must match the FQDN of the Cisco ISE node. If a wildcard certificate is used, then the wildcard domain name must match the domain in the Cisco ISE node’s FQDN.
If there are no DNS names in the SAN, or if the SAN is missing entirely, then the Common Name (CN) in the Subject field of the certificate or the wildcard domain in the Subject field of the certificate must match the FQDN of the node.

If no match is found, the certificate is rejected.

Note

X.509 certificates imported to Cisco ISE must be in privacy-enhanced mail (PEM) or distinguished encoding rule (DER) format. Files containing a certificate chain, which is a system certificate along with the sequence of trust certificates that sign it, can be imported, subject to certain restrictions.

Validity of X.509 Certificates

X.509 certificates are only valid until a specific date. When a system certificate expires, the Cisco ISE functionality that depends on the certificate is impacted. Cisco ISE notifies you about the pending expiration of a system certificate when the expiration date is within 90 days. This notification appears in several ways:

Colored expiration status icons appear in the System Certificates page.
Expiration messages appear in the Cisco ISE System Diagnostic report.
Expiration alarms are generated at 90 days, 60 days, and every day in the final 30 days before expiration.

If the expiring certificate is a self-signed certificate, you can extend its expiration date by editing the certificate. For a CA-signed certificate, you must allow sufficient time to acquire replacement certificate from your CA.

Enable PKI in Cisco ISE

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a cryptographic technique that enables secure communication and verifies the identity of a user using digital signatures.

Procedure

Step 1

Establish system certificates on each deployment node for TLS-enabled authentication protocols such as EAP-TLS, for authenticating the Admin portal, for browser and REST clients to access the Cisco ISE web portals, and for the pxGrid controller.

By default, a Cisco ISE node is preinstalled with a self-signed certificate that is used for EAP authentication, Admin portal, portals, and pxGrid controller. In a typical enterprise environment, this certificate is replaced with server certificates that are signed by a trusted CA.

Step 2

Populate the Trusted Certificates Store with the CA certificates that are necessary to establish trust with the user as well as device certificates that will be presented to Cisco ISE.

To validate the authenticity of a user or device certificate with a certificate chain that consists of a root CA certificate and one or more intermediate CA certificates:

Enable trust option for the root CA.

From the Cisco ISE GUI, choose Administration > System >Certificate > Certificate Management > Trusted certificates. In this window, select the root CA certificate, click Edit. In the Usage tab, check the check boxes in the section Trusted For.
If you do not want to enable the trust option for the root CA, import the entire CA certificate chain into the Trusted Certificates Store.

For inter-node communication, you must populate the Trusted Certificates Store with the trust certificate(s) needed to validate the Admin system certificate belonging to each node in the Cisco ISE deployment. If you want to use the default self-signed certificate for internode communication, then you must export this certificate from the System Certificates page of each Cisco ISE node and import it into the Trusted Certificates Store. If you replace the self-signed certificates with CA-signed certificates, it is only necessary to populate the Trusted Certificates Store with the appropriate root CA and intermediate CA certificates. Be aware that you cannot register a node in a Cisco ISE deployment until you complete this step.

If you use self-signed certificates to secure communication between a client and PSN in a deployment, when BYOD users move from one location to another, EAP-TLS user authentication fails. For such authentication requests that have to be serviced between a few PSNs, you must secure communication between the client and PSN with an externally-signed CA certificate or use wildcard certificates signed by an external CA.

Note

After you obtain a backup from a standalone Cisco ISE node or the PAN, if you change the certificate configuration on one or more nodes in your deployment, you must obtain another backup to restore data. Otherwise, if you try to restore data using the older backup, communication between the nodes might fail.

Wildcard Certificates

A wildcard certificate uses a wildcard notation (an asterisk and period before the domain name) and allows the certificate to be shared across multiple hosts in an organization. For example, the CN value for the Certificate Subject would be some generic hostname such as aaa.ise.local and the SAN field would include the same generic hostname and the wildcard notation such as DNS.1=aaa.ise.local and DNS.2=*.ise.local.

If you configure a wildcard certificate to use *.ise.local, you can use the same certificate to secure any other host whose DNS name ends with “.ise.local,” such as :

aaa.ise.local
psn.ise.local
mydevices.ise.local
sponsor.ise.local

Wildcard certificates secure communication in the same way as a regular certificate, and requests are processed using the same validation methods.

The following figure shows an example of a wildcard certificate that is used to secure a web site.

Wildcard Certificate Support in Cisco ISE

Cisco ISE supports wildcard certificates. In earlier releases, Cisco ISE verified any certificate enabled for HTTPS to ensure the CN field matches the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the host exactly. If the fields did not match, the certificate could not be used for HTTPS communication.

In earlier releases, Cisco ISE used that CN value to replace the variable in the url-redirect A-V pair string. For all Centralized Web Authentication (CWA), onboarding, posture redirection, and so on, the CN value was used.

Cisco ISE uses the hostname of the ISE node as the CN.

Wildcard Certificates for HTTPS and EAP Communication

You can use wildcard server certificates in Cisco ISE for Admin (web-based service) and EAP protocols that use SSL/TLS tunneling. With the use of wildcard certificates, you no longer have to generate a unique certificate for each Cisco ISE node. Also, you no longer have to populate the SAN field with multiple FQDN values to prevent certificate warnings. Using an asterisk (*) in the SAN field allows you to share a single certificate across multiple nodes in a deployment and helps prevent certificate name mismatch warnings. However, use of wildcard certificates is considered less secure than assigning a unique server certificate for each Cisco ISE node.

When assigning public wildcard certificates to the guest portal and importing sub-CA with root-CA certificates, the certificate chain is not sent until the ISE services are restarted.

Note

If you use wildcard certificates, we strongly recommend that you partition your domain space for greater security. For example, instead of *.example.com, you can partition it as *.amer.example.com. If you do not partition your domain, it can lead to serious security issues.

Wildcard certificate uses an asterisk (*) and a period before the domain name. For example, the CN value for a certificate’s Subject Name would be a generic host name such as aaa.ise.local and the SAN field would have the wildcard character such as *.ise.local. Cisco ISE supports wildcard certifications in which the wildcard character (*) is the left most character in the presented identifier. For example, *.example.com or *.ind.example.com. Cisco ISE does not support certificates in which the presented identifier contains additional characters along with the wildcard character. For example, abc*.example.com or a*b.example.com or *abc.example.com.

Fully Qualified Domain Name in URL Redirection

When Cisco ISE builds an authorization profile redirect (for central web authentication, device registration web authentication, native supplicant provisioning, mobile device management, and client provisioning and posture services), the resulting cisco-av-pair includes a string similar to the following:

url-redirect=https://ip:port/guestportal/gateway?sessionId=SessionIdValue&action=cwa

When processing this request, Cisco ISE substitutes actual values for some keywords in this string. For example, SessionIdValue is replaced with the actual session ID of the request. For eth0 interface, Cisco ISE replaces the IP in the URL with the FQDN of the Cisco ISE node. For non-eth0 interfaces, Cisco ISE uses the IP address in the URL. You can assign a host alias(name) for interfaces eth1 through eth3, which Cisco ISE can then substitute in place of IP address during URL redirection.

To do this, you can use the ip host command in the configuration mode from the Cisco ISE CLI ISE /admin(config)# prompt:

ip host IP_address host-alias FQDN-string

where IP_address is the IP address of the network interface (eth1 or eth2 or eth3) and host-alias is the name that you assign to the network interface. FQDN-string is the fully qualified domain name of the network interface. Using this command, you can assign a host-alias or an FQDN-string or both to a network interface.

Here is an example using the ip host command: ip host a.b.c.d sales sales.amerxyz.com

After you assign a host alias to the non-eth0 interface, you must restart the application services on Cisco ISE using the application start ise command.

Use the no form of this command to remove the association of the host alias with the network interface.

no ip host IP_address host-alias FQDN-string

Use the show running-config command to view the host alias definitions.

If you provide the FQDN-string, Cisco ISE replaces the IP address in the URL with the FQDN. If you provide only the host alias, Cisco ISE combines the host alias with the configured IP domain name to form a complete FQDN, and replaces the IP address in the URL with the FQDN. If you do not map a network interface to a host alias, then Cisco ISE uses the IP address of the network interface in the URL.

When you make use of non-eth0 interfaces for client provisioning or native supplicant or guest flows, you have to make sure that the IP address or host alias for non-eth0 interfaces should be configured appropriately in the Policy Service node certificate's SAN fields.

Advantages of Using Wildcard Certificates

Cost savings. Certificates signed by a third party Certificate Authority is expensive, especially as the number of servers increase. Wildcard certificates may be used on multiple nodes in the Cisco ISE deployment.
Operational efficiency. Wildcard certificates allow all Policy Service Node (PSN) EAP and web services to share the same certificate. In addition to significant cost savings, certificate administration is also simplified by creating the certificate once and applying it on all the PSNs.
Reduced authentication errors. Wildcard certificates address issues seen with Apple iOS devices where the client stores trusted certificates within the profile, and does not follow the iOS keychain where the signing root is trusted. When an iOS client first communicates with a PSN, it does not explicitly trust the PSN certificate, even though a trusted Certificate Authority has signed the certificate. Using a wildcard certificate, the certificate will be the same across all PSNs, so the user only has to accept the certificate once and successive authentications to different PSNs proceed without error or prompting.
Simplified supplicant configuration. For example, Microsoft Windows supplicant with PEAP-MSCHAPv2 and server certificate trust enabled requires that you specify each of the server certificate to trust, or the user may be prompted to trust each PSN certificate when the client connects using a different PSN. With wildcard certificates, a single server certificate can be trusted rather than individual certificates from each PSN.
Wildcard certificates result in an improved user experience with less prompting and more seamless connectivity.

Disadvantages of Using Wildcard Certificates

The following are some of the security considerations related to wildcard certificates:

Loss of auditability and nonrepudiation
Increased exposure of the private key
Not common or understood by administrators

Wildcard certificates are considered less secure than a unique server certificate per ISE node. But, cost and other operational factors outweigh the security risk.

Security devices such as ASA also support wildcard certificates.

You must be careful when deploying wildcard certificates. For example, if you create a certificate with *.company.local and an attacker is able to recover the private key, that attacker can spoof any server in the company.local domain. Therefore, it is considered a best practice to partition the domain space to avoid this type of compromise.

To address this possible issue and to limit the scope of use, wildcard certificates may also be used to secure a specific subdomain of your organization. Add an asterisk (*) in the subdomain area of the common name where you want to specify the wildcard.

For example, if you configure a wildcard certificate for *.ise.company.local, that certificate may be used to secure any host whose DNS name ends in “.ise.company.local”, such as:

psn.ise.company.local
mydevices.ise.company.local
sponsor.ise.company.local

Wildcard Certificate Compatibility

Wildcard certificates are usually created with the wildcard listed as the Common Name (CN) of the Certificate Subject. Cisco ISE supports this type of construction. However, not all endpoint supplicants support the wildcard character in the Certificate Subject.

All Microsoft native supplicants tested (including Windows Mobile) do not support wildcard character in the Certificate Subject.

You can use another supplicant, such as Cisco AnyConnect Network Access Manager (NAM) that might allow the use of wildcard character in the Subject field.

You can also use special wildcard certificates such as DigiCert's Wildcard Plus that is designed to work with incompatible devices by including specific subdomains in the Subject Alternative Name of the certificate.

Although the Microsoft supplicant limitation appears to be a deterrent to using wildcard certificates, there are alternative ways to create the wildcard certificate that allow it to work with all devices tested for secure access, including the Microsoft native supplicants.

To do this, instead of using the wildcard character in the Subject, you must use the wildcard character in the Subject Alterative Name (SAN) field instead. The SAN field maintains an extension designed for checking the domain name (DNS name). See RFCs 6125 and 2128 for more information.

Certificate Hierarchy

From the Admin portal, you can view the certificate hierarchy or the certificate trust chain of all endpoint, system, and trusted certificates. The certificate hierarchy includes the certificate, all intermediate Certificate Authority (CA) certificates, and the root certificate. For example, when you choose to view a system certificate from the the Admin portal, by default, the details of the corresponding system certificate appear. The certificate hierarchy appears at the top of the certificate. Click any of the certificates in the hierarchy to view its details. The self-signed certificate does not have any hierarchy or trust chain.

In the certificate listing pages, you will see one of the following icons in the Status column:

Green icon—Indicates a valid certificate (valid trust chain)
Red icon—Indicates an error (for example, trust certificate missing or expired)
Yellow icon—Warns that a certificate is about to expire and prompts renewal

System Certificates

Cisco ISE system certificates are server certificates that identify a Cisco ISE node to other nodes in the deployment and to client applications. System certificates are:

Used for inter-node communication in a Cisco ISE deployment. Choose the Admin option in the Usage field for these certificates.
Used by browser and REST clients who connect to Cisco ISE web portals. Choose the Portal option in the Usage field for these certificates.
Used to form the outer TLS tunnel with PEAP and EAP-FAST. Choose the EAP option in the Usage field for mutual authentication with EAP-TLS, PEAP, and EAP-FAST.
Used for RADIUS DTLS server authentication.
Used to communicate with the SAML Identity Provider (IdP). Choose the SAML option in the Usage field for this certificate. If you choose the SAML option, you cannot use this certificate for any other service.
Used to communicate with the pxGrid controller. Choose the pxGrid option in the Usage field for these certificates.

You must install valid system certificates on each node in your Cisco ISE deployment. By default, two self-signed certificates and one signed by the internal Cisco ISE CA are created on a Cisco ISE node during installation time:

A self-signed server certificate designated for EAP, Admin, Portal, and RADIUS DTLS (it has a key size of 2048 and is valid for one year)
A self-signed SAML server certificate that can be used to secure communication with a SAML IdP (it has a key size of 2048 and is valid for one year)
An internal Cisco ISE CA-signed server certificate that can be used to secure communication with pxGrid clients (it has a key size of 4096 and is valid for one year).

When you set up a deployment and register a secondary node, the certificate designated for pxGrid controller is automatically replaced with a certificate that is signed by the primary node's CA. Thus, all pxGrid certificates become part of the same PKI trust hierarchy.

Note

When you export a wildcard system certificate to be imported in to the other nodes (for inter-node communication), ensure that you export the certificate and private key, and specify an encryption password. During import, you will need the certificate, private key, and encryption password.

Note

To find out the supported key and cipher information for your release, please find the appropriate version of the Cisco Identity Services Engine Network Component Compatibility guide.

We recommend that you replace the self-signed certificate with a CA-signed certificates for greater security. To obtain a CA-signed certificate, you must:

Create a Certificate Signing Request and Submit the CSR to a Certificate Authority
Import the Root Certificates to the Trusted Certificate Store
Bind the CA-Signed Certificate to the CSR

ISE Community Resource

How To: Implement ISE Server-Side Certificates

Certificate Renewal on Cisco Identity Services Engine Configuration Guide

View System Certificates

The System Certificate page lists all the system certificates added to Cisco ISE.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > System Certificates.

The System Certificates page appears and provides the following information for the local certificates:

Friendly Name—Name of the certificate.
Used By—Service for which this certificate is used.
Portal group tag—Applicable only for certificates that are designated for portal use. Specifies which certificate has to be used for the portals.
Issued To—Common Name of the certificate subject.
Issued By—Common Name of the certificate issuer
Valid From—Date on which the certificate was created, also known as the Not Before certificate attribute.
Expiration Date—Expiration date of the certificate, also known as the Not After certificate attribute. Indicates when the certificate expires. There are five categories along with an associated icon that appear here:
- Expiring in more than 90 days (green icon)
- Expiring in 90 days or less (blue icon)
- Expiring in 60 days or less (yellow icon)
- Expiring in 30 days or less (orange icon)
- Expired (red icon)

Step 2

Select a certificate and choose View to display the certificate details.

Import a System Certificate

You can import a system certificate for any Cisco ISE node from the Admin portal.

Note

Changing the certificate of the admin role certificate on a Primary PAN restarts services on all other nodes. The system restarts one node at a time, after the Primary Administration Node (PAN) restart has completed.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the system certificate and the private key file on the system that is running the client browser.
If the system certificate that you import is signed by an external CA, import the relevant root CA and intermediate CA certificates in to the Trusted Certificates Store (Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates).
If the system certificate that you import contains the basic constraints extension with the CA flag set to true, ensure that the key usage extension is present, and the keyEncipherment bit or the keyAgreement bit or both are set.
To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1
Step 2	Click Import. The Import Server Certificate screen opens.
Step 3	Enter the values for the certificate that you are going to import.
Step 4	Click Submit.

System Certificate Import Settings

Table 7. System Certificate Import Settings

Field Name

Description

Select Node

(Required) Choose the Cisco ISE node on which you want to import the system certificate.

Certificate File

(Required) Click Browse to select the certificate file from your local system.

Private Key File

(Required) Click Browse to select the private key file.

Password

(Required) Enter the password to decrypt the private key file.

Friendly Name

Enter a friendly name for the certificate. If you do not specify a name, Cisco ISE automatically creates a name in the format <common name> # <issuer> # <nnnnn> where <nnnnn> is a unique five-digit number.

Allow Wildcard Certificates

Check this check box if you want to import a wildcard certificate. A wildcard certificate uses a wildcard notation (an asterisk and period before the domain name) and allows the certificate to be shared across multiple hosts in an organization.

If you check this check box, Cisco ISE imports this certificate to all the other nodes in the deployment.

Validate Certificate Extensions

Check this check box if you want Cisco ISE to validate the certificate extensions. If you check this check box and the certificate that you are importing contains a basic constraints extension with the CA flag set to true, ensure that the key usage extension is present, and that the keyEncipherment bit or the keyAgreement bit, or both, are also set.

Usage

Choose the service for which this system certificate should be used:

Admin: Server certificate used to secure communication with the Admin portal and between ISE nodes in a deployment

Note

Changing the certificate of the admin role certificate on a Primary PAN restarts services on all other nodes.

EAP Authentication: Server certificate used for authentications that use the EAP protocol for SSL/TLS tunneling
RADIUS DTLS: Server certificate used for RADIUS DTLS authentication
pxGrid: Client and server certificate to secure communication between the pxGrid client and server
ISE Messaging Service: Used by Syslog Over Cisco ISE Messaging feature, which enables MnT WAN survivability for built-in UDP syslog collection targets (LogCollector and LogCollector2).
SAML: Server certificate used to secure communication with the SAML Identity Provider (IdP). A certificate designated for SAML use cannot be used for any other service such as Admin, EAP authentication, and so on.
Portal: Server certificate used to secure communication with all Cisco ISE web portals

Generate a Self-Signed Certificate

You can add a new local certificate by generating a self-signed certificate. Cisco recommends that you only employ self-signed certificates for your internal testing and evaluation needs. If you are planning to deploy Cisco ISE in a production environment, be sure to use CA-signed certificates whenever possible to ensure more uniform acceptance around a production network.

Note

If you are using a self-signed certificate and you must change the hostname of your Cisco ISE node, you must log in to the Admin portal of the Cisco ISE node, delete the self-signed certificate that has the old hostname, and generate a new self-signed certificate. Otherwise, Cisco ISE will continue to use the self-signed certificate with the old hostname.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Self-Signed Certificate Settings

Table 8. Self-Signed Certificate Settings

Field Name

Usage Guidelines

Select Node

(Required) The node for which you want to generate the system certificate.

Common Name (CN)

(Required if you do not specify a SAN) By default, the common name is the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the ISE node for which you are generating the self-signed certificate.

Organizational Unit (OU)

Organizational Unit name. For example, Engineering.

Organization (O)

Organization name. For example, Cisco.

City (L)

(Do not abbreviate) City name. For example, San Jose.

State (ST)

(Do not abbreviate) State name. For example, California.

Country (C)

Country name. You must enter the two-letter ISO country code. For example, US.

Subject Alternative Name (SAN)

An IP address, DNS name, or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that is associated with the certificate.

Key Type

Specify the algorithm to be used for creating the public key: RSA or ECDSA.

Key Length

Specify the bit size for the public key. The following options are available for RSA:

512
1024
2048
4096

The following options are available for ECDSA:

256
384

Note

RSA and ECDSA public keys might have different key length for the same security level.

Choose 2048 if you plan to get a public CA-signed certificate or deploy Cisco ISE as a FIPS-compliant policy management system.

Digest to Sign With

Choose one of the following hashing algorithm: SHA-1 or SHA-256.

Certificate Policies

Enter the certificate policy OID or list of OIDs that the certificate should conform to. Use comma or space to separate the OIDs.

Expiration TTL

Specify the number of days after which the certificate will expire.

Friendly Name

Enter a friendly name for the certificate. If you do not specify a name, Cisco ISE automatically creates a name in the format <common name> # <issuer> # <nnnnn> where <nnnnn> is a unique five-digit number.

Allow Wildcard Certificates

Check this check box if you want to generate a self-signed wildcard certificate. A wildcard certificate uses a wildcard notation (an asterisk and period before the domain name) and allows the certificate to be shared across multiple hosts in an organization.

Usage

Choose the service for which this system certificate should be used:

Admin: Server certificate used to secure communication with the Admin portal and between ISE nodes in a deployment.
EAP Authentication: Server certificate used for authentications that use the EAP protocol for SSL/TLS tunneling.
RADIUS DTLS: Server certificate used for RADIUS DTLS authentication.
pxGrid: Client and server certificate to secure communication between the pxGrid client and server.
SAML: Server certificate used to secure communication with the SAML Identity Provider (IdP). A certificate designated for SAML use cannot be used for any other service such as Admin, EAP authentication, and so on.
Portal: Server certificate used to secure communication with all Cisco ISE web portals.

Edit a System Certificate

You can use this page to edit a system certificate and to renew a self-signed certificate. When you edit a wildcard certificate, the changes are replicated to all the nodes in the deployment. If you delete a wildcard certificate, that wildcard certificate is removed from all the nodes in the deployment.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > System Certificates.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to edit, and click Edit.
Step 3	To renew a self-signed certificate, check the Renewal Period check box and enter the Expiration TTL (Time to Live) in days, weeks, months, or years.
Step 4	Click Save to save your changes. If the Admin check box is checked, then the application server on the Cisco ISE node will be restarted. In addition, if the Cisco ISE node is the PAN in a deployment, then the application server on all other nodes in the deployment will also be restarted. The system restarts one node at a time, after the Primary Administration Node (PAN) restart has completed.

Note

Using Chrome 65 and above to launch ISE can cause BYOD portal or Guest portal to fail to launch in the browser even though URL is redirected successfully. This is because of a new security feature introduced by Google that requires all certificates to have a Subject Alternative Name field. For releases ISE 2.4 and later, you must fill the Subject Alternative Name field.

To launch with Chrome 65 and above, follow the steps below:

1. Generate a new self-signed certificate from ISE GUI by filling the Subject Alternative Name field. Both DNS and IP Address must be filled.

2. ISE services will now restart.

3. Redirect the portal in Chrome browser.

4. From browser View Certificate>Details>Copy the certificate by selecting base-64 encoded.

5. Install the certificate in Trusted path.

6. Close the Chrome browser and try to redirect the portal.

Note

When configuring wireless BYOD setup for the browser Firefox 64 and above, with operating systems Win RS4 or RS5, you may not be able to add Certificate Exception. This behaviour is expected in the case of fresh installs of Firefox 64 and above, and does not occur in the case of upgrading to Firefox 64 and above from a previous version. The following steps will allow you to add certificate exception in this case:

1. Configure for BYOD flow single/dual PEAP or TLS.

2. Configure CP Policy with Windows ALL option.

3. Connect Dot1.x/MAB SSID in end client Windows RS4/RS5.

4. Type 1.1.1.1 in FF64 browser for redirection to Guest/BYOD portal.

5. Click Add Exception > Unable to add certificate, and proceed with flow.

As a workaround, you will have to add the certificate manually for Firefox 64, by navigating Options > Privacy & Settings > View Certificates > Servers > Add Exception

Delete System Certificate

You can delete system certificates that you no longer use.

Even though you can delete multiple certificates from the System Certificates store at a time, you must have at least one certificate that can be used for Admin and EAP authentication. Also, you cannot delete any certificate that is in use for Admin, EAP Authentication, Portals, or pxGrid controller. However, you can delete the pxGrid certificate when the service is disabled.

If you choose to delete a wildcard certificate, the certificate is removed from all the nodes in the deployment.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > System Certificates.

Step 2

Check the checkboxes next to the certificates that you want to delete, and click Delete.

A warning message appears.

Step 3

Click Yes to delete the certificate.

Export a System Certificate

You can export a selected system certificate or a certificate and its associated private key. If you export a certificate and its private key for backup purposes, you can reimport them later if needed.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > System Certificates.

Step 2

Check the checkbox next to the certificate that you want to export and then click Export.

Step 3

Choose whether to export only the certificate, or the certificate and its associated private key.

Tip

We do not recommend exporting the private key associated with a certificate because its value may be exposed. If you must export a private key (for example, when you export a wild card system certificate to be imported in to the other nodes for inter-node communication), specify an encryption password for the private key. You will need to specify this password while importing this certificate in to another Cisco ISE node to decrypt the private key.

Step 4

Enter the password if you have chosen to export the private key. The password should be at least 8 characters long.

Step 5

Click Export to save the certificate to the file system that is running your client browser.

If you export only the certificate, the certificate is stored in the privacy-enhanced mail format. If you export both the certificate and private key, the certificate is exported as a .zip file that contains the certificate in the privacy-enhanced mail format and the encrypted private key file.

Trusted Certificates Store

The Trusted Certificates Store contains X.509 certificates that are used for trust and for Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP).

The certificates in the Trusted Certificate Store are managed on the PAN, and are replicated to every node in the Cisco ISE deployment. Cisco ISE supports wildcard certificates.

Cisco ISE uses the trusted certificates for the following purposes:

To verify client certificates used for authentication by endpoints, and by Cisco ISE administrators accessing ISE-PICthe Admin Portal using certificate-based administrator authentication.
To enable secure communication between Cisco ISE nodes in a deployment. The Trusted Certificates Store must contain the chain of CA certificates needed to establish trust with the system certificate on each node in a deployment.
- If a self-signed certificate is used for the system certificate, the self-signed certificate from each node must be placed in the Trusted Certificates Store of the PAN.
- If a CA-signed certificate is used for the system certificate, the CA root certificate, as well as any intermediate certificates in the trust chain, must be placed in the Trusted Certificates Store of the PAN.
To enable secure LDAP authentication, a certificate from the Certificate Store must be selected when defining an LDAP identity source that will be accessed over SSL.

To distribute to personal devices preparing to register in the network using the personal devices portals. Cisco ISE implements the SCEP on Policy Service Nodes (PSN) to support personal device registration. A registering device uses the SCEP protocol to request a client certificate from a PSN. The PSN contains a registration authority (RA) that acts as an intermediary; it receives and validates the request from the registering device, and then forwards the request to an external CA or the internal Cisco ISE CA, which issues the client certificate. The CA sends the certificate back to the RA, which returns it to the device.

Each SCEP CA used by Cisco ISE is defined by a SCEP RA Profile. When a SCEP RA Profile is created, two certificates are automatically added to the Trusted Certificates Store:

A CA certificate (a self-signed certificate)
An RA certificate (a Certificate Request Agent certificate), which is signed by the CA.

The SCEP protocol requires that these two certificates be provided by the RA to a registering device. By placing these two certificates in the Trusted Certificates Store, they are replicated to all PSN nodes for use by the RA on those nodes.

Note

When a SCEP RA Profile is removed, the associated CA chain is also removed from the Trusted Certificates Store. However, if the same certificates are referenced by secure syslog, LDAP, system, or trust certificates, only the SCEP profile is deleted.

Note

X.509 certificates imported to Cisco ISE must be in Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) or Distinguished Encoding Rule (DER) format. Files containing a certificate chain, that is, a system certificate along with the sequence of trust certificates that sign it, can be imported, subject to certain restrictions.
When assigning public wildcard certificates to the guest portal and importing sub-CA with root-CA certificates, the certificate chain is not sent until the ISE services are restarted

ISE Community Resource

Install a Third-Party CA Certificate in ISE 2.0

Certificates in Trusted Certificates Store

The Trusted Certificate Store is prepopulated with trusted certificates: Manufacturing certificate, Root certificate, and other trusted certificates. The Root certificate (Cisco Root CA) signs the Manufacturing (Cisco CA Manufacturing) certificate. These certificates are disabled by default. If you have Cisco IP phones as endpoints in your deployment, you should enable these two certificates so the Cisco-signed client certificates for the phones can be authenticated.

Trusted Certificate Store Page

Table 9. Certificate Store Page
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Friendly Name	Displays the name of the certificate.
Status	Enabled or Disabled. If Disabled, ISE will not use the certificate for establishing trust.
Trusted for	Displays the service for which the certificate is used.
Issued To	Common Name (CN) of the certificate subject.
Issued By	Common Name (CN) of the certificate issuer.
Valid From	The “Not Before” certificate attribute.
Expiration Date	The “Not After” certificate attribute.
Expiration Status	Provides information about the status of the certificate expiration. There are five icons and categories of informational message that appear in this column: Green: Expiring in more than 90 days Blue: Expiring in 90 days or less Yellow: Expiring in 60 days or less Orange: Expiring in 30 days or less Red: Expired

Trusted Certificate Naming Constraint

A trusted certificate in CTL may contain a name constraint extension. This extension defines a namespace for values of all subject name and subject alternative name fields of subsequent certificates in a certificate chain. Cisco ISE does not check constraints specified in a root certificate.

The following name constraints are supported:

Directory name

The Directory name constraint should be a prefix of the directory name in subject/SAN. For example,
- Correct subject prefix:
  
  CA certificate name constraint: Permitted: O=Cisco
  
  Client certificate subject: O=Cisco,CN=Salomon
- Incorrect subject prefix:
  
  CA certificate name constraint: Permitted: O=Cisco
  
  Client certificate subject: CN=Salomon,O=Cisco
DNS
E-mail
URI (The URI constraint must start with a URI prefix such as http://, https://, ftp://, or ldap://).

The following name constraints are not supported:

IP address
Othername

When a trusted certificate contains a constraint that is not supported and certificate that is being verified does not contain the appropriate field, it is rejected because Cisco ISE cannot verify unsupported constraints.

The following is an example of the name constraints definition within the trusted certificate:


X509v3 Name Constraints: critical
                Permitted:
                  othername:<unsupported>
                  email:.abcde.at
                  email:.abcde.be
                  email:.abcde.bg
                  email:.abcde.by
                  DNS:.dir
                  DirName: DC = dir, DC = emea
                  DirName: C = AT, ST = EMEA, L = AT, O = ABCDE Group, OU = Domestic
                  DirName: C = BG, ST = EMEA, L = BG, O = ABCDE Group, OU = Domestic
                  DirName: C = BE, ST = EMEA, L = BN, O = ABCDE Group, OU = Domestic
                  DirName: C = CH, ST = EMEA, L = CH, O = ABCDE Group, OU = Service Z100
                  URI:.dir
                  IP:172.23.0.171/255.255.255.255
                Excluded:
                  DNS:.dir
                  URI:.dir

An acceptable client certificate subject that matches the above definition is as follows:


           Subject: DC=dir, DC=emea, OU=+DE, OU=OU-Administration, OU=Users, OU=X1, 			CN=cwinwell

View Trusted Store Certificates

The Trusted Certificates page lists all the trusted certificates that have been added to Cisco ISE. To view the trusted certificates, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

To view all the certificates, choose Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates. The Trusted Certificates page appears, listing all the trusted certificates.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Change the Status of a Certificate in Trusted Certificates Store

The status of a certificate must be enabled so that Cisco ISE can use the certificate for establishing trust. When a certificate is imported into the Trusted Certificates Store, it is automatically enabled.

Add a Certificate to Trusted Certificates Store

The Certificate Store page allows you to add CA certificates to Cisco ISE.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.
Ensure that the certificate store certificate resides on the file system of the computer where your browser is running. The certificate must be in PEM or DER format.
If you plan to use the certificate for Admin or EAP authentication, ensure that the basic constraints are defined in the certificate and the CA flag is set to true.

Edit a Trusted Certificate

After you add a certificate to the Trusted Certificates Store, you can further edit it by using the edit settings.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to edit, and click Edit.
Step 3	Modify the editable fields as required.
Step 4	Click Save to save the changes you have made to the certificate store.

Edit Certificate Settings

The following table describes the fields on the Certificate Store Edit Certificate window, which you can use to edit the Certificate Authority (CA) certificate attributes. The navigation path for this page is Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates > Certificate > Edit.

Table 10. Certificate Store Edit Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Certificate Issuer
Friendly Name	Enter a friendly name for the certificate.
Status	Choose Enabled or Disabled. If Disabled, ISE will not use the certificate for establishing trust.
Description	Enter an optional description.
Usage
Trust for authentication within ISE	Check the check box if you want this certificate to verify server certificates (from other ISE nodes or LDAP servers).
Trust for client authentication and Syslog	(Applicable only if you check the Trust for authentication within ISE check box) Check the check box if you want this certificate to be used to: Authenticate endpoints that connect to ISE using the EAP protocol Trust a Syslog server
Trust for authentication of Cisco Services	Check this check box if you want this certificate to be used to trust external Cisco services such as the feed service.
Certificate Status Validation	ISE supports two ways of checking the revocation status of a client or server certificate that is issued by a particular CA. The first is to validate the certificate using the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP), which makes a request to an OCSP service maintained by the CA. The second is to validate the certificate against a Certificate Revocation List (CRL) which is downloaded from the CA into ISE. Both of these methods can be enabled, in which case OCSP is used first, and only if a status determination cannot be made then the CRL is used.
Validate Against OCSP Service	Check the check box to validate the certificate against OCSP services. You must first create an OCSP Service to be able to check this box.
Reject the request if OCSP returns UNKNOWN status	Check the check box to reject the request if certificate status is not determined by OCSP. If you check this check box, an unknown status value returned by the OCSP service will cause ISE to reject the client or server certificate currently being evaluated.
Reject the request if OCSP Responder is unreachable	Check the check box for ISE to reject the request if the OCSP Responder is not reachable.
Download CRL	Check the check box for the Cisco ISE to download a CRL.
CRL Distribution URL	Enter the URL to download the CRL from a CA. This field will be automatically populated if it is specified in the certificate authority certificate. The URL must begin with “http”, “https”, or “ldap.”
Retrieve CRL	The CRL can be downloaded automatically or periodically. Configure the time interval between downloads.
If download failed, wait	Configure the time interval to wait before Cisco ISE tries to download the CRL again.
Bypass CRL Verification if CRL is not Received	Check this check box, for the client requests to be accepted before the CRL is received. If you uncheck this check box, all client requests that use certificates signed by the selected CA will be rejected until Cisco ISE receives the CRL file.
Ignore that CRL is not yet valid or expired	Check this check box if you want Cisco ISE to ignore the start date and expiration date and continue to use the not yet active or expired CRL and permit or reject the EAP-TLS authentications based on the contents of the CRL. Uncheck this check box if you want Cisco ISE to check the CRL file for the start date in the Effective Date field and the expiration date in the Next Update field. If the CRL is not yet active or has expired, all authentications that use certificates signed by this CA are rejected.

Delete Trusted Certificates

You can delete trusted certificates that you no longer need. However, ensure that you do not delete the ISE Internal CA (Certificate Authority) certificates. The ISE Internal CA certificates can be deleted only when you replace the ISE Root Certificate Chain for the entire deployment.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates.

Step 2

Check the check boxes next to the certificates that you want to delete, and click Delete.

A warning message appears. If you have chosen to delete the ISE Internal CA certificates, click:

Delete—To delete the ISE internal CA certificates. All endpoint certificates signed by the ISE Internal CA become invalid and the endpoints cannot get on to the network. To allow the endpoints on the network again, import the same ISE Internal CA Certificates in to the Trusted Certificates store.
Delete & Revoke—Deletes and revokes the ISE internal CA certificates. All endpoint certificates signed by the ISE Internal CA become invalid and the endpoints cannot get on to the network. This operation cannot be undone. You must replace the ISE Root Certificate Chain for the entire deployment.

Step 3

Click Yes to delete the certificate.

Export a Certificate from the Trusted Certificates Store

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Note

If you are exporting certificates from the internal CA, and plan to use that export to restore from backup, you must use the CLI command application configure ise. For more information, see Export Cisco ISE CA Certificates and Keys.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates..
Step 2
Step 3	Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to export, and click Export. You can export only one certificate at a time.
Step 4	Save the privacy-enhanced mail file to the file system that is running your client browser.

Import the Root Certificates to the Trusted Certificate Store

While importing the root CA and intermediate CA certificates, you can specify the service(s) for which the Trusted CA certificates are to be used.

Before you begin

You must have the root certificate and other intermediate certificates from the Certificate Authority that signed your CSRs and returned the digitally signed CA certificates.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates.
Step 2
Step 3	Click Import.
Step 4	In the Import a new Certificate into the Certificate Store window that is displayed, click Choose File to select the root CA certificate signed and returned by your CA.
Step 5	Enter a Friendly Name. If you do not enter a Friendly Name, Cisco ISE autopopulates this field with a name of the format common-name#issuer#nnnnn, where nnnnn is a unique number. You can edit the certificate again to change the Friendly Name.
Step 6	Check the check boxes next to the services for which you want to use this trusted certificate for.
Step 7	(Optional) In the Description field, enter a description for your certificate.
Step 8	Click Submit.

What to do next

Import the intermediate CA certificates in to the Trusted Certificates store (if applicable).

Trusted Certificate Import Settings

Table 11. Trusted Certificate Import Settings
Field Name	Description
Certificate File	Click Browse to choose the certificate file from the computer that is running the browser.
Friendly Name	Enter a friendly name for the certificate. If you do not specify a name, Cisco ISE automatically creates a name in the format <common name># <issuer># <nnnnn>, where <nnnnn> is a unique five-digit number.
Trust for authentication within ISE	Check the check box if you want this certificate to be used to verify server certificates (from other ISE nodes or LDAP servers).
Trust for client authentication and Syslog	(Applicable only if you check the Trust for authentication within ISE check box) Check the check box if you want this certificate to be used to: Authenticate endpoints that connect to ISE using the EAP protocol Trust a Syslog server
Trust for authentication of Cisco Services	Check this check box if you want this certificate to be used to trust external Cisco services such as the feed service.
Validate Certificate Extensions	(Only if you check both the Trust for client authentication and Enable Validation of Certificate Extensions options) Ensure that the “keyUsage” extension is present and the “keyCertSign” bit is set, and that the basic constraints extension is present with the CA flag set to true.
Description	Enter an optional description.

Certificate Chain Import

You can import multiple certificates from a single file that contains a certificate chain received from a Certificate store. All certificates in the file must be in Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) format, and the certificates must be arranged in the following order:

The last certificate in the file must be the client or server certificate being issued by the CA.
All preceding certificates must be the root CA certificate plus any intermediate CA certificates in the signing chain for the issued certificate.

Importing a certificate chain is a two-step process:

Import the certificate chain file into the Trusted Certificate Store in the Admin portal. This operation imports all certificates from the file except the last one into the Trusted Certificates Store.
Import the certificate chain file using the Bind a CA-Signed Certificate operation. This operation imports the last certificate from the file as a local certificate.

Install Trusted Certificates for Cisco ISE Inter-node Communication

When you set up the deployment, before you register a secondary node, you must populate the PAN's Certificate Trust List (CTL) with appropriate CA certificates that are used to validate the Admin certificate of the secondary node. The procedure to populate the CTL of the PAN is different for different scenarios:

If the secondary node is using a CA-signed certificate to communicate with the Admin portal, you must import the CA-signed certificate of the secondary node, the relevant intermediate certificates(if any), and the root CA certificate (of the CA that signed the secondary node's certificate) in to the CTL of the PAN.

If the secondary node is using a self-signed certificate to communicate with the Admin portal, you can import the self-signed certificate of the secondary node in to the CTL of the PAN.

Note

If you change the Admin certificate on a registered secondary node, you must obtain appropriate CA certificates that can be used to validate the secondary node’s Admin certificate and import it in to the CTL of the PAN.
If you use self-signed certificates to secure communication between a client and PSN in a deployment, when BYOD users move from one location to another, EAP-TLS user authentication fails. For such authentication requests that have to be serviced between a few PSNs, you must secure communication between the client and PSN with an externally-signed CA certificate or use wildcard certificates signed by an external CA.

Ensure that the certificate issued by the external CA has basic constraints defined and the CA flag set to true. To install CA-signed certificates for inter-node communication:

Procedure

Step 1	Create a Certificate Signing Request and Submit the CSR to a Certificate Authority
Step 2	Import the Root Certificates to the Trusted Certificate Store
Step 3	Bind the CA-Signed Certificate to the CSR

Default Trusted Certificates in Cisco ISE

The Trusted Certificates store (Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates) in Cisco ISE includes some certificates that are available by default. These certificates are automatically imported into the store to meet security requirements. However, it is not mandatory for you to use all of them. Unless mentioned otherwise in the table below, you can use certificates of your choice instead of the ones that are already available.

Table 12.
Trusted Certificate Name	Serial Number	Purpose of the Certificate	Cisco ISE Releases with Certificate
Baltimore CyberTrust Root CA	02 00 00 B9	This certificate can serve as the root CA certificate in CA chains used by cisco.com in some geographies. The certificate was also used in ISE 2.4 posture/CP update XML files when they hosted at https://s3.amazonaws.com.	Releases 2.4 and above.
DST Root CA X3 Certificate Authority	44 AF B0 80 D6 A3 27 BA 89 30 39 86 2E F8 40 6B	This certificate can serve as the root CA certificate for the CA chain used by cisco.com.	Releases 2.4 and above.
Thawte Primary Root CA	34 4E D5 57 20 D5 ED EC 49 F4 2F CE 37 DB 2B 6D	This certificate can serve as the root CA . certificate for the CA chain used by cisco.com and perfigo.com.	Releases 2.4 and above.
VeriSign Class 3 Public Primary Certification Authority	18 DA D1 9E 26 7D E8 BB 4A 21 58 CD CC 6B 3B 4A	This certificate serves as the root CA certificate for VeriSign Class 3 Secure Server CA-G3. You must use this certificate when configuring profiler feed services in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.4 and above.
VeriSign Class 3 Secure Server CA - G3	6E CC 7A A5 A7 03 20 09 B8 CE BC F4 E9 52 D4 91	Thist is an intermediate CA certificate that expires on February 7, 2020. You do not need to renew this certificate. You can remove the certificate by following the task below.	Releases 2.4 and above.
Cisco CA Manufacturing	6A 69 67 B3 00 00 00 00 00 03	This certificate may be used by certain Cisco devices connecting to Cisco ISE. The certificate is disabled by default.	Releases 2.4 and 2.6.
Cisco Manufacturing CA SHA2	02	This certificate can be used in CA chains for administrator authentications, endpoint authentications and deployment infrastructure flows.	Releases 2.4 and above.
Cisco Root CA 2048	5F F8 7B 28 2B 54 DC 8D 42 A3 15 B5 68 C9 AD FF	This certificate can be used by certain Cisco devices connecting to Cisco ISE. The certificate is disabled by default.	Releases 2.4 and above.
Cisco Root CA M2	01	This certificate can be used in CA chains for administrator authentications, endpoint authentications and deployment infrastructure flows.	Releases 2.4 and above.
DigiCert Root CA	02 AC 5C 26 6A 0B 40 9B 8F 0B 79 F2 AE 46 25 77	You must use this certificate for flows where guest login with Facebook is used.	Releases 2.4 and above.
DigiCert SHA2 High Assurance Server CA	04 E1 E7 A4 DC 5C F2 F3 6D C0 2B 42 B8 5D 15 9F	You must use this certificate for flows where guest login with Facebook is used.	Releases 2.4 and above.
HydrantID SSL ICA G2	75 17 16 77 83 D0 43 7E B5 56 C3 57 94 6E 45 63 B8 EB D3 AC	Trusted for Cisco services.	Releases 2.4 and 2.6.
QuoVadis Root CA 2	05 09	You must use this certificate in profiler, posture, and client provisioning flows.	Releases 2.4 and above.
Cisco ECC Root CA	01	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Release 2.6.
Cisco Licensing Root CA	01	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.
Cisco Root CA 2099	01 9A 33 58 78 CE 16 C1 C1	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.
Cisco Root CA M1	2E D2 0E 73 47 D3 33 83 4B 4F DD 0D D7 B6 96 7E	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust Root Store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.
Cisco RXC-R2	01	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.
DigiCert Global Root CA	08 3B E0 56 90 42 46 B1 A1 75 6A C9 59 91 C7 4A	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.
Cisco ECC Root CA 2099	03	This certificate is part of the Cisco Trust root store bundle used in Cisco ISE.	Releases 2.6 and above.

Remove a Default Trusted Certificate from Cisco ISE

Go to Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates to view all your trusted certificates.
Export the certificate you wish to delete and save it, so that it can be imported again if needed.

Click the check box against the certificate you wish to export, and click Export on the menu bar above. The key chain will download to your system.
Delete the certificate. Click the check box against the certificate you wish to delete, and click Delete on the menu bar above. You will not be allowed to delete the certificate if it is being used by any CA chain, secure syslog, or secure LDAP.
Make the necessary configuration changes to remove the certificate from the CA chain(s), secure syslogs, and syslogs it is part of, and then delete the certificate.
After the certificate is deleted, check that the related services (refer to the purpose of the certificate) are working as expected.

Certificate Signing Requests

For a certificate authority (CA) to issue a signed certificate, you must create a certificate signing request (CSR) and submit it to the CA.

The list of Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) that you have created is available in the Certificate Signing Requests page. To obtain signatures from a Certificate Authority (CA), you must export the CSRs and then send the certificates to the CA. The CA signs and returns your certificates.

You can manage the certificates centrally from the Admin portal. You can create CSRs for all nodes in the deployment and export them. Then you should submit the CSRs to a CA, obtain the CA-signed certificates from the CA, import the root and intermediary CA certificates returned by the CA in to the Trusted Certificates Store, and bind the CA-signed certificates to the CSRs.

Create a Certificate Signing Request and Submit the CSR to a Certificate Authority

You can generate a certificate signing request (CSR) to obtain a CA-signed certificate for the nodes in your deployment. You can generate the CSR for select nodes in the deployment or for all the nodes in your deployment.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Signing Requests.
Step 2	Enter the values for generating a CSR. See Certificate-Signing Request Settings for information on each of the fields.
Step 3	Click Generate to generate the CSR. The CSR is generated.
Step 4	Click Export to open the CSR in a Notepad.
Step 5	Copy all the text from “-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----” through “-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----.”
Step 6	Paste the contents of the CSR in to the certificate request of a chosen CA.
Step 7	Download the signed certificate. Some CAs might email the signed certificate to you. The signed certificate is in the form of a zip file that contains the newly issued certificate and the public signing certificates of the CA that you must add to the Cisco ISE trusted certificates store. The digitally-signed CA certificate, root CA certificate, and other intermediate CA certificate (if applicable) are downloaded to the local system running your client browser.

Bind the CA-Signed Certificate to the CSR

After you have the digitally signed certificate returned by the CA, you must bind it to the certificate signing request (CSR). You can perform the bind operation for all the nodes in your deployment from the Admin portal.

Before you begin

You must have the digitally signed certificate, and the relevant root intermediate CA certificates returned by the CA.
Import the relevant root and intermediate CA certificates in to the Trusted Certificates Store (Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates).

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Signing Requests.

Check the check box next to the node for which you are binding the CSR with the CA-signed certificate.

Step 2

Click Bind.

Step 3

Click Browse to choose the CA-signed certificate.

Step 4

Specify a Friendly Name for the certificate.

Step 5

Check the Validate Certificate Extensions check box if you want Cisco ISE to validate certificate extensions.

If you enable the Validate Certificate Extensions option, and the certificate that you are importing contains a basic constraints extension with the CA flag set to true, ensure that the key usage extension is present, and that the keyEncipherment bit or the keyAgreement bit, or both, are also set.

Note

ISE requires EAP-TLS client certificates to have digital signature key usage extension.

Step 6

Check the service for which this certificate will be used in the Usage area.

This information is autopopulated, if you have enabled the Usage option while generating the CSR. If you do not want to specify the usage at the time of binding the certificate, uncheck the Usage option. You can edit the certificate later and specify the usage.

Note

Changing the certificate of the admin role certificate on a Primary PAN restarts services on all other nodes

Changing the certificate of the admin role certificate on a Primary PAN restarts services on all other nodes. The system restarts one node at a time, after the Primary Administration Node (PAN) restart has completed.

Step 7

Click Submit to bind the CA-signed certificate.

If you have chosen to use this certificate for Cisco ISE internode communication, the application server on the Cisco ISE node is restarted.

Repeat this process to bind the CSR with the CA-signed certificate on the other nodes.

What to do next

Import the Root Certificates to the Trusted Certificate Store

Export a Certificate Signing Request

You can use this page to export certificate signing requests.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Signing Requests.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the certificates that you want to export, and click Export.
Step 3	Click OK to save the file to the file system that is running the client browser.

Certificate-Signing Request Settings

Cisco ISE allows you to generate CSRs for all the nodes in your deployment from the Admin portal in a single request. Also, you can choose to generate the CSR for a single node or multiple both nodes in the deployment. If you choose to generate a CSR for a single node, ISE automatically substitutes the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the particular node in the CN= field of the certificate subject. If you choose to include an entry in the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) field of the certificate, you must enter the FQDN of the ISE node in addition to other SAN attributes. If you choose to generate CSRs for all the nodes in your deployment, check the Allow Wildcard Certificates check box and enter the wildcard FQDN notation in the SAN field (DNS name), for example, *.amer.example.com. If you plan to use the certificate for EAP Authentication, do not enter the wildcard value in the CN= field.

With the use of wildcard certificates, you no longer have to generate a unique certificate for each Cisco ISE node. Also, you no longer have to populate the SAN field with multiple FQDN values to prevent certificate warnings. Using an asterisk (*) in the SAN field allows you to share a single certificate across multiple both nodes in a deployment and helps prevent certificate name mismatch warnings. However, use of wildcard certificates is considered less secure than assigning a unique server certificate for each Cisco ISE node.

Field Usage Guidelines

Certificate(s) will be used for

Choose the service for which you are going to use the certificate:

Cisco ISE Identity Certificates

Multi-Use: Used for multiple services (Admin, EAP-TLS Authentication, pxGrid, and Portal). Multi-use certificates use both client and server key usages. The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Computer or Machine certificate template. This template has the following properties:
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1) and TLS Web Client Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2)
Admin: Used for server authentication (to secure communication with the Admin portal and between ISE nodes in a deployment). The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Web Server certificate template. This template has the following properties:
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1)

EAP Authentication: Used for server authentication. The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Computer or Machine certificate template. This template has the following properties:

Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1)

Note

Digital signature key usage is required for EAP-TLS client certificates.

RADIUS DTLS: Used for RADIUS DTLS server authentication. This template has the following properties:
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1)
Portal: Used for server authentication (to secure communication with all ISE web portals). The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Computer or Machine certificate template. This template has the following properties:
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1)
pxGrid: Used for both client and server authentication (to secure communication between the pxGrid client and server). The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Computer or Machine certificate template. This template has the following properties:
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1) and TLS Web Client Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.2)
SAML: Server certificate used to secure communication with the SAML Identity Provider (IdP). A certificate designated for SAML use cannot be used for any other service such as Admin, EAP authentication, and so on.
- Key Usage: Digital Signature (Signing)
- Extended Key Usage: TLS Web Server Authentication (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.1)

Note

We recommend that you do not use a certificate that contains the value of 2.5.29.37.0 for the Any Purpose object identifier in the Extended Key Usage attribute. If you use a certificate that contains the value of 2.5.29.37.0 for the Any Purpose object identifier in the Extended Key Usage attribute, the certificate is considered invalid and the following error message is displayed:

source=local ; type=fatal ; message="unsupported certificate"

Cisco ISE Certificate Authority Certificates

ISE Root CA: (Applicable only for the internal CA service ) Used for regenerating the entire internal CA certificate chain including the root CA on the Primary PAN and subordinate CAs on the PSNs.
ISE Intermediate CA: (Applicable only for the internal CA service when ISE acts as an intermediate CA of an external PKI) Used to generate an intermediate CA certificate on the Primary PAN and subordinate CA certificates on the PSNs. The certificate template on the signing CA is often called a Subordinate Certificate Authority. This template has the following properties:
- Basic Constraints: Critical, Is a Certificate Authority
- Key Usage: Certificate Signing, Digital Signature
- Extended Key Usage: OCSP Signing (1.3.6.1.5.5.7.3.9)
Renew ISE OCSP Responder Certificates: (Applicable only for the internal CA service) Used to renew the ISE OCSP responder certificate for the entire deployment (and is not a certificate signing request). For security reasons, we recommend that you renew the ISE OCSP responder certificates every six months.

Allow Wildcard Certificates

Check this check box to use a wildcard character (*) in the CN and/or the DNS name in the SAN field of the certificate. If you check this check box, all the nodes in the deployment are selected automatically. You must use the asterisk (*) wildcard character in the left-most label position. If you use wildcard certificates, we recommend that you partition your domain space for greater security. For example, instead of *.example.com, you can partition it as *.amer.example.com. If you do not partition your domain, it might lead to security issues.

Generate CSRs for these Nodes

Check the check boxes next to the nodes for which you want to generate the certificate. To generate a CSR for select nodes in the deployment, you must uncheck the Allow Wildcard Certificates option.

Common Name (CN)

By default, the common name is the FQDN of the ISE node for which you are generating the CSR. $FQDN$ denotes the FQDN of the ISE node. When you generate CSRs for multiple nodes in the deployment, the Common Name field in the CSRs is replaced with the FQDN of the respective ISE nodes.

Organizational Unit (OU)

Organizational Unit name. For example, Engineering.

Organization (O)

Organization name. For example, Cisco.

City (L)

(Do not abbreviate) City name. For example, San Jose.

State (ST)

(Do not abbreviate) State name. For example, California.

Country (C)

Country name. You must enter the two-letter ISO country code. For example, US.

Subject Alternative Name (SAN)

An IP address, DNS name, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or Directory Name that is associated with the certificate.

DNS Name: If you choose the DNS name, enter the fully qualified domain name of the ISE node. If you have enabled the Allow Wildcard Certificates option, specify the wildcard notation (an asterisk and a period before the domain name). For example, *.amer.example.com.
IP Address: IP address of the ISE node to be associated with the certificate.
Uniform Resource Identifier: A URI that you want to associate with the certificate.
Directory Name: A string representation of distinguished name(s) (DNs) defined per RFC 2253. Use a comma (,) to separate the DNs. For “dnQualifier” RDN, escape the comma and use backslash-comma “\,” as separator. For example, CN=AAA,dnQualifier=O=Example\,DC=COM,C=IL

Key Type

Specify the algorithm to be used for creating the public key: RSA or ECDSA.

Key Length

Specify the bit size for the public key.

The following options are available for RSA:

512
1024
2048
4096

The following options are available for ECDSA:

256
384

Note

RSA and ECDSA public keys might have different key length for the same security level.

Choose 2048 or greater if you plan to get a public CA-signed certificate.

Digest to Sign With

Choose one of the following hashing algorithm: SHA-1 or SHA-256.

Certificate Policies

Enter the certificate policy OID or list of OIDs that the certificate should conform to. Use comma or space to separate the OIDs.

Set Up Certificates for Portal Use

With multiple Policy Service nodes (PSNs) in a deployment that can service a web portal request, Cisco ISE needs a unique identifier to identify the certificate that has to be used for portal communication. When you add or import certificates that are designated for portal use, you must define a certificate group tag and associate it with the corresponding certificate on each node in your deployment. You must associate this certificate group tag to the corresponding end-user portals (guest, sponsor, and personal devices portals). This certificate group tag is the unique identifier that helps Cisco ISE identify the certificate that has to be used when communicating with each of these portals. You can designate one certificate from each node for each of the portals.

Note

Cisco ISE presents the Portal certificate on TCP port 8443 (or the port that you have configured for portal use).

Procedure

Step 1

Create a Certificate Signing Request and Submit the CSR to a Certificate Authority.

You must choose a Certificate Group Tag that you have already defined or create a new one for the portal. For example, mydevicesportal.

Step 2

Import the Root Certificates to the Trusted Certificate Store.

Step 3

Bind the CA-Signed Certificate to the CSR.

Reassign Default Portal Certificate Group Tag to CA-Signed Certificate

By default, all Cisco ISE portals use the self-signed certificate. If you want to use a CA-signed certificate for portals, you can assign the default portal certificate group tag to a CA-signed certificate. You can use an existing CA-signed certificate or generate a CSR and obtain a new CA-signed certificate for portal use. You can reassign any portal group tag from one certificate to another.

Note

When you edit an existing certificate, if the portal tag (guest) that is associated with the certificate is already in use by any of the portals, then you cannot reassign the default portal certificate group tag or any other portal group tag to this certificate. The system displays the list of portals that use the "guest" portal tag.

The following procedure describes how to reassign the default portal certificate group tag to a CA-signed certificate.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > System Certificates. Hover the mouse over the i icon next to the Default Portal Certificate Group tag to view the list of portals that use this tag. You can also view the ISE nodes in the deployment that have portal certificates which are assigned this tag.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the CA-signed certificate that you want to use for portals, and click Edit. Be sure to choose a CA-signed certificate that is not in use by any of the portals.
Step 3	Under the Usage area, check the Portal check box and choose the Default Portal Certificate Group Tag.
Step 4	Click Save. A warning message appears.
Step 5	Click Yes to reassign the default portal certificate group tag to the CA-signed certificate.

Associate the Portal Certificate Tag Before You Register a Node

If you use the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag for all the portals in your deployment, before you register a new ISE node, ensure that you import the relevant CA-signed certificate, choose "Portal" as a service, and associate the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag with this certificate.

When you add a new node to a deployment, the default self-signed certificate is associated with the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag and the portals are configured to use this tag.

After you register a new node, you cannot change the Certificate Group tag association. Therefore, before you register the node to the deployment, you must do the following:

Procedure

Step 1

Create a self-signed certificate, choose "Portal" as a service, and assign a different certificate group tag (for example, tempportaltag).

Step 2

Change the portal configuration to use the newly created certificate group tag (tempportaltag).

Step 3

Edit the default self-signed certificate and remove the Portal role.

This option removes the Default Portal Certificate Group tag association with the default self-signed certificate.

Step 4

Do one of the following:

Option

Description

Generate a CSR

When you generate the CSR:

Choose "Portal" as a service for which you will use this certificate and associate the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag.
Send the CSR to a CA and obtain the signed certificate.
Import the root and any other intermediate certificates of the CA that signed your certificate in to the Trusted Certificates store.
Bind the CA-signed certificate with the CSR.

Import the private key and the CA-signed certificate

When you import the CA-signed certificate:

Choose "Portal" as a service for which you will use this certificate and associate the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag.
Import the root and any other intermediate certificates of the CA that signed your certificate in to the Trusted Certificates store.

Edit an existing CA-signed certificate.

When you edit the existing CA-signed certificate:

Choose "Portal" as a service for which you will use this certificate and associate the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag.

Step 5

Register the ISE node to the deployment.

The portal configuration in the deployment is configured to the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag and the portals are configured to use the CA-signed certificate associated with the "Default Portal Certificate Group" tag on the new node.

User and Endpoint Certificate Renewal

By default, Cisco ISE rejects a request that comes from a device whose certificate has expired. However, you can change this default behavior and configure ISE to process such requests and prompt the user to renew the certificate.

If you choose to allow the user to renew the certificate, Cisco recommends that you configure an authorization policy rule which checks if the certificate has been renewed before processing the request any further. Processing a request from a device whose certificate has expired may pose a potential security threat. Hence, you must configure appropriate authorization profiles and rules to ensure that your organization’s security is not compromised.

Some devices allow you to renew the certificates before and after their expiry. But on Windows devices, you can renew the certificates only before it expires. Apple iOS, Mac OSX, and Android devices allow you to renew the certificates before or after their expiry.

Dictionary Attributes Used in Policy Conditions for Certificate Renewal

Cisco ISE certificate dictionary contains the following attributes that are used in policy conditions to allow a user to renew the certificate:

Days to Expiry: This attribute provides the number of days for which the certificate is valid. You can use this attribute to create a condition that can be used in authorization policy. This attribute can take a value from 0 to 15. A value of 0 indicates that the certificate has already expired. A value of 1 indicates that the certificate has less than 1 day before it expires.
Is Expired: This Boolean attribute indicates whether a certificate has expired or not. If you want to allow certificate renewal only when the certificate is near expiry and not after it has expired, use this attribute in authorization policy condition.

Authorization Policy Condition for Certificate Renewal

You can use the CertRenewalRequired simple condition (available by default) in authorization policy to ensure that a certificate (expired or about to expire) is renewed before Cisco ISE processes the request further.

CWA Redirect to Renew Certificates

If a user certificate is revoked before its expiry, Cisco ISE checks the CRL published by the CA and rejects the authentication request. In case, if a revoked certificate has expired, the CA may not publish this certificate in its CRL. In this scenario, it is possible for Cisco ISE to renew a certificate that has been revoked. To avoid this, before you renew a certificate, ensure that the request gets redirected to Central Web Authentication (CWA) for a full authentication. You must create an authorization profile to redirect the user for CWA.

Configure Cisco ISE to Allow Users to Renew Certificates

You must complete the tasks listed in this procedure to configure Cisco ISE to allow users to renew certificates.

Before you begin

Configure a limited access ACL on the WLC to redirect a CWA request.

Procedure

Step 1	Update the Allowed Protocol Configuration
Step 2	Create an Authorization Policy Profile for CWA Redirection
Step 3	Create an Authorization Policy Rule to Renew Certificates
Step 4	Enable BYOD Settings in the Guest Portal

Update the Allowed Protocol Configuration

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policy > Policy Elements > Results > Authentication > Allowed Protocols > Default Network Access.

Step 2

Check the Allow Authentication of expired certificates to allow certificate renewal in Authorization Policy check box under the EAP-TLS protocol and EAP-TLS inner methods for PEAP and EAP-FAST protocols.

Requests that use the EAP-TLS protocol will go through the NSP flow.

For PEAP and EAP-FAST protocols, you must manually configure Cisco AnyConnect for Cisco ISE to process the request.

Step 3

Click Submit.

What to do next

Create an Authorization Policy Profile for CWA Redirection

Before you begin

Ensure that you have configured a limited access ACL on the WLC.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Policy Elements > Results > Authorization > Authorization Profiles.
Step 2	Click Add.
Step 3	Enter a name for the authorization profile. For example, CertRenewal_CWA.
Step 4	Check the Web Redirection (CWA, DRW, MDM, NSP, CPP) check box in the Common Tasks area.
Step 5	Choose Centralized Web Auth from the drop-down list and the limited access ACL.
Step 6	Check the Display Certificates Renewal Message check box. The URL-redirect attribute value changes and includes the number of days for which the certificate is valid.
Step 7	Click Submit.

Note

If you have configured the following Device Registration WebAuth (DRW) policies for wireless devices in Cisco ISE 1.2:

DRW-Redirect policy with Condition = (Wireless_MAB AND Network Access:UseCase EQUALS HostLookup) and Profile = Wireless-drw-redirect
DRW-Allow policy with Condition = (Wireless_MAB AND Network Access:UseCase EQUALS HostLookup) and Profile = Wireless-Permit

After upgrading to ISE 1.3 or above version, you must update the DRW-Allow policy condition as follows:

Condition = (Wireless_MAB AND Network Access:UseCase EQUALS Guest Flow) and Profile = Wireless-Permit

What to do next

Create an Authorization Policy Rule to Renew Certificates

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created an authorization profile for central web authentication redirection.

Enable Policy Sets on Administration > System > Settings > Policy Settings.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Work Centers > Device Administration > Policy Sets.
Step 2	Click Create Above.
Step 3	Enter a name for the new rule.
Step 4	Choose the following simple condition and result: If CertRenewalRequired EQUALS True, then choose the authorization profile that you created earlier (CertRenewal_CWA) for the permission.
Step 5	Click Save.

What to do next

When you access the corporate network with a device whose certificate has expired, click Renew to reconfigure your device.

Enable BYOD Settings in the Guest Portal

For a user to be able to renew a personal device certificate, you must enable the BYOD settings in the chosen guest portal.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Work Centers > Guest Access > Portals & Components > Guest Portals.

Select the chosen CWA portal and click Edit.

Step 2

From BYOD Settings, check the Allow employees to use personal devices on the network check box.

Step 3

Click Save.

Certificate Renewal Fails for Apple iOS Devices

When you use ISE to renew the endpoint certificates on Apple iOS devices, you might see a “Profiled Failed to Install” error message. This error message appears if the expiring or expired network profiles were signed by a different Admin HTTPS certificate than the one that is used in processing the renewal, either on the same Policy Service Node (PSN) or on another PSN.

As a workaround, use a multi-domain SSL certificate, which is commonly referred to as Unified Communications Certificate (UCC), or a wildcard certificate for Admin HTTPS on all PSNs in the deployment.

Certificate Periodic Check Settings

Cisco ISE checks the Certificate Revocation Lists (CRL) periodically. Using this page, you can configure Cisco ISE to check ongoing sessions against CRLs that are downloaded automatically. You can specify the time of the day when the OCSP or CRL checks should begin each day and the time interval in hours that Cisco ISE waits before checking the OCSP server or CRLs again.

Table 14. Certificate Periodic Check Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Certificate Check Settings
Check ongoing sessions against automatically retrieved CRL	Check this check box if you want Cisco ISE to check ongoing sessions against CRLs that are automatically downloaded.
CRL/OCSP Periodic Certificate Checks
First check at	Specify the time of the day when the CRL or OCSP check should begin each day. Enter a value between 00:00 and 23:59 hours.
Check every	Specify the time interval in hours that Cisco ISE waits before checking the CRL or OCSP server again.

Cisco ISE CA Service

Certificates can be self-signed or digitally signed by an external Certificate Authority (CA). The Cisco ISE Internal Certificate Authority (ISE CA) issues and manages digital certificates for endpoints from a centralized console to allow employees to use their personal devices on the company's network. A CA-signed digital certificate is considered industry standard and more secure. The Primary PAN is the Root CA. The Policy Service Nodes (PSNs) are subordinate CAs to the Primary PAN (SCEP RA). The ISE CA offers the following functionalities:

Certificate Issuance: Validates and signs Certificate Signing Requests (CSRs) for endpoints that connect to your network.
Key Management: Generates and securely stores keys and certificates on both PAN and PSN nodes.
Certificate Storage: Stores certificates issued to users and devices.
Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Support: Provides an OCSP responder to check for the validity of certificates.

When a CA Service is disabled on the primary administrative node, the CA service is still seen as running on the secondary administration node's CLI. Ideally, the CA service should be seen as disabled. This is a known Cisco ISE issue.

ISE CA Certificates Provisioned on Administration and Policy Service Nodes

After installation, a Cisco ISE node is provisioned with a Root CA certificate, and a Node CA certificate to manage certificates for endpoints.

Figure 5. ISE CA Certificates Provisioned on a Standalone Node

When you set up a deployment, the node that you designate as the Primary Administration Node (PAN) becomes the Root CA. The PAN has a Root CA certificate and a Node CA certificate that is signed by the Root CA.

When you register a Secondary Administration Node to the PAN, a Node CA certificate is generated and is signed by the Root CA on the Primary Administration Node.

Any Policy Service Node (PSN) that you register with the PAN is provisioned an Endpoint CA and an OCSP certificate signed by the Node CA of the PAN. The Policy Service Nodes (PSNs) are subordinate CAs to the PAN. When you use the ISE CA, the Endpoint CA on the PSN issues the certificates to the endpoints that access your network.

Figure 6. ISE CA Certificates Provisioned on Administration and Policy Service Nodes in a Deployment

ISE CA Chain Regeneration

When you regenerate the Cisco ISE CA chain, all the certificates including the Root CA, Node CA, and Endpoint CA certificates are regenerated. You must regenerate the ISE CA chain when you change the domain name or hostname of your PAN or PSN. When you upgrade from earlier releases to Release 2.0 or later, we recommend that you regenerate the ISE CA chain to move from the two root hierarchy to a single root hierarchy.

When you regenerate a system certificate, whether root CA or an intermediate CA certificate, ISE Messaging Service restarts to load the new certificate chain. Audit logs will be lost until the ISE Messaging Service is available again.

Note

Whenever the Cisco ISE internal CA is replaced in a deployment, then the ISE messaging service must also be refreshed that time to retrieve the complete certificate chain.

When you regenerate the Cisco ISE internal CA chain, the Valid From field of all the certificates in the chain will display the date one day previous to the day of regeneration.

Elliptical Curve Cryptography Certificates Support

Cisco ISE CA service supports certificates that are based on Elliptical Curve Cryptography (ECC) algorithms. ECC offers more security and better performance than other cryptographic algorithms even when using a much smaller key size.

The following table compares the key sizes of ECC and RSA and security strength.

ECC Key Size (in bits)	RSA Key Size (in bits)
160	1024
224	2048
256	3072
384	7680
521	15360

Because of the smaller key size, encryption is quicker.

Cisco ISE supports the following ECC curve types. The higher the curve type or key size, the greater is the security.

P-192
P-256
P-384
P-521

ISE does not support explicit parameters in the EC part of a certificate. If you try to import a certificate with explicit parameters, you get the error: Validation of certificate failed: Only named ECParameters supported.

Cisco ISE CA service supports ECC certificates for devices connecting through the BYOD flow. You can also generate ECC certificates from the Certificate Provisioning Portal.

Note

The following table lists the operating systems and versions that support ECC along with the supported curve types. If your devices are not running a supported operating system or on a supported version, you can use RSA-based certificates instead.

Operating System

Supported Versions

Supported Curve Types

Windows

8 and later

P-256, P-384, and P-521

Android

4.4 and later

Note

Android 6.0 requires May 2016 patch to support ECC certificates.

All curve types (except Android 6.0, which does not support the P-192 curve type).

Windows 7 and Apple iOS do not natively support ECC for authentication over EAP-TLS. This release of Cisco ISE does not support the use of ECC certificates on MAC OS X devices.

If the BYOD flow with Enrollment over Secure Transport (EST) protocol is not working properly, check the following:

Certificate Services Endpoint Sub CA certificate chain is complete. To check whether the certificate chain is complete:
1. Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Certificate Authority Certificates.
2. Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to check and click View.
Ensure that the CA and EST services are up and running. If the services are not running, go to Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Internal CA Settings to enable the CA service.
If you have upgraded to Cisco ISE 2.x from an ISE version prior to 2.0, replace the ISE Root CA certificate chain after the upgrade. To do this:
1. Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Management > Certificate Signing Requests.
2. Click Generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSR).
3. Choose ISE Root CA from one or more Certificates will be used for drop-down list.
4. Click Replace ISE Root CA Certificate Chain.

Note

This release of Cisco ISE does not support EST clients to authenticate directly against the EST Server residing within Cisco ISE.

While on-boarding an Android or a Windows endpoint, ISE triggers an EST flow if the request is for an ECC-based certificate.

Cisco ISE Certificate Authority Certificates

The Certificate Authority (CA) Certificates page lists all the certificates related to the internal Cisco ISE CA. In previous releases, these CA certificates were present in the Trusted Certificates store and are now moved to the CA Certificates page. These certificates are listed node wise in this page. You can expand a node to view all the ISE CA certificates of that particular node. The Primary and Secondary Administration nodes have the root CA, node CA, subordinate CA, and OCSP responder certificates. The other nodes in the deployment have the endpoint subordinate CA and OCSP certificates.

When you enable the Cisco ISE CA service, these certificates are generated and installed on all the nodes automatically. Also, when you replace the entire ISE Root CA Chain, these certificates are regenerated and installed on all the nodes automatically. There is no manual intervention required.

The Cisco ISE CA certificates follow the following naming convention: Certificate Services <Endpoint Sub CA/Node CA/Root CA/OCSP Responder>-<node_hostname>#certificate_number.

From the CA Certificates page, you can edit, import, export, delete, and view the Cisco ISE CA certificates.

Edit a Cisco ISE CA Certificate

After you add a certificate to the Cisco ISE CA Certificates Store, you can further edit it by using the edit settings.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Certificate Authority Certificates..
Step 2	In the ISE-PIC GUI, click the Menu icon () and choose .
Step 3	Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to edit, and click Edit.
Step 4	Modify the editable fields as required. See Edit Certificate Settings for a description of the fields.
Step 5	Click Save to save the changes you have made to the certificate store.

Export a Cisco ISE CA Certificate

To export the Cisco ISE root CA and node CA certificates:

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Certificate Authority Certificates.
Step 2	In the ISE-PIC GUI, click the Menu icon () and choose .
Step 3	Check the check box next to the certificate that you want to export, and click Export. You can export only one certificate at a time.
Step 4	Save the privacy-enhanced mail file to the file system that is running your client browser.

Import a Cisco ISE CA Certificate

If an endpoint tries to authenticate to your network using a certificate issued by Cisco ISE CA from another deployment, you must import the Cisco ISE root CA, node CA, and endpoint sub CA certificates from that deployment in to the Cisco ISE Trusted Certificates store.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.
Export the ISE root CA, node CA, and endpoint sub CA certificates from the deployment where the endpoint certificate is signed and store it on the file system of the computer where your browser is running.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to the Admin Portal of the deployment where the endpoint is getting authenticated.
Step 2	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Trusted Certificates.
Step 3
Step 4	Click Import.
Step 5	Configure the field values as necessary. See Trusted Certificate Import Settings for more information. If client certificate-based authentication is enabled, then Cisco ISE will restart the application server on each node in your deployment, starting with the application server on the PAN and followed, one-by-one, by each additional node.

Certificate Templates

Certificate templates contain properties that are common to all certificates issued by the Certificate Authority (CA) based on that template. The certificate template defines the Subject, Subject Alternative Name (SAN), key type, key size, SCEP RA profile that must be used, validity period of the certificate, and the extended key usage (EKU) that specifies whether the certificate has to be used for client or server authentication or both. The internal Cisco ISE CA (ISE CA) uses a certificate template to issue certificates based on that template.

Cisco ISE comes with the following default certificate templates for the ISE CA. You can create additional certificate templates, if needed. The default certificate templates are:

CA_SERVICE_Certificate_Template—For other network services that use Cisco ISE as the Certificate Authority. For example, use this certificate template while configuring ISE to issue certificates for ASA VPN users. You can modify only the validity period in this certificate template.
EAP_Authentication_Certificate_Template—For EAP authentication.
pxGrid_Certificate_Template—For the pxGrid controller while generating the certificate from the Certificate Provisioning Portal.

Certificate Template Name Extension

The Cisco ISE Internal CA includes an extension to represent the certificate template that was used to create the endpoint certificate. All endpoint certificates issued by the internal CA contain a certificate template name extension. This extension represents the certificate template that was used to create that endpoint certificate. The extension ID is 1.3.6.1.4.1.9.21.2.5. You can use the CERTIFICATE: Template Name attribute in authorization policy conditions and assign appropriate access privileges based on the results of the evaluation.

Use Certificate Template Name in Authorization Policy Conditions

You can use the certificate template name extension in authorization policy rules.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policy > Policy Sets, and expand the Default policy set to view the authorization policy rules.

Step 2

Add a new rule or edit an existing rule. This example describes editing the Compliant_Device_Access rule:

Edit the Compliant_Device_Access rule.
Choose Add Attribute/Value.
From Dictionaries, choose the CERTIFICATE: Template Name attribute and Equals operator.
Enter the value of the certificate template name. For example, EAP_Authentication_Certificate_Template.

Step 3

Click Save.

Deploy Cisco ISE CA Certificates for pxGrid Controller

Cisco ISE CA provides a certificate template for the pxGrid controller to generate a certificate from the Certificate Provisioning Portal.

Before you begin

Generate a certificate signing request (CSR) for the pxGrid client and copy the contents of the CSR in to the clipboard.

Procedure

Step 1

Create a network access user account (Administration > Identity Management > Identities > Users > Add).

Make note of the user group to which the user is assigned.

Step 2

Edit the Certificate Provisioning Portal Settings (Administration > Device Portal Management > Certificate Provisioning).

Select the certificate provisioning portal and click Edit.
Click the Portal Settings drop-down list. From the Configure authorized groups Available list, select the user group to which the network access user belongs to and move it to Chosen list.
Click the Certificate Provisioning Portal Settings drop-down list. Choose the pxGrid_Certificate_Template. See Portal Settings for Certificate Provisioning Portal for more information.
Save the portal settings.

Step 3

Launch the Certificate Provisioning Portal. Click the Portal Test URL link.

Log in to the Certificate Provisioning Portal using the user account created in step 1.
Accept the AUP and click Continue.
From the I want to drop-down list, choose Generate a single certificate (with certificate signing request).
In the Certificate Signing Request Details field, paste the contents of the CSR from the clipboard.

From the Certificate Download Format drop-down list, choose PKCS8 format.

Note

If you choose the PKCS12 format, you must convert the single certificate file in to separate certificate and key files. The certificate and key files must be in binary DER encoded or PEM format before you can import them in to Cisco ISE.

From the Choose Certificate Template drop-down list, choose pxGrid_Certificate_Template.
Enter a certificate password.
Click Generate.

The certificate is generated.
Export the certificate.

The certificate along with the certificate chain is exported.

Step 4

Import the Cisco ISE CA chain in to the Trusted Certificates store in the pxGrid client.

Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol Profiles

To help enable certificate provisioning functions for the variety of mobile devices that users can register on the network, Cisco ISE enables you to configure one or more Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) Certificate Authority (CA) profiles (called as Cisco ISE External CA Settings) to point Cisco ISE to multiple CA locations. The benefit of allowing for multiple profiles is to help ensure high availability and perform load balancing across the CA locations that you specify. If a request to a particular SCEP CA goes unanswered three consecutive times, Cisco ISE declares that particular server unavailable and automatically moves to the CA with the next lowest known load and response times, then it begins periodic polling until the server comes back online.

For details on how to set up your Microsoft SCEP server to interoperate with Cisco ISE, see

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/collateral/ns340/ns414/ns742/ns744/docs/howto_60_byod_certificates.pdf.

Issued Certificates

The Admin portal lists all the certificates issued by the internal ISE CA to endpoints (Administration > System > Certificates > Endpoint Certificates). The Issued Certificates page provides you an at-a-glance view of the certificate status. You can mouse over the Status column to find out the reason for revocation if a certificate has been revoked. You can mouse over the Certificate Template column to view additional details such as Key Type, Key Size or Curve Type, Subject, Subject Alternative Name (SAN), and Validity of the certificate. You can click on the endpoint certificate to view the certificate.

All certificates issued by the ISE CA (certificates automatically provisioned through the BYOD flow and certificates obtained from the Certificate Provisioning portal) are listed in the Endpoint Certificates page. You can manage these certificates from this page.

For example, if you want to view the certificates issued to user7, enter user7 in the text box that appears below the Friendly Name field. All the certificates issued by Cisco ISE to this user appear. Remove the search term from the text box to cancel the filter. You can also use the Advanced Filter option to view records based on various search criteria.

This Endpoint Certificates page also provides you the option to revoke an endpoint certificate, if necessary.

The Certificate Management Overview page displays the total number of endpoint certificates issued by each PSN node in your deployment. You can also view the total number of revoked certificates per node and the total number of certificates that have failed. You can filter the data on this page based on any of the attributes.

Issued and Revoked Certificates

Table 15. Issued and Revoked Certificates
Fields	Usage Guidelines
Node Name	Name of the Policy Service node (PSN) that issued the certificate.
Certificates Issued	Number of endpoint certificates issued by the PSN node.
Certificates Revoked	Number of revoked endpoint certificates (certificates that were issued by the PSN node).
Certificates Requests	Number of certificate-based authentication requests processed by the PSN node.
Certificates Failed	Number of failed authentication requests processed by the PSN node.

Backup and Restore of Cisco ISE CA Certificates and Keys

You must back up the Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys securely to be able to restore them back on a Secondary Administration Node in case of a PAN failure and you want to promote the Secondary Administration Node to function as the root CA or intermediate CA of an external PKI. The Cisco ISE configuration backup does not include the CA certificates and keys. Instead, you should use the Command Line Interface (CLI) to export the CA certificates and keys to a repository and to import them. The application configure ise command now includes export and import options to backup and restore CA certificates and keys.

The following certificates from the Trusted Certificates Store are restored on the Secondary Administration Node:

Cisco ISE Root CA certificate
Cisco ISE Sub CA certificate
Cisco ISE Endpoint RA certificate
Cisco ISE OCSP Responder certificate

You must back up and restore Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys when you:

Have a Secondary Administration Node in the deployment
Replace the entire Cisco ISE CA root chain
Configure Cisco ISE root CA to act as a subordinate CA of an external PKI
Upgrade from Release 1.2 to a later release
Restore data from a configuration backup. In this case, you must first regenerate the Cisco ISE CA root chain and then back up and restore the ISE CA certificates and keys.

Note

Whenever the Cisco ISE internal CA is replaced in a deployment, then the ISE messaging service must also be refreshed that time to retrieve the complete certificate chain.

Export Cisco ISE CA Certificates and Keys

You must export the CA certificates and keys from the PAN to import them on the Secondary Administration Node. This option enables the Secondary Administration Node to issue and manage certificates for endpoints when the PAN is down and you promote the Secondary Administration Node to be the PAN.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created a repository to store the CA certificates and keys.

Procedure

Step 1	Enter application configure ise command from the Cisco ISE CLI.
Step 2	Enter 7 to export the certificates and keys.
Step 3	Enter the repository name.
Step 4	Enter an encryption key. A success message appears with the list of certificates that were exported, along with the subject, issuer, and serial number. Example: The following 4 CA key pairs were exported to repository 'sftp' at 'ise_ca_key_pairs_of_ise-vm1': Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x621867df-568341cd-944cc77f-c9820765 Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint CA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x7027269d-d80a406d-831d5c26-f5e105fa Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint RA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x1a65ec14-4f284da7-9532f0a0-8ae0e5c2 Subject:CN=Cisco ISE OCSP Responder Certificate of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x6f6d4097-21f74c4d-8832ba95-4c320fb1 ISE CA keys export completed successfully

Import Cisco ISE CA Certificates and Keys

After you register the Secondary Administration Node, you must export the CA certificates and keys from the PAN and import them in to the Secondary Administration Node.

Procedure

Step 1	Enter application configure ise command from the Cisco ISE CLI.
Step 2	Enter 8 to import the CA certificates and keys.
Step 3	Enter the repository name.
Step 4	Enter the name of the file that you want to import. The file name should be in the format `ise_ca_key_pairs_of_<vm hostname>`.
Step 5	Enter the encryption key to decrypt the file. A success message appears. Example: The following 4 CA key pairs were imported: Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x21ce1000-8008472c-a6bc4fd9-272c8da4 Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint CA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x05fa86d0-092542b4-8ff68ed4-f1964a56 Subject:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint RA of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Endpoint CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x77932e02-e8c84b3d-b27e2f1c-e9f246ca Subject:CN=Cisco ISE OCSP Responder Certificate of ise-vm1 Issuer:CN=Cisco ISE Self-Signed CA of ise-vm1 Serial#:0x5082017f-330e412f-8d63305d-e13fd2a5 Stopping ISE Certificate Authority Service... Starting ISE Certificate Authority Service... ISE CA keys import completed successfully

Generate Root CA and Subordinate CAs on the Primary PAN and PSN

When you set up the deployment, Cisco ISE generates a root CA on the Primary PAN and subordinate CA certificates on the Policy Service Nodes (PSNs) for the Cisco ISE CA service. However, when you change the domain name or the hostname of the Primary PAN or PSN, you must regenerate root CA on the Primary PAN and sub CAs on the PSNs respectively.

If you want to change the hostname on a PSN, instead of regenerating the root CA and subordinate CAs on the Primary PAN and PSNs respectively, you can deregister the PSN before changing the hostname, and register it back. A new subordinate certificate gets provisioned automatically on the PSN.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Signing Requests
Step 2	Click Generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSR).
Step 3	Choose ISE Root CA from the Certificate(s) will be used for drop-down list.
Step 4	Click Replace ISE Root CA Certificate chain. The root CA and subordinate CA certificates get generated for all the nodes in your deployment.

What to do next

If you have a Secondary PAN in the deployment, obtain a backup of the Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys from the Primary PAN and restore it on the Secondary PAN. This ensures that the Secondary PAN can function as the root CA in case of a Primary PAN failure and you promote the Secondary PAN to be the Primary PAN.

Configure Cisco ISE Root CA as Subordinate CA of an External PKI

If you want the root CA on the Primary PAN to act as a subordinate CA of an external PKI, generate an ISE intermediate CA certificate signing request, send it to the external CA, obtain the root and CA-signed certificates, import the root CA certificate in to the Trusted Certificates Store, and bind the CA-signed certificate to the CSR. In this case, the external CA is the root CA, the Primary PAN is a subordinate CA of the external CA, and the PSNs are subordinate CAs of the Primary PAN.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Signing Requests.
Step 2	Click Generate Certificate Signing Requests (CSR).
Step 3	Choose ISE Intermediate CA from the Certificate(s) will be used for drop-down list.
Step 4	Click Generate.
Step 5	Export the CSR, send it to the external CA, and obtain the CA-signed certificate.
Step 6	Import the root CA certificate from the external CA in to the Trusted Certificates store.
Step 7	Bind the CA-signed certificate with the CSR.

What to do next

If you have a secondary PAN in the deployment, obtain a backup of the Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys from the primary PAN and restore it on the secondary PAN. Server and root certificates are then automatically replicated in the secondary PAN. This ensures that the secondary PAN can function as subordinate CA of the external PKI in case of administration node failover.

Configure Cisco ISE to Use Certificates for Authenticating Personal Devices

You can configure Cisco ISE to issue and manage certificates for endpoints (personal devices) that connect to your network. You can use the internal Cisco ISE Certificate Authority (CA) service to sign the certificate signing request (CSR) from endpoints or forward the CSR to an external CA.

Before you begin

Obtain a backup of the Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys from the Primary PAN and store them in a secure location for disaster recovery purposes.
If you have a Secondary PAN in the deployment, back up the Cisco ISE CA certificates and keys from the Primary PAN and restore them on the Secondary PAN.

Procedure

Step 1	Add Users to the Employee User Group You can add users to the internal identity store or to an external identity store such as Active Directory.
Step 2	Create a Certificate Authentication Profile for TLS-Based Authentication
Step 3	Create an Identity Source Sequence for TLS-Based Authentication
Step 4	Creating a client provisioning policy. Configure Certificate Authority Settings Create a CA Template Create a Native Supplicant Profile to be Used in Client Provisioning Policy Download Agent Resources from Cisco Site for Windows and MAC OS X Operating Systems Create Client Provisioning Policy Rules for Apple iOS, Android, and MACOSX Devices
Step 5	Configure the Dot1X Authentication Policy Rule for TLS-Based Authentication
Step 6	Configure authorization policy rules for TLS-based authentications. Create Authorization Profiles for Central Web Authentication and Supplicant Provisioning Flows Create Authorization Policy Rules When you use ECDHE-RSA based certificates, while connecting to the wireless SSID from your personal device, you will be prompted to enter the password a second time.

Add Users to the Employee User Group

The following procedure describes how to add users to the Employee user group in the Cisco ISE identity store. If you are using an external identity store, make sure that you have an Employee user group to which you can add users.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > Identity Management > Identities > Users.
Step 2	Click Add.
Step 3	Enter the user details.
Step 4	In the Passwords section, choose the Login Password and TACACS+ Enable Password to set the access level to a network device.
Step 5	Select Employee from the User Group drop-down list. All users who belong to the Employee user group share the same set of privileges.
Step 6	Click Submit.

What to do next

Create a Certificate Authentication Profile for TLS-Based Authentication

To use certificates for authenticating endpoints that connect to your network, you must define a certificate authentication profile in Cisco ISE or edit the default Preloaded_Certificate_Profile. The certificate authentication profile includes the certificate field that should be used as the principal username. For example, if the username is in the Common Name field, then you can define a certificate authentication profile with the Principal Username being the Subject - Common Name, which can be verified against the identity store.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > Identity Management > External Identity Sources > Certificate Authentication Profile.
Step 2	Enter a name for your certificate authentication profile. For example, CAP.
Step 3	Choose Subject - Common Name as the Principal Username X509 Attribute.
Step 4	Click Save.

What to do next

Create an Identity Source Sequence for TLS-Based Authentication

After you create a certificate authentication profile, you must add it to the identity source sequence so that Cisco ISE can obtain the attribute from the certificate and match it against the identity sources that you have defined in the identity source sequence.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have completed the following tasks:

Add users to the Employee user group.
Create a certificate authentication profile for certificate-based authentication.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > Identity Management > Identity Source Sequences.
Step 2	Click Add.
Step 3	Enter a name for the identity source sequence. For example, Dot1X.
Step 4	Check the Select Certificate Authentication Profile check box and select the certificate authentication profile that you created earlier, namely CAP.
Step 5	Move the identity source that contains your user information to the Selected list box in the Authentication Search List area. You can add additional identity sources and Cisco ISE searches these data stores sequentially until a match is found.
Step 6	Click the Treat as if the user was not found and proceed to the next store in the sequence radio button.
Step 7	Click Submit.

What to do next

Configure Certificate Authority Settings

You must configure the external CA settings if you are going to use an external CA for signing the CSRs. The external CA settings was known as the SCEP RA profile in previous releases of Cisco ISE. If you are using the Cisco ISE CA, then you do not have to explicitly configure the CA settings. You can review the Internal CA settings at Administration > System > Certificates > Internal CA Settings.

Once users’ devices receive their validated certificate, they reside on the device as described in the following table.

Table 16. Device Certificate Location

Device

Certificate Storage Location

Access Method

iPhone/iPad

Standard certificate store

Settings > General > Profile

Android

Encrypted certificate store

Invisible to end users.

Note

Certificates can be removed using Settings > Location & Security > Clear Storage.

Windows

Standard certificate store

Launch mmc.exe from the /cmd prompt or view in the certificate snap-in.

Mac

Standard certificate store

Application > Utilities > Keychain Access

Before you begin

If you are going to use an external Certificate Authority (CA) for signing the certificate signing request (CSR), then you must have the URL of the external CA.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > External CA Settings.
Step 2	Click Add.
Step 3	Enter a name for the external CA setting. For example, EXTERNAL_SCEP.
Step 4	Enter the external CA server URL in the URL text box. Click Test Connection to check if the external CA is reachable. Click the + button to enter additional CA server URLs.
Step 5	Click Submit.

What to do next

Create a CA Template

The certificate template defines the SCEP RA profile that must be used (for the internal or external CA), Key Type, Key Size or Curve Type, Subject, Subject Alternative Name (SAN), validity period of the certificate, and the Extended Key Usage. This example assumes that you are going to use the internal Cisco ISE CA. For an external CA template, the validity period is determined by the external CA and you cannot specify it.

You can create a new CA template or edit the default certificate template, EAP_Authentication_Certificate_Template.

By default, the following CA templates are available in Cisco ISE:

CA_SERVICE_Certificate_Template—For other network services that use the ISE CA. For example, use this certificate template while configuring ISE to issue certificates for ASA VPN users.
EAP_Authentication_Certificate_Template—For EAP authentication.
pxGrid_Certificate_Template—For pxGrid controller while generating the certificate from the Certificate Provisioning Portal.

Note

Certificate templates that use the ECC key type can be used only with the internal Cisco ISE CA.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have configured the CA settings.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > CA Service > Internal CA Certificate Template.

Step 2

Enter a name for the internal CA template. For example, Internal_CA_Template.

Step 3

(Optional) Enter values for the Organizational Unit, Organization, City, State, and Country fields.

We do not support UTF-8 characters in the certificate template fields (Organizational Unit, Organization, City, State, and Country). Certificate provisioning fails if UTF-8 characters are used in the certificate template.

The username of the internal user generating the certificate is used as the Common Name of the certificate. Cisco ISE Internal CA does not support "+" or "*" characters in the Common Name field. Ensure that your username does not include "+" or "*" special characters.

Step 4

Specify the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) and the validity period of the certificate.

Step 5

Specify a Key Type. Choose RSA or ECC.

The following table lists the operating systems and versions that support ECC along with the curve types that are supported. If your devices are not running a supported operating system or on a supported version, you can use RSA-based certificates instead.

Operating System

Supported Versions

Supported Curve Types

Windows

8 and later

P-256, P-384, and P-521

Android

4.4 and later

Note

Android 6.0 requires May 2016 patch to support ECC certificates.

All curve types (except Android 6.0, which does not support the P-192 curve type).

Windows 7 and Apple iOS do not natively support ECC for EAP-TLS authentication. This release of Cisco ISE does not support the use of ECC certificates on MAC OS X devices.

If the devices in your network run an operating system that is not supported (Windows 7, MAC OS X, or Apple iOS, we recommend that you choose RSA as the Key Type.

Step 6

(Applicable if you choose the RSA Key Type) Specify a key size. You must choose 1024 or a higher key size.

Step 7

(Applicable only if you choose the ECC Key Type) Specify the Curve Type. The default is P-384.

Step 8

Choose ISE Internal CA as the SCEP RA Profile.

Step 9

Enter the validity period in days. The default is 730 days. Valid range is between 1 and 730.

Step 10

Specify the Extended Key Usage. Check the Client Authentication check box if you want the certificate to be used for client authentication. Check the Server Authentication check box if you want the certificate to be used for server authentication.

Step 11

Click Submit.

The internal CA certificate template is created and will be used by the client provisioning policy.

What to do next

Create a Native Supplicant Profile to be Used in Client Provisioning Policy

Internal CA Settings

Table 17. Internal CA Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Disable Certificate Authority	Click this button to disable the internal CA service.
Host Name	Host name of the Cisco ISE node that is running the CA service.
Personas	Cisco ISE node personas that are enabled on the node running the CA service. For example, Administration, Policy Service, etc.
Role(s)	The role(s) assumed by the Cisco ISE node running the CA service. For example, Standalone or Primary or Secondary.
CA, EST & OCSP Responder Status	Enabled or disabled
OCSP Responder URL	URL for Cisco ISE node to access the OCSP server.
SCEP URL	URL for the Cisco ISE node to access the SCEP server.

Create a Native Supplicant Profile to be Used in Client Provisioning Policy

You can create native supplicant profiles to enable users to bring personal devices to your Corporate network. Cisco ISE uses different policy rules for different operating systems. Each client provisioning policy rule contains a native supplicant profile, which specifies which provisioning wizard is to be used for which operating system.

Before you begin

Configure the CA certificate template in Cisco ISE.
Open up TCP port 8905 and UDP port 8905 to enable client agents and supplicant provisioning wizard installation. For more information about port usage, see the "Cisco ISE Appliance Ports Reference" appendix in the Cisco Identity Services Engine Hardware Installation Guide.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Policy > Policy Elements > Results > Client Provisioning > Resources.

Step 2

Choose Add > Native Supplicant Profile.

Step 3

Enter a name for the native supplicant profile. For example, EAP_TLS_INTERNAL.

Step 4

Choose ALL from the Operating System drop-down list.

Note

The MAC OS version 10.10 user should manually connect to the provisioned SSID for dual-SSID PEAP flow.

Step 5

Check the Wired or Wireless check box.

Step 6

Choose TLS from the Allowed Protocol drop-down list.

Step 7

Choose the CA certificate template that you created earlier.

Step 8

Click Submit.

What to do next

Download Agent Resources from Cisco Site for Windows and MAC OS X Operating Systems

For Windows and MAC OS X operating systems, you must download the remote resources from the Cisco site.

Before you begin

Ensure that you are able to access the appropriate remote location to download client provisioning resources to Cisco ISE, by verifying that the proxy settings for your network are correctly configured.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Policy Elements > Resources > Client Provisioning > Resources.
Step 2	Choose Add > Agent resources from Cisco site.
Step 3	Check the check boxes next to the Windows and MAC OS X packages. Be sure to include the latest versions.
Step 4	Click Save.

What to do next

Create Client Provisioning Policy Rules for Apple iOS, Android, and MACOSX Devices

Client provisioning resource policies determine which users receive which version (or versions) of resources (agents, agent compliance modules, and agent customization packages/profiles) from Cisco ISE upon login and user session initiation.

When you download the agent compliance module, it always overwrites the existing one, if any, available in the system.

To enable employees to bring iOS, Android, MACOSX devices, you must create policy rules for each of these devices on the Client Provisioning Policy page.

Before you begin

You must have configured the required native supplicant profiles and downloaded the required agents from the Client Provisioning Policy pages.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Client Provisioning.
Step 2	Create client provisioning policy rules for Apple iOS, Android, and MACOSX devices.
Step 3	Click Save.

What to do next

Configure the Dot1X Authentication Policy Rule for TLS-Based Authentication

This task shows how to update the Dot1X authentication policy rule for TLS-based authentications.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have the certificate authentication profile created for TLS-based authentication.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Policy Sets.
Step 2	Click the arrow icon from the View column to open the Set view screen and view, manage, and update the authentication policy. The default rule-based authentication policy includes a rule for Dot1X authentication.
Step 3	To edit the conditions for the Dot1X authentication policy rule, hover over the cell in the Conditions column and click . The Conditions Studio opens.
Step 4	From the Actions column in the Dot1X policy rule, click the cog icon and then from the drop-down menu, insert a new policy set by selecting any of the insert or duplicate options, as necessary. A new row appears in the Policy Sets table.
Step 5	Enter a name for the rule. For example, eap-tls.
Step 6	From the Conditions column, click the (+) symbol.
Step 7	Create the required conditions in the Conditions Studio Page. In the Editor section, click the Click To Add an Attribute text box, and select the required Dictionary and Attribute (for example, Network Access:UserName Equals User1). You can drag and drop a Library condition to the Click To Add An Attribute text box.
Step 8	Click Use.
Step 9	Leave the default rule as is.
Step 10	Click Save.

What to do next

Create Authorization Profiles for Central Web Authentication and Supplicant Provisioning Flows

You must define authorization profiles to determine the access that must be granted to the user after the certificate-based authentication is successful.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have configured the required access control lists (ACLs) on the wireless LAN controller (WLC). Refer to the TrustSec How-To Guide: Using Certificates for Differentiated Access for information on how to create the ACLs on the WLC.

This example assumes that you have created the following ACLs on the WLC.

NSP-ACL - For native supplicant provisioning
BLACKHOLE - For restricting access to block listed devices
NSP-ACL-Google - For provisioning Android devices

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Policy Elements > Results > Authorization > Authorization Profiles.
Step 2	Click Add to create a new authorization profile.
Step 3	Enter a name for the authorization profile.
Step 4	From the Access Type drop-down list, choose ACCESS_ACCEPT.
Step 5	Click Add to add the authorization profiles for central web authentication, central web authentication for Google Play, native supplicant provisioning, and native supplicant provisioning for Google.
Step 6	Click Save.

What to do next

Create Authorization Policy Rules

Cisco ISE evaluates the authorization policy rules and grants the user access to the network resources based on the authorization profile specified in the policy rule.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created the required authorization profiles.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Policy > Policy Sets, and expand the policy set to view the authorization policy rules.
Step 2	Insert additional policy rules above the default rule.
Step 3	Click Save.

CA Service Policy Reference

This section provides reference information for the authorization and client provisioning policy rules that you must create before you can enable the Cisco ISE CA service.

Client Provisioning Policy Rules for Certificate Services

This section lists the client provisioning policy rules that you must create while using the Cisco ISE certificate services. The following table provides the details.


Rule Name	Identity Groups	Operating Systems	Other Conditions	Results
iOS	Any	Apple iOS All	Condition(s)	EAP_TLS_INTERNAL (the native supplicant profile that you created earlier). If you are using an external CA, select the native supplicant profile that you have created for the external CA.
Android	Any	Android	Condition(s)	EAP_TLS_INTERNAL (the native supplicant profile that you created earlier). If you are using an external CA, select the native supplicant profile that you have created for the external CA.
MACOSX	Any	MACOSX	Condition(s)	Under the Native Supplicant Configuration, specify the following: Config Wizard: Select the MACOSX supplicant wizard that you downloaded from the Cisco site. Wizard Profile: Choose the EAP_TLS_INTERNAL native supplicant profile that you created earlier. If you are using an external CA, select the native supplicant profile that you have created for the external CA.

Authorization Profiles for Certificate Services

This section lists the authorization profiles that you must create for enabling certificate-based authentication in Cisco ISE. You must have already created the ACLs (NSP-ACL and NSP-ACL-Google) on the wireless LAN controller (WLC).

CWA - This profile is for devices that go through the central web authentication flow. Check the Web Authentication check box, choose Centralized from the drop-down list, and enter NSP-ACL in the ACL text box.
CWA_GooglePlay - This profile is for Android devices that go through the central web authentication flow. This profile enables Android devices to access Google Play Store and download the Cisco Network Setup Assistant. Check the Web Authentication check box, choose Centralized from the drop-down list, and enter NSP-ACL-Google in the ACL text box.
NSP - This profile is for non-Android devices that go through the supplicant provisioning flow. Check the Web Authentication check box, choose Supplicant Provisioning from the drop-down list, and enter NSP-ACL in the ACL text box.
NSP-Google - This profile is for Android devices that go through the supplicant provisioning flow. Check the Web Authentication check box, choose Supplicant Provisioning from the drop-down list, and enter NSP-ACL-Google in the ACL text box.

Review the default Blackhole_Wireless_Access authorization profile. The Advanced Attributes Settings should be:

Cisco:cisco-av-pair = url-redirect=https://ip:port/blacklistportal/gateway?portal=PortalID
Cisco:cisco-av-pair = url-redirect-acl=BLACKHOLE

Authorization Policy Rules for Certificate Services

This section lists the authorization policy rules that you must create while enabling the Cisco ISE CA service.

Corporate Assets-This rule is for corporate devices that connect to the corporate wireless SSID using 802.1X and MSCHAPV2 protocol.
Android_SingleSSID-This rule is for Android devices that access the Google Play Store to download the Cisco Network Setup Assistant for provisioning. This rule is specific to single SSID setup.
Android_DualSSID-This rule is for Android devices that access the Google Play Store to download the Cisco Network Setup Assistant for provisioning. This rule is specific to dual SSID setup.
CWA-This rule is for devices that go through the central web authentication flow.
NSP-This rule is for devices that go through the native supplicant provisioning flow using a certificate for EAP-TLS authentication.
EAP-TLS-This rule is for devices that have completed the supplicant provisioning flow and are provisioned with a certificate. They will be given access to the network.

The following table lists the attributes and values that you must choose while configuring authorization policy rules for the Cisco ISE CA service. This example assumes that you have the corresponding authorization profiles configured in Cisco ISE as well.


Rule Name	Conditions	Permissions (authorization profiles to be applied)
Corporate Assets	Corp_Assets AND (Wireless 802.1X AND Network Access:AuthenticationMethod EQUALS MSCHAPV2)	PermitAccess
Android_SingleSSID	(Wireless 802.1X AND Network Access:AuthenticationMethod EQUALS MSCHAPV2 AND Session:Device-OS EQUALS Android)	NSP_Google
Android_DualSSID	(Wireless_MAB AND Session:Device-OS EQUALS Android)	CWA_GooglePlay
CWA	Wireless_MAB	CWA
NSP	(Wireless 802.1X AND Network Access:AuthenticationMethod EQUALS MSCHAPV2)	NSP
EAP-TLS	(Wireless 802.1X AND Network Access:AuthenticationMethod EQUALS x509_PKI	PermitAccess

ISE CA Issues Certificates to ASA VPN Users

ISE CA issues certificates to client machines connecting over ASA VPN. Using this feature, you can automatically provision certificates to end devices that connect over ASA VPN.

Cisco ISE uses the Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) for enrollment and to provision certificates to the client machines. The AnyConnect client sends the SCEP request to the ASA over an HTTPS connection. The ASA evaluates the request and enforces policies before it relays the request to Cisco ISE over an HTTP connection established between Cisco ISE and ASA. The response from the Cisco ISE CA is relayed back to the client. The ASA cannot read the contents of the SCEP message and functions as a proxy for the Cisco ISE CA. The Cisco ISE CA decrypts the SCEP message from the client and sends the response in an encrypted form.

The ISE CA SCEP URL is http://<IP Address or FQDN of ISE CA server>:9090/auth/caservice/pkiclient.exe. If you are using FQDN of the ISE node, the DNS server connected to ASA must be able to resolve the FQDN.

You can configure certificate renewal before expiration in the AnyConnect Client profile. If the certificate has already expired, the renewal flow is similar to a new enrollment.

Supported versions include:

Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances that run software version 8.x
Cisco AnyConnect VPN version 2.4 or later

VPN Connection Certificate Provisioning Flow

Figure 7. Certificate Provisioning for ASA VPN Users

The user initiates a VPN connection.
The AnyConnect client scans the client machine and sends the attributes such as the unique device identifier (for example, IMEI) to the ASA.
The ASA requests certificate-based authentication from the client. The authentication fails because there is no certificate.
The ASA proceeds to primary user authentication (AAA) using the username/password and passes the information to the authentication server (ISE).
1. If authentication fails, the connection is terminated immediately.
2. If authentication passes, limited access is granted. You can configure dynamic access policies (DAP) for client machines that request a certificate using the aaa.cisco.sceprequired attribute. You can set the value for this attribute to “true” and apply ACLs and web ACLs.
The VPN connection is established after the relevant policies and ACLs are applied. The client starts key generation for SCEP only after AAA authentication succeeds and the VPN connection is established.
The client starts the SCEP enrollment and sends SCEP requests to ASA over HTTP.
ASA looks up the session information of the request and relays the request to ISE CA, if the session is allowed for enrollment.
ASA relays the response from ISE CA back to the client.
If enrollment succeeds, the client presents a configurable message to the user and disconnects the VPN session.
The user can again authenticate using the certificate and a normal VPN connection is established.

Configure Cisco ISE CA to Issue Certificates to ASA VPN Users

You must perform the following configurations on Cisco ISE and ASA to provision certificates to ASA VPN users.

Before you begin

Ensure that the VPN user account is present in Cisco ISE internal or external identity source.
Ensure that the ASA and the Cisco ISE Policy Service Nodes are synchronized using the same NTP server.

Procedure

Step 1	Define the ASA as a network access device in Cisco ISE. See Add a Network Device in Cisco ISE for information on how to add ASA as a network device.
Step 2	Configure Group Policy in ASA.
Step 3	Configure AnyConnect Connection Profile for SCEP Enrollment.
Step 4	Configure a VPN Client Profile in ASDM.
Step 5	Import ISE Server Certificates in to ASA.

Add a Network Device in Cisco ISE

You can add a network device in Cisco ISE or use the default network device.

You can also add the network device in the Network Devices (Work Centers > Device Administration > Network Resources > Network Devices) window.

Before you begin

The AAA function must be enabled on the network device to be added. See Command to Enable AAA Functions.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > Network Resources > Network Devices.
Step 2	Click Add.
Step 3	Enter the corresponding values in the Name, Description, and IP Address fields.
Step 4	Choose the required values from the drop-down lists for Device Profile, Model Name, Software Version, and Network Device Group fields.
Step 5	(Optional) Check the RADIUS Authentication Settings check box to configure the RADIUS protocol for authentication.
Step 6	(Optional) Check the TACACS Authentication Settings check box to configure the TACACS protocol for authentication.
Step 7	(Optional) Check the SNMP Settings check box to configure SNMP for the Cisco ISE profiling service to collect information from the network device.
Step 8	(Optional) Check the Advanced Trustsec Settings check box to configure a Cisco TrustSec-enabled device.
Step 9	Click Submit.

Configure Group Policy in ASA

Configure a group policy in ASA to define the ISE CA URL for AnyConnect to forward the SCEP enrollment request.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to Cisco ASA ASDM.
Step 2	From the Remote Access VPN navigation pane on the left, click Group Policies.
Step 3	Click Add to create a group policy.
Step 4	Enter a name for the group policy. For example, ISE_CA_SCEP.
Step 5	In the SCEP forwarding URL field, uncheck the Inherit check box and enter the ISE SCEP URL with port number. If you are using the FQDN of the ISE node, the DNS server connected to ASA must be able to resolve the FQDN of the ISE node. Example: http://ise01.cisco.com:9090/auth/caservice/pkiclient.exe.
Step 6	Click OK to save the group policy.

Configure AnyConnect Connection Profile for SCEP Enrollment

Configure an AnyConnect connection profile in ASA to specify the ISE CA server, authentication method, and ISE CA SCEP URL.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to Cisco ASA ASDM.
Step 2	From the Remote Access VPN navigation pane on the left, click AnyConnect Connection Profiles.
Step 3	Click Add to create a connection profile.
Step 4	Enter a name for the connection profile. For example, Cert-Group.
Step 5	(Optional) Enter a description for the connection profile in the Aliases field. For example, SCEP-Call-ASA.
Step 6	In the Authentication area, specify the following: Method—Click the Both radio button AAA Server Group—Click Manage and choose your ISE server
Step 7	In the Client Address Assignment area, select the DHCP server and client address pools to use.
Step 8	In the Default Group Policy area, click Manage and select the Group Policy that you have created with the ISE SCEP URL and port number. Example: For example, ISE_CA_SCEP.
Step 9	Choose Advanced > General and check the Enable Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol check box for this connection profile.
Step 10	Click OK. Your AnyConnect connection profile is created.

What to do next

Configure a VPN Client Profile in ASDM

Configure a VPN client profile in AnyConnect for SCEP enrollment.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to Cisco ASA ASDM.
Step 2	From the Remote Access VPN navigation pane on the left, click AnyConnect Client Profile.
Step 3	Select the client profile that you want to use and click Edit.
Step 4	Click Certificate Enrollment from the Profile navigation pane on the left.
Step 5	Check the Certificate Enrollment check box.
Step 6	Enter the values in the following fields: Certificate Expiration Threshold—The number of days before the certificate expiration date that AnyConnect warns users their certificate is going to expire (not supported when SCEP is enabled). The default is zero (no warning displayed). The range of values is zero to 180 days. Automatic SCEP Host—Enter the host name and connection profile (tunnel group) of the ASA that has SCEP certificate retrieval configured. Enter a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or a connection profile name of the ASA. For example, the hostname asa.cisco.com and the connection profile name Cert_Group. CA URL—Identifies the SCEP CA server. Enter the FQDN or IP Address of the ISE server. For example, http://ise01.cisco.com:9090/auth/caservice/pkiclient.exe.
Step 7	Enter values for the Certificate Contents that define how the client requests the contents of the certificate.
Step 8	Click OK. The AnyConnect client profile is created. Refer to the Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client for your version of AnyConnect for additional information.

Import Cisco ISE CA Certificates into ASA

Import the Cisco ISE internal CA certificates into the ASA.

Before you begin

Export the Cisco ISE internal CA certificates. Go to Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Certificate Authority Certificates. Check the check boxes next to Certificate Services Node CA and Certificate Services Root CA certificates and export them, one certificate at a time.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to Cisco ASA ASDM.
Step 2	From the Remote Access VPN navigation pane on the left, choose Certificate Management > CA Certificates.
Step 3	Click Add and select the Cisco ISE internal CA certificates to import them in to ASA.

Revoke an Endpoint Certificate

If you need to revoke a certificate issued to an employee's personal device, you can revoke it from the Endpoint Certificates page. For example, if an employee's device has been stolen or lost, you can log in to the Cisco ISE Admin portal and revoke the certificate issued to that device from the Endpoint Certificates page. You can filter the data on this page based on the Friendly Name, Device Unique Id, or Serial Number.

If a PSN (sub CA) is compromised, you can revoke all certificates issued by that PSN by filtering on the Issued By field from the Endpoint Certificates page.

When you revoke a certificate issued to an employee, if there is an active session (authenticated using that certificate), the session is terminated immediately. Revoking a certificate ensures that unauthorized users do not have any access to resources as soon as the certificate is revoked.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Authority > Issued Certificates.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the endpoint certificate that you want to revoke and click Revoke. You can search for the certificate based on the Friendly Name and Device Type.
Step 3	Enter the reason for revoking the certificate.
Step 4	Click Yes.

OCSP Services

The Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) is a protocol that is used for checking the status of x.509 digital certificates. This protocol is an alternative to the Certificate Revocation List (CRL) and addresses issues that result in handling CRLs.

Cisco ISE has the capability to communicate with OCSP servers over HTTP to validate the status of certificates in authentications. The OCSP configuration is configured in a reusable configuration object that can be referenced from any certificate authority (CA) certificate that is configured in Cisco ISE.

You can configure CRL and/or OCSP verification per CA. If both are selected, then Cisco ISE first performs verification over OCSP. If a communication problem is detected with both the primary and secondary OCSP servers, or if an unknown status is returned for a given certificate, Cisco ISE switches to checking the CRL.

Cisco ISE CA Service Online Certificate Status Protocol Responder

The Cisco ISE CA OCSP responder is a server that communicates with OCSP clients. The OCSP clients for the Cisco ISE CA include the internal Cisco ISE OCSP client and OCSP clients on the Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA). The OCSP clients should communicate with the OCSP responder using the OCSP request/response structure defined in RFC 2560, 5019.

The Cisco ISE CA issues a certificate to the OCSP responder. The OCSP responder listens on port 2560 for any incoming requests. This port is configured to allow only OCSP traffic.

The OCSP responder accepts a request that follows the structure defined in RFC 2560, 5019. Nonce extension is supported in the OCSP request. The OCSP responder obtains the status of the certificate and creates an OCSP response and signs it. The OCSP response is not cached on the OCSP responder, although you can cache the OCSP response on the client for a maximum period of 24 hours. The OCSP client should validate the signature in the OCSP response.

The self-signed CA certificate (or the intermediate CA certificate if ISE acts as an intermediate CA of an external CA) on the PAN issues the OCSP responder certificate. This CA certificate on the PAN issues the OCSP certificates on the PAN and PSNs. This self-signed CA certificate is also the root certificate for the entire deployment. All the OCSP certificates across the deployment are placed in the Trusted Certificates Store for ISE to validate any response signed using these certificates.

OCSP Certificate Status Values

OCSP services return the following values for a given certificate request:

Good—Indicates a positive response to the status inquiry. It means that the certificate is not revoked, and the state is good only until the next time interval (time to live) value.
Revoked—The certificate was revoked.
Unknown—The certificate status is unknown. OCSP service returns this value if the certificate was not issued by the CA of this OCSP responder.
Error—No response was received for the OCSP request.

OCSP High Availability

Cisco ISE has the capability to configure up to two OCSP servers per CA, and they are called primary and secondary OCSP servers. Each OCSP server configuration contains the following parameters:

URL—The OCSP server URL.
Nonce—A random number that is sent in the request. This option ensures that old communications cannot be reused in replay attacks.
Validate response—Cisco ISE validates the response signature that is received from the OCSP server.

In case of timeout (which is 5 seconds), when Cisco ISE communicates with the primary OCSP server, it switches to the secondary OCSP server.

Cisco ISE uses the secondary OCSP server for a configurable amount of time before attempting to use the primary server again.

OCSP Failures

The three general OCSP failure scenarios are as follows:

Failed OCSP cache or OCSP client side (Cisco ISE) failures.
Failed OCSP responder scenarios, for example:

The first primary OCSP responder not responding, and the secondary OCSP responder responding to the Cisco ISE OCSP request.

Errors or responses not received from Cisco ISE OCSP requests.

An OCSP responder may not provide a response to the Cisco ISE OCSP request or it may return an OCSP Response Status as not successful. OCSP Response Status values can be as follows:
- tryLater
- signRequired
- unauthorized
- internalError
- malformedRequest
  
  There are many date-time checks, signature validity checks and so on, in the OCSP request. For more details, refer to RFC 2560 X.509 Internet Public Key Infrastructure Online Certificate Status Protocol - OCSP which describes all the possible states, including the error states.
Failed OCSP reports

Add OCSP Client Profiles

You can use the OCSP Client Profile page to add new OCSP client profiles to Cisco ISE.

Before you begin

If the Certificate Authority (CA) is running the OCSP service on a nonstandard port (other than 80 or 443), you must configure ACLs on the switch to allow for communication between Cisco ISE and the CA on that port. For example:

permit tcp <source ip> <destination ip> eq <OCSP port number>

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Certificates > Certificate Management > OCSP Client Profile.
Step 2	Enter the values to add an OCSP Client Profile.
Step 3	Click Submit.

OCSP Client Profile Settings

Table 18. OCSP Client Profile Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Name	Name of the OCSP Client Profile.
Description	Enter an optional description.
Configure OCSP Responder
Enable Secondary Server	Check this check box to enable a secondary OCSP server for high availability.
Always Access Primary Server First	Use this option to check the primary server before trying to move to the secondary server. Even if the primary was checked earlier and found to be unresponsive, Cisco ISE will try to send a request to the primary server before moving to the secondary server.
Fallback to Primary Server After Interval n Minutes	Use this option when you want Cisco ISE to move to the secondary server and then fall back to the primary server again. In this case, all other requests are skipped, and the secondary server is used for the amount of time that is configured in the text box. The allowed time range is 1 to 999 minutes.
Primary and Secondary Servers
URL	Enter the URL of the primary and/or secondary OCSP server.
Enable Nonce Extension Support	You can configure a nonce to be sent as part of the OCSP request. The Nonce includes a pseudo-random number in the OCSP request. It is verified that the number that is received in the response is the same as the number that is included in the request. This option ensures that old communications cannot be reused in replay attacks.
Validate Response Signature	The OCSP responder signs the response with one of the following certificates: The CA certificate A certificate different from the CA certificate In order for Cisco ISE to validate the response signature, the OCSP responder needs to send the response along with the certificate, otherwise the response verification fails, and the status of the certificate cannot be relied on. According to the RFC, OCSP can sign the response using different certificates. This is true as long as OCSP sends the certificate that signed the response for Cisco ISE to validate it. If OCSP signs the response with a different certificate that is not configured in Cisco ISE, the response verification will fail.
Use OCSP URLs specified in Authority Information Access (AIA)	Click the radio button to use the OCSP URLs specified in the Authority Information Access extension.
Response Cache
Cache Entry Time To Live n Minutes	Enter the time in minutes after which the cache entry expires. Each response from the OCSP server holds a nextUpdate value. This value shows when the status of the certificate will be updated next on the server. When the OCSP response is cached, the two values (one from the configuration and another from response) are compared, and the response is cached for the period of time that is the lowest value of these two. If the nextUpdate value is 0, the response is not cached at all. Cisco ISE will cache OCSP responses for the configured time. The cache is not replicated or persistent, so when Cisco ISE restarts, the cache is cleared. The OCSP cache is used in order to maintain the OCSP responses and for the following reasons: To reduce network traffic and load from the OCSP servers on an already-known certificate To increase the performance of Cisco ISE by caching already-known certificate statuses By default, the cache is set to 2 minutes for the internal CA OCSP client profile. If an endpoint authenticates a second time within 2 minutes of the first authentication, the OCSP cache is used and the OCSP responder is not queried. If the endpoint certificate has been revoked within the cache period, the previous OCSP status of Good will be used and the authentication succeeds. Setting the cache to 0 minutes prevents any responses from being cached. This option improves security, but decreases authentication performance.
Clear Cache	Click Clear Cache to clear entries of all the certificate authorities that are connected to the OCSP service. In a deployment, Clear Cache interacts with all the nodes and performs the operation. This mechanism updates every node in the deployment.

OCSP Statistics Counters

Cisco ISE uses OCSP counters to log and monitor the data and health of the OCSP servers. Logging occurs every five minutes. Cisco ISE sends a syslog message to the Monitoring node and it is preserved in the local store. The local store contains data from the previous five minutes. After Cisco ISE sends the syslog message, the counters are recalculated for the next interval. This means, after five minutes, a new five-minute window interval starts again.

The following table lists the OCSP syslog messages and their descriptions.

Table 19. OCSP Syslog Messages
Message	Description
OCSPPrimaryNotResponsiveCount	The number of nonresponsive primary requests
OCSPSecondaryNotResponsiveCount	The number of nonresponsive secondary requests
OCSPPrimaryCertsGoodCount	The number of ‘good’ certificates that are returned for a given CA using the primary OCSP server
OCSPSecondaryCertsGoodCount	The number of ‘good’ statuses that are returned for a given CA using the primary OCSP server
OCSPPrimaryCertsRevokedCount	The number of ‘revoked’ statuses that are returned for a given CA using the primary OCSP server
OCSPSecondaryCertsRevokedCount	The number of ‘revoked’ statuses that are returned for a given CA using the secondary OCSP server
OCSPPrimaryCertsUnknownCount	The number of ‘Unknown’ statuses that are returned for a given CA using the primary OCSP server
OCSPSecondaryCertsUnknownCount	The number of ‘Unknown’ statuses that are returned for a given CA using the secondary OCSP server
OCSPPrimaryCertsFoundCount	The number of certificates that were found in cache from a primary origin
OCSPSecondaryCertsFoundCount	The number of certificates that were found in cache from a secondary origin
ClearCacheInvokedCount	How many times clear cache was triggered since the interval
OCSPCertsCleanedUpCount	How many cached entries were cleaned since the t interval
NumOfCertsFoundInCache	Number of the fulfilled requests from the cache
OCSPCacheCertsCount	Number of certificates that were found in the OCSP cache

Configure Admin Access Policies

An Admin Access (RBAC) policy is represented in an if-then format, where if is the RBAC Admin Group value and then is the RBAC Permissions value.

The RBAC policies page (Administration > System > Admin Access > Authorization > Policy) contains a list of default policies. You cannot edit or delete these default policies. However, you can edit the data access permissions for the Read-Only Admin policy. The RBAC policies page also allows you to create custom RBAC policies for an admin group specifically for your work place, and apply to personalized admin groups.

When you assign limited menu access, make sure that the data access permissions allow the administrator to access the data that is required to use the specified menus. For example, if you give menu access to the MyDevices portal, but don't allow data access to Endpoint Identity Groups, then that administrator cannot modify the portal.

Note

Admin users can move endpoint MAC addresses from the Endpoint Identity Groups they have read-only access to, to the Endpoint Identity Groups they have full access to. The other way around is not possible.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created all admin groups for which you want to define the RBAC policies.
Ensure that these admin groups are mapped to the individual admin users.
Ensure that you have configured the RBAC permissions, such as menu access and data access permissions.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Authorization > Policy. The RBAC Policies page contains a set of ready-to-use predefined policies for default admin groups. You cannot edit or delete these default policies. However, you can edit the data access permissions for the default Read-Only Admin policy.
Step 2	Click Actions next to any of the default RBAC policy rule. Here, you can insert new RBAC policies, duplicate an existing RBAC policy, and delete an existing RBAC policy.
Step 3	Click Insert new policy.
Step 4	Enter values for the Rule Name, RBAC Group(s), and Permissions fields. You cannot select multiple menu access and data access permissions when creating an RBAC policy.
Step 5	Click Save.

Administrator Access Settings

Cisco ISE allows you to define some rules for administrator accounts to enhance security. You can restrict access to the management interfaces, force administrators to use strong passwords, regularly change their passwords, and so on. The password policy that you define under the Administrator Account Settings in Cisco ISE applies to all administrator accounts.

Cisco ISE supports administrator passwords with UTF-8 characters.

Configure the Maximum Number of Concurrent Administrative Sessions and Login Banners

You can configure the maximum number of concurrent administrative GUI or CLI (SSH) sessions and login banners that help and guide administrators who access your administrative web or CLI interface. You can configure login banners that appear before and after an administrator logs in. By default, these login banners are disabled.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Access > Session.
Step 2	Enter the maximum number of concurrent administrative sessions that you want to allow through the GUI and CLI interfaces. The valid range for concurrent administrative GUI sessions is from 1 to 20. The valid range for concurrent administrative CLI sessions is 1 to 10.
Step 3	If you want Cisco ISE to display a message before an administrator logs in, check the Pre-login banner check box and enter your message in the text box.
Step 4	If you want Cisco ISE to display a message after an administrator logs in, check the Post-login banner check box and enter your message in the text box.
Step 5	Click Save.

Allow Administrative Access to Cisco ISE from Select IP Addresses

Cisco ISE allows you to configure a list of IP addresses from which administrators can access the Cisco ISE management interfaces.

The administrator access control settings are only applicable for Cisco ISE nodes that assume the Administration, Policy Service, or Monitoring personas. These restrictions are replicated from the primary to the secondary nodes.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Access > IP Access.

Step 2

Select Allow only listed IP addresses to connect.

Note

Connection on Port 161 (SNMP) is used for Administrative access. However, when IP Access restrictions are configured, the snmpwalk fails if the node from which it was performed is not configured for Administrative access.

Step 3

From the Configure IP List for Access Restriction area, click Add.

Step 4

Enter IP addresses in the classless interdomain routing (CIDR) format in the IP address field.

Note

This IP address can range from IPv4 and IPv6. You can now configure multiple IPv6 adresses for an ISE node.

Step 5

Enter the subnet mask in the Netmask in CIDR format field.

Step 6

Click OK. Repeat the process to add more IP address ranges to this list.

Step 7

Click Save to save the changes.

Step 8

Click Reset to refresh the IP Access page.

Allow Access to the MnT Section in Cisco ISE

Cisco ISE allows you to configure a list of nodes from which administrators can access the MnT section in Cisco ISE.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Cisco ISE home page, choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Access.

Step 2

Click the MnT Access tab.

Step 3

To allow nodes or entities either within the deployment or outside the deployment to send syslogs to MnT, click the Allow any IP address to connect to MnT radio button. To allow only nodes or entities within the deployment to send syslogs to MnT, click the Allow only the nodes in the deployment to connect to MnT radio button.

Note

For ISE 2.6 P2 and later, Use ISE Messaging Service for UDP Syslogs delivery to MnT is turned on by default which doesn’t allow syslogs coming from any other entities outside of deployment.

Configure a Password Policy for Administrator Accounts

Cisco ISE also allows you to create a password policy for administrator accounts to enhance security. You can define whether you want a password based or client certificate based administrator authentication. The password policy that you define here is applied to all administrator accounts in Cisco ISE.

Note

Email notifications for internal Admin users are sent to root@host. You cannot configure the email address, and many SMTP servers reject this email.

You can follow open defect CSCui5583, which is an enhancement to allow you to change the email address.
Cisco ISE supports administrator passwords with UTF-8 characters.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.
Make sure that the auto-failover configuration, if enabled in your deployment, is turned off. When you change the authentication method, you will be restarting the application server processes. There might be a delay while these services restart. Due to this delay in restart of services, auto-failover of secondary Administration node might get initiated.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Authentication.

Step 2

Select either of these authentication methods:

Password Based—If you want to use the standard user ID and password credentials for an administrator login, choose the Password Based option and specify either the “Internal” or “External” authentication type.

Note

If you have configured an external identity source such as LDAP and want to use that as your authentication source to grant access to the admin user, you must select that particular identity source from the Identity Source list box.

Client Certificate Based—If you want to specify a certificate-based policy, choose the Client Certificate Based option, and select an existing Certificate Authentication Profile.

Step 3

Click the Password Policy tab and enter the values.

Step 4

Click Save to save the administrator password policy.

Note

If you are using an external identity store to authenticate administrators at login, remember that even if this setting is configured for the password policy applied to the administrator profile, the external identity store will still validate the administrator’s username and password.

Configure Account Disable Policy for Administrator Accounts

Cisco ISE allows you to disable the administrator account if the administrator account is not authenticated for the configured consecutive number of days.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Authentication > Account Disable Policy.

Step 2

Check the Disable account after n days of inactivity check box and enter the number of days.

This option allows you to disable the administrator account if the administrator account was inactive for the consecutive number of days. However, you can exclude individual administrator account from this account disable policy using the Inactive Account Never Disabled option available at Administration > System > Admin Access > Administrators > Admin Users.

Step 3

Click Save to configure the global account disable policy for administrators.

Configure Lock or Suspend Settings for Administrator Accounts

Cisco ISE allows you to lock or suspend administrator accounts (including password-based Internal Admin accounts and certificate-based Admin accounts) that have more than a specified number of failed login attempts.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Authentication > Lock/Suspend Settings.

Step 2

Check the Suspend or Lock Account With Incorrect Login Attempts check box and enter the number of failed attempts after which action should be taken. The valid range is between 3 and 20.

Suspend Account For n Minutes—Select this option to suspend an account that exceeds a specified number of incorrect login attempts. The valid range is between 15 and 1440.
Lock Account—Select this option to lock an account that exceeds a specified number of incorrect login attempts.

You can enter a custom e-mail remediation message, such as asking the end user to contact helpdesk to unlock the account.

Note

The Lock/Suspend settings were available in the Password Policy tab in the earlier releases of Cisco ISE.

Configure Session Timeout for Administrators

Cisco ISE allows you to determine the length of time an administration GUI session can be inactive and still remain connected. You can specify a time in minutes after which Cisco ISE logs out the administrator. After a session timeout, the administrator must log in again to access the Cisco ISE Admin portal.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Session > Session Timeout.
Step 2	Enter the time in minutes that you want Cisco ISE to wait before it logs out the administrator if there is no activity. The default value is 60 minutes. The valid range is from 6 to 100 minutes.
Step 3	Click Save.

Terminate an Active Administrative Session

Cisco ISE displays all active administrative sessions from which you can select any session and terminate at any point of time, if a need to do so arises. The maximum number of concurrent administrative GUI sessions is 20. If the maximum number of GUI sessions is reached, an administrator who belongs to the super admin group can log in and terminate some of the sessions.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Choose Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Session > Session Info.
Step 2	Check the check box next to the session ID that you want to terminate and click Invalidate.

Change Administrator Name

Cisco ISE allows you to change your username from the GUI.

Before you begin

To perform the following task, you must be a Super Admin or System Admin.

Procedure

Step 1	Log in to the Admin portal.
Step 2	Click your username that appears as a link at the upper right corner of the Cisco ISE UI.
Step 3	Enter the new username in the Admin User page that appears.
Step 4	Edit any other details about your account that you want to change.
Step 5	Click Save.

Admin Access Settings

These pages enable you to configure access settings for administrators.

Administrator Password Policy Settings

The following table describes the fields on the Administrator Password Policy window, which you can use to define a criteria that administrator passwords should meet. The navigation path for this window is:Administration > System > Admin Access > Authentication > Password Policy.

Table 20. Administrator Password Policy Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Minimum Length	Specifies the minimum length of the password (in characters). The default is six characters.
Password must not contain	Admin name or its characters in reverse order: Check this check box to restrict the use of the administrator username or its characters in reverse order.
	"cisco" or its characters in reverse order: Check this check box to restrict the use of the word “cisco” or its characters in the reverse order.
	This word or its characters in reverse order: Check this check box to restrict the use of any word that you define or its characters in the reverse order.
	Repeated characters four or more times consecutively: Check this check box to restrict the use of repeated characters four or more times consecutively.
	Dictionary words, their characters in reverse order or their letters replaced with other characters: Check this check box to restrict the use of dictionary words, their characters in reverse order or their letters replaced with other characters. Substitution of "$" for "s", "@" for "a", "0" for "o", "1" for "l", "!" for "i", "3" for "e" is not permitted. For example, Pa$$w0rd Default Dictionary: Choose this option to use the default Linux dictionary in Cisco ISE. The default dictionary contains approximately 480,000 English words. By default, this option is selected. Custom Dictionary: Choose this option to use your customized dictionary. Click Browse to select the custom dictionary file. The text file must be of newline-delimited words, .dic extension, and size less than 20 MB.
Password must contain at least one character of each of the selected types	Specifies that the administrator password must contain at least one character of the type that you choose from the following choices: Lowercase alphabetic characters Uppercase alphabetic characters Numeric characters Non-alphanumeric characters
Password History	Specifies the number of previous passwords from which the new password must be different to prevent the repeated use of the same password. Also, specifies the number of characters that must be different from the previous password. Enter the number of days before which you cannot reuse a password.
Password Lifetime	Specifies the following options to force users to change passwords after a specified time period: Time (in days) before the administrator account is disabled if the password is not changed. (The allowable range is 0 to 2,147,483,647 days.) Reminder (in days) before the administrator account is disabled.
Display Network Device Sensitive Data
Require Admin Password	Check this check box if you want the admin user to enter the login password to view network device sensitive data such as shared secrets and passwords.
Password cached for	The password that is entered by the admin user is cached for this time period. The admin user will not be prompted to enter the password again during this period to view the network device sensitive data. The valid range is from 1 to 60 minutes.

Session Timeout and Session Information Settings

The following table describes the fields in the Session window, which you can use to define session timeout and terminate an active administrative session. The navigation path for this window is:Administration > System > Admin Access > Settings > Session.

Table 21. Session Timeout and Session Info Settings
Field Name	Usage Guidelines
Session Timeout
Session Idle Timeout	Enter the time in minutes that you want Cisco ISE to wait before it logs out the administrator if there is no activity. The default value is 60 minutes. The valid range is from 6 to 100 minutes.
Session Info
Invalidate	Check the check box next to the session ID that you want to terminate and click Invalidate.

Bias-Free Language

Results

Chapter: Basic Setup

Basic Setup

Administration Portal

Cisco ISE Home Dashboards

Configuring Home Dashboards

Context Visibility Views

Attributes in Context Visibility

The Application Dashboard

The Hardware Dashboard

Dashlets

Filtering Displayed Data in a View

Create Custom Filters

Procedure

Filter Data by Conditions Using the Advanced Filter

Procedure

Filter Data by Field Attributes Using the Quick Filter

Procedure

Endpoint Actions in a View’s List

Cisco ISE Dashboard

Cisco ISE Internationalization and Localization

Supported Languages

End-User Web Portal Localization

Support for UTF-8 Character Data Entry

UTF-8 Credential Authentication

UTF-8 Policies and Posture Assessment

UTF-8 Support for Messages Sent to Supplicant

Reports and Alerts UTF-8 Support

UTF-8 Character Support in the Portals

UTF-8 Support Outside the Cisco ISE User Interface

Debug Log and CLI-Related UTF-8 Support

Cisco Secure ACS Migration UTF-8 Support

Support for Importing and Exporting UTF-8 Values

UTF-8 Support on REST

UTF-8 Support for Identity Stores Authorization Data

MAC Address Normalization

Cisco ISE Deployment Upgrade

Administrator Access Console

Procedure

Administrator Login Browser Support

Administrator Lockout Due to Failed Login Attempts

Configure Proxy Settings in Cisco ISE

Procedure

Ports Used by the Administration Portal

Enable External RESTful Services Application Programming Interface

Procedure

Enable External AD Access for External RESTful Services Application Programming Interface

Procedure

External RESTful Services Software Development Kit

Specify System Time and Network Time Protocol Server Settings

Before you begin

Procedure

Change the System Time Zone

Configure SMTP Server to Support Notifications

Procedure

Federal Information Processing Standard Mode Support

Enable Federal Information Processing Standard Mode in Cisco ISE

Procedure

What to do next

Configure Cisco ISE for Administrator Common Access Card Authentication

Before you begin

Procedure

Supported Common Access Card Standards

Common Access Card Operation in Cisco ISE

Secure SSH Key Exchange Using Diffie-Hellman Algorithm

Configure Cisco ISE to Send Secure Syslog

Before you begin

Procedure

Configure Secure Syslog Remote Logging Target

Procedure

Remote Logging Target Settings

Enable Logging Categories to Send Auditable Events to the Secure Syslog Target

Procedure

Configure Logging Categories

Disable TCP Syslog and UDP Syslog Collectors

Procedure

Default Secure Syslog Collector

Offline Maintenance