Cisco pxGrid Cloud Solution Guide

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Connect Cisco ISE to Cisco pxGrid Cloud

Updated: April 10, 2026

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Overview

Learn how to connect your Cisco ISE deployment to Cisco pxGrid Cloud from the Cisco ISE GUI.

After the pxGrid Cloud service is enabled, you must register your Cisco ISE deployment in Cisco pxGrid Cloud and generate an authentication token.

Procedure

1.

In the Cisco ISE GUI, go to Administration > pxGrid Services > Client Management > pxGrid Cloud Connection.

2.

Click Setup Connection.
3.

Enter the OTP in the Setup Connection page, and click Connect. Refer to Register Cisco ISE for instructions on how to obtain the OTP.

The connection setup includes these steps:

  1. Enrollment: A request is sent to Cisco pxGrid Cloud to enroll the Cisco ISE deployment using the authentication token. When you successfully complete this step, the pxGrid Cloud agent starts on the Active node in the Cisco ISE deployment.

  2. pxGrid Connection: The pxGrid Cloud agent establishes a persistent connection to the pxGrid component running locally on the same Cisco ISE node. All pxGrid notifications from Cisco ISE are sent to the pxGrid Cloud agent using this connection.

  3. Cloud Connection: The pxGrid Cloud agent establishes a persistent connection to Cisco pxGrid Cloud and sets up the logical channels. These logical channels are used to receive the ERS and pxGrid requests from Cisco pxGrid Cloud, and to send pxGrid notifications to Cisco pxGrid Cloud.
You can view the connection setup progress in the pxGrid Cloud Connection page. After the steps complete, the status displays as Connected and displays the name of the active pxGrid node. .

To end the pxGrid Cloud connection, click Disconnect in the pxGrid Cloud Connection page. This disconnects the Cisco ISE deployment from Cisco pxGrid Cloud and ends the pxGrid Cloud agent on the Active node.

When the Cisco ISE deployment is connected to Cisco pxGrid Cloud, the pxGrid Cloud agent (called Hermes process) is listed in the output of the show application status ise CLI command.

Cisco pxGrid Cloud and Cisco ISE integration

To enable connectivity between a Cisco ISE deployment and Cisco pxGrid Cloud, the pxGrid Cloud option must be activated on one or two pxGrid nodes in the Cisco ISE deployment. If you have configured high availability for pxGrid nodes, one of the nodes acts as the Active node and the other acts as the Standby node. The Standby node assumes the role if the Active node fails.

Only the Active node establishes connection to Cisco pxGrid Cloud and handles the traffic between the Cisco ISE deployment and Cisco pxGrid Cloud. No other Cisco ISE node interacts with Cisco pxGrid Cloud.

The pxGrid Cloud agent acts as a bridge between Cisco ISE and Cisco pxGrid Cloud. A pxGrid Cloud application can subscribe to a pxGrid topic. The pxGrid Cloud agent in Cisco ISE learns about this subscription from Cisco pxGrid Cloud and establishes the actual subscription to the pxGrid service in Cisco ISE. When the agent receives a notification on the pxGrid topic, it forwards the notification to Cisco pxGrid Cloud over a logical channel dedicated to the pxGrid service. The pxGrid Cloud application can invoke ERS, pxGrid, and OpenAPIs within the Cisco ISE deployment. The pxGrid Cloud agent proxies a REST request from Cisco pxGrid Cloud to Cisco ISE, and returns the response to Cisco pxGrid Cloud.

Cisco ISE customers with a pxGrid Cloud subscription can register their deployment with Cisco pxGrid Cloud and use the applications in the offer. To do this, you must:

  1. Acquire and activate the pxGrid Cloud subscription.

  2. Enable the pxGrid Cloud service on one or two pxGrid nodes in the Cisco ISE deployment.

  3. Register the Cisco ISE deployment with Cisco pxGrid Cloud (associating it with the subscription) and receive an authentication token.

  4. Enter the authentication token in the Setup Connection page in Cisco ISE (Administration > pxGrid Services > Client Management > pxGrid Cloud Connection).

    This activates the pxGrid Cloud agent on the Active pxGrid node and establishes a connection between the Cisco ISE deployment and Cisco pxGrid Cloud.

  5. Select a Cisco pxGrid Cloud application from the offer and associate it with the subscription. The application then has access to the Cisco ISE deployment.