# ISE personas: who writes, who answers RADIUS, who keeps the log Source: https://ai.techclick.in/blog_cisco_ise_personas_pan_psn_mnt Markdown: https://ai.techclick.in/blog_cisco_ise_personas_pan_psn_mnt.md Publisher: Techclick Infosec Pvt Ltd ISE is personas, not one box. PAN writes policy, PSN answers RADIUS, MnT holds Live Logs. Dummy lab 10.10.10.20–22. ## The ticket Switch sw-access-01 cannot reach RADIUS. Chat says “ISE is down.” The Admin GUI on 10.10.10.20 still opens. Live Logs are empty because you are not on MnT. The PSN at 10.10.10.21 is the one that answers UDP 1812. Quick interview answer PAN (Policy Administration Node) is where you write policy. PSN (Policy Service Node) is the RADIUS/TACACS brain the switch talks to. MnT stores logs and Live Logs. pxGrid shares context with firewalls and others. Official ISE 3.3: a node assumes Administration, Policy Service, Monitoring, and/or pxGrid personas. MnT does not take over PAN if PAN is down. Hero · four jobs The switch never talks to the Admin GUI. It talks to the PSN. Lab data · dummy only PAN ise-pan 10.10.10.20 · PSN ise-psn1 10.10.10.21 · MnT ise-mnt 10.10.10.22 · NAD sw-access-01 10.10.10.2 · AD dc01 10.20.30.10 · Priya 10.20.30.80 TECHCLICK\priya.hr · printer 10.20.30.60 . Not a live customer. ## Four personas Cisco’s deployment guide: the persona decides the services on that node. Admin portal menus change with the persona. Persona What it does This lab If it dies PAN Write/publish policy, join AD, certs 10.10.10.20 Policy still runs on PSN; you cannot edit until PAN is back PSN RADIUS, guest, posture, profiling 10.10.10.21 New authentications fail on NADs pointed here MnT Log collector, Live Logs, reports 10.10.10.22 Auth may still work; you go blind pxGrid Share session/SGT with partners on PAN in this lab Firewall/Forescout stop getting ISE context Who talks to whom Switch to PSN, admin to PAN, logs to MnT Switch NAD UDP 1812 PSN .21 answers RADIUS - PAN .20 you write policy MnT .22 Live Logs Rebooting PAN because RADIUS timed out is the wrong box. Say this out loud Admin GUI is not the RADIUS server. Live Logs live on MnT. The switch only cares about the PSN IP in radius server . ## Standalone vs distributed ISE 3.3: a node can run several personas. Lab often puts all on one VM. Production: dedicated PAN pair, dedicated MnT (Cisco recommends not combining MnT + PSN for optimum monitoring), one or more PSN groups behind the NADs. https://ise-pan.techclick-lab.in/admin Training mock · not live ISE Admin Context Visibility Operations Policy Administration Administration → System → Deployment ### Node ise-psn1 Hostname ise-psn1 Personas Policy Service Profiling On Node status Connected Cancel Save ISE 3.3 Deployment guide — personas Administration / Policy Service / Monitoring / pxGrid. Training mock. ## How you see it #### Side A — NAD test aaa group radius TECHCLICK\priya.hr LabPass new-code on the switch. This hits the PSN, not the GUI. - #### Side B — PAN Administration → System → Deployment. Every node green. PAN is Primary. - #### Side C — MnT Operations → RADIUS → Live Logs. If this GUI is empty but test aaa works, you are on the wrong node or MnT is sick — not “policy is gone.” Switch · dummy show aaa servers # RADIUS: 10.10.10.21 (PSN) State: UP test aaa group radius TECHCLICK\priya.hr LabPass new-code # User rejected / User successfully authenticated # This never prints the PAN IP. If it hangs, debug the PSN path. ## Four persona failures ### 1 · GUI up, RADIUS dead PAN is fine. PSN process or UDP 1812/1813 path is not. ### 2 · RADIUS works, Live Logs empty MnT or logging target. Do not republish the whole policy first. ### 3 · PAN down, people panic Existing policy stays on the PSN. You cannot edit. That is not an access outage by itself. ### 4 · Combined node in production One reboot takes admin, RADIUS, and logs. Fine for this lab. Not for HQ. ## How to prove it Close the ticket only when 1) You named the sick persona. 2) test aaa hits 10.10.10.21. 3) Live Logs show that test. 4) You did not reboot PAN for a PSN outage. ## Traps Symptom Persona Wrong fix GUI login fails PAN / admin cert Reload every PSN Ports fail open/closed PSN / NAD RADIUS Rebuild policy sets No Live Logs MnT “ISE is down” ## Knowledge check Judgment items. One best answer. Reasons send you back to the matching section. Q1 The access switch sends RADIUS to which persona? PAN PSN MnT only pxGrid Correct: b . PSN is Policy Service — RADIUS. Q2 PAN is down. What still works? Nothing PSNs keep enforcing the last published policy You can still edit policy on MnT pxGrid becomes PAN Correct: b . PDF + ISE 3.3: MnT cannot take over PAN. Q3 Live Logs GUI is hosted on… Every PSN equally Primary PAN only, always The Monitoring (MnT) persona The switch Correct: c . Traps: PSNs do not host the Live Logs GUI. Q4 Cisco recommends not combining which two for optimum monitoring? MnT and PSN PAN and certificates NAD and AD Guest and MAB Correct: a . ISE 3.3 deployment guide. Q5 test aaa hangs. GUI on 10.10.10.20 is fine. First box? Reboot PAN PSN / UDP 1812 path Delete policy sets Disable AD Correct: b . Failure 1. Q6 pxGrid is for… Replacing RADIUS Sharing ISE context with other security products Switch IOS upgrades DHCP only Correct: b . Concept table. Check answers Reset Cisco ISE class series: Personas · First day · NAD + RADIUS · Policy sets · Wired 802.1X · MAB · CWA / guest · Profiling · dACL vs VLAN · Live logs · vs Forescout · Interview ## Sources - ISE 3.3 Deployment — personas Administration, Policy Service, Monitoring, pxGrid . - Techclick lab PDF Cisco ISE Identity-Based Network Access Control — persona impact, MnT ≠ PAN failover. Related: ISE evidence desk · session factory · Forescout series . --- Cite this Techclick lesson with the source URL. 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