Day 130 – Cisco ISE Mastery Training: Non‑Cisco Switch & WLC Integration

[Day 130] Cisco ISE Mastery Training: Non‑Cisco Switch & WLC Integration

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Mixed vendor environments are the norm — Aruba switches and controllers in some buildings, Juniper edge switches in another, Ruckus controllers in wireless zones, and maybe a small Cisco footprint. Cisco ISE must act as the central RADIUS and policy engine across all of them. That’s simple in concept but messy in practice: each vendor expects different RADIUS attributes (VSAs), CoA behaviours, redirect mechanics for captive-portals, and HA/cluster semantics.

This Article converts that mess into a repeatable engineering process. You’ll learn exactly how to:

  • Register non-Cisco NADs in ISE (with the correct device profiles).
  • Map ISE Authorization Profiles to vendor VSAs and expected attribute formats.
  • Configure non-Cisco switches and WLCs to accept dynamic actions (RFC-3576 CoA).
  • Validate with ISE Live Logs, NAD CLI, and packet captures.
  • Troubleshoot the top 10 real world failures.

By the end of this Article you will be able to design, deploy and debug ISE working reliably across Aruba, Juniper and Ruckus — confidently.

Problem Statement

Real challenges this topic solves:

  • Attribute mismatch — ISE sends attributes in one format; the NAD expects another (role names, VLAN names vs IDs, vendor VSAs).
  • Dynamic Auth (CoA) incompatibility — differing default CoA ports, NAT/firewall issues and cluster addressing cause CoA to fail.
  • Portal/Redirect quirks — captive portal redirect behavior differs across controllers (WLC vs Ruckus vs Aruba).
  • Troubleshooting complexity — three different systems produce separate logs and different error messages; engineers waste time chasing symptoms.

We will eliminate guesswork with a prescriptive configuration, validation checklist, and troubleshooting playbook.

Solution Overview

High-level approach:

  1. ISE as single policy engine: Add every NAD with the correct Network Device Profile, shared secret and CoA settings.
  2. Vendor mapping layer: Build Authorization Profiles that emit vendor-specific VSAs (Aruba, Juniper, Ruckus) and numeric vs name VLAN attributes.
  3. NAD configuration: Enable RADIUS auth/accounting + dynamic authorization (RFC-3576) on each switch/controller and match ports.
  4. Validation & observability: Use triple view — ISE Live Logs, NAD CLI/debug, and packet capture — to confirm behavior.
  5. Automation & orchestration: Use ISE REST APIs / Monitoring APIs for scripted CoA during incidents.

This workbook teaches each step with copy-paste CLI and GUI checkpoints.

Sample Lab Topology

Platform: VMware or EVE-NG (recommended: EVE-NG for mixed vendor images).

Appliances/VMs

  • Cisco ISE PAN + PSN (ISE 3.x recommended) — PAN: 10.10.10.10, PSN: 10.10.10.11.
  • Aruba AOS-CX switch VM — 10.10.30.20.
  • Aruba Mobility Controller (optional) — 10.10.30.21.
  • Juniper EX Virtual Switch (vQFX/EX) — 10.10.30.30.
  • Ruckus vSZ or SmartZone (wireless controller) — 10.10.30.40.
  • Windows 10 client (wired) — 172.16.110.10.
  • Wireless client (smartphone) — DHCP from guest networks.
  • Lab host for packet captures/automation — 10.10.99.50.

IP plan (example)

  • ISE PAN: 10.10.10.10
  • ISE PSN: 10.10.10.11
  • Aruba switch: 10.10.30.20
  • Juniper switch: 10.10.30.30
  • Ruckus controller: 10.10.30.40
  • Client VLAN (Guest): 172.16.110.0/24

Topology diagram:

Notes

  • Ensure ISE PSN IP is reachable from NADs for CoA (use PSN real IP, not LB VIP).
  • If simulating WLCs, use vendor virtual controller images; otherwise emulate via vendor CLI features available in EVE-NG.

Step-by-Step GUI Configuration Guide

Phase 1 — ISE: Add NADs & Device Profiles

1.1 — Add network device profile (if not present)

  1. ISE GUI → Administration > Network Resources > Network Device Profiles
  2. Confirm Aruba, Juniper and Ruckus profiles exist. If not, Add a profile and set Vendor and default CoA port.
    • [Screenshot: ISE Network Device Profiles]

1.2 — Add each network device

  1. ISE GUI → Administration > Network Resources > Network Devices > Add
  2. For Aruba AOS-CX:
    • Name: Aruba-AOSCX-1
    • IP: 10.10.30.20
    • Device Profile: Aruba
    • Shared Secret: ISE_SECRET
    • Check Radius Authentication & Radius Accounting and Enable CoA/Dynamic Authorization (if option present).
    • [Screenshot: ISE Add Network Device — Aruba]
  1. Repeat for Juniper and Ruckus with correct profile and secret.
  2. Save and Test (use the Test tab where available to check reachability — ISE will do a RADIUS test).

Validation: On ISE: Operations > Network Devices → newly added devices listed. Confirm no certificate/secure channel errors.

Phase 2 — ISE: Authorization Profiles (Vendor VSA Mapping)

2.1 — Build Authorization Profiles for each vendor

  1. ISE GUI → Policy > Policy Elements > Results > Authorization > Authorization Profiles > Add
  2. Aruba_Full_Access: Access Type ACCESS_ACCEPT → Common Tasks: VLAN Name set to CORP_VLAN or use Aruba role attribute: Add Attribute:Aruba-User-Role = “employee”.
    • [Screenshot: ISE Authorization Profile — Aruba]
  1. Juniper_Full_Access: Access Type ACCESS_ACCEPT → Add VSA: Juniper-Local-User-Role = Staff OR Juniper-Switching-Filter attribute with filter name.
    • [Screenshot: ISE Authorization Profile — Juniper]
  2. Ruckus_Full_Access: Add Ruckus VSA like Ruckus-User-Role = employee or send Tunnel-attributes based on controller expectations.

Validation: On ISE, use Preview or test RADIUS reply tool to see resulting Access-Accept attributes and verify VSAs are included.

Phase 3 — ISE: Policy Set & Authentication/Authorization Flow

3.1 — Create Policy Set for mixed devices

  1. ISE GUI → Policy > Policy Sets > Add → MixedVendor_Policy
  2. Condition: Internal Users or Network Device Group equals Mixed-Vendor-NADs.
  3. Authentication: EAP methods (EAP-TLS + PEAP) and fallback MAB.
    • [Screenshot: ISE Policy Set – Authentication]
  1. Authorization: Create rules ordering by NAD type:
    • If Network Device == Aruba AND Authentication == EAP-TLS → Aruba_Full_Access
    • If Network Device == Juniper AND Authentication == MAB → Juniper_Quarantine
    • Else default → BYOD_Onboarding
    • [Screenshot: ISE Policy Set – Authorization]

Validation: Use test clients to trigger each rule and confirm chosen profile in Operations > Live Logs.

Phase 4 — Configure Aruba AOS-CX (sample CLI)

Goal: Configure RADIUS auth/accounting and RFC-3576 dynamic auth (CoA) on Aruba AOS-CX.

# Configure RADIUS server
configure terminal
radius server ISE
  host 10.10.10.11
  key ISE_SECRET
  port 1812
  accounting-port 1813
exit

# Configure AAA and associate RADIUS server group
aaa authentication-server radius ISE-SRV
  server 10.10.10.11
  key ISE_SECRET
exit

aaa authentication port-access-method default radius
aaa authorization port-access default radius

# Configure RFC-3576 (dynamic auth) server entry
aaa rfc-3576-server ISE-COA
  host 10.10.10.11
  key ISE_SECRET
  port 3799
exit

write memory

Validation CLI

show radius statistics
show aaa rfc-3576-server
show authentication sessions interface GigabitEthernet1/0/10

Expect: RADIUS counters, RFC-3576 server configured, and auth session details.

Phase 5 — Configure Juniper EX (sample Junos)

Goal: Configure RADIUS + dynamic requests on Junos (CoA).

configure
set system services radius-server 10.10.10.11 secret ISE_SECRET
set system services radius-server 10.10.10.11 port 1812
set system services radius-server 10.10.10.11 accounting-port 1813

# enable dynamic-requests (CoA)
set access radius-server ISE address 10.10.10.11 secret ISE_SECRET dynamic-requests true
set access radius-server ISE dynamic-request-port 3799
commit

Validation CLI

show configuration access
show log radius
show authentication sessions

Expect: radius server entries and dynamic request enabled.

Phase 6 — Configure Ruckus SmartZone (example instructions)

Goal: Add ISE as RADIUS server and enable CoA.

  1. GUI → Configuration > Authentication > RADIUS Servers → Add ISE 10.10.10.11 with shared secret.
  2. GUI → Configuration > Authentication > Dynamic Authorization (CoA) → Add ISE as CoA server with port 3799.
    • [Screenshot: Ruckus SmartZone RADIUS + CoA settings]

Validation: Use SmartZone CLI or GUI to view active sessions and CoA counters.

Phase 7 — Configure Captive-Portal Redirects on Non-Cisco Controllers

Aruba Controller (ArubaOS)

  • Configure WebAuth/Guest captive portal with redirect URL to ISE or a cloud portal and ensure the Redirect ACL allows the portal IP and DNS. Use show portal to validate.

Ruckus

  • Under configuration for WLAN → Web Authentication, set redirect URL and ensure controller allows portal host via firewall rules.

Validation:

  • Connect unauthenticated client, open web browser, expect redirect to portal. On ISE Live Logs you should see Access-Reject with redirect attributes or WLC/Controller performing redirect.

Phase 8 — CoA / Disconnect Testing

  1. Authenticate a client (MAB or 802.1X) and capture session.
  2. ISE Live Logs → open session → Take Action → Reauthenticate or Disconnect.
  3. On specific NAD CLI (Aruba / Juniper / Ruckus) run debug to watch CoA traffic.

Packet capture (lab host)

sudo tcpdump -i eth0 udp and \(port 3799 or port 1700\) -w coa.pcap

Open in Wireshark — look for Radius CoA-Request and CoA-Ack.

Troubleshooting & Diagnostics (vendor-specific)

A — General checks (always first)

  • Confirm shared secret between ISE network device entry and NAD config.
  • Verify CoA port (1700 vs 3799) configured and allowed through firewall.
  • Ensure ISE PSN IP is reachable (CoA must target PSN IP, not PAN VIP).
  • NTP time sync across ISE, NAD, and clients.

B — ISE side checks (GUI/CLI)

  1. Live Logs (Operations > RADIUS > Live Logs) — locate the session and inspect attributes & Action history. [Screenshot: ISE Live Logs]
  2. Monitoring > Nodes — verify PSN health and communication.
  3. Debug logs on PSN (only during lab): enable debug logging for RADIUS and Monitoring services (be careful in prod). Use ISE logs in /var/log/ if you have shell access (lab only).

C — Aruba diagnostics (CLI)

Useful commands

show radius statistics
show authentication sessions interface Gi1/0/10
show aaa rfc-3576-server
show eventlog | match radius

If CoA not arriving: capture on Aruba management interface:

sudo tcpdump -i mgmt0 udp and port 3799 -w /tmp/coa_aruba.pcap

Common fixes:

  • Recreate aaa rfc-3576-server entry; ensure the key matches ISE.
  • For controller clusters, ensure CoA target is reachable from ISE (cluster IP vs node IP).

D — Juniper diagnostics (CLI)

Useful commands

show log radiusd
show authentication sessions
show system connections | match 3799
monitor traffic interface <if> matching "udp port 3799"

Common fixes:

  • Ensure dynamic-requests is enabled in access config.
  • If NAK returned, inspect show log radiusd for Error-Cause. Junos often reports attribute parsing errors.

E — Ruckus diagnostics

Useful GUI/CLI

  • GUI sessions view for client, CoA counters.
  • CLI capture: tcpdump on controller to see 3799 packets.
  • Controller logs show CoA acceptance or rejection.

F — Packet capture approach (wire sniff)

  • Capture between ISE PSN and NAD (preferred). Filter: udp.port == 3799 || udp.port == 1700 || radius.
  • Inspect RADIUS CoA-Request attributes: ensure NAS-IP-Address or NAS-Identifier corresponds to NAD and that VSAs are correctly present.

Lab Walkthroughs with Validation (scenarios + commands)

Walkthrough 1 — Aruba AOS-CX wired 802.1X + CoA reauth

Steps

  1. Configure Aruba as shown (Phase 4).
  2. Configure switchport for dot1x and MAB fallback.
  3. Authenticate Windows client with 802.1X (PEAP). Confirm Access-Accept with Aruba-User-Role=guest on ISE Live Logs.
  4. From ISE Live Logs, change authorization to Aruba_Full_Access and Take Action → Reauthenticate.
  5. On Aruba:
show authentication sessions interface Gi1/0/10 details
show aaa rfc-3576-server
  1. Validate: session now shows new role/VLAN. Packet capture shows CoA-Request and CoA-Ack.

Expected outputs

  • ISE Live Logs: CoA Sent then CoA Ack.
  • Aruba: Authentication Session shows new VLAN/role.

Walkthrough 2 — Ruckus wireless guest redirect + ISE guest portal

Steps

  1. Add ISE as RADIUS + CoA server in SmartZone.
  2. Configure guest WLAN with WebAuth redirect to ISE portal.
  3. Connect smartphone to guest SSID; open browser → redirected to portal.
  4. Complete guest flow; ISE issues Authorization Profile with Ruckus-User-Role=guest.
  5. Validate on SmartZone GUI that user session has guest role and on ISE Live Logs access accepted.

Commands / Checks

  • SmartZone GUI: Clients → find MAC & role.
  • ISE: Live Logs show Access-Accept with Ruckus VSA.

Expert Level Use Cases (step-by-step mapping + validation)

Use Case A — Cross-Vendor Incident Containment (SOC integration)

  1. SOC detects suspicious MAC on Juniper switch.
  2. Automation calls ISE Monitoring API to Disconnect session.
  3. ISE sends CoA Disconnect to both Juniper and Aruba (if client is multihomed).
  4. Validate: show authentication sessions on both NADs shows session removed. Packet captures show CoA-Request/ACK.

Validation: ISE Monitoring API returns success, NAD session tables cleared.

Use Case B — Vendor Migration (Aruba → Juniper) with staged cutover

  1. Add Juniper devices to ISE and create device group NewVendor.
  2. Write Authorization Profiles for Juniper with equivalent VSAs.
  3. Cutover a small set of ports; verify auth & CoA behaviors.
  4. Load test CoA bursts for scale and watch NAD CPU.

Validation: Functional parity on test set, no regressions on CoA.

Use Case C — Central Guest Portal, local controllers

  1. Host guest portal centrally (cloud). Controllers (Ruckus/Aruba) redirect to portal. Portal calls ISE ERS API to create guest and ISE issues CoA to controller to lift redirect.
  2. Validate: ERS API call logs, ISE Live Logs with guest created, controller receives CoA and client can access internet.

Validation: ERS POST returns 201, ISE guest record present.

FAQs

Q1 — Which CoA UDP port should I open, 1700 or 3799?

Answer:

  • Juniper, Aruba, Ruckus typically use 3799 (RFC-3576). Cisco historically used 1700 in old gear. Use the port configured on the NAD (aaa rfc-3576-server ... port <n> or vendor default) and open that UDP port between ISE PSN and NAD. Always confirm both sides match.

Validation: show aaa rfc-3576-server (Aruba), show system services radius (Juniper), tcpdump for 3799.

Q2 — ISE says “CoA Sent” but NAD ignored it. Why?

Answer:
Common causes: shared secret mismatch, CoA targeted wrong IP (PSN vs VIP), NAT/firewall blocking, or NAD not configured to accept dynamic requests. Packet capture on NAD will show nothing if packets are blocked. If NAD NAKs, inspect the Error-Cause field in the RADIUS NAK.

Validation: run tcpdump at NAD for 3799; check show log radius or event logs. On ISE Live Logs check CoA Sent and timestamp.

Q3 — How do I send vendor VSAs from ISE (example: Juniper filter)?

Answer:
Create Authorization Profiles that include Vendor Specific Attributes (VSA). In ISE GUI add an attribute with vendor ID and attribute name/value (e.g., Juniper-Local-User-Role). Test the RADIUS reply preview to ensure VSAs are present and correctly formatted.

Validation: capture Access-Accept and inspect VSAs in Wireshark.

Q4 — Should I configure NADs with the ISE VIP or PSN IP for CoA?

Answer:
Use the ISE PSN real IP for CoA. The PSN that handled the session owns the session state; sending CoA to a VIP/load-balanced IP may not hit the right PSN. Document PSN IPs and use those for CoA. Some deployments use dynamic routing to ensure CoA reaches correct PSN.

Validation: ISE Live Logs show CoA Ack only when sent to correct PSN; if not, CoA returns NAK or is dropped.

Q5 — How do I test vendor specific behavior without changing production?

Answer:
Build a lab with virtualized NAD images (EVE-NG) or use a dedicated test VLAN. Use radclient to craft Access-Accept with vendor VSAs and verify NAD parsing. Use packet captures and NAD debug logs to inspect behavior.

Validation: radclient simulated RADIUS flows and NAD debug outputs.

Q6 — How do redirect / captive portal flows differ across vendors?

Answer:

  • Aruba controllers implement built-in captive portal with redirect ACL names and expected attributes.
  • Ruckus uses controller webauth redirect tied to WLAN config.
  • Juniper EX often relies on switches to support redirect via controller or external portal.
    Each vendor requires specific redirect ACL formats and allowed traffic for DNS/portal access. Test DNS resolution & HTTP reachability from client during redirect.

Validation: client browser is redirected; ISE Live Logs show Access-Reject with redirect attributes if centralized web auth used.

Q7 — Do non-Cisco controllers support downloadable ACLs (dACLs)?

Answer:
Many do, but implementation varies: Aruba uses roles that map to ACLs on controller; Juniper uses firewall filters; Ruckus uses role-based ACLs. ISE can send role names or VSAs — NAD must have preconfigured ACLs/filters for the role name.

Validation: After Access-Accept, verify the client is constrained by ACL by attempting blocked/allowed traffic and checking NAD role/ACL mapping.

Q8 — What are common CoA failure error codes and fixes?

Answer:

  • NAK: Invalid Request — Attribute missing or malformed — check VSAs.
  • NAK: Unknown NAS — NAS-IP-Address mismatch — ensure NAS IP matches NAD config or use NAS-Identifier.
  • Timeout — firewall/NAT blocking or NAD not listening on configured port.
    Fix by correcting attributes, secrets, and networking.

Validation: packet capture reveals Error-Cause attribute in CoA-NAK.

Q9 — How to scale CoA across many NADs?

Answer:
Test ISE PSN capacity for CoA bursts; throttle automation so you don’t overwhelm NAD CPUs. Maintain NAD health monitoring and stagger CoA commands. Use monitoring APIs to check PSN queue depth.

Validation: run load tests in lab and monitor CPU/CoA queue.

Q10 — Live class demo: fastest way to demonstrate CoA working?

Answer:

  1. Authenticate client to Guest VLAN (MAB).
  2. On ISE Live Logs, select session → Take Action → Reauthenticate (or Disconnect).
  3. At NAD CLI run show authentication sessions and watch change. Capture packets for 3799 to show CoA-Request and CoA-Ack. This triple view is compact and convincing.

YouTube Link

For more in-depth Cisco ISE Mastery Training, subscribe to my YouTube channel Network Journey and join my instructor-led classes for hands-on, real-world ISE experience

[NEW COURSE ALERT] CISCO ISE (Identity Service Engine) by Sagar Dhawan
CCIE Security v6.1 Training – Ticket#1 Discussed
CCIE Security v6.1 – MAC Authentication Bypass (MAB) in Cisco ISE
CCNP to CCIE SECURITY v6.1 – New Online Batch

Closing Notes

  • Mixed-vendor ISE deployments are not mysterious — they require discipline: correct device profiles in ISE, exact mapping of Authorization Profiles to vendor expectations, precise NAD configuration for RADIUS/CoA, and a consistent validation workflow (ISE Live Logs + NAD CLI + packet capture).
  • Common failures are networking/mismatch issues, not ISE logic — focus first on secrets, ports, and PSN addressing.
  • Teach students to always reproduce in lab before touching production, and to use packet captures to remove ambiguity.

Upgrade Your Skills — Start Today

For deeper hands-on labs and instructor-led walkthroughs, subscribe to Network Journey on YouTube and join the Fast-Track to Cisco ISE Mastery Pro — my 4-month intensive, lab-heavy course (EVE-NG/VMware). Get lab packs, runbooks and 1:1 lab reviews: https://course.networkjourney.com/ccie-security/

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Trainer Sagar Dhawan
Hi all, Good to see you here. I'm your Trainer for CCIE, CCNP, CCNA, Firewall batches and many more courses coming up! Stay tuned for latest updates! Keep me posted over Whatsapp/Email about your experience learning from us. Thanks for being part of - "Network Journey - A journey towards packet-life!!!"

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