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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) pros and cons

Vendor: Cisco
4.1 out of 5
Badge Leader

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) provides centralized and unified secure access control, enhancing security for all devices with multifactor authentication and allowing easy integration with Cisco networking equipment.
It offers scalability and flexibility, making it suitable for environments with thousands of users, and integrates seamlessly with Active Directory for streamlined management of user access.
ISE's valuable features include posture assessment, policy management, VLAN assignments, guest access, BYOD services, and integration with StealthWatch and DNA for comprehensive network management.
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) excels at automating and providing real-time visibility for proactive monitoring and management of endpoints, ensuring compliance and trust for network access.
The integration capability of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) with third-party systems and its comprehensive profiling and posturing features enhance security and efficiency across organizations.

CONS

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) has a steep learning curve and complex initial setup.
Support and integration for active devices require improvement, with better compatibility across different manufacturers.
Upgrades and update processes for Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) are problematic and not user-friendly.
Licensing structure and cost of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) can be challenging and confusing.
Improved documentation and easier-to-locate best practices are needed.
 

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Pros review quotes

it_user302130 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 31, 2015
Cisco has implemented a special ATC partner program to help partners and customers to have a smooth deployment.
it_user375078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer/Mobility Specialist at CCSI - Contemporary Computer Services, Inc.
May 10, 2017
Cisco ISE now competes with any other product in the space because of its centralized and unified highly secure access control with ISE.
it_user375078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer/Mobility Specialist at CCSI - Contemporary Computer Services, Inc.
Mar 15, 2016
It really helps secure, classify and manage users including guest and BYOD users.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user216399 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Oct 19, 2016
ISE is one stop shop for everything with more to offer.
it_user816279 - PeerSpot reviewer
Research Engineer with 1-10 employees
Feb 8, 2018
Improves switch account management.
it_user866460 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect of Security and Networking solutions (Presales and after sales) at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 7, 2018
Member Access Control and the ability to integrate all Cisco wireless, Cisco networking, switches, routers, and firewalls.
Jan 28, 2019
For device administration, all devices have multifactor authentication in collaboration with IT, so it secures access to all of our devices. For guest and wireless access, it's a matter of a lowly manager who we give access to the portal and he can assign access to the guests, so it's a very simple process now. It keeps the IT focusing on their work, and gives the business people the right access.
RF
Information Security System Specialist at everis New Company Erifson
Jan 31, 2019
It is scalable because we use a network load balancer at the front of the PSN. It can be extended as we want to multiply. It's scalable to our environment. We have around 8,000 users and we are planning to expand it.
SK
Security Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Feb 4, 2019
The initial setup was easy. It took around one month. We did the installation part within half an hour to two hours but we found a couple of issues so we raised a case and once everything was resolved it was a month in total.
it_user690516 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - IT Security & Process Compliance at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 5, 2019
We have multiple metal devices from different places that use management, so we need to know who would be accessing all those devices and what changes are being done to those metal devices. With Cisco ISE we have visibility of all the changes happening on those devices.
 

Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) Cons review quotes

it_user302130 - PeerSpot reviewer
Security Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Aug 31, 2015
We are waiting for TACACS integration to completely replace the Cisco ACS line of products.
it_user375078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer/Mobility Specialist at CCSI - Contemporary Computer Services, Inc.
May 10, 2017
The learning curve is steep and the initial setup is complex.
it_user375078 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer/Mobility Specialist at CCSI - Contemporary Computer Services, Inc.
Mar 15, 2016
The initial setup, though, is extremely complex.
Learn what your peers think about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE). Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,933 professionals have used our research since 2012.
it_user216399 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer with 1,001-5,000 employees
Oct 19, 2016
Upgrade was quite a pain. It doesn't exactly go according to the document.
it_user816279 - PeerSpot reviewer
Research Engineer with 1-10 employees
Feb 8, 2018
The Cisco wireless​ controller needs to add more than one physical port.
it_user866460 - PeerSpot reviewer
Architect of Security and Networking solutions (Presales and after sales) at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees
May 7, 2018
In a future release, I would like to see network access control. That is something that customers seem to be looking for.
Jan 28, 2019
The compliance and posture don't always work. They should make it more stable. With each upgrade, we lose some functionality. We have to wait for another upgrade.
RF
Information Security System Specialist at everis New Company Erifson
Jan 31, 2019
They should improve the upgrades. It's not easy to upgrade the solution.
SK
Security Engineer at a energy/utilities company with 201-500 employees
Feb 4, 2019
Since we have started, we struggled a lot to implement this solution into our network, and we opened a case a couple of times. Up until this point, nothing else needs to be improved with this product.
it_user690516 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - IT Security & Process Compliance at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Feb 5, 2019
Support and integration for the active devices needs to be worked on. Their features mainly work well with Mac devices. If we use an HP the Mac functionalities may no longer be able to deliver.