Cisco ISE is a security policy management platform that provides secure access to network resources. Cisco ISE functions as a policy decision point and enables enterprises to ensure compliance, enhance infrastructure security, and streamline service operations1. Two of the primary functions of Cisco ISE are:
Enforcing endpoint compliance with network security policies: Cisco ISE can assess the posture of all endpoints that access the network, including 802.1X environments, and enforce the appropriate policies based on the device type, identity, location, and other attributes. Cisco ISE can also provide comprehensive client provisioning measures to ensure that the endpoints are compliant with the network security policies before granting them access. Cisco ISE can also quarantine or remediate non-compliant endpoints to prevent potential threats or vulnerabilities12.
Providing information about every device that touches the network: Cisco ISE can gather real-time contextual information from networks, users, and devices, and use that information to make governance decisions and apply policies. Cisco ISE can also discover, profile, and monitor the endpoint devices on the network, and classify them according to their associated policies and identity groups. Cisco ISE can also leverage the pxGrid framework to share the contextual information with other security tools and platforms, and enhance the network visibility and security13.
The other options are not primary functions of Cisco ISE, because:
Allocating resources: Cisco ISE does not allocate resources to the endpoints or the network devices. Cisco ISE can assign services or access levels based on the policies, but not resources such as bandwidth, memory, or CPU1.
Enabling WAN deployment over any type of connection: Cisco ISE does not enable WAN deployment over any type of connection. Cisco ISE can support VPN access for remote endpoints, but not WAN deployment for the network infrastructure1.
Automatically enabling, disabling, or reducing allocated power to certain devices: Cisco ISE does not automatically enable, disable, or reduce allocated power to certain devices. Cisco ISE can control the access and authorization of the devices, but not their power consumption or management1.
Providing VPN access for any type of device: Cisco ISE does not provide VPN access for any type of device. Cisco ISE can authenticate and authorize the VPN access for the endpoints, but not provide the VPN service or connection itself. Cisco ISE relies on other network devices, such as VPN gateways or routers, to provide the VPN access1.
References:
1: Cisco Content Hub - Cisco ISE Features 2: Cisco ISE Posture Service Overview 3: [Cisco ISE Profiler Service Overview]
