SISE · domain
Architecture And Deployment
This domain covers how Cisco ISE nodes are deployed and how personas are distributed across an enterprise. Expect questions on standalone versus distributed deployments, PSN, PAN, and MnT persona roles, node registration and promotion, and how RADIUS and logging traffic are handled across nodes and load balancers.
Focused practice
Practice Architecture And Deployment questions
Scored sessions drawing only from this domain — pick a length below.
What this domain covers
What to know about Architecture And Deployment
Be able to map ISE personas to nodes, describe standalone versus distributed deployment, and explain how RADIUS and logging traffic flow. The key point: a new appliance is Standalone, and MnT logging is Primary-collected with Secondary replication.
Identifying the default Standalone persona of a freshly installed Cisco ISE appliance
Choosing load balancer behavior and session persistence for RADIUS traffic to PSNs
Explaining Primary versus Secondary MnT log collection and replication relationships
Distinguishing PAN, PSN, and MnT persona responsibilities in a distributed deployment
Watch out for
Common Architecture And Deployment exam traps
- ▸Assuming a new ISE appliance already runs a distributed persona; it defaults to Standalone until personas are enabled and nodes registered.
- ▸Load balancing RADIUS without session persistence or source IP affinity, causing authentication requests and accounting to land on different PSNs.
- ▸Believing Secondary MnT independently collects logs; Primary MnT is the collector and replicates to Secondary for redundancy and reporting.
Question index
All Architecture And Deployment questions (27)
Click any question to see the full explanation, or start a practice session above.
When designing an ISE deployment across WAN links, what is the primary recommendation regarding MnT nodes?
Hard2In a distributed environment, if the Primary PAN goes offline, what happens to the Secondary PAN?
Medium3What is the default persona of a newly installed Cisco ISE appliance before any configuration changes?
Easy4When configuring a load balancer for a group of PSNs, what is the best practice for handling RADIUS traffic?
Hard5A network engineer is deploying Cisco ISE in a distributed architecture. The engineer needs to ensure that the deployment can scale to handle a large number of concurrent authentication requests. Which factor primarily determines the number of PSNs required?
Medium6When adding a secondary PAN, what is the consequence if the time synchronization (NTP) differs significantly between nodes?
Medium7You are configuring a new ISE node for your deployment. What is the correct sequence to join a secondary node to the existing deployment?
Medium8Which specific ISE process is responsible for managing the communication between the PAN and PSNs?
Hard9What is the purpose of the 'PAN' role in a deployment?
Medium10When decommissioning an ISE node, what is the correct order of steps?
Medium11What is the function of the 'PassiveID' feature in a distributed ISE deployment?
Medium12A security architect is designing a Cisco ISE deployment for a large enterprise with 20,000 endpoints. The design must ensure that RADIUS authentication and authorization continue even if the Primary PAN and Secondary PAN both become unreachable. The architect is evaluating the roles and services that must be enabled on the PSNs to support this requirement. Which two statements correctly describe the behavior or configuration needed to meet this goal? (Choose two.)
Hard13Which TWO functions are performed by the Monitoring and Troubleshooting (MnT) persona?
Easy14Which THREE features are configured at the node level in the ISE Administration console?
Hard15A customer is planning a large campus deployment with 50,000 concurrent endpoints. Which persona should be dedicated to handle the authentication load to ensure high performance?
Easy16You are deploying a distributed ISE architecture and need to ensure that the Policy Administration Node (PAN) maintains configuration integrity. Which mechanism is used to synchronize configuration changes from the Primary PAN to all secondary nodes?
Medium17How do you verify the current licensing status and consumption on your ISE deployment?
Easy18Which THREE resources are monitored via the ISE dashboard to ensure deployment health?
Medium19A network administrator is preparing to add a new Cisco ISE node to an existing distributed deployment. The new node will serve as a PSN in a remote branch office. Before registering the node, the administrator must ensure that the node meets the prerequisites for joining the deployment. Which prerequisite is required for the new node to successfully register with the Primary PAN?
Easy20When configuring a secondary MnT node, what is the 'Primary' versus 'Secondary' relationship regarding log collection?
Medium21Which menu path is used to view the status of all nodes in an ISE deployment?
Easy22Which of the following describes the 'Standalone' deployment model?
Easy23Which service is required to be enabled on a PSN to allow it to receive RADIUS requests from network access devices?
Easy24If a PSN loses connectivity to the PAN, what happens to existing user sessions?
Hard25Which license type is required to enable advanced profiling and posture services on Cisco ISE?
Easy26Which THREE factors influence the decision to use multiple PSNs in a deployment?
Medium27You are troubleshooting a PSN that is not receiving configuration updates. Which log file on the PSN would provide the most insight into the configuration sync process?
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the Architecture And Deployment domain cover on the SISE exam?
- Be able to map ISE personas to nodes, describe standalone versus distributed deployment, and explain how RADIUS and logging traffic flow. The key point: a new appliance is Standalone, and MnT logging is Primary-collected with Secondary replication.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 27 Architecture And Deployment questions in the SISE question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
- Can I practise only Architecture And Deployment questions?
- Yes — the session launcher on this page filters questions to this domain only. Choose any session length for inline explanations and scoring.