ISE MCP Server (using FastMCP)

Overview

The ISE MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server built with the Python fastmcp library. It dynamically exposes Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) API endpoints as structured, discoverable MCP tools. This server allows clients to interact with Cisco ISE REST APIs in a standardized way, offering features like dynamic tool generation and API response filtering.

Features

• Dynamic Tool Generation: MCP tools are automatically created based on entries in the src/ise_mcp_server/urls.json configuration file.
• FastMCP Integration: Leverages the fastmcp library for robust MCP server implementation, including schema generation and request handling.
• Asynchronous API Calls: Uses httpx.AsyncClient for non-blocking communication with Cisco ISE.
• API Filtering: Supports filtering of Cisco ISE API results through filter_expression and query_params arguments in each tool.
• Environment-Driven Configuration: Cisco ISE connection details (base URL, username, password) and SSL verification settings (ISE_VERIFY_SSL) are configured via a .env file.
• Detailed Docstrings: Dynamically generated tools include comprehensive docstrings explaining their purpose, the ISE API endpoint they target, and how to use filtering parameters.
• Standardized Interaction: Adheres to the Model Context Protocol, allowing interaction via any MCP-compatible client.
• Streamable HTTP Transport: Configured to use streamable-http transport by default for web-based access.

Setup

Server

{ “mcpServers”: { “ise”: { “command”: “python”, “args”: [ “ise_mcp_server.py”, “–oneshot” ], “env”: { “ISE_BASE”: “https://devnetsandboxise.cisco.com”, “USERNAME”: “readonly”, “PASSWORD”: “ISEisC00L” } } } }

Requirements

• Python 3.9 or higher.
• Required Python packages are listed in requirements.txt (at the project root). Install them using:

  pip install -r requirements.txt
  

  Or, if using uv:

  uv pip install -r requirements.txt
  

  Key dependencies include fastmcp, httpx, pydantic, and python-dotenv. (Ensure requirements.txt reflects httpx instead of requests).

Configuration

1. Environment Variables: Create a .env file in the project root directory (/Users/username/mcp_servers/ISE_MCP/.env) with your Cisco ISE API credentials and base URL:

   ISE_BASE="https://your-ise-instance.example.com"
   USERNAME="your-ise-api-username"
   PASSWORD="your-ise-api-password"
   # Optional: Controls SSL certificate verification for ISE API calls.
   # Default is true. Set to "false" to disable (insecure).
   # Or provide a path to a CA bundle file, e.g., "/path/to/your/ca.pem".
   ISE_VERIFY_SSL="true"