Pulse Connect Secure (PCS) versus Ivanti Connect Secure (ICS) releases

[fsmedili]

Dear Pulse/Ivanti Community,

I would like to ask a few questions concerning the PCS/ICS.

If we consider the PCS 9.1R15.0 (build 18393), installed on PSA5000-V (VMWare) I see that as per today (20th of OCtober 2022) the latest available releases are:

- PCS 9.1R16.2

- ICS 22.2R4.0

In the pdf document: https://help.ivanti.com/ps/help/en_US/ICS/22.x/22.xICSRN.pdf 

I can also see the upgrade path and the migration path (although the document seems to be updated up to releases 9.1R15 and 22.2R1).

Below my questions:

- What is the difference between the release 9.1R16.2 and 22.2R4.0?

- If I would like to migrate from 9.1R15.0 to 22.2R1, would it be sufficient to install the ps-ics-sa-22.2r1.0-b657-package.pkg, should I build a new VMware server, installing e.g. ps-ics-vmware-psa-v-22.2r1.0-b657-package.zip?

- Could I migrate from PCS 9.1R15.0 directly to ICS 22.2R4.0?

- Could I migrate from PCS 9.1R16.2 directly to ICS 22.2R4.0 (or indirectly i.e. through ICS 22.2R1 and then to ICS 22.2R4.0)?

- Can the ICS 22.2Rx be installed on PSA5000-V? Is there anything to be done concerning licences or is it enough to just run the upgrade?

- If I understood correctly, the only (latest) upgrade for the Pulse Secure Client / Ivanti Secure Client as per today (20th of October 2022) is the 22.2R1.0. Does this mean the Ivanti Secure Client 22.1R1.0 can run under both PCS 9.1R16.2 and ICS 22.2R4.0? Or for PCS 9.1R16.2 we should keep the Pulse Secure Desktop Client 9.1R15 (build 15819)?

- As per today (20th of October 2022) I do not see any documentation (even the release notes) related to the ICS 22.2R4.0 or to the PCS 9.1R16.2 although the SW has been releases since weeks.

Thank you.

P.S.: if there are too many questions/points submitted in one topic/message and it will be complicated to answer all of them, I can split my message into different threads.

Kind regards,

Filippo Smedili

[scoutt]

I have wondered this myself. So I have been sticking to the Pulse side of things and I see in each upgrade that Ivanti is being forced into the mix. Even though we just upgraded to PCS 9.1R16.2, it is now pushing the Ivanti 22.2.1.1295 client. Same goes for the iOS packages. We got updated to Ivanti's package without warning.

I could be wrong here but I think Ivanti had there own OS before purchasing Pulse and are trying to co-mingle then together. You know, brand Pulse into Ivant. So I would suspct you could run ICS without issues unless there are some driver issues that aren't compatible. I would give it some time still lol

[zanyterp]

@fsmedili thank you for taking time to post queries. at a high level, nothing; however, 9.1 is only for the PCS (legacy/platform); 22.x is for the ISA platform and will be the future. you cannot run ICS on the PSA platform nor the PCS on the ISA platform. new features will not be put in the 9.1 series.

• 9.1R16.2 & 22.2R4 are expected to have feature parity. (this is the first time this has happened)
• to migrate to 22.2R4, you will need a new VM image. you cannot use the PSA image for ICS software
• ICS cannot be installed on the PSA-V platform
• yes, the ivanti client connects to both server platforms (as long as the PSA/PCS is at 9.1R15 or later)
• the release note for these are in the kb/security alert as these were security fixes

  does that answer what you are looking to know? 

[zanyterp]

@scoutt, yes, the client is the same one on both server platforms
i cannot comment, but i do not believe ivanti had a separate OS (nor does it now). they did, and do, have their own server platform and softwares