Likelihood to Recommend FMC is feature-rich and user-friendly. Cisco firewalls can run on standalone mode (FDM) but fewer features are supported on FDM. FMC is a must when working with Cisco Firewall. Migration from Cisco ASA to Cisco FTD is easy. There is a tool (FMT) that converts and imports the cisco IOS configuration file to FMC. FMC runs in VM or can be purchased as a physical appliance. The downside is that FMC is not quite fast and has bugs, especially when running in the older version 5x. and 6x.
Read full review For any customer that has a complex network environment spanning globally, skybox helps manage firewall policy compliance for many vendors quite easy. It has a variety of security and network vendors that it is compatible with in its database.
Read full review Pros Great protection and security against the multiple digital virus attacks. Provides detailed logs to track any threat and helps to secure the network promptly. VPN service for remote access of important organizational applications. Best management tool for controlling data and bandwidth resources. Read full review Skybox manages compliance for firewalls better than we have seen with other tools. Skybox integrates into standard change management tools so change control can flow through Skybox and assist with all decisions to implement a change. The Skybox network map is more detailed than other management tools showing us paths other tools didn't find. Read full review Cons Stability when managing firewalls, we're having issues with Firewall 01 and Firewall 02 remaining in sync Reporting when it comes to access control policy rules - there is no way to export a report of the rules easily. Using a custom Python script on the Cisco forums is the only way to easily export a CSV. Support for policy and route-based site-to-site VPN was not available until 6.6.0 and later. This forced us to purchase ASAs to bridge that gap. Dashboard reporting - when clicking a link for more information, nothing displays. Currently working with Cisco on the support case, which has been escalated. Read full review User experience. On the first approach, it's not the simplest tool that I have ever used. Web-based console. In my honest opinion it's very important [to have] this type of functionality to extend the use of Skybox. Too many updates of the product. Read full review Likelihood to Renew We are very satisfied with SecureX and it's adaptive, active nature in protecting or data and systems. It's easy to administer, update, review notifications and update when necessary. Cisco's security practice fits into our needs and continues to evolve as global cyber events change. SecureX is easy to migrate to new cisco gear as we upgrade to newer models when supports ends on older gear. Enabling fast ROI during these capital expenditure projects.
Read full review Usability Overall usability is an eight for me because it is easy to manage the firewall policies and monitor the devices' health. The configurations are all done in the GUI which makes it more convenient and hassle free. You can also see the devices' health and the progress of the task thru its taskbar.
Read full review It is user friendly and quite easy to use. It centralizes all info in one portal and generates good reports to help you visualize and assess your change management decision
Read full review Reliability and Availability Since moving to Cisco secure management center from firepower management center we've had no application issues, outages or any other problems. It's always been there for us and always provides us the necessary protection and notification when we need it. Been very happy with all of our Cisco systems over our tenure to date.
Read full review Support Rating We have the direct support of the manufacturer through its service channels, the attention is 24/7, and the response time is acceptable. The support for this tool is almost nil. It all depends on the level of implementation is carried out so that it can fail and request collaboration. Anyway, the manufacturer backs the entire Cisco Firepower Management Center (FMC series appliances) solution.
Read full review The support team needs to be improved especially in their response and awareness about recent bugs in their solution. For example, sometimes they are not aware about how to integrate specific vendors like Microsoft Azure and they still don't have answers to it until now.
Read full review Implementation Rating Cisco secure firewall management center is easy to install, moderate to setup in conjunction with firewall hardware, and administration of policy changes afterwards is pretty straight forward. And flexible to add more advanced security configurations as needed. Cisco support website is pretty good for researching how to documentation too. Cisco secure firewall management center enables integration to SecureX - the cloud security protection service. And AMP which protects packet flow with real time analysis. Cisco secure fmc is the evolved name for cisco firepower management center so for those customers who have firepower this is a simple migration.
Read full review Alternatives Considered We are managing multiple customers having a large number of Cisco devices that need to be managed by a single platform. For that reason, we have selected the Cisco Firewall Management Center than checkpoint firewall management. It simplifies and automates newly bought cisco firewalls at remote branch offices to manage, configure and troubleshoot them.
Read full review Read full review Return on Investment It's a very straightforward and user-friendly tool that has enhanced the total detection of malware and other threats t from intrusion into our network. Provides stable deep network scanning, security visibility, and protection from unauthorized access. The platform modular allows us to deploy across multiple budget cycles. Read full review Overall ROI is good as this product is an augmentation for us but we already have a mature security program with an experienced security team so the ROI is high. Read full review ScreenShots