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Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Reviews

10 Ratings
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Score 8.5 out of 100

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Reviews (1-4 of 4)

Jason Lachowsky | TrustRadius Reviewer
April 06, 2020

The venerable ASA line with added FirePOWER is still staying relevant in an advanced world

Jason Lachowsky
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
While the business environment was very traditional in that most employees worked at the office and didn't need (or want) to use network resources from home, there was still a need for a firewall that was independently managed and deployed for use throughout the organization. The firewall served as the principal conduit to the internet as well as other government entities.
  • Well-regarded remote access VPN solution through AnyConnect. Your users will already likely have some familiarity with this product.
  • Reputation and category-based URL filtering enables web browsing to be tailored to your internet use policies.
  • Dashboards offer an easy way to gain visibility into the state of your network and generate relevant reports.
  • The transition from ASA (ASDM) software to the Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software platform was awkward. Firewalls require a complete reflash to transition.
  • The FirePOWER services were originally baked-on rather than integrated into the project.
  • Java-based ASDM, which was replaced by the Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) platform, was functional but not pretty on the eyes.
Since the ASA platform is in the midst of a transition, it is best for new users. The Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) is straight-forward, helps you deploy key features easily, and is pleasing to the eye. The 5500-X line has a wide array of models that are suitably for environments both big and small. There are aspects of ASDM that are not yet available in the FTD platform, especially power-user features like a CLI. So this has left ASA junkies high and dry.
Cisco TAC support is as painful to deal with as most technical support situations. However, they do offer good online tools that prevent a phone call. When a replacement has been needed, Cisco has sent replacement equipment quickly and well within the service level agreement. Having your ducks in a row (registration, accounts) before you experience an issue can save you time.
  • Online training
Read Jason Lachowsky's full review
Dave Clark | TrustRadius Reviewer
April 06, 2020

Powerful and fits any size network

Dave Clark
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Cisco ASA, 5512, 5515, 5506, 5516, 5525, and 5585. Prior to that we used 5510 and 5540. We have started to use 2130 with ASA. We use them for typically hosting customer with 4- 8 networks, internet access, and a small network of VMs and storage. We supply customers with sportsbook and sports trading applications that we host in our data centres. We also use ASA on our internal site networks. We also use AnyConnect to support all our remote users and home workers. We have over 2000 site VPNs and a number of VPNs to AWS and Azure using VTI. We find these devices are easy to configure and offer very good performance and security features.
  • Remote Access with AnyConnect
  • Intuitive GUI
  • High performance
  • Well established product set with Cisco and this means good support
  • Easy to Manage and learn
  • Easy to deploy VPNs
  • GUI to be HTML5 rather than needed JAVA and ASDM
  • In relation to Firewall power, the Management console is rather lacking support.
  • Better 10 gig support
  • Cost is high compared to comparative providers of firewalls.
  • Better DNS object support / there are a number of shortfalls
  • Layer 4-7 firewall features
  • Better threat defense options
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER is well suited for sites that will be using VPN and RAS. It is quick to set up and deploy and has good support from Cisco and the community at large. There is a product that meets any size of network.
Support is world-class but is very expensive compared to its competitors. Community support is very good with many people using ASA already.
Some features are hard to set up or hard to find.
Read Dave Clark's full review
Zakarieya Abderoef | TrustRadius Reviewer
March 24, 2020

Cisco ASA 5500-X Review

Zakarieya Abderoef
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
The Cisco ASA firewall is being used to protect the environment from external threats and viruses. We also use it for external access to our servers i.e. port forwarding, DMZ and the guest wifi access also gets restricted via the firewall. Our users can also access our environment externally from the SSL VPN which is configured on the firewall.
  • SSL VPN
  • Port Forwarding
  • Threat Control
  • DMZ
  • User friendliness
  • Additional features similar to other competitor firewalls
  • Licensing cost compared to other vendor brands
The Cisco ASA firewalls is perfect for managing traffic on your network especially between your LAN and the Internet. As this is an integrated appliance, it also includes a host of other features such as advanced malware protection, application control, remote access and site to site VPN capability and much more. If you have multiple Cisco ASA firewalls, I would recommend you purchase Cisco Firepower Management Centre as it provides in-depth visibility and control over you network.
Depending on where the firewall is being deployed, I would select Cisco SmartNet support (24x7x4hours) onsite support should this be deployed within the data centre. For branch offices, you could maybe go with the Cisco SmartNet next business day support which can save a bit of costs if your business model supports this. With SmartNet, Cisco will resolve issues faster and mitigate risk
with 24 hour access to Cisco experts online or via the telephone.
Read Zakarieya Abderoef's full review
Wouter Hindriks | TrustRadius Reviewer
March 24, 2020

Good firewall, but not the latest line anymore.

Wouter Hindriks
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use the Cisco ASA 5500-X both in our data centers and on our ~300 remote locations as the primary firewall. These devices establish a site-site VPN between the data centers and the customer site and provide firewall security for all users and equipment.
  • IPSEC tunneling
  • OSI Layer3-7 security
  • Protocol inspection on OSI layer 4
  • Usage of Snort to detect and prevent intrusions
  • ASA software and firepower software are still disjointed
The Cisco ASA 5500-X covers the entire range from SMB locations with the 5506 to Datacenter/Internet edge with the 5585 models. As it's the same software/management tool being used you can keep using your skills.
Be aware that as soon as you get above 25 sites, you're going to have to pay for the management center software as well.
I haven't had to deal with support yet. Therefore I cannot comment of the quality of the support. I assume it's the same TAC support as for other Cisco products, and therefore I assume it's good.
Read Wouter Hindriks's full review

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Scorecard Summary

Likelihood to Recommend (10)
8.5
Likelihood to Renew (1)
8.2
Usability (1)
6.4
Support Rating (4)
7.5
Implementation Rating (1)
8.2

Feature Scorecard Summary

Identification Technologies (3)
7.3
Visualization Tools (3)
7.9
Content Inspection (4)
7.0
Policy-based Controls (4)
7.7
Active Directory and LDAP (4)
7.3
Firewall Management Console (4)
7.5
Reporting and Logging (4)
6.8
VPN (4)
8.6
High Availability (4)
8.6
Stateful Inspection (4)
7.7
Proxy Server (3)
6.7

About Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services is a security appliance solution designed to empower users to beat sophisticated cyber attacks. This solution is a threat-focused next-generation firewall.
Categories:  Firewall

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Features

Firewall Features
Has featureIdentification Technologies
Has featureVisualization Tools
Has featureContent Inspection
Has featurePolicy-based Controls
Has featureActive Directory and LDAP
Has featureFirewall Management Console
Has featureReporting and Logging
Has featureVPN
Has featureHigh Availability
Does not have featureStateful Inspection
Does not have featureProxy Server

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Downloadables

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Competitors

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Support Options

 Paid Version
Phone
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FAQ/Knowledgebase

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Technical Details

Operating Systems: Unspecified
Mobile Application:No