ASA, really means Awesome Security Appliance!!!
October 18, 2018
ASA, really means Awesome Security Appliance!!!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Overall Satisfaction with Cisco ASA
We use Cisco ASA units for internal remote users to remain connected to our network for access to applications, file shares and corporate email. We also recommend and sell ASA units to customers for use in their networks. Lastly, we recommend and sell ASA units to customers that we host for various applications, so that they can have access to "cloud" based apps but also be as secure as possible in the access thereof.
- ASA units provide firewall capabilities that would normally be found in much more expensive equipment
- ASA units provide POE capability for use with VOIP phones or other equipment.
- ASA units connect outside internet to inside networks and VPN's with very little overhead and no loss of signal speed.
- ASA units allow me to run a wireless access point in parallel so that both wired and wireless devices can share one DHCP scope which makes it easier to manage and maintain.
- ASA units make use of ASDM but also the Cisco standard CLI which makes it easier to train engineers to manage and have ease of deployment using config templates.
- In the ASA5506, unlike its predecessor, there are no switched Ethernet ports. Adding that feature would be helpful and save the cost of the additional switch that must be purchased.
- The real time log viewer is not that great, it's not 100% reliable, its explanations are often a bit too technical, the filter could use some enhancement
- The ASDM interface as a whole being java is not good. Java has become a nightmare due to poor backwards compatibility and cliff-facing certificate requirements between versions, so java versions for administrators become a nightmare to manage for what should be simple changes
- Deploying Cisco ASA allows us to offer firewall, LAN, WAN and Wifi to businesses, with low overhead costs, low maintenance and of course great TAC support
- Using ASA units keeps within the solid industry leading Cisco standards while keeping costs down
- We are able to use known tools for deployment and troubleshooting without the need for training on additional interfaces.
We sell both PAN and Cisco products. We feel a certain bias toward ASA as overall they are easier to deploy, easier to troubleshoot, last years beyond their supported lifetime and have extremely sturdy reliable hardware.