Item: Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software
Rating: 10
Author: Arjun Deol

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Cisco ASA is one of the best firewalls for any organization. We have been using this firewall for the last 4 years and we have connected all the sites through site-to-site VPN and some of our users who are [working] from home have provided Cisco AnyConnect remote VPN to access our internal servers.

Pros and Cons

IKEV1 and IKVE2 supported ipsec site to site vpn
SSL and ipsec remote vpn
Many options in network address translation
Authentication, authorization, and accounting support
Supports IPv6
Routing
Load balancing in VPN
Modular policy framework

Cisco ASA should improve in layer 7 security and deep scanning
Very difficult to manage and configure the policy through ASAM

Return on Investment

Technical support and SLA is really good
Lost cost
Easy to manage
You will never face any issue during deploy in existing network

Alternatives Considered

We were not using any firewall before this. I checked the reviews and directly purchased.

Key Insights

Do you think Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Cisco 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers (ASR 1000), Cisco 3504 WLAN Controller

Likelihood to Recommend

Cisco ASA is a good, low-cost firewall and it is well suited for small and medium organizations. If you have a limited budget and your focus is on routing, VPN, and nat then you should purchase this firewall. [However,] some advanced features are missing in this firewall like layer 7 security [and] deep packet scanning for malware and virus attacks. Cisco introduced the firepower for these features but that is very costly.

My Review of Cisco ASA - One of the Best Firewalls

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software