Tried and True, but Lacking Features
September 23, 2021

Tried and True, but Lacking Features

Kevin Medeiros | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software

We use several Cisco ASAs for our egress firewalls and VPN firewalls. We are slowly migrating away from these to Palo Altos, but for the time being, they are still rock-solid and function well, even though they are dated. One Cisco ASA serves about 200 users for VPN services and another is used for our internet egress.
  • Configuring of basic firewall rules is easy
  • Easy to use
  • Reliability is good for these 5505 and 5545 Cisco ASAs
  • Cisco ASA is aging and Cisco wants you to migrate to FirePower, which I think is still awful
  • Java clients are still needed to access [Cisco] ASA functionality
  • Hardware is all EOL
  • Having a pair of HA firewalls does let you count on the Cisco ASAs for uptime; this can affect ROI.
Palo Altos blow Cisco ASAs away in terms of form and function. They are next-generation firewalls that have very advanced rule sets and AI to help protect your cooperation; however, they are also about 20 times more than a comparable Cisco ASA firewall.

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?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

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

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

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

Yes

Cisco ASAs have been around forever and are fairly reliable, but are showing their age [in my opinion]. Therefore, I'd recommend Cisco ASAs only to small businesses that need something cheap and affordable to get the job done. You aren't getting next-generation firewalls here, but you're definitely getting a product that has been tested for a long time.

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software Feature Ratings

Identification Technologies
5
Visualization Tools
3
Content Inspection
1
Policy-based Controls
8
Active Directory and LDAP
6
Firewall Management Console
5
Reporting and Logging
4
VPN
8
High Availability
8
Stateful Inspection
3
Proxy Server
Not Rated