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ASA Firewalls still a good value for branch offices
December 10, 2021

ASA Firewalls still a good value for branch offices

David Orellana | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services

The Cisco 5500-X is currently used as one of our branch Firewall, it manages traffic from the inside LAN to the WAN, also connects two branches via a site to Site-VPN. Although we are not using the IPS capabilities, we can see all the traffic going in and out.
  • Traffic monitoring.
  • Site-to-Site VPN.
  • IPS (Needs a valid license).
  • Stateless Firewall.
  • You can upgrade ASA image to Firepower.
  • Better integration with Firepower IOS.
  • ASA system still using Java for GUI.
  • Firepower needs Firesight Management console to manages rules.

Do you think Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services's feature set?

Yes

Did Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services again?

No

  • The price is competitive with other.
  • The licenses to manage IPS and other functions are expensive.
  • Any additional feature you need to pay license.
  • Hardware is pretty durable.
  • Catalyst Products.
  • Solarwinds.
We have integrated ASA into our Solarwinds products, so we can monitor the traffic beyond ASA graphics. The product works fine with each other and because Cisco is widely used it is easy to find articles if we encounter any issue.
Usually, an ASA5500-X will be used for a branch office where services aren't open to WAN. With this understanding, ASA is a good product to manage daily in and out traffic. You could Geo fence traffic to avoid unwanted traffic. Overall it has been a relatively easy deployment. Upgrading is fast and it is up 99% of the time.
Support is great if you have paid Cisco support. However, in the Cisco world, there are plenty of resources for any potential issue you may find. I found that most of the time there are articles on the Cisco website that help you to enable a function or enhance a rule. Also, the GUI makes easy-to-navigate menus.
Meraki MX is a much robust product, however in terms of licenses, Meraki MX you need to pay a per-year basic subscription that in 3 years surpass the value of the ASA 5500-X with features that you may not need. This is for a branch firewall not for the Main firewall.
It is fine if you need a branch firewall, usually on branches that don't offer services outside the organization a stateless firewall like ASA 5500-X will do the job. Function like monitoring, VLAN, and VPN are managed relatively easily on the ASA platform. You can upgrade to a much slick GUI by upgrading the IOS to Firepower, however, you will need to start from zero since the configuration isn't compatible between ASA and Firepower. Cisco hardware is pretty durable.

Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services Feature Ratings

Firewall
7.7
Identification Technologies
7
Visualization Tools
6
Content Inspection
7
Policy-based Controls
7
Active Directory and LDAP
8
Firewall Management Console
8
Reporting and Logging
8
VPN
9
High Availability
9

Using Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services

60 - They are the core of our organization providing support to our clients. They do daily emails and training. Due to COVID-19 meeting clients via web meetings etc. So internet connection is a must for the day to day business.
2 - This is why we use Cisco products, we have a very limited personal looking for all devices and ASA allows us to set up fast and find resources to solve any issue relatively fast. Cisco a widely use so looking for solutions or people that can help us is cost-effective. Usually, hardware is durable.
  • Port Blocking.
  • Traffic.
  • Business continuity.
  • Integration with Solarwinds.
  • We can identify traffic use during office hours.
  • VPN access
We are exploring cloud services, the services are getting cheaper and the features offered in terms of hardware and software are becoming comparable to ASA.

Evaluating Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services and Competitors

  • Price
  • Product Usability
The overall factor was price and use case. This product was deployed on a branch office that doesn't have any service. The only purpose of this firewall is to manage in and out traffic and site-to-site VPN with the main branch. Also, we need robust hardware that could last in the server room without supervision.
Nothing, I think in terms of price, compatibility, and overall use. Cisco products are pretty good. Also, any technician can potentially work on a Cisco product and this gives a business a continue in case we need to use third-party support to serve the firewall. This allows us to save money in the long term.