Overall Satisfaction with Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services
Cisco ASA 5500-X with FirePOWER Services is being used at edge of the network and inside the network to block and limit the traffic. These devices are very good with NAT and allow the access to the internal servers with the only allowed ports for security. Apart from that the device is handling the VPN, both IPSec and Remote access VPN for the production infrastructure. ASAs are deployed with Anyconnect premium licensing feature to help the remote access or work from home users to connect to the data centre and perform their day to day task with the inhouse applications.
- Traffic handling is fast, i.e. with least latency
- VPNs are stable and doesn't creates much issues
- Efficiently handles the forwarded and NATed traffic
- Management is easy
- Packet tracer feature is up to the mark
- Enhance the GUI, i.e. make the device management more user friendly
- Troubleshoot part should be more efficient
- There should be an option to initiate VPN tunnels without the real traffic
- More customised notification options for audit should be available
- Resource utilization should be optimized
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?
I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process
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?
Yes
- Working of remote workforce made easy
- Security was enhanced on the data traffic shared with the vendors due to the use of VPNs
- Inbound attacks were mostly blocked on the edge and saved a lot of resources (which could had been used in case of attacks getting successful on the application servers)
- Cisco Identity Services Engine
- Cisco Defence Orchestrator
- Cisco Catalyst Switches for SGT
- Cisco Anyconnect
Integration of Identity services engine and Defence Orchestrator allowed the swift authentication, authorization and management of the firewalls to provide the day to day functionality and Visibility of the network devices and traffic. AnyConnect on the other hand, provided the secure connectivity for the remotely working people and their integration with Cisco Umbrella is adding a layer of DNS security on the top.
The network is homogenous to Cisco and the integration with Cisco products is very easy (e.g. Identity Services Engine). As I am a certified engineer in Cisco Security, it feels very easy to handle Cisco products especially as more and more support docs are available across the internet and Cisco portal. The support from Cisco is also on the very next level. Even the community support for issues on the Cisco community is better than the support provided by the different vendor firewalls.