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Asa 5505 Security Appliance 10
See it at Amazon.com for $330.00Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Awesome firewall on a budget
(5 out of 5) by R. Lindfield on Aug 15, 2008 (Tampa, FL)I've used everything from ipchains on a bsd server, to sonicwall, to netscreen, to the ASA. The ASA is very powerful, and features a friendly intuitive interface for new users (ASDM).
The integrated switch and power-over-ethernet ports are a great bonus.
The integrated switch and power-over-ethernet ports are a great bonus.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Very good product
(5 out of 5) by A. Villate on May 15, 2008 (Edgewater,NJ USA)This is a very good product. An enterprise class firewall. But beware, some Cisco IOS or Cisco ASDM is required. I work with Cisco products in a daily basis and I bought one of this from Amazon and now my Internet speed is as advertise by my ISP (10Mbps). The two POE ports are very handy. SSL VPN is very stable also. Only drawback is that does not have DDNS.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Good stuff
(4 out of 5) by kujhawk94 on Jul 2, 2008 (Plainville, KS)We've had no problems with this router/firewall - extremely reliable. Extensive configuration samples, etc. exist on Cisco's web site.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Great for Telecommuters, a couple shortcomings
(4 out of 5) by John E. Heyer on Mar 8, 2009 (San Francisco, CA)Pros:
* Very stable. Many home and even business grade Firewalls will occasionally start acting up and have to be rebooted, but the ASA is completely solid.
* 8 port switch w/ 2 PoE ports is great for things like IP Phones and Wireless Access Points.
* AnyConnect SSL VPN with 2 client licenses included is a great value. This lets me access my home network from work, despite them requiring a proxy server.
* Supports Spanning Tree and Rapid Spanning Tree, allowing you to build redundant uplinks to STP compatible switches.
* 256 MB RAM and 128 MB of flash is plenty of Memory for future software.
* Tons of VPN options - Straight IPSec, DMVPN, L2TP, SSL, AnyConnect, etc. The IPSec VPN is support on the iPhone, so it's pretty cool to be able to access my home network from my phone.
Cons:
* High learning curve, especially if you don't have previous experience with Cisco PIX or routers. Even using the Java-based ASDM, it can take a few hours of training to find your way. Also, ASDM is not compatible with the latest version of Java (you'll get an 'unconnected sockets' message).
* Only supports 1 internal VLAN with default license. This is fine for most setups, but disappointing since the Cisco routers will do at least 2 VLANs. It prevents, for example, having separate VLANs for voice and wireless, or creating a DMZ.
* No built-in Wireless option. Check out the 870 or 1800 routers if this is important. Adding a Wireless AP is easy though, especially with the PoE ports.
* No support for DHCP reservations. I like to configure Servers and Printers this way, and can't find any good reason Cisco wouldn't support it like they do on their routers and Layer 3 switches.
Summary - A great value as a SOHO Firewall and VPN Appliance. The ASA 5505 is priced the same as the PIX 501 was, but adds 2 PoE ports and SSL VPN Capabilities. The biggest drawbacks I can see are the high learning curve, no built-in Wireless, and lack of DHCP reservations. Before purchasing, you'll probably want to take a look at the 870 series routers since they may be a better choice depending on your requirements.
* Very stable. Many home and even business grade Firewalls will occasionally start acting up and have to be rebooted, but the ASA is completely solid.
* 8 port switch w/ 2 PoE ports is great for things like IP Phones and Wireless Access Points.
* AnyConnect SSL VPN with 2 client licenses included is a great value. This lets me access my home network from work, despite them requiring a proxy server.
* Supports Spanning Tree and Rapid Spanning Tree, allowing you to build redundant uplinks to STP compatible switches.
* 256 MB RAM and 128 MB of flash is plenty of Memory for future software.
* Tons of VPN options - Straight IPSec, DMVPN, L2TP, SSL, AnyConnect, etc. The IPSec VPN is support on the iPhone, so it's pretty cool to be able to access my home network from my phone.
Cons:
* High learning curve, especially if you don't have previous experience with Cisco PIX or routers. Even using the Java-based ASDM, it can take a few hours of training to find your way. Also, ASDM is not compatible with the latest version of Java (you'll get an 'unconnected sockets' message).
* Only supports 1 internal VLAN with default license. This is fine for most setups, but disappointing since the Cisco routers will do at least 2 VLANs. It prevents, for example, having separate VLANs for voice and wireless, or creating a DMZ.
* No built-in Wireless option. Check out the 870 or 1800 routers if this is important. Adding a Wireless AP is easy though, especially with the PoE ports.
* No support for DHCP reservations. I like to configure Servers and Printers this way, and can't find any good reason Cisco wouldn't support it like they do on their routers and Layer 3 switches.
Summary - A great value as a SOHO Firewall and VPN Appliance. The ASA 5505 is priced the same as the PIX 501 was, but adds 2 PoE ports and SSL VPN Capabilities. The biggest drawbacks I can see are the high learning curve, no built-in Wireless, and lack of DHCP reservations. Before purchasing, you'll probably want to take a look at the 870 series routers since they may be a better choice depending on your requirements.
Cisco ASA 5505 security appliance
(1 out of 5) by Neil A. May on Nov 8, 2009 (CA)I would not recommend this product unless you are a competent, Cisco certified network engineer. I spent a week trying to make it work. I read the manual, surfed google how to's and even bought a booklet on the subject, but the appliance refused to work as designed. I bought a Linksys SSL VPN for half the price and it everything including the VPN was working in 1 hour.
A colleague of mine also had the same experience a while back. He returned it also. The one good thing is that Amazon have a really good return policy.
A colleague of mine also had the same experience a while back. He returned it also. The one good thing is that Amazon have a really good return policy.