Compared with the previous ASA 5500 series, Cisco ASA 5500-X next-generation firewall has some new features, for example, it provides services such as Application Visibility and Control (AVC) Services to control specific behaviors within allowed micro-applications, Web Security Essentials (WSE) Services to restrict web and web application usage based on reputation of the site and Intrusion Prevention (IPS) to provide critical threat protection from internet edge related attacks on your personal use computing systems. Through Cisco Security Intelligence Operations (SIO)*, these services provide web reputation that protects against zero-day threats.
Your business, regardless of size, can get an end-to-end network security solution with the Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Next-Generation Firewalls. Cisco ASA 5525-X, ASA 5545-X or ASA 5555-X model? There is a Cisco ASA 5500-X series firewalls comparison table showing you the difference, which make you find the right one.
| Cisco ASA Model | ASA 5525-X | ASA 5545-X | ASA 5555-X |
|
|
|
| |
| Stateful Inspection throughput (max1) | 2 Gbps | 3 Gbps | 4 Gbps |
| Stateful Inspection throughput (multiprotocol2) | 1 Gbps | 1.5 Gbps | 2 Gbps |
| Next-Generation throughput3(multiprotocol) | 650 Mbps | 1 Gbps | 1.4 Gbps |
| ASA IPS throughput4 | 600 Mbps | 900 Mbps | 1.3 Gbps |
| Concurrent sessions | 500,000 | 750,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Connections per second | 20,000 | 30,000 | 50,000 |
| Packets per second (64 byte) | 700,000 | 900,000 | 1,100,000 |
| 3DES/AES VPN throughput5 | 300 Mbps | 400 Mbps | 700 Mbps |
| Site-to-site and IPsec IKEv1 client VPN user sessions | 750 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| AnyConnect or clientless VPN user sessions6(AnyConnect license required) | 750 | 2,500 | 5,000 |
| Cisco Cloud Web Security users | 500 | 1,500 | 3,000 |
| VLANs | 200 | 300 | 500 |
| High-availability support7 | A/A and A/S | A/A and A/S | A/A and A/S |
| Integrated I/O | 8-port 10/100/1000 | 8-port 10/100/1000 | 8-port 10/100/1000 |
| Expansion I/O | 6-port 10/100/1000 or 6-port GE (SFP) | 6-port 10/100/1000 or 6-port GE (SFP) | 6-port 10/100/1000 or 6-port GE (SFP) |
| Dual Power Supplies | Not available | Yes | Yes |
| Power | AC/DC | AC/DC | AC/DC |
1Maximum throughput with UDP traffic measured under ideal test conditions
2Multiprotocol = Traffic profile consisting primarily of TCP-based protocols or applications like HTTP, SMTP, FTP, IMAPv4, BitTorrent, and DNS.
3Throughput was measured using ASA CX Software Release 9.1.1 with multi-protocol traffic profile with both Application Visibility Control (AVC) and Web Security Essentials (WSE). Traffic logging was enabled as well.
4Firewall traffic that does not go through IPS service can have higher throughput.
5VPN throughput and sessions count depend on the ASA device configuration and VPN traffic patterns. These elements should be taken into consideration as part of your capacity planning. Maximum throughput numbers are based on IPsec IKEv1 Remote Access VPN Connectivity
62 AnyConnect Premium User Licenses are included by default
7A/A = Active/Active; A/S = Active/Standby
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Does Cisco ASA 5500-X Series Support Both IPS and AVC/WSE in One Box?
ASA 5505 vs. ASA 5510 vs. ASA 5512-X vs. ASA 5515-X
APIC and various Nexus switches have been orderable since July 1, and many of the Nexuses have been shipping for some time. APIC slated to ship later this week; new switches, bundles here too.
Cisco announced it shipped its APIC (Application Centric Infrastructure controller) and rolled out other extensions across its data center portfolio last week.
Despite being a software product, the APIC is first being shipped as an appliance. In other words, the APIC software comes pre-installed on a Cisco x86 server.
Cisco is considering offering it on other non-Cisco x86 platforms as well, says Thomas Scheibe, director of product management for Cisco’s Insieme business unit.
Scheibe says Cisco chose to offer APIC only on UCS at first due to obvious reasons, including convenience.
“We wanted to make sure it was a good experience out of the box,” he says.
APIC comes in two variations, sized by the number of supported endpoints: APIC-M1 and APIC-CLUSTER-M1 for less than 1,000 10G leaf ports; and APIC-L1, APIC-CLUSTER-L1 for greater than 1,000 10G leaf endpoints.
APIC starter bundles start at $250,000 list. One includes an APIC controller cluster, two fixed spines of 36x40G switches, four leafs supporting 192 to 384 ports of 1/10G, four ACI leaf licenses and eight 40G active optical cable assemblies. The other includes an APIC cluster controller, two modular spines with 36x40G each, two leafs supporting 96 to 192 ports of 1/10G, two ACI leaf licenses and eight 40G active optical cable assemblies.
The starter kits are targeted at proof-of-concept and lab deployments, creation of a central ACI policy appliance on existing Cisco Nexus 2000-7000 infrastructure, and to scale out private cloud infrastructures using ACI.
Existing Nexus 2000-7000 shops can start migrating to ACI or availing themselves of ACI policy by deploying an ACI fabric with Nexus 9000 series switches alongside the existing infrastructure. Traffic can be redirected to the ACI fabric for policy enforcement as needed, and then an ACI Virtual Switch and Nexus 9300 can be deployed in the existing Nexus 2000-7000 fabric to extend ACI policy over the existing infrastructure and applications. No hardware or software enhancements or upgrades are necessary for the Nexus 2000-7000 switches to include them in an ACI policy model, Scheibe says.
Cisco also rolled out 8- and 12-port 100G line cards for the Nexus 9500 modular chassis. The line cards will enable the 9500 to support up to 128 ports of 100G in a single chassis. They will ship in the fourth quarter.
Cisco also unveiled a data center refresh program for the Catalyst 6500 series switches. Four Cisco starter kits are targeted at Catalyst 6500 end-of-row deployments to upgrade to the Nexus 9508 with 48 port 1G/10GBASE-T and four 40G QSFP port line cards with either straight Broadcom Trident 2 silicon or those with increased buffers, VXLAN routing, and a future upgrade to modular ACI leafs.
The bundles include one Nexus 9508 switch, four line cards and eight Cisco QSFP BiDi optics, and are priced from $120,000 to $165,000.
Cisco also rolled out a new Nexus switch for small, space-constrained aggregation designs. The Nexus 3164 is a 64-port 40G QSFP fixed switch that runs the same NX-OS operating system image on the Nexus 9000 series switches.
The Nexus 3164 is priced from $32,000 to $48,000 and is shipping now.
Reference from http://www.networkworld.com/article/2458989/lan-wan/cisco-ready-to-ship-aci-controller.html
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When you are designing a Cisco UCS Unified Computing environment you will use several components which will work together. One key object in the whole chain is the Fabric Interconnect which connects the chassis, used storage and uplinks to Datacenter Switches like the Nexus 5000 series. Especially when designing a FlexPod Certified Design.
All chassis, blades and rack servers that are attached to the Fabric Interconnects are part of a single, highly available management domain. By supporting Unified Fabric, the Cisco UCS 6200 Series provides the flexibility to support LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within its domain.
Typically deployed in redundant pairs, the Cisco UCS 6200 Series provides uniform access to both networks and storage. Which is great when building in our case a fully virtualized VMware environment.
Currently there are two types of Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect switches, namely:
Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE and native Fibre Channel switch offering up to 960-Gbps throughput and up to 48 ports.
Cisco UCS 6296UP 96-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE and native Fibre Channel switch offering up to 1920-Gbps throughput and up to 96 ports.
The ports on a Fabric Interconnect needs to be licensed to be used. Any of the 32 fixed ports or expansion module ports can be used for 1G/10G Ethernet, FCoE or FC. To use a port you must have the correct SFP and configure the port as you like to use it via the Unified Ports tool.
More Tips: Some Users’ Real Problem like this: UCS 6248UP Licensing
How will the 6248UP Fabric Interconnect ports be licensed? Will ports configured as Fiber Channel also consume a port license? Will the Expansion Module be fully licensed or will it share license with fixed ports?
The UCS 6248UP (with NO expansion module) has 32 physical ports. Of these–12 ports are pre-licensed; Up to 20 additional ports can be licensed using UCS-LIC-10GE per port
The UCS-FI-E16UP (16 port Unified Expansion Module) has 16 physical ports. Of these–
Can the UCS-FI-E16UP ports be used for chassis connections or are they for uplinks only (like the 6120/6140 GEM modules were)? Is a port license required for every use of a physical port? E.g.
All physical port need to be licesned on the fabric interconnect. The 6200 license structure is listed above. The 6100s the fixed ports needed license however the expansion cards do not.
…More discussion you can see https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11249966/ucs-6248up-licensing
Expansion Module
The UCS-FI-E16UP (16 port Unified Expansion Module) has 16 physical ports. Of these 8 ports are pre-licensed and up to 8 additional ports can be licensed using UCS-LIC-10GE per port?
The eight default licenses that come with a 6200 series fabric interconnect expansion module can be used to enable ports on the base module, but will travel with the expansion module if it is removed. In the 6248Up there is room for 1 expansion module and in the 6296UP you can fit 3 expansion modules.
Important: All ports need to have licenses regardless if it is server/Ethernet/fiber channel ports!! You can manage licenses through UCS Manager.
Typical Questions from Users While Dealing with Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Port Licensing
Q: Can I export port licenses from the 6100 series to the 6200 series?
A: Licenses are not portable across product generations. Licenses purchased for 6100 series fabric interconnects cannot be used to enable ports on 6200 series fabric interconnects or vice-versa.
Q: Licenses brought to the Fabric Interconnect through an expansion module; do they keep the licenses when the expansion module is removed?
A: Upon removal of an expansion module, any default expansion module licenses being used by the base module are removed from the ports on the base module, resulting in unlicensed ports.
Q: If I use a license for a port and I disable the port later on is that license locked?
A: Port licenses are not bound to physical ports. When you disable a licensed port, that license is then retained for use with the next enabled port. If you want to use additional fixed ports, you must purchase and install licenses for those ports.
Q: If I need a new port quickly but I haven’t received the license file yet, what can I do?
A: If you attempt to use a port that does not have an installed license, Cisco UCS initiates a 120 day grace period. The grace period is measured from the first use of the port without a license and is paused when a valid license file is installed. The amount of time used in the grace period is retained by the system.
Q: When I use a port in Grace Period do I use it for all ports?
A: No, each physical port has its own grace period. Initiating the grace period on a single port does not initiate the grace period for all ports.
Reference from http://www.vmguru.nl/2014/06/cisco-ucs-fabric-interconnect-port-licensing-explained/
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At the end of July, Cisco has quietly announced a new addition to the UCS family–a mini Fabric Interconnect, called the UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect, which unlike the ones before it plugs directly into the UCS 5108 chassis. With connectivity for up to 15 servers (8 blade servers and up to 7 direct-connect rack servers), the Cisco 6324 is geared toward small environments.
“The 6324 FI is out! What amazing hardware! This is a whole UCS in a 5108 Chassis. Now what I wonder is if this is just code? Being able to take a single chassis and install proper code and have a stand-alone UCS would be GREAT. This will be “Cool” if it is a special chassis, but a GAME CHANGER if any chassis will do with code only (and maybe certain models of IOM’s that might be on hand anyhow).” Some Cisco fans said like that.
Appear’s a new IOM is needed to make this work in a 5108 Chassis.
Cisco introduces Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect like that.
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect is a 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, and Fibre Channel switch offering up to 500-Gbps throughput and up to four unified ports and one scalability port.
The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect extends the Cisco UCS architecture into environments with requirements for smaller domains. Providing the same unified server and networking capabilities as in the full-scale Cisco UCS solution, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect embeds the connectivity within the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis to provide a smaller domain of up to 15 servers (8 blade servers and up to 7 direct-connect rack servers).
CISCO 6324 FI Overview
Each 6324 FI module contains:
The 4 external uplink ports can be configured as 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet or 2/4/8-Gbps Fibre Channel ports. The scalability port is designed to allow for connectivity to up to 4 x UCS rack servers with a post-release feature of also allowing a 2nd UCS 5108 chassis to interconnect.
The 6324 FI provides Layer 2 forwarding with support for:
It is also rumored that UPDATED–based on the information from UCSGuru (below) a new an updated UCS 5108 blade chassis will be coming out soon which will allow for heartbeat and cluster connectivity between the UCS 6324 FI modules inside a chassis as well as support for “dual voltage” power supplies. Is that real? We are looking forward to it.
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The Cisco IP Phone 7960 G (Voip Phone) is designed to meet the communication needs of professional workers, Cisco 7960 G Voip Phone is a fully featured IP phone, providing six programmable line and feature buttons, and a high quality speakerphone.
The Cisco Voip IP Phone 7960 offers four dynamic soft keys that guide a user through call features and functions.
Built-in headset port and integrated Ethernet Switch. Also includes audio controls for full duplex speakerphone, handset and headset. The Cisco IP Phone 7960 also features a LCD display: date and time, calling party name.
You can find everything you need to know about the 7960 g voip ip phone in this guide (setup and installation instruction).
Cisco 7960 ip (voip) phone Features
| Lines/Speed Dial Buttons | Opens a new line or speed dials the number on the LCD screen.A 7960 has six buttons and a 7940 has two buttons. |
| LCD screen | displays the date and time, your phone number, your line and call status, and the available softkeys |
| Messages Button | access voicemail system |
|
Directories Button | Provides access to your missed, received, and placed calls. You can use each of these directories to locate or dial these numbers. It also provides a corporate and site directory.A corporate directory includes all phones for your organization. A site directory is for your specific site within your corporate directory. |
|
Services Button | Provides access to available phone services that have been implemented. These may include Fast Dials and Extension Mobility login/logout screens. |
| Handset Indicator | Red LEDs in handset cradle that are visible through a window in the handset. They flash when the phone rings and light solid red when you have voice mail messages. |
How to Set Up Your VoIP 7960 g IP Phone?
The Cisco 7960 g IP phone has connections for connecting to the data network, for providing power to the phone, and for connecting a headset to the phone.
1. Connecting to the Network
Connect your IP Phone to the corporate IP telephony network. Your phone will share a network connection with your computer.
-Network Port: Use the network port to connect the phone to the network. You must use a straight-through cable on this port.
- Access Port: Use the access port to connect a network device, such as a computer, to the phone.
2. Connecting 7960 voip phone to Power
3. Connect the handset and headset to their respective ports. Ensure that the end of the cord of the handset with the longer uncoiled section is connected to the body of the phone.
Reference from http://www.voiptuts.com/2010/08/cisco-voip-phone-7960-g-user-guide.html
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